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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	ceremonial_a	law_n	moral_a	5,536	5	9.9611	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76707	The copy of the covenant of grace With a true discovery of several false pretenders to that eternal inheritance, and of the right heir thereunto. Together with such safe instructions as will inable him to clear his title, and to make it unquestionable. Exactly evidenced by many perspicuous and unconstrained testimonies of scripture. Penned, and published upon mature deliberation, and good advise. / By Robert Bidwel, a servant, and minister of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.	Bidwell, Robert.	1657 (1657)	Wing B2886; Thomason E2117_1; ESTC R212678	175,027	429

silence their illiterate impudence They have said with our tongue will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us according to that of the Prophet Psalm 12. 4. But contrary to that of the Apostle My brethren be not many Masters Ja. 1. 3. These trouble-truths in spight of humane learning are gifted men Yet it is probable that they take unto themselves more then what is given them I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken unto them yet they prophesied saith the Lord Jer. 23. 21. They say not with our Saviour who hath ears to hear let him hear Mat. 13. 9. But like themselves who hath a tongue to speak let him speak Yet neither will they allow any thing to be well spoken but what they speak by themselves or by their Disciples who do onely speak themselves These are they that say they have gotten the pattent of the spirit wholy to themselves and their assigns and that they have the onely true light in their own dark Lanthorns But we may choose to believe them For we must believe God rather then men And our God sendeth us To the Law and to the Testimony and telleth us that if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa 8. 20. And therefore so long as they reject this word their pretended light is like to doe them but little good But judge of them say they we may not For they are all spitual And he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of none According to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 15. Truely we need not The Spirit of God hath long since judged them and pointed them out as men before of old ordained unto this condemnation And that both by the Son of God himself Mat. 24. 24. And likewise by divers of his Apostles By Paul 2. to Tim. 3. to the 10th By Peter 2. Pet. 2. By Jude Jude 4. to the 20th In many other places they are lively described but in these so exactly discovered both for time and manners that they cannot hide themselves from any save onely from those silly Souls whom they themselves have most miserably blinded and bewitch'd whose lamentable condition is much to be pitied Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth Men of corrupt mindes reprobate concerning the Faith But they shall proceed no further For their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was This is our Lords promise under the hand of one of his principal Secretaries 2 Tim. 8 9. And thirdly take heed that ye do hear obediently Behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of Rams saith Samuel 1 Sam. 15. 22. But unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes and that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behinde thee This the Lord by his anointed Psal 50. 16 17. And thus the wisdom of God by King Salomon Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at naught all my councel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mo●k when your fear cometh c. Pro. 1. 24. c. But whosoever cometh to me heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like he is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a Rock and when the flood arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house could not shake it for it was founded upon a Rock saith Christ that Rock and foundation of our faith Luke 6. 47 48. Truely whosoever shall take heed what he heareth And how he heareth according to the preceding particulars I am confident that he shall neither be barren nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Thus have I indeavoured to shew you both that faith is obtained by hearing And likewise what and how you shall hear so as that you may obtain faith But there is yet a question which may be demanded in this case And it will be this May not faith be obtained by reading I answer that I doubt not but it may For as in hearing we receive the word of God by the ear so in reading we receive the word of God by the eye Now the word of God is that incorruptible seed whereby we are regenerate born again 1 Pet. 1. 23. And it is not material how we do receive this seed provided that we do receive it into honest hearts and keep it and bring forth fruit with patience as Luke 8. 15. For by this means faith is both produced and improved Neverthelesse it is a very rare thing to get faith by reading And therefore reading is not to be compared to hearing in this particular For first the word of God is full of deep mysteries very hard to be understood without much industry even by the strongest apprehension Without controversie great is the mystery of godlinesse saith our Apostle 1 Tim. 3. 16. Is it an easie matter to conceive rightly of the Godhead essentially and personally Or of the two Covenants the one of Works and the other of Grace And that the last should be first according to Gods contract and ordination though last according to mans use and expectation Is it an easie thing for a man to see Christ in the promise to Adam and the fathers before the floud Or in the Covenant of Grace revealed unto Abraham and confirmed by the seal of Circumcision to himself and his beleeving posterity till their deliverance out of the Aegyptian bondage Or afterwards in the ceremoniall Law wherein he was exhibited or holden forth more copiously though yet obscurely in types and shadows until his coming in the flesh Is it an easie thing for a man rightly to understand Gods Evangelical purposes in giving the moral Law that exact copy of the covenant of works And his several extents limitations intended in his Gospel Truly if these and the like difficulties do not require an exact industry a superordinary judgement I have no judgement at all And therefore Lean not to thine own understanding saith the wise man Prov. 3. 5. Doubtlesse it is this kind of self-confidence that hath thus obscured the light of the Gospel with so many anti-christian errours A wise man will hear and will encrease learning saith Salomon Prov. 1. 5. As the Aethiopian Eunuch was riding in his charet and reading the Prophet Esaias Philip ran thither unto him and said Vnderstandest thou what thou readest And he said How can I except some man should guide me Acts 8. 28. Verily he hath need of a good guide that shall dive for faith in this deep mystery Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but

