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
A97212	Caleb's inheritance in Canaan: by grace, not works, an answer to a book entituled The doctrine of baptism, and distinction of the covenants, lately published by Tho. Patient: wherein a review is taken, I. Of his four essentials, and they fully answered; ergo II. Dipping proved no gospel practice, from cleer scripture. III. His ten arguments for dipping refuted. IV. The two covenants answered, and circumcision proved a covenant of grace. V. His seven arguments to prove it a covenant of works, answered. VI. His four arguments to prove it a seale onely to Abraham, answered: and the contrary proved. VII. The seven fundamentals that he pretends to be destroyed by taking infants into covenant, cleeered; and the aspersion proved false. VIII. A reply to his answer given to our usual scriptures. For infant-subjects of the kingdom, in all which infant-baptism is cleered, and that ordinance justifyed, / by E.W. a member of the army in Ireland.	Warren, Edward, Member of the army in Ireland.	1655 (1655)	Wing W956; Thomason E856_2; ESTC R9139	117,844	134

duties inward and outward and all this but one Covenant This Covenant was confirmed First to Abraham as a publique Father Secondly to his seed i. e. all the heirs of promises to the worlds end both Jews and Gentiles 1. By Promise 2. By Oath 3. By seale So that what was promised to Abraham was promised to al his seed and what was sworn and seald to Abraham was sworn and seald to all his seed According to this definition also we shall see a twofold admission into Covenant 1. Into the outward priviledges of the Covenant 2. Into the inward grace of the Covenant Hence also we shall have light to see first how hypocrits and wicked men did then and do now get within the Covenant Secondly how such as are within the Covenant do break it As first hee that contemned or slighted or neglected the token or seale of the Covenant to his seed hath broken the Covenant which being outward they might keep Secondly The breach of any part of the Morall Law was a breach of the Covenant and this also might have been externally kept by all that were externally within the Covenant Thirdly All those typicall Church rites might have been kept and the neglect or breach of any one in the due order or manner required was a breach of the Covenant for neglect of the first Gods wrath was so kindled against Moses that he would have kild him for breach of the second and third Israel was also punisht with death many instances thereof might be given Hence also we shall be led to an answere how the ●ovenant is call'd 1. Old and so vanisht away 2. New and so remaines 3. An administration This being briefly premised I now come to give in the Answer to the place by him quoted Jer. 31.32 which he brings to prove that there are two Covenants but grossely mistaken yet so far as we may goe without breach of faith to the truth of Christ in acknowledging two Covenants shall not deny him friendship as namely First That there hath been two Covenants made with man the one of workes before the fall in which man stood alone without a mediator under which covenant al mankind by nature lies to this day which is also materially the same with that righteous Law Morall given to Israel from mount Sinah though upon other tearmes Secondly The other of Grace made since the fall and tendred to Adam in the promise of Christ since which the Law in any part of it is not given as a covenant of workes but as the Law of Christ put in the hands of a mediator therefore Thirdly It was never intended by God either in giving circumcision to Abraham or the Law to Israel that ever Abrahams seed should enjoy Canaan by the law as a Covenant of works but only as hath been laid down in the Analysis as mans part of the covenant of grace Quest But if that was not a covenant of works given to Israel when God took them by the hand in order to bring them into Canaan what then can be the meaning of that place where the holy Ghost speaks of an old new Covenant tells us the new Covenant which he will make after those days shall not be according to the old c. The clearing of this with a Questian or two more will take in all those scriptures brought to this and therefore I further answer First The Covenant there mentioned is call'd new as the Law of love Iohn 13.34.1 Iohn 2.8 is call'd a new Commandment or Law which yet is not new in it self but the same Command as was given to Israel of old Lev. 19.18 And as the new heavens and new earth are call'd new Re. 21.1 And as the new Creature is call'd new which is not the annihilating the old and creating new but the putting of the old heavens and old earth into a new frame of Government and the old creature into a new state of grace so the new Covenant is the same that brought Israel out of Egypt and contained remission of sins and eternall life in Christ by faith with all the blessings of this life but so call'd new Secondly Because those typicall ceremonies and ordinances which were mans part of the Covenant of grace then and related to his dutie in Gods worship were by Christs coming abolisht and new ordinances under the Gospell establisht in room thereof for the promising part of the Covenant of grace from the beginning hath ever been cloathed with the preceptive Conditional part to bind up man to his dutie and walking close with God in his Ordinances of worship And therefore when Christ was held forth in the first promise immediatly sacrifices were instituted a distinction made betwixt clean and unclean creatures the Law of tithes and first fruits observed blood forbidden familie-duties required all which a diligent reader of Scriptures may easily observe from Adam to Moses before there was a publishing the Law from Sinay and so to Christ Track it from Christ again to the worlds end you have the first abolisht a second instituted and as then so still to bind man to his dutie in walking with God but not as in a distinct Covenant of works but as the terms of grace to which man is bound by the Covenant and thus those typicall ce emonies were as old clothes and are called beggerly Rudiments or Rags in which the promising part was clothed and drest The Apostle in Heb. 10. calls the exhibition of Christ in flesh in offering up his blood by once dying and such manner of institutions as should be written by him to be the new Covenant verse 15.16 and puts it in opposition to the Legall sacrifices verse 4. 