that they were in covenant with God before the Law at Sinai was given for God is said while they were in Aegypt to remember his covenant and to have respect unto them Exod. 2.23 24 25. and the Lord calls himself the God of the Hebrewes and the God of Israel and bids them say to Pharoah let my people go that they may serve me and sacrifice to the Lord their God and I will be to you a God and ye shall be to me a people which is the very tenour of the covenant of grace see Exod. 3.6 7 8 9. and 5.3 and 6 7. but Mr. Anthony Burgesse whom in respect of his great worth I much reverence although in this particular point I dissent from him till I beconvinced with more evidence of truth saith the Law at Sinai is a covenant of grace because it beares the name of covenant Deut. 4.13 I answer it beares that name from the old tenure when it was given to Adam for a covenant of works but it will not follow that it is still a covenant no more then the calling Rahab a harlot will conclude her still to be a harlot after her faith is so highly commended Heb. 11. but he saith it hath the properties of a covenant there be the parties God and Man and it is written with penalties and promises I answer It was a covenant to Adam therefore those things remained to shew them their misery by his fall and those that were not brought off by Christ were still under that covenant and as yet never freed from it then it had been a vain thing to give them that old bond as a covenant unto which they were still bound and condemned for ever then I say it was given them for those forenamed ends and not as a covenant But he saith it was a covenant of grace because God did not deale with them as absolutely considered but as their God for to them belong the covenants the giving of the Law and the promises Rom. 9.4 I answer God was in covenant with them before the Law at Mount Sinai was given therefore the Law at Sinai did not bind them as a covenant to obey it or else lye under the penalty of it and from this very text the giving of the Law is distinguished from the promises the first although given as a rule yet bearing the name of covenant and the latter they had many promises of Christ which is the Gospell declaring the covenant of grace the Gospell was preached to them Gal. 3.8 Heb. 4.2 1 Pet. 4.6 John 8.56 then all this will not prove the Morall Law to be a covenant of grace His 2. Argument if it be considered the good things annexed to the covenant then this at Sinai must be a covenant of grace for at Si nai was remission of sinnes and shewing mercy to thousands Ex. 20.5 I answer it is true to all those that did obey the Law as a rule of righteousnesse yet not for it but because they were in the covenant of grace before for all grace and comfort flowes from the covenant made with Christ and not from that made with Adam nor from the copy of it given as a rule to Israel at Mount Sinai grace and truth came by Jesus Christ John 1.16 His 3. Argument if we consider the duties commanded in the Law so generally taken it must needs be a covenant of grace for what is the meaning of the first Commandement but to have one God in Christ to be our God by faith I answer it is true to those that are in the covenant of grace before but the copy of Adams covenant cannot reconcile them to God in Christ that must be done by the covenant of grace and being in that covenant of grace already the Law at Sinai may command us to walk accordingly but saith he shall we think that any can do the Law without any spot of sin or without the grace of God to pardon them I answer no for the Law was not given them and us for that end for it was given in the hand of a mediatour and now God accepts of the will for the deed and the preface hath relation to the covenant of grace going before therefore although the Law be a perfect copy of the covenant of works yet being given to another end it cannot disanull the covenant of grace that was confirmed before of God in Christ nor make the promises of it of none effect Gal. 3.16 then this copy of the morall Law is not a covenant of grace His fourth Argument from the Ceremoniall Law all Divines say it was reduced to the Morall Law so that sacrifices were commanded by vertue of the second Commandement and sacrifices were Evangellicall and held forth remission of sins through the blood of Christ I answer those that were in the covenant of grace before and did by faith see Christ in those sacrifices grant that Law at Sinai did command them to walk accordingly as being made subservient to the covenant of grace and so the positive Lawes of the Land are usefull and subservient to the covenant of grace so that he who shall presume either against mans Law or Gods Law as now it is made usefull to us doth exceedingly aggravate his sin to treasure up wrath to himselfe against the day of wrath although neither the Law of God nor man is the covenant of grace His fifth Argument he saith will appear from the visible seale to ratifie this covenant which you have heard was by sacrifices and sprinkling the people which did signifie Christ as mediatour to this covenant I answer the covenant of works to Adam needed no sacrifices for sin as a seale of that covenant and for the copy of it given at Mount Sinai to Israel was not given as a covenant but as a rule of life for those already in covenant Therefore the Morall Law at Sinai need no sacrifices which were as seales to the covenant of grace and not to that Law at Sinai and those seales were long before the Law at Sinai was given Abels Lambe signified the Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world John 1.29 for Christ was then the true Lambe sacrificed Revel 13.8 now lest any should mistake there was three sorts of Lawes published in writing at Mount Sinai which were not written before first that eternall Morall Law in the 20. chap. of Exodus now this was not only written for them but for us allso Rom. 15.4 1 Cor. 10.11 yea for Saints and Angels eternally Psal 119.89.103.20 not one title of this Law shall faile and the Apostles do not seek to make void this Law but do establish it Rom. 3.31 but then at Mount Sinai there was the Judiciall Law given in the 21 22 23. chapters of Exodus and that Law belongs no more to us then our Lawes of the Land belong to them any farther then they are grounded on the morall Law 3. There was the Ceremoniall
