Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	adam_n	covenant_n	fall_n	2,656	5	9.6090	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41355	The marrow of modern divinity touching both the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace, with their use and end, both in the time of the Old Testament, and in the time of the New : wherein every one may cleerly see how far forth he bringeth the law into the case of justification, and so deserverh the name of legalist : and how far forth he rejecteth the law, in the case of sanctification, and so deserveth the name of Antinomist : with the middle path between them both, which by Iesus Christ leadeth to eternall life : in a dialogue, betwixt Evangelista, a minister of the Gospel, Nomista, a legalist, Antinomista, an Antinomian, and Neophytus, a young Christian / by the author, E.F. ; before the which there is prefixed the commendatory epistles of divers divines of great esteem in the citie of London ; whereunto is also added, the substance of a	Fisher, Edward, fl. 1627-1655.; Hamilton, Patrick, 1504?-1528. Patricks places.	1646 (1646)	Wing F997; ESTC R1839	130,516	286

behalfe of all his chosen perfectly fulfilled the Law as it is the covenant of works divine justice delivered that bond in to Christ who utterly cancelled that hand-writing so that none of his chosen were to have any more to doe with it nor it with them and now you by your believing in Christ having manifested that you are one that was chosen in him before the foundation of the world his fulfilling of that covenant and cancelling of it is imputed to you and so you are acquitted and absolved from all your transgressions against that covenant either past present or to come and so you are justified as the Apostle saith Freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Ant. I pray you Sir give mee leave to speake a word by the way was not he justified before this time Evan. If he did not believe in Christ before this time as I conceive hee did not then certainly he was not justified before this time Ant. But Sir you know as the Apostle saith It is God that justifieth and God is eternall and as you have shewed Christ may be said to have fulfilled the covenant of works from all eternity and if he bee Christs now then was he Christs from all eternity and therefore as I conceive hee was justified from all eternity Evan. Indeed God is from all eternity and in respect of Gods accepting of Christs undertaking to fulfill the covenant of works he fulfilled it from all eternity and in respect of Gods electing of him he was Christs from all eternity and therefore it is true in respect of Gods decree hee was justified from all eternity and hee was justified meritoriously in the death and resurrection of Christ but yet he was not justified actually till he did actually believe in Christ for saith the Apostle By him all that believe are justified so that in the act of justifying faith and Christ must have a mutuall relation and must always concur and meet together faith as the action which apprehendeth and Christ as the object which is apprehended for neither doth Christ justifie without faith neither doth faith except it bee in Christ. Ant. Truly Sir you have indifferently well satisfied me in this point and surely I like it marvellous well that you conclude no faith justifieth but that whose object is Christ. Eva. The very truth is thuogh a man believe that God is mercifull and true of his promise and that he hath his elect number from the beginning and that he himselfe is one of that number yet if this faith doe not eye Christ if it be not in God as he is in Christ it will not serve turn for God cannot be comfortably thought upon out of Christ our mediator for if we finde not God in Christ saith Calvin salvation cannot bee known wherefore neighbour Neophytus I will say unto you as sweet Master Bradford said unto a gentlewoman in your case Thus then if you would be quiet and certain in conscience then let your faith burst forth through all things not onely that you have within you but also whatsoever is in heaven earth and hell and never rest untill it come to Christ crucified and the eternall sweete mercie and goodnesse of God in ●hrist Neo. But Sir I am not yet satisfied concerning the point you touched before and therefore I pray you proceed to shew me how far forth I am delivered from the Law as it is the covenant of works Evan. Truly as it is the covenant of works you are wholy and altogether delivered and set free from it you are dead to it and it is dead to you and if it be dead to you then it can doe you neither good nor hurt and if you be dead to it you can expect neither good nor hurt from it consider man I pray you that as I said before you are now under another covenant to wit the covenant of grace and you cannot bee under two covenants at once neither wholy nor partly and therefore as before you believed you were wholy under the covenant of works as Adam left both you and all his posterity after his fall so now since you have believed you are wholy under the covenant of grace Assure your selfe then that no Minister or Preacher of Gods Word hath any warrant to say unto you hereafter either doe this and this dutie contained in the law and avoid this and this sin forbidden in the Law and God will justifie thee and save thy soule or doe it not and Hee will condemne thee and damne thee no no you are now set free both from the commanding and condemning power of the covenant of works so that I will say unto you as the Apostle saith unto the believing Hebrews You are not come to Mount Sinai that might not be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempests but you are come unto Mount Sion the City of the living God and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant so that to speak with holy reverence God cannot by vertue of the covenant of wotks either require of you any obedience or punish you for any disobedience no he cannot by vertue of that covenant so much as threaten you or give you an angry word or shew you an angry look for indeed he can see no sin in you as a transgression of that covenant for saith the Apostle Where there is no Law there is no transgression And therfore though hereafter you doe through frailty transgresse any or all the ten Commandements yet doe you not thereby transgresse the covenant of works there is no such covenant now betwixt God and you and therefore though you shall hereafter heare such a voice as this if thou wilt be saved keep the commandements or cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are