5 therefore verse 19 20. the second is called the new and living way consecrated implying that as there is now a way to heaven consecrated by the blood of Christ and therefore new so there was a way to heaven before Christ came consecrated by the blood of Bulls and Goats called old by this then we see in what respect the Covenant is called new and old namely as relating to a new or old Church-state the first given as typicall by Moses to Israel as Christs kingdom the second as substantiall by Christ to the same kingdom but still in the same Covenant of grace for a Church state is given in order to a soules enjoying communion with God in his ordinances which is impossible to be by a Covenant of works since the fall thus then the bringing of Israel into a new Church-state under the Gospell is called a new Covenant which God will make with the house of Israel in those daies This gives us light to answer also that other place Heb. 8.6 7. by Master Patient quoted to prove two Covenants because Christ is called the Mediator of a better Covenant establisht upon better promises for if the first Testament had been faultless there would have been no place sought for the second but finding

footsteps of the flock have gone before us whereas if the blind lead the blind they both tumble into a ditch or River And thus both the matter and form of a true Gospel-Church is maintained by our doctrine and practice VII The last head of Fundamentals which he saith our doctrine and practice destroys is P. That persons may have a right to a covenant of life without an in-being in Christ by faith and is it not therefore a sad thing that persons that profess themselves Ministers and to have knowledge in the Gospel should be so blinded as to mislead people in so weighty a point as this is and that they should endeavor to leaven thousands of people with such a sad error as opposeth it self against the substance of the Gospel c. A. It hath been the main policy of Satan in all times of Reformation to endeavor the subversion of the Ministery of Christ and by all means to make them fall as stars from heaven because he then knows how to carry on his kingdom works of darkness And if Israel cannot be overcome when they are united to one God in one way in one Commonwealth he will then divide them because then he knows his work will thrive in the hands of Jeroboams Priests We may here see what a heighth the false Prophets of this Commonwealth are come to that they can without check smite the Prophets of God upon the face with reviling words dragon-like casting a flood of waters out of their mouths that so their may not escape we may doubt such words are but preludiums to a remaining Tragedy I speak the more in this because I have also seen a piece called the Kings of the East which may be rather called the devils pleading for a Pulpit in which when he speaks to the Ministers for licence to make use of them he tells us if they will not give leave they shall be prayed down and pulled down But I hope they rage the more because they have but a short time But to come to the answer What he hath here said is of the same nature with what he hath spoken before and so hath been already answered Before he charged our baptism to be a counterfeit baptism and here again our Ministers are blinde and misleade thousands to oppose the substance of the Gospel What taunting bold language is this and how unfit for a man of his thred-bare knowledge and profession I hope the reader will excuse me because it is to speak a word for those choice leaders of Christs flock who are as sheep dumb before the shearers of our times 2. The former distinction of the covenant must be still minded and then it is apparent that the charge put in against our Ministery is false I have been one of their followers above this 12 yeers I bless God I never heard such a doctrine delivered That propagation gave an in-being in the spiritual part of the covenant of Grace which is that M. P intends by the covenant of life Therefore what the Prophet said to Ahab is not mis-applyed to him It is he and such like as he That are the troublers of Israel That leavens the Nations with errors That run before they are sent for he whom God hath sent speaks the things of God he speaks not the things of God because he understands them not as hath been made appear hitherto he understands not the covenant of Grace from works what the new covenant is the extent thereof how to baptize or whom to baptize And therefore with the false Prophets he teaches to revolt from God and his ways The Reader may by this time see what wood hay and stubble he hath built that not one Argument hitherto either to prove our practice to overthrow the forenamed Fundamenta●s or Circumcision a covenant of Works hath been made good Therefore it is evident That they remain unmoveable and untoucht notwithstanding those horrible outcryes wherewith he chargeth our doctrine and practice withal pag. 83. CHAP. XIV The Third general head answered P. THe third head propounded to be proved by him was that none but believers had or shall