Law given in the 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31. now this ceremoniall Law being in types and shadowes of Christ to come were all ended when Christ was once offered to beare the sins of many although the Priests stood daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices but when Christ had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down at the right hand of God Heb. 9.28.10 11 12. so then those sacrifices were not seales of the morall Law but of the ceremoniall which was their Gospell in dark types and shadowes shewing them Christ with whom the covenant of grace was made from all eternity and that it is so observe the morall Law was given with terrible thundrings and earthquakes that the people durst not come neare but cryed let not God speak unto us lest we dye Exod. 20.18 19. but when the ceremoniall Law was given they saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a Saphirstone and as it were the body of heaven in his clearnesse also they saw God and did eat and drink see Exodus 24.3.4.10 11. thus the Morall Law was given with darknesse and terors and this with light and comfort then the morall Law is not a covenant of grace His sixt Argument if the Law was the same covenant and the oath which God made to Isaac then it must needs be a covenant of grace but saith he God when he gave the Law made it an Argument of his love and grace to them saying if ye hearken to these judgements and do them that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and mercy which he swore unto thy Fathers Deut. 7.12 I answer if this Law at Sinai should be the same which God swore to Isaac then the Law and Gospell would be the same thing but I need go no further then this one text to confute it where God saith if ye hearken to these judgements being the rule of their obedience then God will keep with them the covenant made with their fathers before the Law at Sinai was given this at Sinai is called judgments that is called a covenant this is called judgments in opposition to the other being an oath and promises then the copy of the morall Law given at Mount Sinai for a rule of obedience was not a covenant of grace But then saith M. Burgesse there are strong objections against these Arguments from Rom. 10. Gal. 3.18 Rom. 4.14 and it seems they are too strong for him for I heare no more of them only he saith if it should be rigidly and universally true then the Doctrine of Socinians would prevaile that there was no grace nor faith nor nothing of Christ vouchsafed to the Jewes but what necessity is there of this Christ was held out to them by the brazen Serpent John 3.14 and Moses complains for their want of faith saying they are a froward generation a people in whom there is no faith Deut. 32.20 and they were punished at Meribah because they beleeved not yea they could not enter into the promised laid because of their unbeliefe Heb. 3.19 but then I say Christ was tendred by the ceremoniall Law and faith in Christ is required from that and not from the morall Law yet I will neither exclude the Law nor Gospell nor will I divide them in the working grace in the elect for by the law we see our misery and by the Gospell our remedy and they are enemies to the truth 〈◊〉 deny either in the work of a sinners conversion but all this will not prove that the Law at Sinai was a covenant of grace But then he saith as the law worketh death so the gospell to some is the savovr of death and if Christ had not come then men had had no sin and they shall have greater judgements that despise Christ then they that despised the Law and this effect is accidentall through our corruption and then he saith that God doth not vouchsafe grace and justification in a legall way by that Law at Sinai but evangelically but I say then it was by the ceremoniall Law and not from the morall Law or at least the morall Law did shew them their misery and the ceremoniall Law shewed them Christ their only remedy then the morall Law is not a covenant of grace Thirdly He saith that the Apostle speaks these derogatory passages and they seem to be as well the ceremoniall law yet all do acknowledge here was Christ and grace held forth but by his good leave Paul was not willing to be found in his own righteousnesse which is of the law but that which is of the faith of Jesus Christ only Phil. 3.9 because that which comes only by the morall law is but our inherent righteousnesse when as the other by the gospell is not in us but in Christ and imputed to us and by this we stand just in the sight of God the one we have by the first Adam and the other we have by the second Adam then if these do but seemingly differ let the Reader judge and that other place Rom. 4.13 14. where it is said the promise to Abraham was not to him and his seed through the law but through the righteousnesse of faith for if it had been by the law the promise of Christ or the covenant of grace had been void so that here also is more then a seeming difference and so Gal. 3.18 if the inheritance were by the law it is no more of promise if grace were had at Sinai it could not be had by the covenant of grace to Abraham made by promise then are these but seeming derogatories no they