now under the Gospel from Abraham's being justified by Faith and from God's setting him forth for a pattern and example to all after-ages of his justifying both Iews and Gentiles upon the condition of believing The strengh of which arguing seems to depend upon this supposition That the Promise by the belief of which Abraham was then justified and the Promise in the Gospel by the belief of which men are now justified do both agree and are one in the general nature of them And upon these grounds and under this notion of the Promise to Abraham I intend to discourse of it But when I consider for what reason he that is least in the Kingdom of God is said to be greater than Iohn the Baptist though not Abraham himself nor any of the Prophets were greater than he and when I consider likewise how ignorant the Apostles were for a time touching the necessity of the Death and Resurrection of Christ notwithstanding the many plainer Revelations thereof in the Prophets than we find Abraham had I cannot I confess think that Abraham had or could have a distinct notion of all that was contained and implyed in the Promise as now it is opened and unfolded in the Writings of the New Testament it does appear was wrapt up in it And therefore though I think I may well found a Discourse of the New Covenant upon the Promise made to Abraham as it is now explained in the New Testament yet I would not be understood to suppose Abrahams apprehension or Faith to have then been commensurate to the Promise as it is so explained Supposing then the Promise to Abraham to be the New Covenant it self in a more imperfect Edition of it than afterward came forth I shall now a little further consider what it was and what the New Covenant is ever hath been in the general nature of it since it first commenced And it is a new Law or Covenant made by way of remedy against the rigour and extremity of the Law of Nature under which Man was created For the Law of Nature the Law of Gods Creation as well as his instituted Law in Paradise being violated and impossible to be kept inviolable by Man in his lapsed state by reason of his moral impotency and the pravity of his Nature derived from Adam he must inevitably have sunk and perished under the condemnation of it unless there had been a new Law instituted to supercede the procedure of this Law against him in its natural and proper course If Salvation had been attainable by Man in his lapsed state without this remedying Law of Grace there would have been no need of a New Covenant If there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law Gal. 3. 21. But there was no such Law given besides this new Law Nor could the Original Law be repealed for the relief of faln Man it being founded in the Nature of God and the nature of Man as he was created after Gods own Image and is no more changeable than the Nature of good and evil are changable And therefore as I said there was a necessity that Man must have perished under the condemnation of the Law of his Creation as the lapsed Angels did under theirs unless a Law of Indemnity had been Enacted But God whose tender mercies are over all his works to the end so great and considerable a part of his Creation as Man is might not be wholly lost and undone to all eternity out of his infinite compassion mercy and love did constitute a new Law or Covenant for mans relief which well may be called the Covenant of Grace against the rigour and extremity of the first Law Which new Law was in some degree though but obscurely made known to Man not long after Adams fall or else there would have been no ground for that Faith which we are assured was in Abel Enoch c. Heb. 11. But it was doubtless somewhat more fully declared to Abraham than to any before and at last compleatly established and published by Jesus Christ the Mediatour of it who was given for a Covenant to the people And this new Law in the last edition of it under the Gospel is variously denominated being called the Promise the New Covenant the Law of Faith the Law of Liberty the Gospel the Grace of God or the Word of his Grace And so we come Sect. 2. To consider what the design of God was in this New Covenant or Promise unto Abraham Next to his own glory it was to recover the Humane Nature from its degenerate state to a state of holiness to that likeness to God in which Man was at the first made and therein and thereby to a state of happiness both which were lost by the fall Holiness love and goodness as they were once the glory and happiness of Man before he lost them so are still perfective of his nature And therefore it is impossible in the nature of the thing to recover Man to happiness without recovering his nature to a conformity to God in these or for Man to be perfectly happy whose nature is not perfected in them Sin is the disease and sickness of the Soul and it 's as possible for a sick man to enjoy the pleasure of health as it is for the sinful and corrupt nature of man while such to enjoy the pleasure which the humane nature did naturally enjoy or was capable of enjoying in its innocency and purity But when the nature of Man is once recovered to perfection in knowledge holiness love and goodness it will then be matter of unspeakable delight to him to love God Angels and Men and to do the will of God in every thing It is so to the holy Angels And it was so to our blessed Saviour who counted it as his meat and drink to be doing the will of his heavenly Father And to what degree the nature of man is here in this world restored towards its proper perfection to the same degree it is matter of pleasure and delight to him to act holily and righteously and to be doing good It iâ— joy to the Iust to do judgment Prov. 21. 15. It is a pain to a man to act contrary to the bent and inclination of his nature by compulsion or fear And therefore unless the corrupt nature of Man were changed Heaven would not be Heaven to him in case he were there Those Divine and Heavenly exercises which are there the unspeakable delight of Saints and Angels would be his pain and torment as being contrary to his nature And the pleasures of that state as having not what will satisfie the unsatiable lusts of mans corrupt nature would not be such to him but add rather to his anguish For as it would be a torment to a Man to be in extremity of hunger and thirst and to be without Meat and Drink and all hopes of any to satisfie him So will
sometimes described by an assenting to the truth of one single Proposition yet then it implies the belief of many more and such a belief as draws in the Will to act according to the import and concernment of the thing believed As for instance The belief of this Proposition That Christ Iesus is the Son of God by which Faith is sometimes described doth include in it a belief of the truth of his whole Doctrine both concerning God's Grace and Mans Duty and the Will 's concurrence as to its concernment in it For if he be the Son of God then he cannot lye or deceive in any thing he hath said And again the belief of this Proposition That God raised Christ from the Dead by which Faith is also described Rom. 10. 9. includes in it a belief that all that Doctrine which he taught is undoubtedly true For if it had not God would never have wrought such a Miracle as to raise Christ from the dead to confirm it The belief then of such single Propositions include a belief of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Proper Object of the Christian Faith and for that cause is frequently stiled Faith or the Faith in the New Testament But if we respect the nature of Faith in general as answering the different degrees of God's Revelation of his Will in several Ages of the World both under the Gospel and before I do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the belief of God's threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of grace and favour to him as it was practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincere Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. Iames that his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Countrey and his Countrey it self with his Kindred his Fathers house that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him eternally happy And God's further design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumcision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that believe whether literally circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to believe in God and to obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of new Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4. 11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that Righteousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to love and obey God by which he was justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declartion in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own duty as causeth a man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16. 15 16. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be preached to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's Grace Man's Duty of his Wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin of it in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares that God upon account of his Sons giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to pardon and eternally to save as
