absolutely Free and Sovereign is received there is an Order 't is true which for the most part God Observeth in the Communication of ensuing Graces and Priviledges namely that Faith and Obedience shall Precede the Increase and Inlargement of them Thus it was with Abraham in the Instance before us who received this last great signal Promise and Priviledg Gen. 22. upon that signal Act of his Faith and Obedience in Offering up his Son upon God's Command But yet nevertheless In the first place 't is Evident that the Gospel Covenant in the First Discovery thereof is wholly Free and Absolute So it was to Abraham Gen. 12. 2 3. where there is no such Obligation laid upon Abraham to walk before God and to be Perfect as you Affirm there was which nevertheless you Insinuate was the Condition or Qualification then required of him in order to his Participation of the Gospel Mercies there Promised him If God had indeed there told Abraham as you suggest he did That he would Bless him and make him a Blessing c. provided he walked before God and was Perfect Then it had been a Covenant of Works as much as the Covenant of Circumcision was which obliged both Him and His to do the whole Law But as I have already told you there is nothing of that Nature there to be found God only tells him Vers. 1. Get thee out of thy Country and from thy Kindred and from thy Father's House unto a Land that I will shew thee and I will make of thee a great Nation and I will Bless thee c. which is far from that Perfection which you say God there Obliged him to 'T is true afterward this charge was laid upon him Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou Perfect For God requireth many things of them whom he Actually takes into Covenant and makes Partakers of the Promises and Benefits of it Of this Nature is that whole Obedience which is prescribed unto us in the Gospel in our walking before God in Uprightness There being an Order in the things that belong hereunto Some Acts Duties and Parts of our Gracious Obedience being appointed to be Means of the further Additional Supplies of the Grace and Mercies of the Covenant Of this Nature is that General Obligation here laid upon Abraham Gen. 17. 1. Walk before me and be thou Perfect and hereunto also appertaineth that famous Act of his Obedience mentioned Gen. 22. 16 17. But then it follows not that the Gospel Covenant is a Conditional Covenant For as it is wholly Free and Absolute in the First Discovery thereof so it is as Free and Absolute still From the Foundation to the Topstone thereof 't is all of the same Piece And the Reason is because whatever Duties God requireth of us in order to the Enjoyment of the full end of the Covenant in Glory yet even those Duties or Acts of Obedience which God thus requireth of us must be Performed by us if they be Performed aright in and by vertue of the First Grace of the Covenant already received Col. 2. 6 7. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Rooted and Built up in him and stablished in the Faith as ye have been Taught So likewise Gal. 3. 2 3. This only would I Learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith Are ye so Foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made Perfect by the Flesh which First Grace of the Covenant must therefore also be continued and Renewed upon us Day by Day Else we shall certainly Faint and Perish in our own Corruption at last 2 Cor. 4. 16. Psal. 36. 10. In this respect it is Evident that the Gospel Covenant is so far from being at all Conditional that it is expressed in the Nature and Form of a Promise throughout the Scripture Thus it was to our First Parents soon after the Fall a Promise that the Seed of the Woman should overcome the Devil and his Seed No Terms no Conditions added but a bare Declaration of a Way of Mercy to their Dejected Self-condemned Consciences Next when the Covenant was Revealed to Abraham Gen. 12. 2 3. It is a Formal Absolute Promise that God would Bless him and all Nations in his Seed And ever after it is called the Promise made to Abraham which Israel waited to see accomplished And so the Apostle stiles it in the forementioned Heb. 6. 13. when God made Promise to Abraham saying Surely in Blessing I will Bless thee c. And accordingly the Apostle Gal. 3. 18. affirms that the Inheritance was given to Abraham by Promise and not by Law For saith he If the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but God gave it to Abraham by Promise which clearly Argues the Absoluteness of this Gospel Covenant For wherein differs the Law from a Free Promise but that the one is Conditional the other Absolute the one Promiseth Life upon Condition of Obedience the other without Money and without Price The like doth the same Apostle tell us Rom. 4. 13 14 15 16. For the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none Effect And why Because the Law worketh Wrath. And how doth the Law work Wrath Why as it is a Conditional Covenant wherein alone it is opposed unto the Promise which is Free and Absolute For as the Apostle rightly adds Where no Law is there is no Transgression that is where no Conditions are added there can be no Violation or Breach of Covenant And consequently It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed which else it could not be For if any Conditions be added though never so mild and gentle we are still in hazard Nay had it been so it would have rendred the Gospel Covenant worse then that made with Adam himself Since we have now no strength to Obey nor Power to fulfil these Conditions though in the least or lowest degree no not so much as to a thought So Paul acknowledgeth of himself and that even after his acquaintance with New Covenant Mercy 2 Cor. 3. 5. Not saith he that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves whereas Adam was furnished with a Capacity sufficient for the discharge of the most Perfect Obedience And if you say that God requireth nothing of us but what he giveth Strength and Grace to Perform having Promised to put his Laws in our Hearts c. This doth but so much the more clearly Evince the Absoluteness of the Gospel Covenant Since the Gospel Promise can depend on no Condition on our part For as I