have a right to the covenant of Grace to prove which he tells us that so soon as the seed of the woman was promised to our first Parents after the fall the Lord immediately made an outward covenant of Works which was typical and intayled upon the flesh out of which Christ was to come which was more dark till Abrahams days then till Moses more cleer and then from Moses it brake forth cleerly and so continued till Christ in whom it ceas'd and ended A. That those typical Ceremonies by him called a covenant of works was part of the covenant of Grace hath been fully proved Therefore le ts keep the old distinction and hold fast the form of sound words to cast off which is of as dangerous a consequence as to strip the Barke from the Tree and then let the other grow if it can Besides note what must necessarily follow I. God made a covenant of works with Adam which he broke II. God made a covenant of Grace after he fell III. God made again another covenant of Works so that here is implyed either 1 That the covenant of G●ace was incompleat and had not a Table sufficiently furnisht to accommodate all parts of man And therefore he must be left to a covenant of works for temporals so to help out what the other wants or 2 That mans happiness in a state of Grace was so imperfect and unstable that he fell back into a covenant of works or 3 That God after he had made a covenant of Grace with man upon better consideration took that away and re-stated him in a covenant of works or 4 That a believer as before observed may be in two covenants at once or 5 That God had rather all men should be damned then saved And 6 That upon Christs coming the conditions of the covenant of Grace by him called of works being abolisht as such a covenant Therefore now man either stands loose or free from all Ordinances and Sabboths or else the observing the Sabboths or keeping to them must be a new covenant of works Thus it is apparent what a rock of error and heresie we should at last split upon by imbracing such fantastical notions as this patron of plunging would dowse us into Therefore let the Reader observe that Heb. 11. and he shall finde the typical worship was then made acceptable to God by believing as our Ordinances are now which had it been a covenent of works it would have stood directly opposed to faith therefore it was of faith that it might be by grace But when he speaks of a covenant of works then If it be of works it is no more of Grace otherwise Grace is no more Grace And take also a brief touch of the parallel of that administration which was the old covenant and so of works Then as

fault with them hee saith behold the day is come when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and verse 13. In that he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old now that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away By which tearms old and new first and second better and worse he would needs understand two Covenant● one of works the other of Grace Answ In this 8 Chap. the Apostle comes to apply what he had treated of before in the former Chap. verse 1 now of the things which we have spoken this is the summe ●n the former Chapter the Apostle had been speaking of the Levitical Priesthood and Law i. e. the Law of Ordinances and therefore verse 18. he tells us the Commandement going before i. e. before Christ came was disannull'd because of the weakness and unprofitableness of it and gives the reason in verse 19. because the Law i. e. the Law of ceremonies made nothing perfect in comparison but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh to God by which he means the Gospel-Ordinances of worship called better because opposed to the Ceremonies of the Law which therefore are implyed to be wrote And that by this better hope is meant Gospel-Ordinances is evident because the Apostle useth it as an Argument to the Church of the Hebrews to perswade them to hold fast their profession which they were revol●ing from ●elling them If they should cast of the Ordinances of worship they could not then draw nigh to God because they would then cast off also the High-Priesthood of Christ so ch 3.6 Whose house are we if we held fast the rejoycing of the hope to the end And ver 14. We are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the confidence to the end He here calls that the confidence which before he called the Hope and Confidence and ch 10.35 Cast not away therefore your Confidence As if he had said If you cast away the Ordinances of worship you stand no longer related to Christ as his house nor have you any hope or ground of hope to draw nigh to God So ch 7.19 the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh to God So that the Ordinances of drawing ●igh to God under the Gospel are called a better hope as they stand opposed to ●he Ordinances of worship under the Law which albeit they did approach to God in them yet they were kept thereby at a greater di●●ance ch 9.6 7 8 9. So Again let us review this chapter further because the cleering up of chap. 8. depends upon it And these Scriptures being fully answered we shall not have much to do with the rest we have already seen hat the O di●ances of the Gospel are opposed to those of the Law And hat this is so see v. 11. If perfection was by the Levitical Priesthood For under it the people received the Law what need was there of another Priesthood to rise after the order of Melchizedek What law ●as this the people received ver 12. 