the parts of it For it is written Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them And all the people shall say Amen Deut. 27. 26. And this extended to Heart-obedience and Heart-sinning as well as to the outward act commanding love to God forbidding to covet as under the Heart-searching Political Soveraign who reserved to himself the final Judgement and Execution even in temporal respects in many cases 2. Laws of Indemnity of which also this Covenant did consist were partly those which ordained Sacrifice and Offerings for the Expiation of many sins made pardonable by those Laws so far as to exempt the Delinquent person from the temporal penalty threatned for breach of those other Laws which for distinction sake I call Laws of Duty for otherwise these also were Laws of Duty as well as of Priviledge There were other Laws of Indemnity likewise for the purification of persons legally unclean which being observed the persons unclean became delivered from the penalties they suffered while their uncleanness was upon them such as was their separation from the Congregation Consider we next the Sanction of these Laws and that did consist in Promises annexed to the observing of them and in a curse denounced against the transgressors of them And for our better understanding the Nature of the Promises of this Covenant we will consider them Negatively and Affirmatively 1. Negatively The Promises of this Political-covenant as such were not Promise of eternal life And when I say so I do not deny but that first the Iews in Moses time and before had Promises of eternal life implyed in the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed And accordingly the faithful ones among them sought after the Heavenly Countrey and looked for a City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10 14 16. Nor secondly will I deny but that there are some passages in the Law of Moses if you take the Law of Moses in a large sense which look somewhat like a renewall of the antient Covenant with Abraham to his Seed As when for instance God made a conditional Promise to the Israelites in Moses his time to be their God and that they should be his people as in Levit 26. 12. Deut. 29. 13. Which form of words is interpreted sometimes to imply a future happiness in another World Heb. 11. 16. Matth. 21. 31 32. And I do not deny but the Iews had by Moses as express a Promise of the Messias as Abraham had Deut. 18. 15. 19. But St. Paul doth not speak of the Law in this large sense when he opposeth the Law and the Promise the Law and Faith one to another But if we understand by the Law of Moâ—es the Law as Political the Law of the Common-wealth so the Promises of it were not Promises of Eternal Life For Promises of this nature did pertain to another Covenant to wit thâ—t made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed as such First Therefore St. Paul doth down-rightly deny that the Promise of the Inheritance which in Heb. 9. 15. is called the Eternal Inheritance was by the Law which yet it would have been if by Law he had meant the Law in that large sense in which the Law and Promise to Abraham are conjoyned and not in that strict sense by which he means the Political Law distinctly And if the Inheritance had been promised upon the same terms as temporal Blessings were in the temporal Covenant the Inheritance might have been obtained by the Law as well as temporal Blessings were Rom. 4. 13. For the Promise that he should be Heir of the World was not through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Secondly St. Paul evinceth the badness of that Opinion to think that Eternal Life was Promised upon the Law-terms from the absurd consequence of it shewing that if it were that then it would make void the Promise of God to Abraham and the way of saving men by Faith in that Promise of none effect Gal. 3. 18. For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Rom. 4. 14. For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect It was altogether unreasonable to think that the Inheritance should be promised upon such distant and inconsistent terms as are Faith in the Promise and by Works of the Law Thirdly The Law saith the Apostle is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3. 12. meaning that what the Law promised it did not promise it upon condition of believing but upon condition of doing And Eternal Life is not since the fall promised upon condition of doing without Faith but upon condition of believing For the Iust shall live by Faith Vers. 11. and therefore Eternal Life is not promised by the Law Fourthly Wherefore else are the Promises of that better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. said to be better Promises But because they are Promises of better things than were promised in the first Covenant which yet they could not be if Eternal Life had been promised in that Covenant because that is the best of all Promises To say they are better only in respect of Administration and clearness of Revelation would not satisfie such as should well consider That if the betterness of the Covenant and Promises lay only in that the difference would not be so great as to denominate them two Covenants and two so vastly distant as the Scripture represents them to be The difference then would be but only gradual as that is which is found in the same Covenant of Grace in the several Editions of it to Adam to Abraham to David and now to all Nations since Christ's coming and not Essential as that between the two Covenants seem to be as it is represented in Gal. 4. 24. Besides St. Paul represents the Administration of the two Covenants to differ as much as Righteousness and Condemnation Life and Death differ which sure is more than a gradual difference The one is the Ministration of Death and Condemnation the other the Ministration of Righteousness and Life 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8 9. The Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did Heb. 7. 19. By which it appears again that the hope of the Gospel in which the things hoped for upon the Promises of the Gospel are not the least is better than what the Law promised the observers of it This is the Promise which he hath promised us even Eternal Life 1 John 2. 25. 2. And Affirmatively It was then a long and Prosperous life in the Land of Canaan that was promised in the first Covenant Deut. 28. 11. The Lord shall make thee plenteous in Goods in the fruit of thy Body and in the fruit of thy Cattel and in the fruit of thy Ground in the Land which the Lord sware
