reason of the obscurity of the old it hath taken lesse effect and beene of lesse power And the new by meanes of plainenesse and light hath brought with it more excellent gifts and more abundance of grace to many and hath beene of greater force power and efficacy and the Spirit hath wrought more powerfully by it For as the Apostle saith faith which is as it were the roote of other graces commeth by hearing and hearing by the Word where the Word is more plainely preached and heard with understanding there must needs be greater knowledge and faith and there the Spirit must needes worke more powerfully and effectually and shew all graces more abundantly in the hearers Hereupon it comes to passe that the Old Covenant did worke but weakely in all except those that were exâ—â—aordinarily called and enlightened because of the obscurity of it and unfitnesse to beget knowledge and faith But by vertue of the Nâ—w the Lord writes his Law in our hearts and makes us all know him more fully Ier. 31. 33. and doth poure out his Spirit with aboundance of Grace upon all flesh Ioel 2. 28 A fourth difference is in the circumstance of the promises and gifts The old Covenant did promise life and salvation in Christ who then was to come And Christ who is the foundation of all the promises though he had then taken upon him to worke mans redemption and his future death and obedience were actually in force from the beginning able to save all beleevers yet he was not actually come in the flesh neither had actually performed these things for man But the new Cove nant doth promise salvation and all blessings in Christ being already come in the flesh And Christ hath actually performed all things which were needfull for our redemption and we are by the new Covenant made partakers of his sacrifice already offered and his righteousnesse already performed for us A fifth difference ariseth from the order and mixture of the promises The old Covenant did first and chiefely promise earthly and temporall blessings as deliverance from bodily enemies and dangers and plenty of worldly goods as houses lands wealth riches encrease of children length of dayes and such like and in and under these it did signifie and promise all spirituall blessings and salvation But the new Covenant promiseth Christ and his blessings spirituall in the first place and after them earthly blessings First it brings us to the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and then it ministers other things unto us Againe the old Covenant abounded in earthly promises of worldly blessings but had few promises of spirituall and heavenly blessednesse intermingled But the new insists almost altogether on heavenly rewards and promises of spirituall blessings and hath but few promises of temporall and worldly good things And thus both the order of the promises and the unequall mixture of earthly and heavenly blessings doe make another difference betweene the old and new Covenant Sixtly they differ in the outward matter of the seales the outward rites and in the order of Sealing The seals of the old Covenant were many and those laborious costly heavy and burdensome circumcision was painfull sacrifices were costly and the many oblations offerings and purifications were a burden too heavy for the fathers to beare But the seales of the new are few and but two the least number that can be and those very easie without toyle or cost or paine of body or minde The matter of the old seales were oxen sheepe goats birds incense odours calves lambes cutting of the flesh shedding of the blood burning and killing of divers creatures The matter of the new seales is onely water sprinkled and Bread and Wine broken powred out distributed eaten and drunken and this is all that the seales differ much in outward matter also in the order of sealing for the old was first typically sealed with shadowes and after with the substance Christs Body and Blood The new was scaled first with Christs blood and death and is now sealed by the outward signes dayly in the Sacraments Lastly they differ in perpetuity For though the substance of both is one and the same eternall and unchangable yet the forme and manner of making and sealing is changable in the old but is in the new perpetuall The old Covenant hath new words added to it even the new Testament and the outward seales are abolished and new put in their place But to the words of the new Covenant no more or plainer words shal be added neither shall the outward seales thereof be altered but shall remaine till the comming of the Lord And therefore the old is but in substance onely but the new is in all respects perpetuall and unchangeable Thus much both of the agreement and the difference betweene the old and new Covenant of grace CHAP. XIIII FIrst the agreement which is between these two Covenants of grace doth serve to assure us that all the faithfull forefathers from the beginning did partake of the same graces with us and had fellowship and communion of the same spirit with one and the same Iesus Christ and were justified by his righteousnesse and saved eternally by faith in him even as we are at this day If sinne in them could have hindred the worke of Gods grace so it might doe in us for we are sinners as well as they and God hath as just a quarrell against us If our Mediator be of power to save eternally then must they also needs be saved as well as we for they had the same Christ He was yesterday is to day and shall be the same for ever If Gods promises be true if they cannot faile surely they had