writen in the book of the Law to doe them nay though you heare the voice of thunder and a fearfull noyse nay though you see blacknesse and darknesse and feel a great tempest that is to say though you heare us that are Preachers according to our commission Lift up our voice like a trumpet in threatning hell and damnation to sinners and transgressors of the Law though these be the words of God yet are you not to thinke that they are spoken to you no no the Apostle assures you ●hat there is no condemnation to them that ●●re in Christ Jesus believe it man God never threatens eternall death after he hath once given to a man eternall life nay the truth is God never speaks to a believer out of Christ and in Christ hee speaks not a word in the terms of the covenant of works and if the Law of it selfe should presume to ●ome into your conscience and say herein and herein thou hast transgressed and broken ●●e and therefore thou owest so much and ●o much to divine Justice which must be

Church and under the externall Covenant are called the chosen of God and the people of God But though they had been all of them believers yet as the Lord delivered it to them it would have done them no more hurt than it did them that were Nom. But Sir was the same covenant of works made with them that was made with Adam Evan. For the generall substance of the duty the Law delivered on mount Sinai and formerly engraven in mans heart was one and the same so that at mount Sinai the Lord delivered no new thing only it came more gently to Adam before his fall but after his fall came thunder with it Nom. I but Sir as your self said the ten Commandements as they were written in Adams heart were but the matter of the covenant of works and not the covenant it self till the form was annexed to them that is to say till God and man were thereupon agreed now we do not find that God and these people did agree upon any such terms at mount Sinai Evan. No say you so do you not remember that the people consented Exod. 19.8 saying All that the Lord hath spoken we will do And do you not remember that the Lord consented Levit. 18.5 saying Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgements which if a man do he shall live in them And in Deut. 27.26 saying Cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them And doth not the Apostle Paul give evidenee than these words were the form of the covenant of works when he saith Rom. 10.5 Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the law that the man that doth these things shall live in them when he saith Gal. 3.10 For it is writen Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them And in Deut. 4.13 Moses doth in expresse tearmes call it a Covenant saying And he declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten Commandamennts and hee wrote them upon tables of stone Now this was not the Covenant of grace for Moses afterwards Deut. 5.3 speaking of this Covenant saith God made not this Covenant with your Fathers but with you And by Fathers all the Patriarkes unto Adam may be meant saith Mr. Aynsworth who had the promise of the Covenant of Christ therefore if it had been the Covenant of grace he would have said God did make this covenant with them rather then that he did not Nom. And do any of our godly and moderne witers agree with you in this point Evan. Yea indeed Polanus saith the Covenant of workes is that in which God promiseth everlasting life unto a man that in all respects performeth perfect obedience to the Law of workes adding thereunto threatnings of eternall death if hee shall not performe perfect obedience thereunto God made this Covenant in the beginning with the first man Adam whilst hee was in the first estate of integrity the same Covenant God did repeat and make againe by Moses with the people of Israel And Dr. Preston saith the Covenant of workes runs in these termes Do this and thou shalt live and I will be thy God This was the Covenant which was made with Adam and the Covenant that is expressed by M●ses in the Morall law And Mr. Walker saith that the first part of the covenant which God made with Israel at Horeb was nothing else but a renewing of the old covenant of works which God made with Adam in paradise And it is generally laid down by our Divines that we are by Christ delivered from the Law as it is a Covenant Nom. But Sir were the children of Israel at this time better able to perform the condition of the covenant of works than either Adam or any of the old Patriarks that God renewed it now with them rather then before Evan. No indeed God did not renew it with them now and not before because they were better able to keep it but because they had more need to be made acquainted what the covenant of works is then those before for though 't is true the Ten Commandements which were at first perfectly written in Adams heart were much obliterated by his fall yet some impressions and reliques thereof still remained and Adam himself was very sensible of his fall and the rest of the fathers were holpen by traditions And saith Cameron God did speak to the Patriarchs from heaven yea and he spake unto them by his Angels But now by this time sin had almost obliterated and defaced the impressions of the Law written in their hearts and by their being so long in Egypt they were so corrupted that the instructions and ordinances of their fathers were almost all worne out of mind and their fall in Adam was almost forgotten as the Apostle testifieth saying Before the time of the Law sin was in the world yet did they not impute it to themselves because there was no Law Nay in that long course of time betwixt Adam and Moses men had forgotten what was sin so that although God had made a promise of blessing to Abraham and to all his seed that would plead interest in it yet these people at this time were proud and secure and heedlesse of their estate and though sin was in them and death raigned over them yet they being without a law to evidence this sin and death unto their consciences they did not impute it unto themselves they would not own it nor charge themselves with it and so by consequence found no need of pleading the promise made to Abraham Therefore the Law entred that Adams offence and their own actuall transgression might abound So that now the Lord saw it needfull that there should be a new edition and publication of the covenant of works the sooner to compell the elect unbeleevers to come to Christ the promised seed that the grace of God in Christ to the elect beleevers might appeare the more exceeding gracious so that you see the Lords intention therein was that they by looking upon this Covenant might be put in mind what was their dutie of old when they were in Adams loines yea and what was their dutie still if they would stand to that covenant and so go the old and naturall way to work yea and hereby they were also to see what was their present infirmitie in not doing their duty that so they seeing an impossibilitie of obtaining life by that way of workes first appointed in Paradise they might be humbled and more heedfully minde the promise made to their father Abraham and hasten to lay hold on the Messiah or promised seed Nom. Then Sir it seemeth that the Lord did not renew the Covenant of workes with them to the intent that they should obtaine eternall life by their yeelding obedience to it Evan. No indeed God never made the

