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
his part performeth are admirable farre surpassing mans reason The first is the All-sufficient Mediatour Christ his owne eternall Sonne whom God promised immediately after mans fall and who did then begin actually to mediate for man and did undertake to become Man and by a full satisfaction made in Mans nature to Gods infinite Iustice and just Law and a perfect and full ransom paid for mans Redemption to purchase pardon of all mans sins to justifie and make him righteous and to reconcile him to God The second is the Spirit to be given to man and shed on him through Christ the Mediatour Gal. 3. 14. and Tit. 3. 6. The third is spirituall Life derived frō Christ wrought in man by his quicking spirit together with all graces and blessings thereto belonging The fourth is union and communion with Christ of all his benefits as of his Son-ship to make all regenerate men sonnes of God and heires of eternall life glory and all blessings of his satisfaction and sufferings for remission of all their sins of his righteousnesse for justification The fift is a true right to the naturall life which Adam lost to the Creatures made for mans use and to all earthly blessings which are given him to possesse and injoy in this life The sixth is sanctification and holinesse whereby man is fitted to see and enjoy God Matth. 5. 8. and Hebr. 12. 14. The last which is the end of all is the eternall life of glory in the fruition of God in Heaven In this Covenant there is not any condition or Law to bee performed on mans part by man himselfe as in the first old Covenant of Nature and therefore it is called the free Covenant of Grace and not of Workes The perfect obedience righteousnesse and satisfaction of Christ which he performed to the whole Law for man in Mans nature though it stands in the place of every mans perfect obedience to Gods Law in his owne person and his subjection to the whole revealed will of God which was the condition of the Old Covenant of Works and when man is partaker of it by communion with Christ he is more perfectly justified and made worthy of life eternall than man in the state of nature could have beene by his owne perfect obedience and personall righteousnesse performed in his owne person Yet it cannot so properly bee called A condition of the New Covenant of Grace which God hath made with Mankinde because God imposeth it not as a condition to bee performed by every man in his person but is one of the blessings promised in the New Covenant So likewise the Gifts Graces and Workes and Fruits of the Spirit which are required to be in man to make him an actuall partaker of Christ and of life and salvation in him whether they be outward as the word preached and heard the Sacraments given and received and the like or inward as Faith by which Christ is received and applied Repentance Love Hope and other saving Graces they are all free gifts of God he gives them to us and by his Spirit workes in us both to will and to doe and without his Grace continually assisting us according to his promise wee cannot performe any thing which is mentioned in the Gospell as a conditionall meanes of life and Salvation in Christ And therefore this Covenant is foedus gratuitum a most free Covenant of Grace wherein no condition is propounded to man to be performed by any power of his owne for the obtaining of life but God of his owne free Grace promiseth all blessings and for his owne sake gives them and also all power to receive and enjoy them And the end and use of this Covenant is not any gaine which God seeketh to himselfe nor any good which he can receive from man or any creature but onely the making of man perfectly blessed in the fruition of himselfe and all his goodnesse and so gathering to himselfe all things in Christ This Covenant is that which is called the Covenant of Peace and is most highly extolled and commended in all the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament And howsoever the substance of this Covenant hath beene alwayes one and the same from the beginning even from the seventh day of the world wherein God first promised Christ the blessed Seed and so shall be for ever yet because the circumstances are divers and the manner of revealing the promise and of sealing it is far different in the Old and New Testament hereupon it comes to passe that the Spirit of God doth distinguish it into the Old and New Covenant and as it was revealed and sealed to the Fathers under the Law cals it the Old Covenant and as it is now revealed and sealed under the Gospell cals it the new Covenant Ier. 31. 31. 2 Cor. 3. 6. And both these are called by the name {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the Hebrew and by the name of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the Greeke Text CHAP. VI IN the Old Testament the Lord first made this Covenant with Adam but in very darke obscure and generall termes and in Types and figures even sacrifices wch were seales of it unto him and his posterity The words of the Covenant were these That the seed of the woman should breake the Serpents head the Serpent should bruise his heel that is Christ made man of the Seed of a Woman and being by the Old Serpent the Divell and by the generation of Vipers persecuted and put to an ignominious death should dissolve the Workes of the Divell and destroy sinne by satisfying for it to the full The sacrifices which God added to this promise further to illustrate and confirme it were clean and fat-fed Beasts wch the Lord commanded them to consecrate slay and to offer up to him by burning and consuming part thereof and the rest they themselves who were his Priests and Sacrificers did eate That the Lord taught Adam to sacrifice appeares by the practise of Cain and Abel and by their offrings which they brought to God being undoubtedly taught by their father Gen. 4. Yea it may be gathered from the Coates of Skinnes which God made and therewith cloathed our first Parents Gen. 3. 21. Those skinnes could be no other but of Beasts slain and offered in sacrifice For before Adams fal beasts were not subject to mortality nor slaine the slaughter and killing of Beasts and mans eating of their flesh came in by sinne and after mans fall In innocency mans meat was fruit of Trees and Herbes bearing seed Gen. 1. The first right which God gave to man to eat flesh was after the promise and after that Beasts were consecrated to be sacrificed as Types of Christ and of his Death Now these sacrifices of Beasts did shew the nature of the Covenant and the manner of mans reconciliation chusing of cleane and harmelesse Beasts shewed that Christ should be pure and holy
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