Seed after him in their Generations upon Condition that He and His were Circumcised and fulfilled the whole Law was a more compleat Covenant Transaction than the forementioned and fore-established Covenant wherein God freely Promised to Bless him and all Nations in him wherein not only the Elect of his own Posterity were so deeply and dearly concerned but those among all the Nations of the Earth besides Or will you say that a Covenant that might be broken as the Covenant of Circumcision and that at Sinai was and the Mercies therein contained forfeited as they were did add any thing of Perfection to that fore-established Covenant which could never be broken The Law saith the Apostle made nothing Perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God Heb. 7. 19. You are utterly Mistaken therefore Sir if you imagine that the Covenant of Circumcision or the Sinai Covenant which followed after did add any Compleatment unto the forementioned Gospel Covenant Indeed these were so far from adding any Compleatment thereunto that the Apostle expressly affirms in the forementioned Gal. 3. 18. that if the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but saith he God gave it to Abraham by Promise The fear on the other side was lest the Law wherein the Covenant of Circumcision was comprehended should Peradventure have had so much Power and Efficacy as to disannul the forementioned Gospel Covenant which the Apostle carefully guards against Vers. 17. rather than that there was any shadow of pretence to affirm that it added ought unto the Compleatment or Security thereof Wherefore then serveth the Law saith the Apostle in the next following words It was added saith he because of Transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made Mr. Flavell indeed tells me that the Law was Published with Evangelical Purposes as being of the same Piece and Complexion with the Promise The Vanity of which Notion I have already detected in my foregoing Discourse where I have proved that the Law was so far from adding any Compleatment thereunto that it was added as an Appendix rather to the First Covenant of Works to reinforce that the more effectually thereby to Convince Men of their need of a Saviour and force them to the Promise for relief Besides If God in those Covenant Transactions with Abraham Recorded Gen. 12. did not as you say make or establish the Covenant of Grace with him that is he did not then Compleat it till the Covenant of Circumcision was added then the Apostle would not have spoken as he doth Gal. 3. 8. but rather thus That the Scripture fore-seeing that God would Justifie the Heathen through Faith Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee in their Generations provided that thou and they be Circumcised and keep the whole Law But as there is not a word of this Nature in all the New-Testament besides so this would have been Contradictory to the whole of what he had said before as well as also of what follows after For saith he Vers. 2. this only would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are you now made Perfect by the Flesh He therefore that Ministreth to you the Spirit and worketh Miracles among you doth he it by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Even as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Know ye therefore that they which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham From whence he proceeds Vers. 8. to inform us That the Scripture foreseeing that God would Justifie the Heathen through Faith Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be Blessed So then saith he they which be of Faith are Blessed with Faithful Abraham For as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse c. From all which it is Evident that the forementioned Gospel Covenant which God made with Abraham Gen. 12. 2 3. was so far from being Compleated by the Law or by the Covenant of Circumcision which was Annexed thereunto that those Covenants rather brought them under the Curse through their Weakness or Disobedience thereunto which Christ by his Blood and Sufferings hath delivered us from 'T is true the Gospel Covenant mentioned Gen. 12. 2 3. was afterwards further Explained and Re-inforced Gen. 22. 18. where the Lord tells Abraham That in his Seed should all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed And thy Seed shall Possess the Gate of his Enemies Plainly speaking of Christ the Promised Seed through whom these Gospel Blessings were to be derived unto all that were the Proper Subjects of them Before it was only In thee shall all Nations be Blessed Now God plainly tells him what he then meant In thee that is in thy Seed So that the Gospel Covenant was Compleat enough before for the Substance of it it only needed Explanation as to the manner how those Gospel Blessings were to be derived The like may be Observed in reference to what God tells Abraham Gen. 15. 5. So shall thy Seed be And Gen. 17. 4 5. As for me behold my Covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a Father of many Nations neither shall thy Name any more be called Abram but thy Name shall be called Abraham For a Father of many Nationy have I made thee All which were but further Explanations of the Gospel Covenant which for the substance thereof he had before Established with him when God told him in the forementioned Gen. 12. 3. I will make of thee a great Nation and I will Bless thee and make thy Name Great and thou shalt be a Blessing And I will Bless them that Bless thee and Curse him that Curseth thee And in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed But that God in this Covenant Transaction with Abraham Recorded Gen. 12. did solemnly Confirm or Establish his Covenant with him Mr. Whiston absolutely denies P. 95. of his Answer to Mr. Cox And on the contrary affirms that in those Transactions of God with Abraham he did not then make any Covenant at all with him and consequently not the Covenant of Grace And he offers a Three-fold Argument to prove the Negative Argum. 1. Where we have neither the Name of a Covenant nor the thing it self there no Covenant consequently not the Covenant of Grace was made But in these Transactions of God with Araham we have neither the Name of a Covenant nor the thing it self Therefore c. Reply First That it hath the Name of a Covenant I have already proved from Gal. 3. where the same that the Apostle calls the Gospel Preached unto Abraham Vers. 8. he calls the Covenant Confirmed before of God in Christ Vers. 17. Besides that