the same in substance which we have If salvation doth rest upon the condition of righteousnesse they had the same which we have even the righteousnesse of God in Christ and by the same faith they did partake of it If seales can helpe any thing at all they had them also as well as we And if we may judge of the power of the Covenant by the successe and effect in some persons we shall find that Enoch and Eliah were by the grace of the Old Covenant saved even from bodily death and taken up into heaven and happinesse And therefore let this consideration of the unity and agreement which is betweene the new and old Covenant of grace admonish us not to be puffed up with pride a false conceipt as if we onely under the Gospel were respected of God saved by faith in Iesus Christ Let this teach us to thinke reverently of the Fathers in the Old time and love and reverence the name and remembrance of them as Saints glorified in heaven spirituall members of the same Christ and partakers of the same grace with us But above all let this enflame our hearts with a deadly hatred and detestation of all those heretickes and their doctrine as the
fit for the presse the publike view of the world and here I offer them up to God as a sacrifice of thanksgiving for his bounty extended to me by you his instruments by whose charity my necessities have beene supplied the burthen of worldly care removed from my shoulders and I have beene enabled and encouraged to performe these workes with cheerfulnesse If with you to whom I tender them as testimonies of my love and tokens of my thankfull heart they find acceptation and prove profitable to the Church and people of God I shall thinke my vowes performed my desires in some good measure obtained and the best recompence of my paines which I expect and seek in this world received And with strength courage alacrity and cheerfulnesse shall proceed in the opening and unfolding of the rest of Gods great works of wisdome power goodnesse and mercy which concerne the restauration of mankind corrupted by which the elect are gathered unto God in Christ lifted up out of their wofull wretched and miserable condition to the state of grace in this life and in the end exalted to the blessed state of glory As namely the works which belong to redemption which God hath wrought only by Iesus Christ And the workes which belong to the application of redemption which God worketh in his elect by the holy Ghost shed on them aboundantly through Iesus Christ in their new birth and spirituall regeneration as their effectuall vocation adoption justification sanctification and glorification Divers of which I have in my course of preaching opened and unfolded out of severall texts of holy Scripture as occasion hath heretofore been offered and if God be pleased to continue life health and liberty they may be continued into severall treatises in that order and method which I have in the first beginning and enterance into the body of sacred divinity propounded in the treatise of God Deut. 6. 4 For the accomplishing of these workes by the good will and pleasure of God I do in the words of the Apostle exhort and beseech you to continue in prayer and to watch in the same with thanksgiving praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance supplication for all Saints withall praying for us his Ministers that God would open unto us a doore of utterance that we may open our mouthes boldly to speake as we ought and to make knowne the mistery of the Gospel And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified George Walker The Contents of the severall Chapters Chap. 1. THe great profit and benefit which doth arise from the knowledge of the true difference betweene the Old and New Testament the Covenant of Workes and the Covenant of Grace the Law and the Gospell page 1. Chap. 2. What the Word Testament signifieth and what is the nature of a Testament That the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament are called Testaments onely in respect of Christ who by his death ratified them and not in respect of God the Father who could not die to make them offorce The agreement and differencè betweene the Old and New Testament is plainly shewed 11 Chap. 3. The doctrine of the former Chapter is applyed by way of use to confute five differences which the Schoolemen have made and three differences which the Iesuites have added to them betweene the Old and New Testament and the vanity of them is therby discovered and a two-fold use is moreover shewed 21 Chap. 4. What the Word Covenant signifieth what is the Nature of a Covenant in generall 38 Chap. 5 The severall kindes of Covenants betweene God and men The Covenant of Nature is described The Covenant of Grace is unfolded and the blessings therein promised are rehearsed That this Covenant is a Covenant of free grace is plainely proved The division of it into the Old and New Covenant 49 Chap. 6. The Covenant of Grace first made with Adam after his fall The liberty thereby given to man proveth that we gain more by Christ then we lost in Adam Of the renuing of it with Noah The form of renuing it with Abraham and revealing it more plainly by 7 things Of the renuing of it with Israel at mount Sinah and by Moses That it is called the Old Covenant in respect of the New Covenant in the Gospell That it is mixt of the Covenant of Workes and of the Covenant of Grace The reasons why God in making it did renue the Covenant of Workes and mingle it with the Covenant of Grace made with man in Christ after his fall 58 Chap. 