Covenant of workes with any man since the fall either with expectation that he should fulfill it or to give him life by it for God never appoints any thing to an end to the which it is utterly unsuitable and improper Now the Law as it is the covenant of works is become weak and unprofitable to the purpose of salvation and therefore God never appointed it to man since the fall to that end And besides it is manifest that the purpose of God in the covenant made with Abraham was to give life and salvation by grace and promise and therefore his purpose in renewing the covenant of works was not neither could be to give life and salvation by working for then there would have been contradictions in the covenants and instability in him that made them Wherefore let no man imagine that God published the covenant of works on mount Sinai as though he had been mutable and so changed his determination in that covenant made with Abraham neither yet let any man suppose that God now in processe of time had found out a better way for mans salvation then he knew before for as the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham had been needlesse if the Covenant of Works made with Adam would have given him and his believing seed life so after the covenant of grace was once made it was needlesse to renue the covenant of works to the end that righteousnesse and life should be had by the observation of it the which will yet more evidently appeare if we consider that the Apostle speaking of the covenant of works as it was given on mount Sinai saith It was added because of transgression It was not set up as a solid rule of righteousnesse as it was given to Adam in paradise but was added or put to It was not set up as a thing in grosse by it self Nom. Then Sir it should seem that the covenant of works was added to the covenant of grace to make it more compleat Evan. O no you are not so to understand the Apostle as though it were added by way of ingrediency as a part of the covenant of grace as if that covenant had been incompleat without the covenant of works for then the same covenant should have consisted of contradictory materials and so it should have overthrown it self for saith the Apostle If it be by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace But if it be of works then is it no more of grace otherwise work is no more work But it was added by way of subserviencie and attendance the better so advance and make effectuall the covenant of grace so that although the same covenant that was made with Adam was renewed on mount Sinai yet I say still it was not for the same purpose for this was it God aimed in making the covenant of works with man in innocencie to have that which was his due from man But God made it with the Israelites for no other end than that man being thereby convinced of his weaknesse might flie to Christ so that it was renued only to help forward and introduce another and a better covenant and so to be a manuduction unto Christ viz. to discover sin to waken the conscience and convince them of their own impotencie and so to drive them out of themselves to Christ. Know it then I beseech you that all this while there was no other way of life given either in whole or in part then the covenant of grace all this while God did but pursue the designe of his own grace And therefore was there no inconstancie either in Gods will or acts only such was his mercy that he subordinated the covenant of works and made it subservient to the covenant of grace and so to tend to evangelicall purposes Nom. But yet Sir me thinks it is somewhat strange that the Lord should put them upon doing the Law and also promise them life for doing and yet never intend it Evan. Though he did so yet did he neither require of them that which was unjust nor yet dissemble with them in the promise for the Lord may justly require perfect obedience at all mens hands by vertue of that Covenant which was made with them in Adam and if any man could yeeld perfect obedience to the law both in doing and suffering he should have eternall life for wee may not deny saith Calvin but that the reward of eternall salvation belongeth to the upright obedience of the law but God knew well enough that the Israelites were never able to yeeld such an obedience and yet hee saw it meet to propound eternall life to them upon those termes that so hee might speake to them in their owne humor as indeed it was meet for they swelled with mad affiance in themselves saying All that the Lord commandeth we will doe and be obedient Well said the Lord If you will needs be doing why here is a law to be kept and if you can fully observe the righteousnesse of it you shall be saved sending them of purpose to the law to awaken and convince them to sentence and humble them and to make them see their own folly in seeking for life by that way in short to make them see the termes under which they stood that so they might bee brought out of themselves and expect nothing from the Law in relation to life but all from Christ for how should a man see his need of life by Christ if he do not first see that he is fallen from the way of life And how should hee understand how farre hee hath strayed from the way of life unlesse he doe first finde what is that way of life Therefore it was needfull that the Lord should deale with them after such a manner to drive them out of themselves and from all confidence in the worke of the Law that so by faith in Christ they might obtaine righteousnesse and life And just so did our Saviour also deale with that young expounder of the Law Matth. 19.16 who as it seemeth was sick of the same disease Good Master saith he What shall I doe that I may inherit eternall life He doth not saith Calvin simply ask which way or by what meanes hee should come to eternall life but what good he should doe to get it whereby it appsares that he was a proude Iustitiarie one that swelled in fleshly opinion that he could keep the Law and be saved by it therefore hee is worthily sent to the Law to worke himself weary and so see need to come to Christ for rest And thus you see that the Lord to the former promises made to the Fathers added a fierie Law which he gave from mount Sinai in thunder and lightning and with a terrible voice to the stubborne and stiff-necked Israel whereby to break and tame them and to make