them under the Law or Sinai Covenant For with them all was that Covenant made and unâ—…er it they were Exod. 34. 27. Deut. 4 13. â—…h 27. 26. Yea they were absolutely under â—…t Gal. 5. 23. Before Faith came saith the Apostle we were kept under the Law shut up â—…nto the Faith which should afterward be revealâ—…d So Gal 4. 4 5. When the fulness of time was â—…ome God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made â—…nder the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons And the Scriptures do equally assure us that as many as are under the Law they are under the Curse For it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. 10. unto which all the People were to say Amen Deut. 27. 26 These things you cannot but acknowledge as being no other than plain Scripture Propositions when yet at the same time you must needs grant that all Gods Elect among that People were under a pure Covenant of Gospel Grace whereby they were saved Now either it was the same or they were two different Covenants that had these essentially different Properties If they were two then â—…ou grant my main Proposition that God's People were then under two distinct and Essentially different Covenants If you say it was the same then see what follows For if the whole Body of the Israelites then were as they were under the Law and consequently under its Curse Can a Man be under the Curse of the Law and yet at the same time and as the fruit of the same Covenant be under the Blessing of the Gospel Doth the same Fountain at the same time send forth bitter Waters and sweet Or is it possible that the same Covenant should at the same time be a Covenant of Faith in Christ Jesus when both God himself Moses and Paul do plainly represent it to us as a Covenant of Works requiring strict universal and perfect Obedience under pain of the Curse Condemnation and Death Indeed I cannot but wonder how you hold and hug a Principle that runs you naturally into such gross Absurdities For do you not see what follows from hence by unavoidable Consequence For according to this Principle you must hold that Moses and all Gods Elect People in Israel who were under that Covenant and with whom it was made must during their Life hang midway between Justification and Condemnation and after Death between Heaven and Hell This you charge upon my Doctrin but do you not see that the same thundring Canon Limbus Patrum Pargatory and the like which with such a full Mouth you discharge at me comes thundring back again upon your self Yea do you not see that the very same Absurdities are far more justly and truly chargeable on your Doctrin than on mine For it may be reasonably concluded according to my Principles that how harsh or dreadful soever the Terms or Conditions of the Legal Covenant were to those that were under it as Moses and the whole Body of the Israelites then were yet the Grace of the Gospel Covenant far superseded and was by far more Victorious Powerful and Efficatious For as the Law entered that the offence might abound so saith the Apostle where Sin hath abounded Grace did much more abound And if by one man's offence death reigned by oue much more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 17. 20. But what shall relieve when those two opposite and quite contrary conditions Faith and Works and the consequent fruits of either Justification and Condemnation shall be compriz'd or rather confounded together in one and the same Covenant Shall they fly from one part of the Covenant to the other from the Bitter Waters to the sweet Waters of the same Fountain for Relief This sounds harsh Is it not therefore much more congruous and suitable to Reason as well as also to the constant Analogy of the Christian Faith and Doctrin to affirm as Paul doth that these are the two Covenants and that the Sinner being scared with the dread and terrors of the Legal Covenant is forced thereby to have recourse unto the Gospel Covenant for succour which the Spirit of God hath assured us is of such a superabounding Nature for Comfort and Salvation above what the other contained for Death and Condemnation Besides God doth plainly tell the Israelites that he would remember his Covenant with them in the days of their youth I say His Covenant in opposition and contradistinction to their own before spoken of And then saith he thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy Sisters and I will give them to thee for Daughters but not by thy Covenant and I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord Ezek. 16. 60 61. Now what may we infer from hence but plainly this that there was a two fold Covenant betwixt God and Israel the one called theirs the other Gods yet both Gods Covenants the first was called theirs because they were required to perform the Conditions of it the one a Covenant of Works whereof Moses was the Mediatour wherein themselves were immediately concerned to procure their own Salvation by their own Duties of Obedience which was impossible which was the true nature of the Sinai Covenant Rom. 10. 5. Gal. 3. 10 12. The other a Covenant of Gospel Grace which is wholly free and absolute whereof Christ is the only Mediatour and Surety Rom. 10. 6 7 8 c. Heb. 8. 6 7 c. This is properly Gods Covenant and this is the Covenant saith God that I will establish In short the Scriptures do plainly assure us of two Covenants the Legal and the Gospel and that these two are essentially different in respect of the terms of Life propounded in either And the Scriptures do equally assure us that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God This is evident saith the Apostle and why For the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall livein them On the contrary you affirm that the Law is of Faith yea that it is a Covenant of Faith in Christ Jesus Now whomshall we believe whether Paul or you You affirm that the Sinai Covenant was purposely so dispensed as to tender Life and Happiness upon two opposite and contrary Conditions Works and Faith Perfect doing and believing The Apostle Paul on the other hand affirms That if it be by Grace then is it no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace and if it be of Works then is it no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work So that we see the Scripture allows of no such mixture and shews us it is impossible that the same Covenant should