7. Of the New Covenant of Grace as it is made most plainely in the Gospell and in the New Testament The reasons why it is called the New Covenant 72 Chap. 8. The Method and Order propounded which is to be followed in shewing how the New and Old Covenants of Grace doe agree and differ 86 Chap. 9. The threefold agreement between the Covenant of Nature which is called the first Covenant and the Covenant of Grace which is called the second Covenant 87 Chap. 10. The sixe notable things in which the Covenant of Nature doth differ from the Covenant of Grace 90 Chap. 11. The profitable and holy use which may be made of the doctrine concerning those differences betweene the Covenant of Nature and the Covenant of Grace 100 Chap. 12. The sixfold agreement betweene the Covenant of Grace as it was revealed to the Fathers of the Old Testament and the same renued and more fully explained in the Gospell 103 Chap. 13. The sevenfold difference betweene the Covenant of Grace as it was made with the Fathers and the Covenant as it was made in the Gospell 112 Chap. 14. A twofold use is made of the doctrine in the two former Chapters 122 Chap. 15. The agreement betweene the pure and plaine Covenant of Grace in the Gospell and the mixt Covenant which God made with Israel on mount Horeh by the ministery of Moses which consisted partly of the Covenant of Workes and partly of the Covenant of Grce 127 Chap. 16. The severall differences betweene the pure and mixt Covenant 132 Chap. 17. The Use of the Doctrine is shewed for the discovering of Gods singular providence in preparing meanes of grace fit for the severall Ages of the World 154 Chap. 18. The signification of the words Law and Gospell How they agree and differ being taken in their severall senses The Use of the Doctrine 159 Iuly 30. 1640. Imprimatur The Wykes Faults escaped PAg. 1. line 4. for the read their p. 7. l. 2. for repentance read regeneration pag. 12. l. 6. read 9. for 19. and line 22. for New read Old page 13. line 13. read a for the page 37 line 14 blot out ye pag. 39 last line blot out of it page 47. line 2. for
order read frame and line 14. after the word Greeke put in word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and line 16. after the word New put in and the Septuagints in the Old page 51 line 8. read tree of Knowledge page 56 line 4. read in his owne person page 77. line 19. put out all page 90. l. 19. put in the page 103. l. 7. read unprofitable servants for unprofitablenesse page 142. line 22. for Christs read Christs blood CHAP. I. A briefe Treatise concerning the agreement and difference betweene the Old and New Testament the first Covenant betweene God and Man in Innocency which is the old Covenant of Works and the New Covenant made with Mankinde in Christ which is called the Covenant of free Grace also betweene the Law and the Gospell IT is an Ancient custome which hath beene for many Ages in use among the learned before the entrance into the large Exposition of the Gospell of Christ in the New Testament to premise and lay downe by way of preparation the nature difference and agreement between the Old and New Testament the Covenant of Workes and the Covenant of Grace the Law and the Gospell the Prophets and the Evangelists And surely if wee doe rightly consider the end and use of this practise and the profit and benefit which may arise from the knowledge of the nature of these beforehand and of the true difference and agreement betweene them we cannot but judge those learned men worthy of imitation and that it will be profitable for us to walke in the same steps when like occasion is offered For the knowledge of the true difference of the Old and New Testament the Covenant of Workes and the Covenant of Grace the Law and the Gospel will not only give us great light for the right understanding of divers particular speeches used in the New Testament by the Evangelists and Apostles but also may keepe us from many dangerous errours and enable us to answer the Objections of the Adversaries which they make out of the words of the Apostles and Prophets wrongfully wrested and misconstrued according to their owne foolish imaginations As for example sometimes the Apostles exhort us to observe the things which by Tradition have beene delivered unto us and command to observe the good orders and Ordinances established in the Churches Now a man not knowing the difference betweene the Old and New Testament the Law and the Gospel when hee heares such speeches may imagine that in those words he is injoyned to observe the Traditions and Ordinances of Moses and so may with the seduced Galatians fall into a great errour So in some places of the Apostles we read That they who are borne of God sin not That they who sin are of the Devill That they who sinne wilfully after that they have received the knowledge of the truth can have no sacrifice for their sinne And that he who beleeveth not is condemned already These things when a man heares or reades who is igno rant of the difference betweene the Law and the Gospell hee may imagine with our new up start Heretiques That every sinne which a man willingly commits doth prove him to be a childe of the Devill destitute of all grace And that when men are once called and justified they cannot willingly sinne any more And many such errours he may runne into but if he understandeth that sinne in those places signifieth sinne against the Evangelicall Law the two Commandements of the Gospell which commands us to beleeve and repent and not every sinne against any Commandement of