thus opposed to works and thus available to Justification consisteth in a new frame of Spirit and the vital operations thereof and which we can have no right notion of without Evangelical Obedience in will and resolution at least which are really inward acts of that obedience and are a conformity of the renewed will to the Divine Law 4. Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith and together with Faith is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification and Salvation Gal. 5. 6. For in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love Here again Circumcision by the same Figure and for the same reason as before is put for the Works of Moses Law And as these are denyed to avail any Man to Justification and Salvation so on the other hand it is affirmed that that Faith which worketh by love doth avail to these great ends For to say that Faith which worketh by love doth so is the same in sense as to say that Faith which worketh by fulfilling the Law and by keeping the Commandments doth so avail For so love is said to be Rom. 13. 10. 1 Ioh. 5. 3. The Assemblies Annotations upon the place give notice that the word here translated worketh Faith which worketh by love being in the mean or middle voice may be taken either Actively or Passively And several other Learned men among whom Dr. Hammond is one do render and understand it passively as if the Apostle should have said Faith which is wrought or perfected or consummate by love and so make it directly parallel with that in St. Iames Chap. 2. 22. by Works was Faith made perfect So far is the Scripture we see from opposing acts of Evangelical Obedience to Faith in the Work of Justification as that it conjoyns them with Faith in the title to it and in opposition to false pretentions to it 5. Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification so far is it from being true that where the Works of the Law are excluded there Evangelical Obedience is excluded from having any share in the Work of Justification 1 Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Circumcision is here again as before put for the whole Law And indeed he that was circumcised was bound to keep the whole Law as this Apostle noteth in Gal. 5. 3. And when he saith Circumcision is nothing he means here doubtless as in those other places already opened that it avails nothing to any Mans acceptation with God or to his Justification and Salvation as the Iudaizers of those times thought it did But then the keeping of the Commandments of God will avail to these ends For that I conceive was intended and ought to be understood by the opposition that is made between Circumcision and keeping the Commandments 6. Faith it self is an act of Evangelical Obedience this as wel as love is an act of Conformity to our Lord's Commands and therefore a Man cannot be justified by Faith but in being so he must be justified by Evangelical Obedience 1 Iohn 3. 23. This is his Commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Iesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment This by our Saviour is called a work Joh. 6. 29. This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent And there is so much of the Nature of Evangelical Obedience in Faith it self as that to believe and to obey are promiscuously put one for another and so is unbelief and disobedience Accordingly you have in many places the one reading in the Text and the other in the Margin as Acts 5. 36. Rom. 11. 30 31. Ephes. 5. 6. Heb. 4. 11. 11. 31. And belief and disobedience are in Scripture opposed to each other as direct contraries Rom. 10. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 7. 2 Thes. 2. 12. So that since Faith is an act of Evangelical Obedience it follows that to say the Works of Evangelical Obedience do justifie does no more derogate from the Grace of God or the freeness of his Grace in justifying than to say Faith justifies First Because other acts of Evangelical Obedience are the effects of God's Grace and produced by it as well as Faith It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And secondly Because it is meerly of the Law of Grace that Faith and other Acts of Evangelical Obedience are made the Condition of the Promise of Salvation Ephes. 2. 8. By grace are ye Saved through Faith in Christ Iesus and that not of your selves it is the gift of God As Men do not believe or obey of themselves without supernatural assistance so neither is it of themselves that they are justified or saved upon their believing but both the one and the other is the gift of God It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy It is by virtue of God's new Covenant that a Promise of pardon is made to Repentance or to Faith for the primary Law the Law of Nature promised no such thing upon Repentance And it is by virtue of the same Law of Grace that a Promise of Justification and reward is made to sincere Obedience in other Acts of Obedience as well as those of Faith and Repentance That which hath made many afraid of interessing Evangelical Obedience with Faith in justifying men hath been an Opinion that so to do would derogate from God's Grace attribute too much to Man But you see there is no ground for such an Opinion It 's true indeed the proper merit of Works and God's Grace are inconsistent And therefore are opposed to each other in Scripture But Evangelical Obedience and Grace are no more opposite or inconsistent than Cause and Effect or than Causes principal and subordinatâ— And as it doth not follow that because we are justified freely by God's Grace that therefore we are not justified by Faith So neither doth it follow that because we are justified by Faith that therefore we are not justified by sincere obedience For these and the Blood of Christ do all concur in producing many of the same effects though not in the same respect 7. By Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a right to Salvation Revel 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the gates into the City This is left on Record as a special Memorandum for Christians in closing up the Canon of the New Testament and therefore is to be taken special notice of This right to the Tree of Life and of entring into this blessed City upon keeping the Commandments is from a new Covenant or Law Act or Grant from God For otherwise Man that had transgressed
A DISCOURSE of the Nature Ends and Difference OF THE Two Covenants Evincing in special That FAITH as Justifying is not opposed to WORKS of Evangelical Obedience WITH An APPENDIX of the Nature and Difference of saving and ineffectual Faith and the reason of that difference To which is prefixed a PREFACE by Mr. Rich. Baxter 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your Faith Virtue Jam. 2. 22. And by Works was Faith made perfect LONDON Printed by I. Darby for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. TO THE READER Reader THeology is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of God A Kingdom is a State of Government Government is by Laws He therefore that will understand any thing in Divinity must understand the Laws of God And though there be many inferiour Particles distinguished from the weighty things of the Law which few do clearly understand yet is it necessary that we know in general what kind of Law it is that we are under and also that we know the most important parts If we understand not the Law of Tything Mint and Cummin we must not be ignorant of Iudgment Mercy and Faith Matth. 23. 23. They that tell us we are now under no Laws do tell us thereby that we are under no Goverment and consequently that God and out Redeemer Jesus Christ is not the Governour of Believers And he that knoweth that the Name GOD doth signifie the Divine Relation to Man as well as the Divine Nature will know that this is to deny a God and to deny Iesus Christ and rather to be called Atheism and Infidelity than Antinomianism Even they that had not the written Law of Moses had a Law of Nature partly written out upon their hearts And Christians have both the Law of Nature Extrinsick and the written Law of Christ and both acccording to the various measures of Grace written out upon their hearts that is received by knowledge Faith Love and readiness to obey But they that know that we are under a Law as those in Heaven even Angels are yet do not all well understand what Law it is and on what terms the World or the Church are governed and must be judged That the first Law of Natural Innocency as alone or as to the Promissory part or as to threatning without mercies or remedy is it that any part of the Earth is now governed by or under is an intolerable Errour God promiseth not sinners everlasting life on condition they be no sinners That Promise ceased by a Cessation of the Subjects capacity without any more ado or possibility of reviving it Nor doth God deal with any people according to the sole threatning of that Law without mercy dispensation or remedy The Law of Grace was as truly made with all men in Adam Gen. 3. 