the first Although we finde not that the word of God hath set forth unto us this Covenant of Grace under that very Notion or expression of the Covenant of Grace In totidem syllabis as we say In just so many syllables or in the very self-same words Yet by the consideration of some few particulars I doubt not but I shall settle it very strongly even upon the weakest apprehensions For we finde that the Lord hath contracted or made many Promises Grants Agreements or the like Conveyances under the name or stile of Covenants I will establish my Covenant with you and with your seed after you saith the Lord to Noah Gen. 9. 9. The same day the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham Gen. 15. 18. Which not long after he confirmed in these words And I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Gen. 17. 7 8. And oftentimes in the same 17. Chapter he urgeth the said Covenant He commandeth obedience thereunto vers 9. And sealeth it with the sign of Circumcision vers 11. The seal of the righteousnesse of faith saith St. Paul Rom. 4. 11. Again we read of the book of the Covenant And of the bloud of the Covenant Exod. 24. 7 8. And truely these and the like were no other then representations or manifestations or confirmations of this which we call the Covenant of Grace In like manner the Covenant of peace Isa 54. 10. The Covenant of the Redeemer Isa 59. 20 21. The everlasting Covenant Jer. 32. 40. The new Covenant promised Jer. 31. 31. and repeated Hebr. 10. 16 17. were Covenants for Reconciliation Preservation and Sanctification All which together with every other of the like nature are but as so many Members which do receive their very life and being from and by the virtue of this original Covenant for Redemption and Salvation which we call the Covenant of Grace The name and substance whereof are very well presented unto us in that typical Covenant extended literally to David but intended really to Christ the Son of David in these words My mercy will I keep for him for ever more and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His seed also will I make to endire for ever and his Throne as the dayes of Heaven If his Children forsake my law and walk not in my judgements If they break my statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I visit their transgression with the Rod and their iniquity with Stripes Neverthelesse my loving kindenesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips c. Psal 89. 28. to the 35. Thus are we warranted to call this grand evidence of our Salvation by the name of a C●venant In regard that our heavenly Father hath made so many promises and concessions to us and our predecessours under that very title And now that I may resolve you in a word why we call it the Covenant of Grace Be pleased to consider That God gave unto Adam great possessions and privileges by way of Covenant But revocable and destructive also in case of his disobedience thereunto Gen. 2. 17. Yet Adam rebels to his eternal ruine Gen. 3. 6. Neverthelesse without the least desert or desire of his He is not onely reprived but also restored unto favour by vertue of another Covenant Inplied in the discovery of Christ by the seed of the woman Gen. 3. 15. And doth not that deserve to be called the Covenant of Grace And not onely Adam but we also have all sinned and come short of the glory of God But are justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3. 23 24. Yea ye also were dead in sins but by Grace ye are saved Eph. 2. 5. And all by virtue of this Covenant which is therefore most worthily called The Covenant of Grace We come now in the second particular to shew you By whom this Covenant of Grace was made And I trust I shall not need to take much pains therein For I am confident that whosoever can believe that there was a Covenant of Grace made with the World for redemption and salvation they cannot doubt but God was the onely authour thereof It was God that was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor. 5. 19. And it is the grace of God that bringeth salvation Tit. 2. 11. And the onely true light hath made it most manifest here in this Text. God so loved the World God the father for he gave his onely begotten son God that great Creatour and onely wise disposer of all things both in heaven and in earth Who having created the first man in his own Image Gen. 1. 27. That is saith St. Paul In knowledge Col. 3. 10. And in righteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4. 24. He gave him dominion over the Creatures Gen. 1. 28. Stated him in Paradise Gen. 2. 8. A place abounding with all and all manner of happinesse and pleasure and plenty And for the more secure and setled injoyment of the same He promised him everlasting life whereof the tree of life Gen. 2. 9. was the symbole sign or token To have and hold all the said premisses priviledges and prerogatives to him and his heirs for ever And all this by way of Covenant upon condition of the said Adams obedience to the whole will of God Notwithstanding the onely Proviso expressed consisted in his abstinence from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and this under the penalty of eternal death Gen. 2. 17. This is that which we call the Covenant of works And which the word of God commonly calleth the Law The matter or substance whereof is exemplified in the Moral Law or the Law of the ten Commandments Ex. 20. which is sometimes called The works of the Law Gal. 2. 16. And sometimes the Law of works Rom. 3. 27. But Adam carelesse of his blest estate believes the Devil rather then his God Insomuch that he neglects his Maker and Master And despising his Covenant breaks the condition By which rebellion he incurs the penalty and pulls the woefull ruines of misery death and condemnation upon himself and his whole posterity Yet this good God this much offended Majesty notwithstanding this his just occasion of eternal displeasure So loved the World that he confirmed this Covenant of Grace wherein He gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life I am now in the third particular to shew you with whom this Covenant of Grace was made Expressed here under this notion The World God so loved the World We finde that the holy Ghost hath applied this word World to several senses and significations It is used for the habitable places of the world for the universal frame of the world and