the Law hee cannot bee deceived For sinne against the Gospell is when a man being before called to beleeve and professe the Gospell and having received the Commandements thereof which injoyne repentance of all sinne and beleefe in this Iesus Christ whom the Gospell preacheth doth afterwards rebell against these two Precepts that is falls into infidelity and impenitency which is wilfull Apostacy Now these sinnes none can commit who is borne of God or hath any true saving grace in him and if wee thus understand sinne wee shall not be deceived So likewise the Evangelists and Apostles do tell us that if we doe such and such good workes we are righteous if wee call on the Name of the Lord wee shall be saved and our Saviour saith that he will pronounce them the blessed of his Father and will say to them Come inherit the Kingdome for yee fedde mee when I was hungry and visited mee in prison In that yee did these things to my little ones And againe Many sins are forgiven her for shee loved much If wee know not the difference betweene the Law and the Gospell we may by these speeches be moved to thinke that men are justified and saved by their workes and may merit heaven by good deeds as the Iewes and Papists doe beleeve But if wee know that by good deeds and righteous workes the Evangelists and Apostles doe commonly meane not simple workes of obedience to the Law but works done by a true saving and justifying faith he cannot be deceived For such workes have these two prerogatives above all others First in that they are fruits of a justifying faith which can never faile and doe proceed from the spirit of repentance which makes us one with Christ sonnes of God in him and abides in us as an immortall seed they are infallible tokens of our justification and do assure unto us the Crowne of glory which Christ hath purchased for us and the kingdome of heaven which is the inheritance of sons And therefore we may truely say that he which doth such workes is righteous and shall be saved and injoy all blessednesse not meaning that they make him righteous or merit Heaven but that they are the evidences of his right to heaven And the more they are and the greater and more excellent the more they testifie a mans union and communion with Christ by a lively faith and give more assurance of a greater reward Secondly being the workes of a man that is justified by faith and hath perfect communion of Christs righteousnesse they have all their spots and staines cleansed and covered with the robe of Christs righteousnesse and all their defects thereby supplyed to the full and so they are perfect righteous workes as well as the doer of them is a perfect righteous man not in themselves but by vertue of Christ his obedience which is communicated and imputed to the worker of them and in him to them also They are righteous and are so called not actually or effectually but passively that is not for making the doer of them righteous but by the doers receiving of Christs righteousnesse by that faith whereof they are fruits which righteousnesse doth supply all their defects and makes them righteous not by reason of a naturall change in themselves or alteration of their nature but by spirituall communion which they have of it together with the doers of
them this is one strong and invincible reason Secondly wee have good reasons of every derivation as I have already shewed Thirdly the deriving of the word from all and not from one onely doth reconcile in one all the severall opinions of the Learned and justifies their several derivations without rejecting or offering any wrong or disgrace to any Fourthly the Greeke word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by which the Septuagint in their Greeke translation doe expresse the Hebrew word Berith and which the Evangelists and Apostles in the New Testament doe use to signifie a Covenant is derived of the Greeke word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which hath divers of the significations of the Hebrew words of which Berith is derived for it signifies to set things in order and frame to appoint orders and make Lawes to pacifie and make satisfaction and to dispose things by ones last Will and Testament Now to compose and set things in order is to uphold the Creation to walke by Orders Lawes made appointed is to walk by rule to live to deal plainely and faithfully without deceit To pacifie and make satisfaction includes sacrifices and sinne-offerings To dispose by Will and Testament implies choice of persons and gifts for men doe by Will give their best and most choise goods to their most deare and most choise friends Thus the Greeke which the Apostles use in the New Testament to signifie a Covenant to expresse the Hebrew word Berith wch is used in the Law and the Prophets doth confirme our derivation of it from all the words before named And this derivation of the Hebrew and Greeke names of a Covenant being thus laid downe and confirmed by these reasons is of great use First to shew unto us the full signification of the word Covenant and what the nature of a Covenant is in generall Secondly to justifie the divers acceptations of the Word and to shew the nature of every word in particular and so to make way for the knowledge of the agreement and difference betweene the Old and New Covenant First there we see that this Word signifies all Covenants in generall both Gods Covenant with men and also the covenants which men make among themselves For there is nothing in any true Covenant which is not comprised in the signification