them sigh and long for the promised Redeemer Ant. And Sir did the Law produce this effect in them Evan. Yea indeed did it as it will appear If you consider that although before the publishing of this Covenant they were exceeding proud and confident of their owne strength to doe all that the Lord would have them doe yet when the Lord came to deale with them as men under the Covenant of works in shewing himselfe a terrible Judge sitting on the throne of Justice like a mountaine burning with fire summoning them to come before him by the sound of a trumpet yet not to touch the mountaine without a mediatour they were not able to endure the voice of words nor yet to abide that which was commanded insomuch as Moses himselfe did feare and quake and they did all of them so feare and fright shake and shiver that their peacock feathers were now pulled downe This terrible shew wherein God gave his Law on mount Sinai did represent the use of the Law there was in the people of Israel that came out of Egypt a singular holinsse they gloried and said We are the people of God wee will doe all that the Lord commandeth Moreover Moses sanctified them and bad them wash their garments refraine from their wives and prepare themselves against the third day there was not one of them but he was full of holinesse The third day Moses bringeth the p●ople out of their tents to the mountain in the sight of the Lord that they might heare his voice what followed then Why when they beheld the horrible sight of the Mount smoaking and burning the blacke clouds and the lightnings flashing up and downe in this horrible darknesse and heard the sound of the trumpet blowing long and waxing louder and louder they were afraid and standing afar off they said not to Moses as before All that the Lord commandeth wee will doe but talke thou with us and we will heare but let not God talk with us lest wee die so that now they saw they were sinners and had offended God and therefore stood in need of a Mediatour to negotiate peace and intreat for reconciliation betweene God and them and the Lord highly approved of their words as you may see Deut. 5. where Moses repeating what they had said adds further The Lord heard the voyce of your words when yee spake to mee and the Lord said unto mee I have heard the voyce of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee they have well said all that they have spoken to wit in desiring a Mediatour Where I pray you take notice that they were not commended for saying All that the Lord commandeth we will doe No saith a godly Writer they were not praised for any other thing then for desiring a Mediatour Whereupon the Lord promised Christ unto them even as Moses testifieth saying The Lord thy God shall raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me from among you even of your brethren unto him shall you hearken according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the Assembly when thou saidest Let mee heare the voice of the Lord my God no more nor see this great fire any more that I die not and the Lord said unto mee They have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee and I will put my words in his mouth and hee shall speake unto them all that I command him And to assure us that Christ was the Prophet here spoken of hee himselfe saith unto the Jews If yee had believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me And that this was it which hee wrote of him the Apostle Peter witnesseth Acts 3.22 and so doth the Martyr Stephen Acts 7.37 Thus you see when the Lord had by meanes of the covenant of works made with Adam humbled them and made them sigh for Christ the promised seed he renued the promise with them yea and the covenant of grace made with Abraham Ant. I pray Sir how doth it appear that the Lord renued th●t Covenant with them Evan. It doth plainly appeare in that the Lord gave them by Moses the Leviticall Laws and ordained the Tabernacle the Ark and the Mercy-Seat which were all Types of Christ Moreover The Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the Tabernacle and commanded him to write the Leviticall Laws and the Tabernacle Ordinances telling him withall That after the tenour of those words he had made a Covenant with him and with Israel so Moses wrote these Laws not in Tables of stone but in an authenticall booke saith Ainsworth called the booke of the Covenant which book Moses read in the audience of the people Exod. 24.7 And the people consented unto it then Moses having before sent young men of the children of Israel who were first born and therefore Priests untill the time of the Levites to offer sacrifice of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings unto the Lord He tooke the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning these things whereby they were taught that by vertue of blood this Covenant betwixt God and them was confirmed and that Christ by his bloodshed should satisfie for their sins for indeed the Covenant of grace was before the comming of Christ sealed by his blood in Types and Figures Ant. But Sir was this every way the same Covenant that was made with Abraham Evan. Surely I do believe that Reverend Bullinger spake very truly when he said that God gave unto these people no other Religion in nature substance and matter it selfe differing from the Laws of their Fathers though for some respects hee added thereunto many Ceremonies and certain Ordinances the which he did to keep their mindes in expectation of the comming of Christ whom he had promised unto them and to confirm them in looking for him lest they should wax faint And as the Lord did thus by the Ceremonies as it were lead them by the hand to Christ so did he make them a promise of the Land of Canaan and outward prosperity in it as a type of heaven and eternall happinesse so that the Lord dealt with them as children in their infancy and under age leading them on by the help of earthly things to heavenly and spirituall because they were but young and tender and had not that measure and abundance of spirit which he hath bestowed upon his people now under the Gospel Ant. And Sir do you think that these Israelites at this time did see Christ and salvation by him in these types and shadows Evan. Yea there is no doubt but Moses and the rest of the believers amongst the Jews did see Christ in them for faith godly Tindall though all the Sacrifices and