15. as the Law of Innocency was Though the Serpents Seed be mentioned in it that intimateth not that any were such as then in the Loins of lapsed Adam but as consequently they would become such by rejecting and abusing Grace and so contracting a further Malignity If Man as in Adam's loyns then was the Serpents Seed then all God's Elect should be such and so be bruised and not saved by Jesus Christ For all then were really alike in Adam And to say that God's meer Election and Reprobation without any real inherent difference existent or foreseen is the reason of denominating some the Seed of the Woman and some the Seed of the Serpent is an unproved fancy and irrational corrupting the Word of God All men therefore in lapsed Adam were at once under the guilt of Sin and also under a remedying Law of Grace so far as that it is enacted and offered to save those that receive it It saved not Adam himself meerly by the making of it till by Faith he had received it And no doubt but as the Covenant of Grace to us extendeth to the faithful and their Seed so did the Covenant of Grace to Adam for it was the same as was made to all the faithful before Christâ—s Incarnation The case of Infants being obscure clearer Truths are not to be reduced to it And whether Cain and Abel as they were both born in Original Sin so were both pardoned upon their Covenant-Dedication to God by their Parents and Cain after lost his Infant-state of Grace as Davenant Ward c. think Infant Grace may now be lost or whether Adam and Eve neglected that Dedication of Cain to God which was needful to his Sanctification or whether God past him by and denyed him Infant-Grace of his meer will I leave to Mens enquiry and various judgments The controversie concerneth Children now as well as then and the difficulties every way are not small But of these things I am past doubt 1. That Cain was not the Serpents Seed meerly for Original Sin and as born of Adam as Abel was also nor did God make him the Serpents Seed by Reprobation but that he made himself so by superadded Sin against the Redeemer and Law of Grace 2. That all Mankind are still under this Law of Grace further than they forfeit the benefits of it by sins against it 3. That most Writers if not most Christians do greatly darken the Sacred Doctrine by overlooking the Interest of Children in the actions of their meer Parents and think that they participate of no guilt and suffer for no Original Sin but Adams only and bring the Doctrine of Original Sin it self into doubt by laying all upon Covenant-Relation and denying or overlooking the Natural Proofs Doubtless through Scripture it is remarkable that God usually judgeth the posterity of new sinners to new punishments and promises and threatnings are made since the Covenant of Innocency ceased to the believers and unbelievers or wicked with their Seed For we may well say that the Seed of Cain Cham Nimrod Ishmael Esau Saul Ahab c. had more Original Sin than what they had from Adam And Matth. 23. 35. Expounds the matter It was not in vain that Ezra Daniel c. confessed their forefathers sin nor doth our Liturgie pray for the dead but the living when it saith Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our Forefathers neither take thou vengeance of our Sins The Author of this Treatise beginning at the Promise made to Abraham doth it to comport with the Apostle Paul who thought meet to call the Iews to no higher Observations than the Case in hand about the Non-obligation of Moses's Law to the Gentiles did require But this denyeth not but supposeth the same Law of Grace in the main to have been made to all men in Adam and Noah and to have been in force to all Mankind before it was renewed to Abraham saving that to him and his Seed there were many great priviledges added above the rest of Mankind upon his extraordinary obediential Faith Of how great importance it is to have a right understanding of the difference between the Law of
Innocency and the Law of Grace and in it the Promise made to Adam and Noah and that to Abraham and the peculiar Mosaical Law and Covenant and the perfecter Edition of the Law or Covenant of Grace by Christ Incarnate a true Student of Theology may easily discern Wherein I hope the Reader will find that among the many late Treatises on this Subject the Authour here hath done considerable service to the Church of God Of which Subject I have written long ago so much my self and am attempting to make it yet more plain that I need not here tell you what is my judgment only lest any who know not how to stop in Mediocrity should be tempted by Socinians or Papists to think that we countenance any of their Errors or that our Differences in the Point of Justification by Faith or Works are greater than indeed they are and lest any weak Opiniative persons should clamour unpeaceably against their Brethren and think to raise a name to themselves for their differing Notions I shall here give the Reader such evidences of our real Concord as shall silence that Calumny Though some few Lutherans did upon peevish suspiciousness against George Major long ago assert that good Works are not necessary to Salvation And though some few good men whose zeal without judgment doth better serve their own turn than the Churches are jealous lest all the good that is ascribed to Man be a dishonour to God and therefore speak as if God were honoured most by saying the worst words of our selves and many have uncomely and irregular Notions about these matters and though some that are addicted to sidings do take it to be their godly zeal to censure and reproach the more understanding Sort when they most grosly erre themselves And though too many of the people are carried about through injudiciousness and temptations to false Doctrines and evil lives yet is the Argument of Protestants thus manifested 1. They all affirm that Christ's Sacrifice with his Holiness and perfect Obedience are the Meritorious Cause of the forgiving Covenants and of our Pardon and Iustification thereby and of our right to Life Eternal which it giveth us And that this price was not paid or given in it self immediately to us but to God for us and so that our foresaid benefits are its effects 2. They agree that Christ's Person and ours were not really the same and therefore that the same Righteousness which is an Accident of one cannot possibly be an Accident of the other 3. They all detest the conceit that God should aver and repute a Man to have done that which he never did 4. They all agree that Christ's Sacrifice and Merits are really so effectual to procure our Pardon Justification Adoption and right to the sealing gift of the Holy Ghost and to Glory upon our Faith and Repentance that God giveth us all these benefits of the New Covenant as certainly for the sake of Christ and his Righteousness as if we had satisfied him and merited them our selves And that thus far Christ's Righteousness is ours in its effects and imputed to us in that we are thus used for it and shall be judged accordingly 5. They all agree that we are Justified by none but a Practical or working Faith 6. And that this Faith is the Condition of the Promise or Gift of Justification and Adoption 7. And that Repentance is a Condition also though as it is not the same with Faith as Repentance of unbelief is on another aptitudinal account even as a willingness to be cured and a willingness to take one for my Physitian and to trust him in the use of his Remedies are on several accounts the Conditions on which that Physitian will undertake the Cure or as willingness to return to subjection thankful acceptance of a purchased parden and of the Purchasers love and future Authority are the Conditions of a Rebels pardon 8. And they all agree that in the first instant of a Mans Conversion or Believing he is entered into a state of Justification before he hath done any outward works And that so it is true that good Works follow the justified and go not before his initial Iustification As also in the sense that Austin spake it who took Justification for that which we call Sanctification or Conversion 9. And they all agree that justifying Faith is such a receiving affiance as is both in the Intellect and the Will and therefore as in the Will participateth of some kind of love to the justifying Object as well as to Justification 10. And that no Man can choose or use Christ as a means so called in respect to his own intention to bring him to God the Father who hath not so much love to God as to take him for his Endâ—n the use of that means 11. And they agree that we shall be all judged according to our Works by the Rule of the Covenant of Grace though not for our Works by way of Commutative or Legal proper Merit And Iudging is the Genus whose Species is Iustifying and Condemning And to be judged according to our Works is nothing but to be Iustified or Condemned according to them 12. They all agree that no Man can possibly merit of God in point of Commutative Iustice nor yet in point of Distributive or Governing Iustice according to the Law of Nature or Innocency as Adam might have done nor by the Works of the Mosaical Law 13. They all agree that no Works of Mans are to be trusted in or pleaded but all excluded and the conceit of them abhorred 1. As they are feigned to be against or in stead of the free Mercy of God 2. As they are against or feigned instead of the Sacrifice Obedience Merit or Intercession of Christ. 