are such objections that seem to be too strong for him therefore it still holds good that the morall Law at Sinai was no covenant of grace Fourthly He saith it is true that the law is a killing letter to those that take it without Christ and so is the gospell but I would know how any can take Christ from the morall law at Sinai when as he was never tendred by that law Christ only is tendred in his own covenant of grace made from all eternity and the promises in Christ are yea and amen 2 Cor. 1.19 but he saith if any had said to Moses your doctrine is but a killing letter and not a doctrine of life he would have been judged a blasphemer against the law of Moses I answer as the Law at Sinai was a rule to beleevers if any man despised this Law he dyed without mercy because by Christ it was made a rule for them to walk by and such a one shewed plainly that he was not a believer and so not in the covenant of grace confirmed before to Abraham so then the law at Sinai was a rule of life but the gospell is the chiefe instrumentall cause of life and therefore he that sins against the gospell shall have the great punishment yet all this will not make the
then every man may do what is right in his own eyes his answer is only this if Magistrates be commanded to rule the nations and Christ to order the affaires of his Kingdome then the objection is resolved but this he cannot prove that Christ is confin'd only to rule his Church for when God raised him from the dead he set him at his own right hand far above all principalities and powers might and dominion and every name that is named both in this world and in the world to come and put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to his Church Ephe. 1.20.21 22. neither are Magistrates confined so to rule the State as to have no relation to the Church but to be as a guard to it and to punish the disturbers of it Rom. 13. The use of his last difference if the Lord have taken away the first that he might establish the second Heb. 10.9 then this should teach us to take heed that we do not go about to establish againe that which God hath taken away as all those do which go about to bring into the worship of God the rights of the first covenant this is indeed to give the spirit of God the lye for in effect they say the first covenant is best when as the spirit of God saith the second is best being established upon better promises I answer Christ and all his benefits were then promised and is any thing better then Christ and his benefits Gal. 3.8.16 so then the things promised were not better but the manifestation or discovery now is better the promises of grace were seal'd to them by the blood of beasts the type of Christs blood and to us the promises of grace are seal'd by his own blood but Christ and his benefits were the same both to them and us Then he is perswaded that each godly heart longs for the utter ruine of Antichrist which will be compleated so soon as this is generally seen that the upholding of the first covenant is the upholding of Antichrist for the Apostle admires that in as much as Christ was crucifyed and so clearly held forth among them which did put an end to all the rights of that covenant that they should be so bewitched as to bring them in again but here I would know of him who it is that seeks to bring in circumcision or any of their ceremonies which he seems to charge upon us without proof because the Galathians were bewitched with those beggerly elements which we have not the least shadow ofthen he saith circumcision was the signe of that covenant that did so deceive them for if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing ye are debters to the whole law Gal. 5.2 3. I answer with M. Perkins on these words that circumcision must be considered according to the circumstance of time three waies before Christ it was a Sacrament and seale of the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith Rom 4.1 after the death of Christ it was a dead ceremony yet some used it as a thing indifferent till the destruction of the Temple but afterwards it was a deadly ceremony and ceased to be a thing indifferent so then although it would be to us a renouncing of Christ yet to the Jewes it was a Sacrament or seal of the righteousnesse of Christ to their faith as our Sacraments do to us thus the Jewes that believed were under the covenant of grace as well as we although not under the same manifestation of it they had the glad tydings of Christ in the promise and we in the performance their promises are ceased in our performances and their types and shadowes ceased when Christ the substance came their ceremonies were gospell to them to shew them Christ but these ceremonies are now worn out and are but beggerly Elements to us they saw as it were the body of heaven in its clearnesse by those spectacles but we cannot see at all with them thus their Gospell is ceased to us but our preaching and declaring Christ to be already come is that everlasting Gospell preached by men and Angels in the midst of heaven for ever saying fear God and give glory to him and worship him that made the Heaven and Earth and Sea and Fountain of waters Rev. 14.15 16. and we shall then sing the song of Moses as well as the song of the Lambe Rev. 15.3 that is we shall be as cheerfull in our duty to the morall law being a rule of righteousnesse as to extoll and praise the Lord for his mercies so then although the ceremoniall law be ceased yet the morall law abideth eternally Psal 103.20.119.89 not as a covenant of grace nor as a covenant of works but as a rule of righteousnesse for Moses wrote all the words of the Lord touching the ceremoniall law Ex. 24.3 4. and after that the Lord called Moses up into the Mount and there he gave him the tables of stone and a law