small measure of the spirit Nom. But Sir was not the matter of that Covenant and this all one Evan. Yea indeed the Ten Commandements were the matter of both Covenants only they differed in the forms Ant. T●●n Sir it seems that the promises and threatnings contained in the old Testament were but temporary and terrestiall only concerning the good and evill things of this life Evan. This we are to know that like as the Lord by his Prophets gave the people in the old Testament many exhortations to be obedient to his Commandements and many dehortations from disobedience thereunto even so did he back them with many promises and threatnings concerning things temporall as these and the like Scrip●u●●s do witnesse Isa. 1.10 Heare the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give eare unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah I● ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good things of the land but if ye refuse and rebell ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And Jer. 7 3 Amend your wayes and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place But ye steal murder commit adultery and sweare falsly by my name therefore thus saith the Lord God behold mine anger and my fury shall be powred out upon this place And surely there be two reasons why the Lord did so First because as all men are born under the covenant of work● they are naturally prone to conceive that the favour of God and all good things do depend and follow upon their obedience to the Law and that the wrath of God and all evill things do depend upon and follow their disobedience to it And that mans chief happinesse is to be had and found in terrestriall paradise even in the good things of this life So the people of the Old Testament being neerest to Adams Covenant and Paradise were most prone to such conceits And secondly because the Covenant of Grace and Celestiall paradise were but little mentioned in the Old Testament they for the most part had but a glimmering knowledge of them and so could not yield obedience freely as sonnes therefore the Lord saw it meet to move them to yield obedience to his lawes by their own motives and as servants or children under age Ant. And were both believers and unbelievers that is such as were under the Covenant of Grace and such as were under the Covenant of Works equally and alike subj●ct as well to have the calamities of this life inflicted upon them for their disobedience as the blessings of this life conferred upon them for their obedience Evan. Surely the words of the Preacher do take place here when he saith All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked Were not Moses and Aaron for their disobedience hindered from entring into the land of Canaan as well as others And was not Josiah for his disobedience to Gods command sl●in in the valley of Megiddo Therefore assure your selfe that when believers in the Old Testament did transgresse Gods commandements Gods temporall wrath went out against them and was manifest in temporall calamities that befell them as well as others only here was the difference The believers temporall calamities had no eternall calamities included in them nor following of them and their temporall blessings had eternall blessings included in them and following of them And the unbelievers temporall blessings had no eternall blessings included in them nor following of them and their temporall calamities had eternall calamities included in them and following of them Ant. Then Sir it seemeth that all obedience that any of the Jewes did yield to Gods commandements was for feare of tempo●●ll punishment and in hope of temporall reward Evan. Surely the Sc●ip●ure seemes to hol● forth that there were three several sorts of people who endeavoured to keep the law of God and they did all of them differ in their ends The first sort of them were true believers who according to the measure of their faith did believe the resurrection of their bodies after death and eternall life in glory and that it was to be obtained not by th●●orkes of the Law but by faith in the M●ssi●h o● promised seed And answerably as they believed this answerably they yielded obedience to the Law freely without fear of punishment or hope of reward but alas the spirit of faith was very weak in the most of them and the spirit of bondage very strong and therefore they stood in need to be induced and constrained to obedience for feare of punishment and hope of reward The second sort of them were the Sadduces and their Sect and these did not believe that there was any Resurrection nor any life but the life of this world and yet they endeavoured to keep the Law that God might blesse them here and that it might go well with them in this present life The third sort and indeed the greatest number of them in the future ages after Moses were the Scribes and Pharisees and their Sects and they held and maintained that there was a Resurrection to be looked for and an eternall life after death and therefore they endeavoured to keep the Law not onely to obtaine temporall happinesse but eternall also for though it had pleased the Lord to make known unto his people by the ministrie of Moses that the Law was given not to retaine men in the confidence of their own workes but to drive them out of themselves and lead them to Christ the promised seed yet after that time the Priests and the Levites who were the expounders of the Law and whom the Scribes and Pharisees did succeed did so conceive and teach of Gods intention in giving the Law as though it had been that they by their obedience to it should obtaine righteousnesse and eternall life and this opinion was so confidently maintained and so generally imbraced amongst them that in their book Mechilta they say and affirme that there is no other Covenant but the Law and so in very deed they conceived that there was no other way to Eternall life then the Covenant of workes Ant. Surely then it seemes they did not understand and consider that the Law as it is the Covenant of workes doth not onely binde the outward man but also the inward man even the soule and spirit and requires all holy thoughts motions and dispositions of the heart and soule Evan. Oh no they neither taught it nor understood it so spiritually neither could they be perswaded that the Law doth require so much at mans hands for they first laid this downe for a certaine truth that God gave the Law for man to be Justified and saved by his obedience to it and that therefore there must needs be a power in man to doe all that it requireth or else God would never have required it