3. Or as supposed to be done of our selves without the Grace of the Holy Ghost 4. Or as supposed falsly to be perfect 5. Or as supposed to have any of the aforedisclaimed merit 6. Or as materially consisting in Mosaical observances 7. Much more in any Superstitious Inventions 8. Or in any evil mistaken to be good 9. Or as any way inconsistent with the tenor of the freely pardoning Covenant In all these senses Justification by Works is disclaimed by all Protestants at least 14. Yet all agree that we are Created to good Works in Christ Jesus which God hath ordained that we should walk therein and that he that nameth the Name of Christ must depart from iniquity or else he hath not the Seal of God and that he that is born of God sinneth not that is predominantly And that all Christ's Members are holy purified zealous of good Works cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit that they might perfect holyness in God's fear doing good to all Men as loving their Neighbours as themselves And that if any Man have not the Sanctifying Spirit of Christ he is none of his nor without holiness can see God 15. They all
repents through his grace and assistance And therefore God's grace and Man's indeavours in working this change are very consistent Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure If Man do but what he can do through the assistance of God's common Providence in whom we live and move and have our being God is most ready through his good pleasure or out of the goodness of his will and pleasure to work in him both to will and to do savingly to carry the work quite thorow Otherwise if there were nothing that Man could do in a way of common Providence towards his salvation why should he be exhorted and perswaded to do that which yet will not be done to effect and quite thorow without the assistance of God's Grace and good Spirit The co-operation of God's grace with Man's endeavours in this change in the nature of Man which is necessary to his salvation is a Doctrine that lies very fair and plain in the Scriptures And therefore men are called upon to make themselves new hearts Ezek. 18. 31. Make you a new Heart and a new Spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel And God is said to make them new hearts also Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you Men are called upon to circumcise their own hearts Deut. 10. 16. And God is said to circumcise the heart Deut. 30. 6. Men are required to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. And they are also said to be washed and sanctified by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Men are commanded to repent Acts 17. 30. And God is said to give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 35. Acts 5. 31. It is by reason of this co-operation of God's assistance and Man's endeavours that St. Paul expresseth himself as he doth once and again Gal. 2. 20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me He doth not by these last words so deny what he had said in the former as if he had not spoke true for he speaks the same thing in effect in another place without any such correcting himself as here he useth 1 Cor. 3. 9. For we are labourers together with God And therefore by his so correcting himself saying Not I but the grace of God which was with me he only intends to magnifie Gods grace as having the principal stroke in the work It is a phrase of like import with that 2 Cor. 3. 10. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth So mans indeavour though it be somewhat in it self considered yet comparatively and in respect of the work of Gods grace by his Spirit which excels it is nothing Therefore in fine as men are said through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8. 13. So they may be said through the same Spirit to believe repent obey that is through the assistance of the Spirit who is said to help our infirmities Rom. 8. 26. Considering then that there is promise of Divine assistance to Man using his endeavours in doing what he may and can do towards the performing the condition of the Covenant we may well conclude that there is no Man under the Gospel doth perish but through his own fault and neglect It is true God doth sometimes for special reasons meet with and convert sinners with a high hand of grace whil'st they are pursuing their sins in a full career and using no indeavours at all towards their own salvation as he did Saul before he was Paul But such extraordinary instances are no Rules to us by which to judge of God's ordinary proceedings in converting men Nor hath the Lord put men in expectation by any promise of his of their being converted after that manner and upon such terms And therefore it will in no wise be safe for any man to expect to be converted by such extraordinary workings of grace and to neglect to do what he can do and what God requires he should do towards his own conversion There are many things which men may and can believe and do without any supernatural grace and by vertue of God's common grace It is no Supernatural Act to believe the Being of God and the Immortality of the Soul or future state Or to know that we are â—inners against God and consequently that we stand in need of his mercy Nor is it a Supernatural Act for a man to desire the future happiness of his own Nature or Being or to hear the Word of God which directs the way to that happiness no more than it is to hear any other Doctrine that only pretends to do so Nor is it a Supernatural Act to consider the Doctrine of the Scriptures with as much seriousness as men do or may the contents of any other Books Nor is it a Supernatural Act to consider how we are concerned in the Doctrine of the Scriptures in case it should prove true No more is it a Supernatural Act seriously to consider the strength and force of those Reasons that tend to perswade men to believe that Doctrine to be true Nor under the natural desires which men have to be happy in another world is it a Supernatural Act for them to pray to God to direct and assist them in the use of means that they may be happy These I take to be no Supernatural Acts in men For though the depraved wil of Man needs special or Supernatural grace to do these so seriously and effectually as is needful to true Sanctification yet in some sort and measure they may be done by common help And if men would but go thus far as they can out of a real desire to be happy I should make no question but that the Spirit of God would yield them his assistance to carry them quite through in the work of conversion And whether our Saviour doth not by the hearers resembled by the good ground mean such men as before their conversion have some such working of heart about their future state as doth incline them to hear and consider what with any fair probability may be said about the way to be happy in that state and not to hear out of curiosity or for fashion-sake or to carp I submit to consideration It is doubtless then mens inconsideration carelesness and negligence in those things which they do believe and which they can do that undoes them It is because seeing they see not and hearing they hear not which is the reason why more is not given but rather that taken away from them which they had That is The reason