'T is such a law as was changed ●p●n the change of the Priesthood which cannot be meant of the Moral Law for this is still the s●me and not changed but the Law of the Altar which in ver 16. is called a carnal commandment which in ver 18. is disanulled by reason of the weakness of it and ver 19 for the Law made nothing perfect and the reason is given ch 9 9. Because i● was a figure for the time present in which were offered gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did it perfect And ch 10.1 The Law bring but a shadow of good things to come can never with those Sacrifices which they continually offered make the comers there to perfect for then they would not have ceased and in ver 8. when he speaks of Christ coming to be offered he draws this result from the premisses he takes away the first that he may establish the second Now in this 8 chapter he draws towards a conclusion and in the first verse of the things which we have spoken this is the sum he had before spoken of the Law of Ordinances and weakness thereof and therefore in this 7. v. of c. 8. he calls it the first Covenant for if the first Covenant had been faultless Why wherein was it faulty The Apostle had before told them it was faulty because it was weak and unprofitable and had it not been so that law of Ordinances would have made the worshippers perfect And then no place would have been sought for the second Covenant So then by the first Covenant 't is cleer is meant the Ordinances of the Ceremonial worship and therefore finding fault with them he speaks in the plural number them Ordinances not Covenants ver 8. unless Mr Patient will make two Covenants of works then he saith behold the day is come when I will make a new Covenant referring to Jer 31 3● with the house of Israel i. e. new l●was of worship Not according to the Covenant I made with their Fathers c. And verse last in that he saith a new covenant he hath made the first old c. And therefore whereas Mr P. tells us that God gave Israel a Covenant of works to enjoy Canaan by It is most absurd as by their following particulars further ap●ears 1. Had those typical Ordinances been a Covenant of Works given at Mount Sinai to Israel then it had not been put in the hand of a Mediator For where God gives a people a Mediator is supposed he intends them Grace thereby When Adam was put into a Covenant of Works he was left to stand or fall by himself without help since that no Covenant of Works was ever made Gal. 4. Moses is called the Mediator of the first Testament Now a Will or a Testament is an act of Grace purely 2. Had it been a Covenant of Works by which they were to possess Canaan there had not been one man that ever had entred into that rest For it was impossible for them to fulfil it because the power of doing so as to answer a Covenant of works was lost in the fall 3. What favour had this been to Abraham Isaac and so to all the seed of Promise to have such a flourishing promise to possess such a fruitful Land by a Covenant of Works when many of the Nations of the world did possess a more fruitful Country and were never put to such labour and toyle such difficulties and dangers that Israel were put to 4. 'T is against the Nature of a Covenant of Grace which God made with Abraham first to put him into a Covenant of Grace for spirituals and then twenty four yeers after should put him into a Covenant of Works for Temporals So that either believers must fall from Grace or else stand under two Covenants at one time 5. Had it been a

Covenant of Works made with Abraham Isaac and so along as this Author affirms then how came the bond-womans son a type of that Covenant to be exempted from that Covenant of Works and Isaac which wes Sarahs son a type of the Covenant of Grace and a child of Promise to be put under that Covenant It could not be for any outward distinction in outward enjoyments for I shmael had more of the glory of the world then Isaac Gen. 17.21 6. Had the mercy intended Israel related onely to externals in giving them a fruitful Country in blessing their corn wine and oyle the fruit of their bodies their basket and store as Mr. Patient affi●ms and this to be enjoyed by a Covenant of Works then as a worthy Divine well observes in somewhat the like case how could Esau have been charged for a prophane person for selling his birth-right For there had been no prophane●ess in that because prophaneness supposeth a contempt or neglect of something spiritual which is therfore to be enjoyed upon a spiritual account and not by works 7 What the Prophet speaks Jer. 31.22 and the Apostle Heb. 8. 9. of Gods taking Israel by the hand to bring them out of Egypt is by the Prophet Hos 11.4 interpreted compared with Mat. 2.15 to be an act of a tender Father who owned Israel as a son for as a father in tender love and respect to his young child takes h●m by the hand to teach him to go so did God deal with Israel when a child The like be did to Ephraim ver 3. I taught Ephraim also to go taking him by the hand so when he destroyed Sodom Gen. 19.16 Whilst L●t ●●gered as being unwilling to leave Sodom the Text saith he laid h●ld upon his hand and brought him forth And the reason is given because the Lord was merciful to them So that what God did to his people in this kind is most cleer was from a pure Covenant of Grace and Mercie not by a Covenant of Works 8. What God did to Israel in giving them rest in Canaan was as Canaan was a Type of Heaven Isa 65.9 and of the Churches state under the New-Testament Jer. 3.18 Psal 105.6 For so the promise of Abraham in giving them Canaan is by the Prophet David interpreted to be to a thousand generations which therefore must needs extend to the end of the world For so 't is called a Covenant for ever And had his seed injoyed Canaan from Abrahams days yet from thence to Christ was but forty two generations Mat. 1. So that if Canaan was to be possest as a type of heaven then it was not to be possest by a Covenant of works but by faith so Abraham possest it Heb. 11.8 9 10. By Faith he sojourned in the Land of promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same Promise For he looked for a City which had foundations whose builder and maker was God And ver 15 16. he sought a better Country a Country whereof that was but a type Now what promise wer● Isaac and Jacob heirs of Why that of the Covenant of Grace Gen. 17.8 To thee will I give the Land of Canaan And this the Apostle tell● us was possest by Faith as a type of heaven therefore not by a Covenant of Works 9 It further appears by comparing Gen. 17.7 I will be thy God with Heb. 11.16 Wh●refore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City Where the Apostle thus argues that had the gr●at pro●●se to ●braham been onely of an earthly Canaan which this Author affirms was to be enjoyed by a Covenant of Works God would have been ashamed to be called his God t is evident therefore that for men to affirm such Doctrines as this is to put an affront upon God himself 10. It still further appears that Abrahams seed injoyed Canaan by a Covenant of Grace because what ●oses and Ioshua did who were their c●nductors was done by faith and ti● also applyed to all Israel Heb 11.27 28 ●9 By faith he forsook Egypt by faith he kept the passeover by faith they past through the red Sea So when Joshua led them over Jo dan it was an act of faith yea the very conquest of the enemy there was an act of Faith ver 30. therefore for him to affirm t●a● fi st Covenant be●ore largely opened to be those typical ceremonies and so mans p●rt of the Covenant of Grace to be ● Covenant of Works by which they were to live happ●ly in Canaan is such not●rious stuffe that he might blush to name it 11● S●ch ● doctrine directly opposeth these Scriptures Deut. 9.4.5 6 7 8 speak not thou in thy heart saying for my righteousness the Lo d hath brought me in to possess this Land and ver 5. not for thy righteous●ess dost thou possess this Land And ver 6. not for thy righteousness for thou art a stiff-necked pe●ple and ver 7 f●rget not how thou provokedst the Lord to wrath in the wilderness and from the day that ye came out of Egypt even to this day until ye came to this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord and ver 27. he refers back to Abrahams Covenant and makes use of it as an argument to prevail with God in Prayer because he had promised to give them Canaan by grace and not by their works so also ch ●0 11 12 13 16. Exod. 2.24 ch 3.6.8 and ch 6.8 Numb 14.23 12. That rest the Apostle speaks of Heb. 4.1 is meant of a like rest to that of Canaan which Israel was cut short off for want of faith Heb. 3.18 to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not this promise of rest is by the Apostle called a p●eaching ●he Gospel Heb. 4.2 For unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them implying cleerly that what was spoken in that promise of giving Israel rest in Canaan was a preaching the Gospel to them So that as the spiritual part of the Covenant which conveys justification by Faith is by Paul called a Gospel preaching Gal. 3.8 ●o the temporal part of the same Covenant Gen. 17.8 which this ●uthor would fain make a Covenant of works thereby to maintain his errors the same Apostle tells us it was a Gospel preach●ng also By what therefore hath been said hitherto t is a shining truth that Abrahams Covenant in all parts thereof relating to spirituals and temporals was a full and compleat Covenant of Grace to which circumcision was annexed as a seal not as a distinct Covenant of works in order to the possessing of Canaan because as hath been proved by these twelve considerations as there hath been no Covenant of works given since the fall so Israel injoyed Canaan by a Covenant of Grace it follows therefore that Circumcision and all those legal Ordinances called the first

Covenant PAg. 42. The next general head by him laid down to prove is That Circumcision is no covenant of grace but of works called a covenant in the flesh Gen. 17.13 but before he comes to his Arguments he opens the meaning of the word everlasting which is to be understood of the ever of the Law especially when it comprehends with it their seed in their generations and this he lays down as a maxim to prove which he brings Lev. 16. Num. 25.13 Exod. 40.15 ch 30.20 21. all which places speak of the Levitical Priesthood either of the line in which it should run or the way by which they were instated into their office by anointing or the manner by which they approacht constantly into the Tabernacle or of the manner of their atonement for the people all which should remain as an everlasting statute in their generations A. That by everlasting we are to understand the ever of the Law onely is no sound maxim for though it be so to be understood in the places quoted because it related to the Priesthood and Tabernacle worship yet if that covenant in Gen. 17. Which Circumcision sealed then upon which God promised the Land of Canaan as a type of heaven remains still as an everlasting covenant then his maxim is broken see therefore that parallel Text Psal 105.6 to Gen. 17. O ye seed of ●braham his servant he is the Lord our God he hath remembred his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath with Isaac and confirmed the same to Jacob for a Law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant saying To thee will I give the Land of Canaan c. From which it appear that the word everlasting is to be understood to a thousand generations i. e. to the worlds end because the giving Israel Canaan was a type of heaven and from Abrahams days to Christ was but forty two Generations Therefore this difference is to be observed that when he speaks of statutes everlasting to be observed in their generations 'T is meant of those Statute Laws that God gave to Israel for worship and so as Mr Patient observes