second thing and first tell us when the Lord began to make a promise to help and de●ver fallen mankind Evan. Even the same day that he sinned w●hich was the very same day he was created for Adam by his sin being become the child of wrath and both in body and in soule subject to the curse and seeing nothing due to him but the wrath and vengeance of God he was afraid and sought to hide himself from the presence of God whereupon the Lord promised Christ unto him saying to the serpent I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed He that is to say the seed of the woman for so is the Hebrew text shall break thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele This promise of Christ the womans seed was the Gospel and the only comfort of Adam Abel Enoch Noah and the rest of the godly Fathers untill the time of Abraham Nom. I pray you Sir what ground have you to think that Adam fell the same day he was created Evan. My ground for this opinion is Psal. 94.12 which text in the Hebrew is thus read Adam being in honour did not lodge a night in it Ant. But Sir do you think that Adam and those others did understand that promised seed to be meant of Christ Evan. Who can make any doubt but that the Lord had acquainted Adam with Christ betwixt the time of his sinning the time of his sacrificing though both on a day Ant. But did Adam offer sacrifice Evan. Can you make any question but that the bodies of those beasts whose skins went for a covering for his body were immediately before offered in sacrifice for his soul● Surely those skins could be none other but of beasts slain and offered in sacrifice for before Adam fell beasts were not subject to mortality nor slaying And Gods cloathing of Adam and his wife with skins signified that their sin and shame was covered with Christs righteousnesse And questionlesse the Lord had taught him that his sacrifice did signifie his acknowledgment of his sin and that he looked for the seed of the woman promised to be slain in the evening of the world thereby to appease the wrath of God for his offence the which undoubtedly he acquainted his sons Cain and Abel with when he taught them also to offer sacrifice Ant. But how doth it appeare that this his sacrificing was the very same day that he sinned Evan. It is said Ioh. 7.13 concerning Christ ●hat they sought to take him yet no man laid hands on him because his houre was not yet come But after that when the time of his sufferings was at hand he himself said The houre is come which day is expresly set down by the Evangelist Mark to be the sixth day and ninth houre of that day when Christ through the eternall Spirit offered up himself without spot to God Now if you compare this with Exod. 12.6 you shall find that the Paschall Lamb a most lively type of Christ was offered the very same day and houre even the 6. day and 9. houre of the day which was at 3 of the clock in the afternoon and the Scripture testifieth that Adam was created the very same sixth day and gives us ground to think that he sinned the same day And do not the fore-alleaged Scriptures afford us warrant to believe that it was the very same houre of that day when Christ entred mystically and typically upon the work of redemption in being offered as a sacrifice for Adams sin And surely we may suppose that the covenant as you heard being broken between God and Adam Justice would not have admitted of one houres respite before it had proceeded to execution to the destruction both of Adam and the whole Creation had not Christ in the very nick of time stood as the Ram or rather the Lamb in the bush and stepped in to perform the work of the covenant And hence I conceive it is that St. Iohn cals him the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world For as the first state of creation was confirmed by the covenant which God made with man and all creatures were to be upheld by meanes of observing the law and condition of that Covenant so that Covenant being broken by man the world should have come to ruine had it not been as it were created anew and upheld by the covenant of grace in Christ. Ant. Then Sir you think that Adam was saved Evan. The Hebrew Doctors hold that Adam was a repentant sinner and say that he was by wisdome that is to say by faith in Christ brought out of his fall yea and the Church of God doth hold and that for necessary causes that he was saved by the death of Christ yea saith Mr. Vaughan it is certain he believed the promise concerning Christ in whose commemoration he offered continuall sacrifice and in the assurance thereof he named his wife Heva that is to say life and he called his son Seth setled or perswaded in Christ. Ant. Well now I am perswaded that Adam did understand this seed of the woman to be meant of Christ. Evan. Assure your self that not only Adam but all the rest of the godly fathers did so understand it as is manifest in that the Thargum or Chalde bible which is the ancient translation of Ierusalem hath it thus Between thy son and her son Adding fur●her by way of comment So long O serpent ●s the womans children keep the Law they ●ill thee and when they cease to do so thou ●tingest them in the heele and hast power to ●urt them much but whereas for their harm ●here is a sure remedy for thee there is none for in the last dayes they shall crush thee all to ●eeces by means of Christ their king And ●his was it which did support and uphold their faith untill the time of Abraham Ant. What followed then Evan. Why then the promise was turned into a covenant with Abraham and his seed and oftentimes repeated that in his seed all nations should be blessed Which promise and covenant was the very voice it self of the Gospel it being a true testimony of Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul beareth witnesse saying The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Gentiles through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed And the better to confirme Abrahams faith in this promise of Christ it is said Gen. 14.19 that Melchisedec came forth and met him and blessed him Now saith the Apostle this Melchisedec was a Priest of the most high God and king of righteousnesse and king of peace without father and without mother and so like unto the son of God who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and both king of righteousnesse and king of peace yea and without