Faith to him for Righteousness that is that which in the eye of that new Law should pass in his estimation for Righteousness subordinate to Christ's Righteousness which procured this Grant or Law For otherwise Faith neither as it is the condition of the Promise of Remission of Sin through Christ nor as it works Repentance for sins past or sincere Obedience for time to come is Righteousness in the Eye of the Original Law For that accounts no Man that hath though but once transgressed it to be Righteous either upon the account of anothers suffering for his sin or his own Repentance or sincere imperfect Obedience but curseth every Man that from first to last continueth not in all things which are contained in that Law But it is as I said an Act of God's special Favour and by virtue of his new Law of Grace and as it is established in Christ that such a Faith as I have described comes to be reckoned or imputed to a man for Righteousness and through God's imputing it for Righteousness to stand a man in the same if not in a better stead as to his eternal concerns as a perfect fulfilling of the Original Law from first to last would have done Christ's Righteousness being presupposed the only Meritorious Cause of this Grant or Covenant And thus indeed the Faith which I have described is a Man's Righteousness in the Eye of this new Law because it is Summarily all that is required of him himself to make him capable of the Benefits promised by it which as it is now revealed is the Gospel Justification is a Law-term And no Man shall be justified in Judgment or upon Tryal but he that is just in the Eye of this new Law of Grace as every one that rightly believes repents and sincerely obeys is because that is all that it requires of a Man himself to his Justification and Salvation And yet every Believers Justification will be all of Grace because the Law by which they are Justified is wholly of Grace is wholly a Law of Grace and was Enacted in meer Grace and Favour to undone Man that was utterly undone by the fall There are two things which I conceive do constitute and make up the Righteousness of the Law of Grace presupposing all to be procured by the purchase which Christ hath made first the Righteousness which consisteth in the forgiveness of sins and secondly the Righteousness of sincere Obedience And in reference to both these Faith is imputed for Righteousness by virtue of the Law of Grace First Faith as practical is imputed to a Man for Righteousness as it is that and all that which is required of him himself by the Law of Grace to entitle him to the Righteousness which consisteth in the remission of sins through Christ. Now that remission of Sinnes is part of the Righteousness which is by Faith is evident from Rom. 4. 5 6 7 8. Where the Apostle to prove that a Man's Faith in God who justifyeth the ungodly is counted to him for Righteousness he citeth a passage out of Psalm the 32d Even as David also saith he describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin The Righteousness imputed in this sense doth consist in the non-imputation of sin Not to impute sin is not to reckon a Man not to have sinned but it is to deal with him not according to the demerit of his sin it is to pardon him for Christ's sake upon his penitential Faith and not to punish him for his sin and this by vertue of a new Law or Act of Indemnity or Covenant of Grace For although pardon of sin is obtained for Man by Christ his suffering for sin In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveneess of sins Ephes. 1. 7. and though God for Christ's sake doth forgive us Epes 4. 32. yet the actual collation of this great Benefit is not promised but upon condition of Man's Faith Him hath God set forth to be a Propitiation but it is through Faith in his blood Rom. 3. 25. By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13. 39. and 10. 43. Although Christ is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World 1 Ioh. 2. 2. yet that saying of Christ must and will will take place If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Joh. 8. 24. and that also Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned So that Faith is imputed for Righteousness partly as it is the Condition upon which pardon of sin is granted Secondly That Faith is imputed for Righteousness which is practical or productive of sincere Obedience without which property it is not a fulfilling of the Law of Grace as a condition of the promised Benefits and consequently cannot justifie a Man in the Eye of that Law For First Repentance and likewise forgiving men their injuries for instance are such Acts of Obedience as without which a Man cannot be pardoned and if not pardoned then not justified And therefore Faith is not imputed for Righteousness unless it be productive of Obedience Secondly No Faith is available to justification but such as worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. Which to say is all one as to say no Faith is imputed for Righteousness but such as worketh by keeping the Commandments of God and fulfilling the Law for that is the interpretation of love both to God and Men 1 Ioh. 5. 3. Rom. 13. 10. Thirdly Abraham who was set forth by God for a Pattern of his justifying Men by Faith was Justified by such works as were the fruits of his Faith and not only by his Faith which was the Root of them And therefore his Faith as practical was imputed to him for Righteousnss And such must be the Faith of all others that shall obtain Justification upon their believing as he did Iam. 2. 21 22 23. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness Where note these four things 1. That Abrahams Faith wrought with his Works about the same end as a Condition of obtaining it to wit his Justification 2. That by his Works his Faith was made perfect to wit in its aptitude by God's Institution to justifie him without which it would not have reached that end 3. Note further that it was his Faith as it wrought with his Works and as it was compleated and made perfect by them that was imputed to him for Righteousness 4. Note that in the Imputation of his Faith for Righteousness as it was
other Benefits which were Promised to Abraham and his Seed 2. They had an addition of several other Predictions concerning the Messias both by Moses and other Prophets that perhaps were somewhat more express such as in Deut. 18. 16. Isa. 53. Dan. 9. and others These Promises and Predictions put them in great expectations of Special Benefits by the Messias and wrought in them a longing after his day Upon which account our Saviour said to his Disciples Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For I say unto you that many Prophets and Kings and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luke 10. 23 24. 3. They had large significations from God of his special favour to them above all people as in chusing them to be his peculiar people and in declaring himself to be their God in giving visible Signs of his Presence among them and excellent Laws Promises to them and sending his Prophets amongst them and working many wonders for them and casting out the Nations before them to make room for them and the like Deut. 7. 6 7 8. and 26. 18 19. Psal. 147. 19 20. Rom. 9. 4 5. 4. They had express Declarations from God of the goodness of his Nature and of his compassion towards Sinners and of his readiness to pardon such as should repent and return to their duty in loving him and keeping his Commandments As for instance Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity trangression and sin And when he delivered them his Law with the greatest terrour and astonishment to them yet even then he assured them that he would shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments as in the second Commandment And in case of their miscarriage to the drawing down of Gods Judgements upon them he bespeaks them thus When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient to his voice For the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers Deut. 4. 31. and 30. 1 2 3. Levit. 26. 