and Commandements which himself had written ver 12. to this end to be a rule of righteousnesse that thou maist teach them their duty after they had seen the God of Israel reconciled to them ve 10 11. now the righteous being in the covenant of grace shall enjoy the good things of it and that eternally when as the wicked being still under the covenant of works shall suffer the misery and lye under the penalty of it eternally But some will say the yoake of Christ is easie and his burden is light Mat. 28.11 when as the law was a yoake which neither our fathers nor we are able to beare Acts 15.10 therefore they were not in the covenant of grace nor under the yoake of Christ I answer it was the same covenant of grace with ours although not the same way administred unto them circumcision was a seale of the righteousnesse of faith to them Rom. 4.11 yet a very heavy burden to flesh and blood Exod. 4.25 and baptisme an easie service is come in the place of it and so their Passeover was very chargeable to sacrifice so many of their cattel this we are eased of and now the Lords Table requires but little of our estate so also they had long and tiresome Journies to come to the Passeover at Jerusalem Psal 84.6 7. when as now God accepts of our Passeover or Sacrament neare our own homes so then Jewes and Christians have the same covenant only their burden of administration is taken off and made easie for which we are exceedingly bound to praise the Lord and that for ever FINIS Errata Page 16. line 20. after read before p. 32. r. is the highest p. 20. l. 8. reverence r. receive l. 15. r. leave out many p. 21. l. 37. all read also the r. their risen r. arisen Christian Reader I Have lived an unworthy Minister in the same town with the Authour of this Treatise these six and twenty years and have been a constant observer and admirer as of her other eminent gifts so especially of those which give the highest lustre to them all her humble piety and charity And if I mistake not this Deborah doth here present unto thee in these her labours Bee-like a sting and hony conjoyn'd Hony-sweet instructions counsels and exhortations gathered out of severall flowres growing in Gods Paradise tending to all sorts of good husbandry and also sharp stings of reproof against all kinds of unthriftiness not sparing the worst of them our Church-dividing Errours in these times Who knows but that after the lightnings of so many worthy Barak's and thundrings of so many powerfull Boanergesses both from the Pulpit and Presse against these Troublers of our Israel the Lord may be pleased to make some of these Sisera's fall by the hand and pen of a woman First read then judge and as Barnabas did at Antioch Acts 11.23 when thou hast seen the grace of God be glad and say The Lord be magnified who as he may do what he will with his own so hath given such gifts to a woman the fruits whereof shee here by her private pains sends forth with her earnest desire for the glory of God and the publike good Which is also the hearty prayer of Thy Christian friend and well-wisher in the Lord Robert Cade REader in this Tract as in a former by her written thou mayest find verified eminency of gifts humility of spirit elegancy of style soldity of matter height of fancy depth of judgment cleernesse of apprehension strength of reason all sweetly met together and truly as well as piously improved for the mayntenance of the old truths of Jesus Christ against the new errours of these times by the Phoenix of this age this rare and precious Gentlewoman the envy and glory of her sex 〈…〉
law at Sinai to be a covenant of grace Lastly he saith we must retain that distinction of a large and a strict sence of the law but I say let him take the law at Sinai as strict or as large as he will it is not a covenant of grace and therefore cannot state a man in grace only it is given both to them and us as a rule to walk by and we ought still to obey it so far as we are able and yet not as a covenant of grace but as a rule of life In the next place I shall prove that the law at Sinai was not a covenant of works if the Lord had set them upon a covenant of works this would have disanul'd the covenant of grace given 430. years before and if salvation came by works it is no more of grace Gal. 3.17.18 Rom. 11.6 but saith Paul is the law against the promises of God God forbid Gal. 3.21 then the law at Sinai was not a covenant of workes Secondly if the law at Sinai had been a covenant of works this were to make them their own savoiurs but it was the happinesse of Israel to be saved by the Lord Deut. 33.29 then the law at Sinai was not a covenant of works Thirdly If all mankind lye dead in sin under the guilt and penalty of the covenant of works already then they are uncapable of another covenant of works but all men are dead in sins 1 Ephes 2.1 Rom. 5.12.3.19 then the law at Sinai was not given to Israel as a covenant of works but as a rule of life to them being in the covenant of grace before Fourthly If Israel was a peculiar speciall holy people to the Lord and yet born into the world dead in sin uncapable of working then this must needs be done by a covenant of grace but they were such a people Deut. 7.6 then not by working but by faith in that covenant of grace confirmed to Abraham 430. yeares before they became such a people and not by the law at Sinai Fifthly If Israel was married to the Lord as the spous to the husband and in relation of children to their father then this was done by the covenant of grace confirmed to Abraham but Israel was such a people Jer. 3.14 Isa 54.5 Hosea 2.19 20. Psal 103.13 Isa 49.15 then the law at Sinai was only a rule of life but not a covenant of works whereby to make themselves such a people Sixtly If the Lord had put them that were dead in sins and