said unto thee when thou wast in thy bloud Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy bloud Live I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field and thou hast increased and waxen great and thou art come to excellent ornaments thy breasts are fashioned and thine haire is grown whereas thou wast naked and bare Ezek. 16. 6 7. See here the wonderfull incomprehensible goodnesse of our God not onely in pitying and reviving the poor Soul miserably polluted and even dead in the gore and filth of her natural sins and corruptions But also in supplying and inriching her with most beautifull Ornaments Allegorically relating to the graces and indowments belonging to a spiritual life Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakednesse yea I sware unto thee and entered into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord verse 8. And what Covenant can any man imagine this to be but an expresse or a discovery of that eternal Covenant of Grace For who can expect these undeserved favours but by and through Jesus Christ our Lord the onely Mediatour of that Covenant And being such blessings as no man can receive from God but by the hand of a lively faith according to the condition of that Covenant We come now to prove that the peacefull life or the spiritual mans peacefull passage to eternity is vouchsafed unto us in and through Jesus Christ by virtue of this Covenant of Grace Wherein I desire you to understand that it is not an outward or a worldly peace that I intend in this place For albeit the Lord promiseth his people upon their reconciliation and return That in that day he will make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of Heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and that he will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth and make them to lie down safely as Hos 2. 18. Yet without doubt this promise was neither generally nor absolutely intended but conditionally even as he in his wisdome should see it to be good and nece●●ary for his own people and conducible to his own glory For our Saviour telleth his Disciples plainly These things have I spoken unto you saith he that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation John 16. 33. A Child of God shall never want adversaries so long as the Devil hath any agents or instruments abroad yet he is not without his several comforts and preventions For when he first discovers them he considers them to be Gods enemies also and therefore he leaves them wholy unto Gods ordering Secondly when they begin to rouze themselves he looks the more narrowly to his own wayes least his indiscretion should give them the greater advantage And lastly when they pursue him with violence he maketh merily towards his covert his strong hold He trusteth in the Lord for ever for in the the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Isa 26. 4. The peace of a true believer may be shaken but not utterly overthrown All the world cannot beat him from his confidence in God for albeit he is very sensible of his own weaknesse yet he is sure of a powerfull Peace-maker Being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord saith Saint Paul Rom. 5. 1. Yea The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and mindes through Jesus Christ saith the same Apostle Phil. 4. 7. You will say This is by Christ but how is it by Covenant I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them saith the Lord concerning his Church Ezek. 37. 26. This indeed is a Covenant of peace you will say and an everlasting Covenant But what is this to that eternal Covenant of Grace I answer first had it not been for that eternal Covenant No Creature after Adams rebellion had ever been capable of any other Covenant for good Secondly we may be confident that God did never make any Covenant whatsoever to or with mankinde since the Creation but it hath its relation to that Original Covenant of Grace The very Covenant of works made with Adam and exemplified to the Israelites as a rule of life in the Moral Law or the Law of the ten Commandments discovereth unto us that enmity between God and us together with our own infirmities and inabilities and sendeth us to seek for reconciliation by Jesus Christ By whom we have now received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. And thirdly the gift that God vouchsafed unto us in that Covenant of Grace was Jesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God And he is our peace Eph. 2. 14. The fourth and highest degree is everlasting life in the Kingdom of glory This also is given unto us in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son And this is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son 1 John 5. 10 11. And it is assured unto us in and by this eternal Covenant For it was promised before the world began Tit. 1. 2. But what need we any further proof then the expresse words of this Copy God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life This is the glorious inheritance which the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God hath purchased for the sons of men in and by this Covenant of Grace delivered unto us in this Copy under the Title of Everlasting life Our blessed Saviour in his description of the day of judgement calls it a Kingdom Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. This is that which old Jacob expected upon his death-bed saying I have waited for thy salvation O Lord Gen. 49. 18. And that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven As St. Peter sets it forth 1 Peter 1. 4. Seing therefore that we have such a hopefull and such a happy inheritance presented unto us in this eternal Covenant I conceive it will be very necessary that we search out the right Heire thereunto Lest peradventure the numerous or numberlesse pretenders should deceive both themselves and others by presuming upon their unwarrantable interests without any considerable evidence or assurance And in order unto this discovery It will be very convenient that we do first lay down this firm foundation That Faith is the onely evidence which either