39 c. From all which Grounds the faithful among them had such a hope and confidence of pardon of Sin and of a future happiness in another life upon their Repentance and sincere Obedience as did effectually induce them to have good thoughts of God to love him and to endeavour to please him by having respect unto all his Commandments This made him say Psal. 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And under this hope and confidence the twelve Tribes did instantly serve God day and night and grounded this Hope of theirs upon the Promise made of God unto their Fathers as St. Panl tells us Acts 26. 6 7. And indeed it was the unanimous Faith of the most eminent among them from age to age that God had both made and would keep a Covenant to shew mercy to those that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before him with all their heart For that they looked upon as the Condition of God's Promise of shewing Mercy This we may see in Moses David Solomon and in Daniel and Nehemiah Deut. 7. 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments So David Psalm 103. 17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them And thus Solomon 1 Kings 8. 23. And he said Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee who keepest Covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart So Daniel in his 9th Chap. 4th ver O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the Covenant and Mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his Commandments And Nehemiah likewise Ch. 1. 5. I beseech thee O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his Commandments This we see was the serious and constant Profession of the Faith of the servants of God in those times And in this Faith and Practice doubtless it was that they lived and dyed and were saved CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham IN the next place I am to shew that the Law of Moses did contain a Covenant distinct and of a different nature from the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed Besides the general Promise which God made to Abraham respecting the Gentiles as well as the Iews In thee all Nations of the Earth shall be blessed he made a Special Covenant with him as a reward of his Signal faithfulness to give unto his Natural Seed the Land of Canaan Nehem. 9. 8. Thou foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give the Land of the Caâ—aanites to his Seed In order to the fulfilling of which Promise after he had brought them out of Egypt he united them under himself as Head in one Political Body by a Political Covenant Exod. 19 c. which is the Covenant I am now to discourse of In which discourse I would 1. Shew in what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham 2. Prove that it did contain such a different Covenant 3. For farther Illustration consider it in its parts and their relation one to another 4. And in what respect this Covenant is called the first Covenant when as the Covenant of Grace was made before it 1. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different Nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Law of Moses comes under a twofold consideration 1. As in conjunction with the Promise to Abraham to which it was annexed it made up one entire Law by which the Israelites were to be governed and directed in the way to eternal life And in this Conjunction the Promise was the Life and Soul as it were of the Body of the Mosaic Law properly taken And in this sense as the word Law signifies the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses which contain the Promise as well as the Law it is sometimes used in the New Testament Gal. 4. 21 22. 1 Cor. 14. 34. Luke 16. And in this sense doubtless we are to understand the Law upon which David bestowed so many glorious Encomiums as
he did saying The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul c. Psal. 19. 2. We are to consider the Law of Moses as given at Sinai in a stricter sense as it was an Instrument or Rule of Government in the Commonwealth of Israel The Law in the former sense of it promised eternal life though but obscurely to those that did believe its Promises and sincerely obey its Precepts In the latter sense it promised only temporal Blessings to those that strictly observed it in all the parts of it and threatned those with temporal calamities that did not The same Laws materially of this Political Covenant related to both the Covenants As eternal Life was promised in the Covenant of Grace upon condition of sincere obedience to those Laws as an effect of Faith in the Promise So those Laws in Conjunction with the Promise were as I may so say Evangelical But as temporal benefits only were promised in that Covenant upon condition of strict obedience to those Laws and as those Laws were enjoyned under temporal penalties as they were Commonwealth-Laws so that Convenant containing those Laws was Political and in this Political respect it was another Covenant If the Law of God and the Law of Man command or forbid things materially the same yet if the one command or forbid them under pain of damnation and the other only under temporal penalties these Laws are not formally the same The Commonwealth of Israel had no Commonwealth Laws but what God himself gave them the which Laws they also covenanted with him to observe by which Covenant they were united under him as Head of that Political Body And therefore when they would needs choose them a King like other Nations God told Samuel saying They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8. 7. Ye said unto me said Samuel nay but a King shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your King 1 Sam. 12. 12. I conclude then that as the Law of Moses did serve to this Political end so it was a distinct Covenant and different from the Covenant of grace 2. Let us see how this may be proved to be a Covenant so distinct and different as I have said from the Covenant of Grace declared to Abraham And to this purpose these things are considerable First They are called the two Covenants by St. Paul Gal. 4. 24. And if they are two then there is a real difference between them else they would be but one and the same Secondly They bear distinct denominations the one is called the first and the Old Covenant and the other the Second and the New Heb. Chap. 8. 9. Thirdly There were some sins pardonable by one of these Covenants which were not so by the other and that shews that they were quite of a different nature The Murder and Adultery which David was guilty of was not pardonable according to the terms of the Political Covenant if there had been any Superiour Power on Earth to have executed that Commonwealth-Law and yet according to the terms of the Covenant of Grace they were pardonable upon repentance and upon those terms were pardoned unto him The like might be said perhaps of Manasseh The unbelief of Moses and Aaron in not Sanctifying God in the eyes of the Children of Israel was according to the terms of the Covenant of Grace pardoned as to the eternal penalty but yet was not wholly pardoned according to the terms of the the Political Covenant as to temporal punishment For the Lord told them that for that cause they should not bring the Children of Israel into the Land of Canaan Numb 20. 12. And in reference to this case the Psalmist saith thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions Psal. 99. 8. Fourthly The Covenant of Grace never ceaseth but it is of perpetual duration throughout all Generations and therefore is called the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. 20. But this Mosaical Political Covenant is vanished long since Heb. 8. 13. by which also it appears to be a Covenant effentially different from the other 3. For a farther Illustration of the nature of this Covenant we will consider it in its parts and in the relation which those parts bear one towards another And in general it did consist of two parts 1. Of Laws and 2. Of the Sanction of those Laws The Laws likewise were of two sorts 1. Laws of Duty 2. Laws of Indemnity 1. Laws of Duty And in them we may consider 1. What those Laws were 2. What manner of obedience to those Laws it was which would free men from the penalties of them and entitle them to the Promises of reward annexed to them First The Laws of Duty of which this Covenant did in great part consist were those which pass under the various denomination of Moral Ritual or Ceremonial and Judicial Some of which Laws viz. the Decalogue especially and almost wholly for the matter of them were natural that is such as were founded in the nature of Man forbidding things which of themselves were evil and commanding things which in their own nature were good and might be discerned to be so by Man in his pure Naturals and in great part since the degeneration of his nature whether they had been expresly forbidden or commanded or no. But these Laws became part of the Political Covenant only as they were expresly and externally declared to the Iews by a Promulgate Law For if this had not been so the Gentiles could not have been said to be without the Law as they were Rom. 2. 