dishonoured his Father which was heaven and therefore his dayes were not prolonged in that land which the Lord his God had given him 6. He massacred himselfe and all his posterity 7. From Eve he was a virgin but in eyes and minde he committed spirituall fornication 8. He stole like Achan that which God had set aside not to be medled with and this his stealth is that which troubles all Israel the whole world 9. He bare witnesse against God when he believed the witnesse of the Devill above him 10. He coveted an evill covetousnesse like Amnon which cost him his life and al● his progeny Now whosoever consider● what a nest of evils here were committed a● one blow must needs with Musculus se● our case to be such that we be compelled every way to commend the justice of God and to condemn the sin of our first parents saying concerning all mankinde as the Prophet Hosea doth concerning Israel O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Nom. But Sir had it not been possibl● for Adam both to have holpen himself and his posterity out of this misery by renewing the same covenant with God and keeping it for afterwards Eva. O no he covenant of works was a covenant no way capable of renovation when he had once broke it he was gone for ever because it was a covenant between two friends bu● f●llen man was become an enemy And besides it was an impossible thing for Adam to have performed the conditions which now the justice of God did necessarily require at his hands for he was now become liable to the payment of a double debt to wit the debt of satisfaction for his sin committed in time past and the debt of perfect and perpetuall obedience for the time to come and he was utterly unable to pay either of them Nom. Why was he unable to pay the debt of satisfaction for his sin committed in time past Evan. Because his sin in eating the forbidden fruit for that is the sin I mean was committed against an infinite and eternall good and therefore merited an infinite satisfaction which was to be either some temporall punishment equivalent to eternall damnation or eternall damnation it self Now Adam was a finite creature therefore between finite and infinite there could be no proportion so that it was impossible for Adam to have made satisfaction by any temporall punishment and if he had undertaken to have satisfied by an eternall punishment he should alwayes have been satisfying and never have satisfied as is the 〈◊〉 of the damned in hell Nom. And why was he unable to pay the debt of perfect and perpetuall obedience for the time to come Evan. Because his precedent power 〈◊〉 obey was by his fall utterly impaired fo● thereby his understanding was both feeble● and drowned in darknesse and his will was made perverse and utterly deprived of all power to will well and his affections were quite set out of order and all things belonging to the blessed life of the soule were extinguished both in him and us so that he wa● become impotent yea dead and therefor● not able to stand in the lowest terms to per●form the meanest condition the very truth is our father Adam falling from God di● by his fall so dash himself and us in peeces that there was no whole part left either 〈◊〉 him or us fit to ground such a Covenan● upon And this the Apostle witnesseth both when he saith We are of no strength And The Law was made weak because of th● flesh Nom. But Sir might not the Lord have pardoned Adams sinne without satisfaction Evan. O no for Justice is essentiall in 〈◊〉 and it is a righteous thing with God 〈◊〉 every transgression receive a just recom●●nce and if recompence be just it is un●●st to pardon sin without satisfaction and ●●ough the Lord had pardoned and forgiven 〈◊〉 former transgression and so set him in 〈◊〉 former condition of amity and friend●●ip yet having no power to keep the Law ●erfectly he could not have continued ●●erein Nomista And is it also impossible for 〈◊〉 of his posterity to keep the Law per●●ctly Evan. Yea indeed it is impossible for any ●eer man in the time of this life to keep it ●erfectly yea though he be a regenerate ●an for the Law requireth of man that he ●●ve the Lord with all his heart soule and ●●ight and there is not the holiest man that 〈◊〉 but he is flesh as wel as spirit in all parts ●nd faculties of his soule and therefore can●ot love the Lord perfectly yea and the ●aw forbiddeth all habituall concupiscence ●ot only saying thou shalt not consent to lust ●ut thou shalt not lust It doth not only ●ommand the binding of lust but forbids ●●so the beeing of lust And who in this case ●an say my heart is clean Antin Then friend Nomista take notice I pray that as it was altogether impossible for Adam to return unto that holy and happy estate wherein he was created by the same way he went from it so is it for any of his posterity and therefore I remember one saith very wittily the Law was Adams lease when God made him tenant of Eden the conditions of which bond when he kept not he forfeited himself and all us God read a lecture of the Law to him before he fell to be a hedge to him to keep him in Paradise but when Adam would not keep within compasse this Law is now become as the flaming sword at Eden gate to keep him and his posterity out Nom. But Sir you know that when a Covenant is broken the parties that were bound are freed and released from their ingagements and therefore me thinks both Adam and his posterity should have been released from the covenant of works when it was broken especially considering they have no strength to perform the condition of it Evan. Indeed it is true in every Covenant if either party fail in his duty and perform not his condition the other party i● thereby freed from his part but the party failing is not freed ti●l the other release him and therefore though the Lord be freed from performing his condition that is from giving to man eternall life yet so is not man from his part no though strength to obey be lost yet man having lost it by his own default the obligation to obedience remains still so that Adam and his off-spring are no more discharged of their duties because they have no strength to do them than a debtor is quitted of his bond because he wants money to pay it And thus neighbour Nomista I have according to your desire endeavoured to help you to the true knowledge of the Law of Works Ant. I beseech you Sir proceed to help us to the true knowledge of the Law of Faith Evan. The Law of faith is as much to say as the Covenant of grace or the Gospel which signifieth good merry glad and joyfull