under the curse and penalty of the covenant of works already to work themselves out of that misery by doing the works of that covenant this had been no mercy at all to Israel but that law at Sinai was a great mercy to Israel he had not dealt so with any nation as to give them his lawes and Statutes Psal 147.18 19. then it was not given to them as to Adam a covenant of works but as a rule of life Now some may ask why it is so frequent in the old Testament doe this and live and if ye keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar people unto me above all people Exodus 19.5.6 I answer it is no more then is said in the new Testament he that doth the will of my Father shall come to heaven and he that keepeth my Commandements hath right to the tree of life and shall enter into the holy City the doers of the Law are blessed in the deed see Mal. 7.21 Rev. 22.14 James 1.25 2. This doth not deny the doing of the law by a surety for it is not said that no other shall do it for thee but do this either thy selfe or by a surety and thou shalt live 3. There is an Evangelicall doing of the Law when with our desire and endeavour we obey the whole Law 4. We must understand it to be of those in the covenant of grace who do all in the strength of Christ and his perfect obedience to the law is imputed to them as if they had done it and they obeying the law not as a covenant of works but as a rule of life and God accepting it as done by themselves and that perfectly they that thus do the law shall live yet this doth not make the morall Law to be a covenant of Works Now some it may be will say there is more then two covenants made with mankind for saith the Lord behold the daies come that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Jer. 31.31 then if it be a new covenant it is neither the covenant of Workes with the first Adam nor the covenant of grace with the second Adam I answer This promise is made to Israel and Judah at their return out of captivity but suppose it is meant now since the coming of Christ yet it amounts but to the same thing which is a new discovery or a larger manifestation of the covenant of grace made with Christ as mediator before the world began which was first declared to Adam immediately after his fall the seed of the woman shal break the Serpentshead Gen. 3.15 after that in processe of time Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord and Abels lambe did then tipifie the true Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world for he was slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.8 John 1.29 and God accepted Abels offring Gen. 4.3 4. and God commanded Noah to take of clean beasts and foules into the Ark by seavens which was to sacrifice to the Lord and the Lord smelled a savour of rest and said in his heart I will not again ourse the ground for mans sake Gen. 7.2 3.8.20 21. now all this could not be so accepted but as they had faith in Christ the true sacrifice see their faith Heb. 11.4.7 after this when the ceremoniall Law was written through the whole book of Leviticus and from the 24. of Exodus to the 32. then they saw God and did eat and drink they saw the God of Israel with comfort and as it were the body of heaven in his clearnesse Exod. 24.10 11. that is the covenant of grace was manifested more clearly then formerly after this the Lord makes known unto them that a Virgin shall bear a son and call his name Imanuel after this unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be on his shoulders it is so in respect of certainty Isa 17.14.9.6 for the covenant was made after the world began after this a further manifestation in Ezekiels vision where the foure estates of Christ are lively set forth his birth mean he had the face of a man 2. His life couragious he had the face of a Lyon 3. In his death sacrificed as an oxe 4. In his ascension like an Eagle Ezek. 1.4 compared with Rev. 4.7 now these are the badges or mottoes of the foure Evangelists for they
did lively set forth the birth life death resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ so that that this is the last and fullest manifestation of the covenant of grace and if when the ceremoniall law was written they did as it were see the body of heaven in his clearnesse Exod. 24.10 may not we say with Stephen when all the Church Officers are set in their places now I see the heavens not only cleare but opened and Christ at the right hand of God Acts 6.5.7.55 so then preaching of the Gospel the highest and fullest manifestation of Christ in the covenant of grace which was made before the world began Titus 1.2 and saith Paul the preaching of Jesus Christ was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest by the scriptures according to the command of God to all nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16.25 26. But some will say when the new covenant is made the old shall vanish away Heb. 8.13 I answer it is true when Christ was sacrificed he put an end to all sacrifices and ceremonies that tipified him crucified for sins all those types and shadowes are done away it is called the first covenant and the manifesting of Christ crucified by the History of the foure Evangelists is called the new covenant see Heb. 8.7 8 9. but some will say when the new covenant is made God will write his lawes in their hearts Heb. 8.10.10.16 I answer it is not said that this shall only be done in the times after the Incarnation of Christ although grace shall more abound then before his death for as the Priestly office of Christ did shew it selfe most before his resurrection by sacrifices so from thence his propheticall office is most seen and shall be to the end of the world so that the knowledge of God now shall be as the waters that cover the Sea Isa 11.9 and from