of this Word being expounded according to the former derivations Heere also we see what is the nature of a Covenant in generall and what things are thereunto required First every true Covenant presupposeth a division or separation Secondly it comprehends in it a mutuall promising and binding betweene two distinct parties Thirdly there must be faithfull dealing without fraud or dissembling on both sides Fourthly this must be betweeene choice persons Fiftly it must be about choyce matters and upon choice conditions agreed upon by both Sixtly it must tend to the well-ordering and composing of things betweene them All these are manifest by the significations of the words from which Berith is derived But I hold it not so needfull to stand upon the nature of a Covenant in generall I therefore come with speed to the divers acceptations of the Word and to the description of every speciall and particular Covenant which is needfull to be knowne of us CHAP. V. FIrst the Hebrew word Berith as also the names of Covenant in the Greeke and English tongue signifies a Covenant betweene God and Men Secondly it signifies the Covenants of men among themselves as Gen. 21. 27. It signifies the Covenant betweene Abraham and Abimelech and Gen. 31. 44. the Covenant betweene Iacob and Laban But here I have little to doe with Covenants betweene men The Covenant which I am to insist upon is betweene God and Men First the Covenant of naturall life and blessings which God made with Man in the creation Secondly the Covenant of Grace which God made with Man in Christ after Mans fall In the Covenant of Nature the parties were God the Creator and Man the Creature made after Gods Image and likenesse and so not contrary to God nor at enmity with him but like unto God though farre different and inferiour to God in Nature and substance The promises on Gods part were these That Heaven and Earth and all creatures should continue in their naturall course and order wherein God had created and placed them serving alwayes for mans use and that man should have the benefit and lordship of them all and should live happily and never see death The condition on Mans part was obedience to Gods Law and subjection to God his Creator in all things and this he was to expresse by obeying Gods voyce in every thing which he had already or should at any time command more especially in abstaining from the Tree of good and evill The Signe and Seale which God gave to Man for the confirmation of this Covenant was the Tree of Life which was to man a Sacrament and pledge of eternall Life on earth and of all blessings needfull to keepe man in life The receiving of this Seale was mans eating of the Tree of Life The end of this Covenant was the upholding of the Creation and of all the creatures in their pure naturall estate for the comfort of man continually This was the first Covenant which God made with man and this is called by the name Berith Iere. 33. 20. where God saith If you can breake my Covenant of the day and night and that there shall not be day and night in their season then may also my Covenant with David be broken In these words he speakes plainly of the promise in the creation That day and night should keepe their course and the Sunne Moone and Starres and all creatures should serve for mans use This though man did breake on his part yet God being immutable could not breake it neither did hee suffer his promise to faile but by vertue of Christ promised to man in the New Covenant doth in some good measure continue it so long as Mankinde hath a being on earth The Covenant of Grace is that which God made with man after his fall wherein of his owne free Grace and Mercy hee doth promise unto Mankinde a blessed Seed of the Woman which by bruising the Serpents head that is destroying the power and workes of the Devill should redeeme Mankinde and restore all that beleeve in that blessed Seed Christ to a more happy and blessed estate then that which was lost In this Covenant the parties were God Almighty offended by Mans sinne and provoked to just wrath and man by his wilfull transgression now become a Rebell and enemy against God and deserving eternall death so that here is great contrariety separation opposition and cause of enmity betweene the two parties and betweene them there was no possibility of peace and reconciliation without a fit and all sufficient Mediator necessarily comming betweene The things which God promiseth in this Covenant and for
as are already within it and when they are there they have but small light and some none at all there is I say as great a difference betweene the Covenant as it was revealed to the Fathers and the same Covenant being now renewed with us as there is betweene such an old darke house and the same house when it is repaired from the very foundation and is all whited over within and without all painted and beautified and trimmed from the roofe to the foundation and is made full of faire and wide doores on every side for all sorts of people to enter into it and hath many large windowes made in every roome whereof none is stopped up but all are glazed with pure Crystall Glasse through which the light of the day and the bright beames of the Sunne doe shine most comfortably This difference will appeare most evidently to us if wee compare the Old and New Testament together and observe the diversity of Revelation The Covenant which God made with the Fathers before Christ was a sure house builded on Christ and founded on Gods eternall Truth It was a safe shelter against