it is to be understood for the ever of the Law But when the Holy Ghost speaks of a covenant everlasting as in Gen. 1● 15 'T is such a covenant that is to continue so long as the heavens and earth shall continue so Paul calls it Heb. 13.20 The blood of the everlasting covenant And this in Gal. 3.17 was that covenant that Christ confirmed to Abraham and his seed 430 yeers before the Law and called everlasting in that place of Genesis befo e quoted which everlasting covenant ●o●k in an everlasting seed and is called a Gospel-preaching to Abraham Gal. 3.8 and by John Rev. 14.6 is also explained to be an eve●lasting Gospel from hence also it is that Paul in Heb. 6. when ●e speaks of Gods blessing Abraham and multiplying his seed which he c lls ●he h●rs of promise calls it his immutable Counsel as relating to both the covenant and the seed of the covenant Now if there be an everlastingness in the covenant which takes in such a seed as it did to Abraham then must it continue longer then the Law or else there must be a mutability So again if the persons row covenant ng were changed i. e. If God were not the same to believers and their seed now as ●e was t●en or if believers should now covenant onely for themselves and leave out their seed then there is a mutation of the covenant therefore David in Psal 102.26 27 28. before quoted speaking of the infant seed of the Church tells us that though the heavens and earth should wax old and perish as a garment which words are qu●ted by Paul Heb. ● 1 to a Gospel-●h rch yet that Church s●ed should continue so also Psal 103.17 18. from everlasting to everlasting and that by vertue of t at everlasting covenant therefore what feeble maxin s this new Doctor teacheth and how ill he compares Texts we may here see Pag 4● The next thing he opens is these words I will be thy God and thy seeds God and that two ways the o●e b a covenant of Grace the other by a cov●nant of Works the first absolute the second conditional and so God gave himself to be Abrahams God by a conditional c●v●nant of Works A. That this is strange Divinity that God should be a peoples God by a Covenant of Works since the fall I doubt not but it will appear to sound Ch istians from what hath been already said I shall therefore pass it to come to his confused Arguments some of which I have contracted into form to take the better prospect thereof P. H●s first Argument runs thus That covenant that runs upon conditions is a covenant of Works but so doth Circumcision therefore A. To which I answer The first proposition is denyed and d●sproved and it is by him confest that faith and repentance is a condition of the covenant So that by this he affirms pro and con and may as well say plainly that the covenant of grace is a covenant of works because it hath conditions therefore his foundation is too weak and rotten for such a building P. In pag. 45. he would prove the land of Canaan to be given to Abraham and his seed by a covenant of works and so would be their God and then his Argument runs thus If God g●ve the Land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed upon the condition of Circumcision and keeping the Law then he gave the land of Canaan by a covenant of works but God gave the land to Abraham upon condition he would circumcise his seed Therefore A. This hath been already cleared that circumcision and keep●ng of the law was mans part of the covenant of Grace in which the Church was to walk with God being bound up to visible duties then as it is now and that Canaan was not g ven Israel by works my answer to the preceding head makes clear to which I refer the Read●r yea it is directly against these Scriptures before quoted Deut. 9.4 5 6 7 8 ch 10 11 12 13 16. Exod. 3.24 Heb 3.18 ch 4.1 2. ch 11. 8 9 10. yea so to affirm is to put an affront upon God himself and to make him ashamed of that title of being Abrahams God Heb. 11.16 See also the twelve Scripture-considerations before mentioned P. In pag 45 46. he brings several Scriptures to prove that Circumcision bound to the keeping of the Law But not one of all those places by him quoted speaks that they were bound to keep it as a covenant of works but as the Law of Christ and so Israels Gospel in which Justification was conveyed and therefore when we read of the Primitive revoltings from Gospel-Ordinances to Circumcision and the works of the law as the Church at Rome and Galatia

did it was upon the like mistake of this Author who thought the law had been given them as a Covenant of works which was not so intended and by this means they came to rest in the law and are condemned for it by the Apostle Rom. 2.13 17. Gal. 5.1 2. 2. Consider that Baptism now binds as much to keep the law Moral and Gospel-Ordinances as Circumcision then did bind Israel to keep the same moral law with the legal Ordinances and he m●ght with as much evidence of truth argue That because Baptism binds to keep the law therefore the Churches of Christ now are under a covenant of works P. page 47 he winds up thus Abraham as if God should say I will be thy God and thy seeds God to protect defend deliver and bless thee with the blessings of Canaan in the fruit of the womb in thy basket and store and with all outward blessings upon condition that thou wilt be circumcised and keep the law as a covenant of works A. A poor Argument was it not to prevail with Abraham when he might have replyed Lord there are many that do possess a far greater portion in the world yea thou hast said that my son Ishmael shall have twelve Princes rise from him and that he shall be a great man in the earth yet none of them are bound up to such strict obligations And when thou gavest a covenant of works to Adam he should have had heaven and eternal happiness and glory And shall I be content