thence his Kingly authority shall be seen clearly and shall never end Luke 1.13 when all humane power is cast down Dan. 7.9 and his own Kingdome rendred up by which he rules the Heathen with a rod of iron 1 Cor. 15.24 Psal 2. in that day shall all be willing to obey him or else made to suffer his will eternally so then although more in number have the Law of God written in their hearts since the coming of Christ yet the same thing was before for saith David I have hid thy Law in my heart that I may not sin against thee the Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Psal 37.3.119.11.40.8 then the preaching of the gospell is not a new covenant but a clear manifestation of the covenant of grace made with Christ before the world began Now let us see what James Pope hath to say in his unveiling of Antichrist of these two that are called covenants Heb. 8.8 9. namely the ceremoniall law pointing at Christ to come in all those types and shadowes and now the glorious preaching of the Gospell declaring Christ to be already come and finished the work of our redemption with the differences between these covenants with uses and application of those differences to our selves and first by the way he saith to maintain something still that pointed at Christ to come when as he is already come and hath done away those things Gal. 3.24 25. must needs be Antichristian but to men of understanding rather Judaisme for Papists do not use circumcision nor sacrifices tipifying Christ to come but then by his proof he seemes to mean that the morall Law was ended at the coming of Christ being a Schoole-master to them before his coming to bring them to Christ to be justified by faith but I have proved that this morall Law of God is an eternall rule for Saints and Angels Psal 119.89.103.20 and it is still as a School-master to bring men out of liking with their corrupted estate by reason of the misery that attends them both in this world and in the world to come Then he speaks of the ends why God made these covenants which is to take people neer unto himself Exod. 9.5 6. Heb. 8.10 1 Pet. 2.9.10 I ans First if he means the ceremoniall Law and our preaching the Gospell These I have shewed to be but manifestations of the covenant of grace now in that covenant God did intend his own glory in the salvation of the elect but if he speak of that covenant of Works to Adam they were created near unto God in holinesse and righteousnesse before that covenant was made with them which should rather confirm then reconcile them to God as the Angels were that never sinned but I passe on to his differences between these two covenants which are as followeth First In regard of the time when they were made the first of them being made with Israel when God led them out of the land of Aegypt Heb. 8.9 Jer. 11.4.31 32. now these things I have answered already when I shewed the covenant of grace was made with Christ before the world was and the covenant of works to Adam as soon as crerted but if these covenants were not made before Israel went out of Aegypt how comes it to passe that all before Christ came in Adam dyed as well as we and what is become of all those holy men before his Incarnation If the covenant of grace was not then made again would Christ first pay the purchase before he make the covenant and if Adam condemn'd all mankind by his fall what held off the wrath of God all that time before the covenant of grace as he would have it was made we know the Angels that sinned were immediatly cast down then notwithstanding his cavilling the first covenant was not made at their departure out of Aegypt and if he speak of the ceremoniall law it is as old as Abell and Caine But he saith some will object that this covenant of works is the same that God made with Adam but he saith our state is different from this but I say no for while Adam stood we stood when he fell we fell with him then he saith this covenant was to take some of the lost seed of Adam near to himself and the rest were strangers to the covenant of promise Ephe. 1.12 I answer it is true of the covenant of grace and this manifestation of it was a means to bring them into that covenant But he saith some will say was it not made with Abraham Gen. 17. he answers he had the promises of both covenants and the types of both Gal. 4. and vertually he had both but I say if he mean the morall Law as a rule then it was not a covenant or if he mean the covenant of works wherein he was born all the promises are lost by Adams fall and only curses and threatnings remain in it so then he that hath a right to the covenant of grace must be freed from the covenant of works or else he cannot
have it no man can be under both the covenants at once which are as contrary as life and death grace and sin the way to heaven and hell all at once but then he saith the types and promises go before the thing tipifyed and promised I grant it for God promised eternall life before the world began and the Lambe of God was tipifyed by Abels Lambe then he saith the second covenant was actually made at the death of the testator Heb. 9.16 17. but I have sufficiently proved that this was made with Christ before the world began but if any ask what benefit those had that were before this covenant was made he saith they had the efficacy of his death by faith beholding Christ in the promises before any was made but if his faith hath no better foundation it will not stand in the fiery tryall for what ground is there for faith before the covenant was made it is presumption to believe without a promise His second difference the first covenant was made with Israel after the flesh the second in relation to Christ Gal. 3.29 it seems by him that neither was made with Christ immediatly for both were made to men although one