14 11. 1 Cor. 9. 21. For they had the force and effect of the Law in their hearts and were in that respect a Law unto themselves Rom. 2. 14 15. But because the Decalogue as well as the other Laws was delivered to the Iews only and to none else from Mount Sinai therfore they only and Proselytes that joyned with them were said to be under the Law and all the rest without Law And therefore is the giving of the Law reckoned to the Iews among their peculiar Priviledges Rom. 9. 4. Psal. 147. 19 20. And in this sense only as the Decalogue was a part of the Political Law can the Ministration ingraven in Stones be said to be done away as it is 2 Cor. 3. 7 to ver 11. For so much of it as was a Copy of the Law of Nature or is by Christ incorporated into his Laws remains in force to all men The other Laws of which this Covenant did consist were Arbitrary the force of which did wholly depend upon Divine Institution And such were the Laws Ceremonial and a great part of those we call Judicial Secondly That obedience which would be sufficient to secure a Man from the penalty of the Political Law and to entitle him to the Promised Reward annexed thereto was no less than a strict Obedience to it in all
Person from suffering those temporal evils which were threatned in this Covenant against those which did not continue in all things written in the Book of it Neither Sacrifices nor Legal Purifications Sanctified but unto the purifying of the flesh and to their temporal concerns only Heb. 9. 9 10 13. And here we may observe a five-fold difference in reference to Remission of Sin between the first Covenant and the Covenant of Grace 1. They differ in the nature of those Sacrifices by which Atonements were made and upon which forgiveness was promised The blood of the Sacrifice of the first Covenant was but the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the like Heb. 10. 4. But the Blood of the Sacrifice of the second Covenant is the Blood of Christ the Eternal Son of God So that the nature of the Sacrifices of the two Covenants upon which the Promise of the pardon of Sins was granted doth differ as much as the blood of Beasts and the Blood of the Son of God differ 2. Those two sorts of Sacrifices pertaining to two kinds of Covenants differ in the proportion of Efficaty and Virtue to accomplish their respective ends and effects There is a greater richness of proportion in the Blood of Christ to free the Consâ—ience from the guilt of Sin or obligation to Eternal punishment than there was in the blood of Beasts to free the Delinquent person from temporal punishments This is plainly intimated in Heb. 9. 13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sactifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God 3. They differ in the nature of the pardon promised in each of the Covenants respectively The Redemption granted in the first Covenant was but temporal as the Covenant it self was it was but from evils temporal But Christ Jesus by his Atonement hath obtained Eternal Redemption for us Hebr. 9. 12. 4. They differ in respect of the Sins made pardonable by each Covenant respectively There were many sins for which the first Covenant granted no pardon upon any terms whatsoever They that despised Moses Law died without mercy Heb. 10. 28. But the Covenant of Grace makes promise of the pardon of the greatest sins upon Repentance All manner of Sin and Blasphemy except the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost are pardonable upon Repentance This difference is set down Acts 13. 39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses We may well suppose that the first Covenant did finally condemn some which the Covenant of Mercy pardoned David in the matter of Vriah did that which was unpardonable by the first Covenant it was a Fact to have been punished with death by the Law but that there was none but God that could duly inflict it upon him in his capacity and yet upon his Repentance it was pardoned as to his Eternal concerns as well as temporal by virtue of God's Covenant of Mercy On the other hand a man probably might be so righteous in the Eye of the first Covenant as not to be visibly blameable and yet even then he obnoxious to the curse of the Everlasting Covenant Paul while he was Saul and in the state of unbelief was even then as touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless as he himself saith Phil. 3. 6. So different were these two Covenants that him whom the one condemned the other might justifie and likewise justifie him whom the other condemned 5. They differed in respect of the Condition to be performed on Man's part for the obtaining of pardon Pardon was promised iâ— the first Covenant upon condition of doing only without reference to Faith but so are not the pardons of the New Covenant Gal. 3. 11 12. But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for the Iust shall live by Faith And the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them So much concerning the first Part of the Sanction of the first Covenant Come we now to the second The other part of the Sanction of this Covenant did consist in the curse of it denounced against the breakers of it Though it 's true that every Man is under a condemnation that would be Eternal until he comes to be absolved by Virtue of the Law of Grace yet more than temporal death was not expresly threatned for breach of the Political Covenant as such 1. For first A violent death inflicted by the hand of the Magistrate for Capital Offences is called the Curse Deut. 22. 23. He that is hanged is accursed of God or is the Curse of God 2. Christ who did not suffer Eternal punishment for Man's Sin did yet suffer the curse of the Law in that he was hanged on a Tree Gal. 3. 13. It is true indeed that by that temporary suffering of his he redeemed us from Eternal punishment which we were obnoxious to 3. Those who Aposâ—atize from Christ and reject his Gospel merit sorer punishment than what was inflicted on them that despised Moses Law and yet sorer punishment for kind they cannot suffer if Eternal punishment had been the penalty of that Covenant as such Heb. 10. 28 29. 4. As the Promises of that Covenant when particularly expressed did appear to be but temporal so the curses of it appear to be no other in the particular enumeration of them As for instance a violent death inflicted by the hand of the Magistrate was the punishment threatned for many Capital Offences Such as was Idolatry Blasphemy Witchcraft working on the Sabbath invading the Priests Office and for being a false Prophet also for Murder Adultery Sodomy Buggery Man-stealing Cursing or Smiting of Parents or being stubbornly rebllious against them and some other And a cutting off from among the people whether by God's hand immediately or by Mans I determine not was the penalty threatned for eating leavened Bread within the time prohibited for not purifying ones self when unclean for profaning holy things for ones eating of the Sacrifice with his uncleanness upon him for offering Sacrifice any where but at the Tabernacle for eating of Blood and for eating of the fat of the Sacrifice for neglecting to keep the Passover and for not afflicting the Soul in the day of general Atonement and for several other Offences And those Offences for which cutting off from among the people is threatned being less criminous than the former we have no reason to think the penalty of cutting off from among the people to signifie more if so much than the suffering of a temporal death As we may observe how the Israelites various punishments are exprest for their manifold crimes in the Wilderness by God's overthrowing them