tidings that is to say that God to whose eternall knowledge all things are present and nothing past or to come foreseeing mans fall before all time purposed and in time promised and in the fulnesse of time performed the sending of his sonne Jesus Christ into the world to help and deliver fallen mankind Ant. I beseech you Sir let us heare more of these things and first of all shew how we are to conceive of Gods eternall purpose in sending of Jesus Christ. Evan. Why here the Learned frame a kind of conflict in Gods holy attributes and by a liberty which the Holy Ghost from the language of holy Scripture alloweth them they speak of God after the manner of men as if he were reduced to some straits and difficulties by the crosse demands of his severall Attributes for Truth and Justice stood up and said that man had sinned and therefore man must die and so called for the condemnation of a sinfull and therefore worthily accursed creature or else they must be violated for thou saidst say they to God in what day that thou eatest of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt die the death Mercy on the other side pleaded for favour and appeales to the great Court in Heaven and there it pleads saying Wisdome and power and goodnesse have been all manifest in the Creation and Anger and Justice they have been magnified in mans misery that he is now plunged into by his fall but I have not yet been manifested O let favour and compassion be shewed towards man wofully seduced and overthrown by Sathan O said they unto God it is a royall thing to relieve the distressed and the greater any one is the more placable and gentle he ought to be But Justice replied If I be offended I must be satisfied and have my right And therefore I require that man who hath lost himself by his disobedience should for remedy set obedience against it and so satisfie the judgement of God Therefore the wisdome of God became an umpire and devised a way to reconcile them concluding that before there could be reconciliation made there must be two things effected first a satisfaction of Gods justice secondly a reparation of mans nature which two things must needs be effected by such a middle and common person that had both zeal toward God that he might be satisfied and compassion toward man that he might be repaired Such a person as having mans guilt and punishment translated on him might satisfie the justice of God and as having a fulnesse of Gods spirit and holinesse in him might sanctifie and repaire the nature of man And this could be none other but Jesus Christ one of the three persons of the blessed Trinity And therefore he by his Fathers ordinacion his own voluntary susception and the holy Spirits sanctification was fitted for the businesse whereupon there was a speciall covenant or mutuall agreement made between God and Christ as is expressed Isa. 53. vers 10. That if Christ would make himselfe a sacrifice sacrifice for him then he should see his seed he should prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper by him So in Psal. 89.19 the mercy of this Covenant between God and Christ under the type of Gods covenant with David are set forth Thou spakest in vision to thy Holy one and saidst I have laid help upon one that is mighty or as the Chaldee expoundeth one mighty in the Law As if God had said concerning his elect I know that these will break and never be able to satisfie me but you are a mighty and substantiall person able to pay me therefore I will look for my debt of you as Paraeus well observes God did as it were say to Christ What they owe me I require it all at your hands Then said Christ Lo I come to do thy will In the volume of thy book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is in my heart Thus Christ assented and from everlasting stroke hands with God to put upon him mans person and to take upon him his name and to enter in his stead in obeying his father and to do all for man that he should require and to yield in mans flesh the price of the satisfaction of the just judgment of God and in the same flesh to suffer the punishment that man had deserved And this he undertook under the penalty that lay upon man to have undergone and thus was Justice satisfied and Mercy magnified by the Lord Jesus Christ and so God took Christs single bond whence Christ is not only called the Surety of the Covenant for us Heb. 7 22. but the Covenant it self Isa. 49 8. And God laid all upon him that he might be sure of satisfaction protesting that he would not deale with us nor so much as expect any payment from us such was his grace And thus did our Lord Jesus Christ enter into the same covenant of works that Adam did to deliver believers from it he was contented to be under all that commanding revenging authority which that Covenant had over them to free them from the penalty of it and in that respect Adam is said to be a type of Christ as you have it Rom. 5.14 Who was the type of him that was to come Unto which purpose the 〈◊〉 which the Apostle gives these two Ch●ist and Adam are exceeding observable he cals Adam the fi●st man and Christ our Lord the second man speaking of them as if there never had been any more men in the world besides these two thereby making them the head and root of all mankind they having as it were the rest of the sons of men included in them the first man is called the earthly man the second man Christ is called the Lord from heaven The earthly man had all the sons of men born into the world included in him and is so called in conformity unto them The second man Christ is called the Lord from heaven who had all the elect included in him who are said to be the first-borne and to have their names written in heaven Heb. 12.13 and therefore are oppositely called heavenly men so that these two in Gods account stood for all the rest And thus you see that the Lord willing to shew mercy to the creature fallen and withall to maintain the authority of his Law took such a course as might best manifest his clemencie and severity Christ entred into covenant and became surety for man and so became liable to many ingagements for he that answers as a surety must pay the same sum of money that the debtor oweth And thus have I endeavoured to shew you how we are to conceive of Gods eternall purpose in sending of Jesus Christ to help and deliver fallen mankind Ant. I beseech you Sir proceed also to the