all raine and soule weather of affliction and all stormes of temptations and did shrowd the Fathers from the scorching heate of an evill conscience and the fiery flames of Hell and the Devills fury but it had few doores and those narrow ones such as few could enter through to wit onely the naturall Israelites who were all included in it by the promise made to Abraham and those who were circumcised Proselytes The windowes of it were few also and those were the darke promises of Christ wch yeelded but little light shadowed over with Types and Figures as with a vaile of obscurity It had no glorious ornaments to allure men a farre off It was not whited nor painted nor set forth with variety of pleasant pictures which might delight people but it rather appeared all bloody with the blood of Bulls Goates Rammes and Lambs like a slaughter house and all blacke and smoaky with the continuall offering of burnt offerings and sacrifices and the smoaky fumes of Incense Yea so many were the ceremonies to be observed and so heavie and intolerable was the burden of them that it appeared unto all that passed by to be rather a Shop to worke and labour in a Mill to grinde in and an house of correction then any place of rest or pleasant and comfortable habitation But this Covenant as it is now renewed with us under the Gospell is much altered and made like an house repaired and renewed throughout from the top to the foundation The Rocke Christ upon which it is built is now set forth in all his glorious colours all all the Mosse of ceremonies which did over-grow and cover him is taken away hee now shines like Ivory Crystall and Adamant most finely polished The Truth of God in his promises which is the ground of our Faith is now made manifest and clear by the comming of CHRIST and by the fulfilling of his Word which he spake from the beginning and now we dare boldly relie and rest on Gods Word in sure hope and confidence that his Truth will never fail The Ministeriall foundations to wit the writings of Moses and the Prophets are now by the light of the Gospell changed as it were from rough and unhewen stones and made like smooth polished Marble The foure Gospels are as it were foure doores made in the foure sides of this square house looking towards the foure winds of Heaven ready to receive all men from all the foure corners of the earth The many Sermons of Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament are as so many Windowes through which as through Crystall Glasse much heavenly Light is conveyed and derived unto us even from heaven from the throne of God the sweet promises and many and divers gifts of the Spirit as Knowledge Faith Tongues gifts of Healing Prophecying Miracles and the like are as pleasant and delightsome Pictures and Ornaments able to draw allure and delight the hearts of all men And the many outward blessings of peace and plenty wch follow the preaching and profession of the Gospell where it is received are as it were a glorious painting whiting which doth make this house glorious a far off and fils and enflames all that passe by with admiration and love of it Now there is none so obstinate nor so strict in speech but hee will grant that an house so altered and renewed throughout as I have before shewed may truely be called though not another yet a new house because it is repaired renued and beautified in all parts though the foundation and substance of the walls and the Timber be the same And therefore none can deny but that the Covenant of Grace now under the Gospell though it be the same in substance and matter with that made to the Fathers and hath the same foundation yet being thus altered renewed and beautified may justly be called though not another yet a new Covenant at least and a better Covenant Secondly the Covenant of Grace which before GOD made with Abraham and his seed and which was inforce onely among the Israelites before the comming of Christ is now by the preaching of the Apostles made with all Nations and all the people of the world are received into it or at least have it offered unto them and there is free accesse made unto all through the new doores which are now made in every side of the Covenant as is before noted This is manifest by the very mission of the Apostles and the Commission which our Saviour Christ gave unto them Matth. 28. in these words Goe teach all Nations Now experience teacheth us that when an house is not onely repaired but also inlarged every way and the foundation of it is stretched out an hundred times more then before it may truely even in respect of it selfe be called a new house And when new inhabitants come to dwell in an house wherein they never dwelt before though the house hath beene long built and is old in it selfe yet to them it is a new habitation and men in such cases call their houses new houses Therefore by the same reason it followes necessarily that the Covenant of Grace which was made with the Fathers being now by the comming of Christ the light of the Gospell and more plentifull gifts of the Spirit much enlarged and made capable of all Nations and Christ the foundation of it being stretched out to all the world it may even in it selfe be called a new and better Covenant Also in respect of the new people which are received into it it may be called a new Covenant though in it selfe it were no whit altered or enlarged at all Thirdly where the seales of a Covenant are made new and the old are taken away and where the manner of sealing is altered and quite inverted there we may call it a