hath relation to Christ yet the foundation is men and then to Christ as the Papists themselves will be the agents to take Christ as an instrument to save them but the ceremoniall law and our preaching the Gospell serve both to shew forth the covenant made with Christ eternally they had divine ordinances Heb. 9.1 then not fleshly His third difference is in regard of the conditions of the covenants the first saith doe this and live but this I have answered already that a surety is not here denyed and there is an Evangelicalll doing the whole Law in their desire and endeavour as a rule to them in the covenant of grace already but saith he the new covenant requires nothing by way of condition of the creatures part and yet he saith the Lord will put his lawes in their mind and write them in their hearts what are those but conditions for then the covenant followes I will be their God and they shall be my people Jer. 31.33 His fourth difference the promises of the first covenant are only of temporall things Deut. 28.1.10.15 Jer. 11.5 but the promises of the new covenant are all spirituall Jer. 31.32 Heb. 8.9 10 11. but saith the Lord I have established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God Exod. 6.4.7 is here nothing but temporall things and saith Paul Godlinesse hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 and if he mean the ceremoniall law it shewed them Christ if he speak of the morall law it was not given them as a covenant but as a rule of obedience His fifth difference is between the mediators of these covenants the mediator of the first he conceives to be Moses from these scriptures Heb. 3.25 Gal. 3.19 Exod. 32.11.14 Psal 106.23 but the mediator of the new covenant between God and man is Christ Jesus Heb. 8.6 I answer if he speak of the morall law it was not given to them nor us as a covenant but as a rule of life and so they did reverence it at the hand of Moses representing Christ the only mediator for when Christ came he took the Law in his first Sermon and gave it with his own hand saying you have heard thus but I say thus yet not as a covenant but as a rule of life and if he mean the ceremonialI Law Moses did not at all mediate for it we have but one mediator the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 and Moses did no more but pray for the people as Hezekiah did for Jerusalem and as many other men may do His sixt difference is between the bloods of the covenants the first but the blood of Calves and Goates Heb. 9.19 20. and yet called the blood of the covenant Exod. 24.8 but the blood of the new covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 11.25 I answer if he mean the morall law that requires no blood at all neither to Adam when it was a covenant for he had no sin neither at Sinai for then it was but as a rule to those already in covenant and for the ceremoniall law the blood of calves and goates was no more the blood of that covenent then wine is the blood of our Sacrament for it did but signifie the blood of Christ and when Moses bids the people behold the blood of the covenant Exod. 24.8 he doth not mean the blood of calves and goates but the blood of Christ which is called the blood of the covenant see Heb. 10.29.13.20 His seventh difference is in writing the law of the covenants the first was written in tables of stone Ex. 32.15 16. but the law of the new covenant in the heart Heb. 8.10 1 Cor. 11.25 I answer as before the law that was written in tables of stone was the morall law and was not given as a covenant but as a rule of life to Israel and both the morall law and the Gospell are written with paper and ink in the bible and he that hath the law of God in his heart none of his steps shall slide Psal 37.31 when men by nature do the things of the law they shew some remainders of it in their hearts as a covenant of works Rom. 2.15 but when it is written in the heart not as a covenant but as a rule of life this is sanctification His eighth difference is in regard of the obscurity of the one and the plainnesse of the other I answer it is true the morall law was given with blacknesse and darknesse Heb. 12.18 Exod. 20.21 when as the ceremoniall law in comparison of it was as it were the body of heaven in his clearnesse Exod. 24.10 and now by preaching the Gospell we doe not only see a clearnesse of the heavens but heaven opened and Christ at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 they had but dark types and shadowes of Christ and now he hath manifested himself unto us John 14.22 in this we do not differ only he holds them to be two covenants when as it is but a more dark and a more clear manifestation of the same covenant of grace His ninth difference is about the worship that did appertain to these covenants that which did belong to the first covenant did consist of types and shadowes of good things to come Heb. 10.1 but the worship of the new covenant declares them to be already come to this let my last answer suffice His tenth difference is that the first covenant is done away that the second might be established 2 Cor. 3.11 Heb. 8.13.10.9 this I grant if he mean the dark ceremoniall law in types and shadowes of Christ this is done away that the