with an earthly portion upon such hard terms And upon this account it is the Author to the Hebrews doth so argue That God would have been ashamed to be called Abrahams God which yet Mr Patient is not ashamed to tell the world in print that he was Abrahams God by a covenant of Works Horrid stuffe The like answer is to be given to that place Jer. 11.2 3 4 5. cursed be the man that obeys not the words of this covenant which I commnnded your Fathers When I brought them from Egypt saying Obey my voice so shall ye be my people and I will be your God that I may confirm the oath which I sware to your Fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey the Land was given by grace and the covenant he speaks of was a covenant of grace not of works but as faith leads to works so the covenant leads man to h●s duty in keeping the commands of God it was so then and so it is now and in this sense that place is true Psal 6. he rewardeth every man according to his works not for his works And we are at this day Gods people and be our God upon the same terms of works as then See 2 Cor. 6.17 18 come out from amongst them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing and then I will be your Father and ye shall be my sons and daughters so that God becomes ours upon conditions still and yet by no covenant of works P. Page 48. The last thing with which he concludes this first Argument if such it be is this Abraham had a covenant of Grace made with him twenty four yeers before that covenant of works and his happiness with all his spiritual seed was in that absolute covenant A. Had M. Patients memory been good he would not so have contradicted himself For first this covenant of works he hath made to begin from Adam and so descended to Abraham For he hath long before proved that the Law which was given from Sinai was in force before the days of Noah how then is that like to hold with this that the covenant of works was not given to Abraham t is twenty four yeers after that of Grace 2 If he make Circumcision the covenant of works that he means then it implyes that Abraham had two covenants of works one by descent and the other made afterwards 3 Where he tells us the happiness of his spiritual seed lies in the absolute covenant I answer what spiritual seed had Abraham if it was not Isaac And yet Isaac was the line in which the covenant of Circumcision was to run and not Ishmael Gen 17.21 So that look what happiness the promise gave him of Gods being his God was conveyed in that covenant and either Mr Patient must say it was no happiness to him to have God to be his God or else if it was a happiness then he must acknowledge it in that covenant Thus we see how sadly he is be error'd certainly had this Doctrine been brought in the Apostles days he would have lookt upon it as another Gospel ●nd it is a sad curse that he gives to the preachers thereof P. A second Argument though very improperly so called to prove circumcision a covenant of works is because it was a national covenant in the flesh A. The prudent Reader may easily observe what a poor shift this is to maintain Circumcision a covenant of works as if a covenant of Grace could not be national and though what hath been said to prove Circumcision a covenant of pure Grace be sufficient yet I shall briefly add If the promise made with Abraham was a Gospel promise in wh ch were contained national blessings in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed If the Jews shall be re ingraffed as they were cut off If by the stone cut out of the mountains that shall fill the world be to be understood the Church and kingdom of Christ If the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas If there shall be a new heaven and a new earth wherein shall dwell righteousness If the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews and given to another Nation If the Church now coming out of the wilderness holds parallel with the Church in the wilderness under the Law If the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord Christ if that Commission Mat. 28. in order hereunto be to teach all Nations c. If that Nation and kingdom that will not serve Christ shall be cut off Isa 60.12 Then are the blessings of a covenant of Grace national blessings and what God intended in Abrahams covenant was national I need say no more P. In pag. 49 50 51 52. he runs into a large field of discourse and over-runs the old Scriptures again as it is usual with him to prove that though the Jews had the covenant of Circumcision given them by entail yet as to matter of Justification they were as far off as Pagans and heathens and what Justification Abraham had was while he was uncircumcised and yet withal granting That the Jews had the advantage of other Nations by having those Eminent tenders of the Gospel held out amongst them And notwithstanding that covenant in the flesh yet they were all sinners and therefore there is but one way of Justification which is by faith in his blood therefore Circumcision