against the grace of God saith Elihu if I should give flattering titles to men my maker would soon take me away Job 33.21 and saith David if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not heare my prayer Psal 66.18 therefore one of them durst not slatter nor the other hide iniquity in his heart lest he should lose the favour of God the spouse in the Canticles having smarted for her negligence to Christ when she found him held him fast Can. 3.4 then did she not act to be kept in his favour and David prayed for it saying O visit me with that favour thou bearest unto thy people Psal 106.4 then he saith to hold forth works as the conditions of the first covenant denies Christ to be come in the flesh all this I grant and he that obeyes the Law as a covenant of works is to deny Christ but to obey the morall Law as a rule of righteousnesse doth very wel consist with the covenant of grace as many as obey this rule peace be on them and mercy Gal. 6.16 let us walk by the same rule Phil. 3.16 the tables of the covenant were in the Ark which signified Christ The use of his 4. difference if the promises of the new covenant are only spirituall then this may silence all those that walk not with them in the publike way but I deny the promises of the new covenant to be only spirituall for godlinesse hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 and they are to blame that will not walk with them that do obey the rule but those are not Anabaptists who despise the rule and will not admit any poore into their Congregations and receive mony for admittance to my knowledge but they have a salve for this sore they will tell you that the mony which maintains their Minister is spirituall then he is troubled that they are called Sectaries and that any should run or write to Magistrates to have them put to death for denying their authority writing stories of them in Germany as if all were such here then he falls of praising of Anabaptists in England who are in the field with their lives in their hands to maintain a lawfull Magistracy exceedingly blaming those that discover their wicked lives then he returns to his own faction calling them the people of the new covenant and tels them what they must suffer then he seems to envy our Churches happinesse and outward blessings attending it saying their Ministers are Gentlemen and must have tythes of all mens charge and labour all which brings them under the first covenant to deny Christ to be come in the flesh which is Antichristian you see his Logick and I think you will judge it not worth answering then he comforts them in the new covenant against falling away saying if God have writ his Law in their heart who shall raize it out if God have pardoned their sins who shall lay them to their charge if God will not remember them who shall call them to mind but what of this Israel had this promise made to them at the return out of captivity as well as to us Jer. 31.34.32.40 yet if he had meant that first covenant to be made to Adam and this to Christ it had been the truth for Adam brake his but Christ who is both God and Man cannot sin therefore those in his covenant although before his coming in the flesh they could not fall away yea the same person Adam although he fell from the covenant of works yet when he beleeved in the promised seed which was Christ he could not fall away then to be kept from falling is not peculiar to us but as a priviledge of all beleevers ever since the promised Messias to Adam for then by his faith he was admitted into the covenant of grace The use of his sift difference if the covenant of which Christ and not Moses is the mediator be the better covenant then to have any other mediator besides is to deny Christ to be come in the flesh and so is Antichristian I answer this is but course logick to grant that Moses is a mediator and to say he that hath any other then Christ denies his comming in the flesh and is Antichristian happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 but I say it was not a covenant but a rule for those in covenant which Moses received for the people and in that also he did but tipify Christ who as soon as he entred into the mediatorship at least to manifest it he in his first Sermon gave them the law in his own name saying you have heard thus but I say thus Mat. 5. but then he believes so long as Christ appears risen Christ for us and continueth his mediatorship these in covenant with God shall so continue but he seems again to deny this benefit to those before his resurrection The use of his sixt difference if the blood of Christ and not the blood of beasts is the blood of the new testament then here is the priviledge of Saints the blood of the first Testament did only purify the flesh Heb. 9.13 but the blood of Christ purgeth the conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 I answer from this very text where Christ took the cup and said this is my blood Mat. 26.28 meaning the wine in the cup but that wine cannot purge the conscience no more then the blood of beasts which signified the blood of Christ to come to their faith as the wine in the Sacrament signifies the blood of Christ already shed for many then he speaks highly of their priviledge so that now for the people of God to mourn for sin as under sin is sinfull but here we may see this man who would be thought to be for Christ doth flatly oppose and contradict Jesus Christ who would have us mourn for sin with this motive they are blessed that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 but saith this man to mourn for sin as under sin is sinfull only he hath left here a starting hole as under sin here I grant that they are not under the raigning power of sin but yet many a dear child of God hath a law in his members that leads him captive to the law of sin Rom 7.23 and so they are under sin as under a Tyrant but he saith this undervalues the blood of Christ as if it did need to be affered up yearly I answer although we are wholly justified yet we are not wholly sanctified although our sins be pardoned yet they are not fully taken away in this world then he saith to lye under the guilt of sin hinders duty I grant it but the guilt is taken away though not the being of sin and as grace growes sin dyes and he that is mortally dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 1 Pet. 4.1 The use of