inward or how else should there be any communion of Saints on earth Thus Hagars son though by nature born under a covenant of works was a Church member And he could call Abraham father as Isaac could though not under such a spiritual consideration for still the in-works of Adoption Sonship Justification and Sanctification have run by prom●se in a close hidden and spiritual way wo●king upon and changing the heart And though Isaac Jacob and the rest of the line were all born in sin as well as Ishmael and Esau yet the Promise takes time to work and brings in the Elect of God some later some sooner yea let us bring down this again to a parallel and compare it to the practice of M. P. Sure I am he cannot say that all he and others with him plunged upon their profession of faith are the real Adopted sons of God or real●y holy or really justifyed or sanctifyed that is spiritually But this they may say they are visibly such and some may be such also spiritually but who they be is unknown to man and yet all were alike by nature born in sin and children of wrath 2. And thus all those Scriptures Ephes 2.2 by nature children of wrath Rom. 3.9 none righteous no not one are answered This was also the equal condition of Paul David and the rest born and conceived in sin and yet as Abrahams seed they were interessed in the covenant then as believers and their seed are now We may then see how his heap of chaff cast upon the truth begins already to be blown away II. P. The second fundamental which he proclaims to the world that our practice overturns is stability in a covenant of eternal life for if all Israel were born in the covenant of Grace then all should be saved but there were but a remnant of Israel saved all the rest damned Isa 10.22 23. Rom. 9.22 And if so born they must needs fall away from Grace A. As stability in Grace is a glorious truth so neither doth this touch it For it onely makes the outward part of the covenant instable That is a falling away from their visible being in the covenant for as hath been said a man may be in the covenant yet not in the Grace of the covenant Thus Israel and all those Gospel hypocrites mentioned fell away but the election still remained so the branches that were in Christ Joh. 15. that bare not fruit were cut off and withered and thus all those Texts that speak of a falling away are to be understood The like now though many Apostates fall from the ways of God yet the covenant remains stable and the same for ever III. P. The third foundation he pretends to be shaken is the necessity of conversion and regeneration which is a Doctrine eminently confirmed by Christ in the Gospel for which he brings several Texts of Scripture but to hold a covenant of life to run upon the carnal seed of believers opposeth this for then when Christ said Except a man be born again ●e cannot enter into the kingdom of God Israel might answer that 's not true we have an interest in the covenant of Grace already and except ye believe that I am he ye shall dye in your sins they might say again that 's not true for we know another way ●o heaven then by believing and 1 Joh. 5. He that hath not the Son hath not life This error replyes there be thousands interessed in life without having Christ by carnal generation Thus far he with much more of the like stuffe with which he fills three pages together A. Neither doth it at all intrench upon this Doctrine as falsly suggested therefore to cleer this we are to consider first the ground of this mistake of his from whence it riseth as any man may easily see namely that the Doctrine of Conversion Repentance and Regeneration is to be preacht onely to such as are without the Church and Kingdom of Christ for his argument runs as taking it for granted that such as are the subjects of the kingdom are such in reality when as by the former distinctions it is most apparent that some are such visibly onely and some really 2. Therefore consider the Doctrines mentioned are part of that Gospel which is the kingdoms Gospel as Christ calls it and hath been ever preacht to the subjects of the kingdom so it was to Israel of old and though believers and their seed were taken into the covenant already proved to be of grace yet this Doctrine of the new birth was preacht to them which is abundantly cleer from Christs words to Nicodemus Joh. 3. a place by himself quoted Art thou a Doctor in Israel and knowest not what the doctrine of the new birth means implying That he shewed himself very ignorant when he knew not that which was preacht amongst Israel adding this also That the Ordinance of Circumcision so frequently used was but a Type of the Circumcision upon the heart yea the whole tenor of the old-Testament runs in such terms that cleerly shew their blessedness lies in repenting and turning to God in pardon of sin in setting their delight in the Laws of the Lord trusting in God and setting their hope in God the book of Psalms is full of it So also in those primitive Churches planted by the Apostles themselves who in admission of members had a better insight to the truth of grace upon the heart then any since and yet this Doctrine they preacht to the Church 2 Cor. 5.17 Rom. 2.29 ch 6.11.8.10 Gal. 5.19 Eph. 4.23 therefore such as think the Doctrines of Repentance New-birth c. should be preacht to the world onely may hence see their mistakes amongst which number Mr P. is one I shall still draw down the parallel to his practice which I judge to be a good way to convin●e our dissenting friends of their error can he think that all that runs in the same ra e with him I mean into the water that they have no need of preaching Repentance or the new-birth amongst them surely if that be his judgment he discovers more ignorance and weakness then ever Nicodemus did Therefore 3. Let us glean up his Scriptures The reproof that John gave the Pharisees was not for pleading a title to Abrahams covenant as his seed for it is evident he bapt●zed upon that accompt for had not the Pharisees claimed the Ordinances as Abrahams seed because the rest did so the reproof given them had been little better then non-sense but he checks them for their wickedness in not walking as became Abrahams children So also Joh. 8.32 The like also Luke 16. a place M. P. much delights to name thinking it makes for his opinion because Dives in hell owned Abraham as a Father and Abraham owned him as a son but yet for all that saith Mr. Patient he was damned A. There is none denyes but Abraham had more children damned then saved yet nevertheless such as