of the old Testament and the same renewed and more fully explained in the Gospell AFter the agreement and difference betweene the Covenant of nature and the Covenant of grace plainly laid open I proceed to shew how the second Covenant to wit the Covenant of grace doth agree and differ in respect of the divers publishings and promulgations of it in the old and new testament The Revelation of it in the old Testament I have reduced to two heads The one is that by which it was revealed to the Fathers before the Law and renewed in divers ages as first to Adam secondly to Noah thirdly to Abraham Isaac and Iacob The other is the revealing and renewing of it with Israel in the wildernesse in the giving the law by the Ministery of Moses after which it continued in one stay untill the coming of Christ With these two my purpose is now to compare the Covenant as it is now fully revealed in the Gospel And first with the Covenant as it was revealed to the Fathers before the Law That old and this new doe agree divers wayes First the parties in generall are the same in both Covenants In the Covenant with the Fathers the one partie was God offended by mans sinne and provoked unto wrath and displeasure by his rebellion and so made a consuming and devouring fire unto him And the other party was man by meanes of his fall and corruption now made a rebell and enemy unto God and as stubble and drosse before his presence And in the Covenant as it is revealed in the Gospel the parties are still the same even God offended and man the sinner and offender Secondly they agree in this that a Mediatour is required in both betweene the parties God and man so farre separated and standing at so great a distance for to make up the breach and the league between them being at so great odds And both have one Mediatour Iesus Christ the promised seed who alone in heaven and earth is able to stand before the devouring fire and to make atonement betweene God and man For that seed of the woman which in the first making of the covenant was promised to Adam to break the serpents head Gen. 3. that seed which was promised to Abraham and Isaac in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed Gen. 12. and 22. that Shiloh which Iacob spake of in his blessing of Iudah Gen. 49. He was the Mediatour in the Covenant betweene God and the Fathers before the law And he is no other but Iesus Christ who came in the fulnesse of time who by having his heel bruised in his sufferings hath broken the serpents head that is destroyed the workes of the devill who by his Apostles Gal. 3. 9. hath called all nations to the participation of Abrahams blessing and to justification by faith in him and who was made and born of a woman a pure virgin by the power of the holy Ghost Luk. 1. 35. and is now and ever hath beene yesterday and to day and the same for ever a perfect redeemer and eternall Mediatour of the Covenant now under the Gospel as appears Ioh. 8. 56. and 14. 6. Ephes. 4. 16. Heb. 13. 8. Thirdly in both these Covenants the substance of the promises is one and the same As we have the promise of spirituall Life by the Communion of the holy Ghost both of the life of grace in this world and of the eternall life of glory in the world to come so had all the Fathers from the beginning As we have the promise of a true right and title to all earthly blessings also in Christ so also had they As God is given to us in Christ to be our portion So he by Covenant gave himselfe to them to be their God As we have Christ God and man given unto us to be our Saviour and his righteousnesse and obedience with all the merits of his death to be apprehended by faith for our justification so had they from the first time of the promise All this the Apostle sheweth most plainly Heb. 11. where he sheweth that the forefathers did by faith receive not onely earthly blessings as the Land of Canaan deliverance from enemies and oppressors safety from the flood but also they embraced the promises of a better life and of a better country even an heavenly and God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city ver. 16. They received Iesus Christ by saith and did so firmely beleeve in him that they esteemed reproach for his sake greater riches then all earthly treasures vers. 26. they by faith became heires of his righteousnesse vers. 7. and Act. 15. 11. we saith the Apostle beleeve to be saved by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ even as they Fourthly the Covenant made with the Fathers agrees with the Covenant now under the Gospell in one and the same condition on mans behalfe to wit the perfect righteousnesse of the Law and perfect obedience to the whole revealed will of God performed not by every beleever himselfe but by his Mediatour Iesus Christ God and man in mans nature This righteousnesse was made theirs and is made ours by one and the same meanes even by communion of the Spirit and by true faith laying hold upon it applying it and offering it up to God Both the righteousnesse and the meanes by which it is made ours are free gifts and graces of God both to the Fathers and us Neither they were nor we are sufficient of our selves or fit to performe any thing for salvation or to receive salvation when it is offred freely all our will all our sufficiency and all our fitnesse is of God and ever hath beene And therefore howsoever Christ his righteousnesse and satisfaction made unto God in the nature of man may in respect of Christ our head be called a condition of salvation which God required on mans behalfe yet in respect of us and the Fathers also it is rather a part of the blessing and one of the free promises in the Covenant and at our hands God requires no condition at all but such as he himselfe doth freely of his grace performe and worke in us and for us And therefore as the Covenant which God hath now made with us so also that Covenant with the Fathers before the Law was foedus gratuitum a free Covenant of Grace Fiftly the Covenants both Old and New agree in the Seales divers wayes First as in that Old so in this New outward Seales and Signes are required for to seale and confirme them Secondly as their seales did signifie the shedding of Christs Blood and his cursed death for mans sinne also mortification and sanctification so doe the seales of Baptisme and the Lords Supper which are annexed to our Covenant As their Seales did both teach the manner of mans redemption and also did serve to confirme their faith in it so doe ours
promise in Baptisme and whosoever doth wilfully live and continue in any sin and purposely abstaine from good when occasion is offered and omits holy duties which the law requires as observing of the Sabbath hearing of the word and such like we count him a carnall man and he hath no part as yet in the Covenant of grace For he that is justified is also mortified and sanctified and cannot purposely continue in any sin of omission or commission CHAP. XVI The Differences BVt the differences between them are many and great First they differ in the manner of requiring obedience to the law and exacting good workes The Covenant of Moses requires that a man shold first endeavour to fulfill the whole law that thereby he may be justified and live and if he cannot do so that then he should flie to sacrifices for sinne and free-will offerings and in them as in types to Christ and his righteousnesse and obedience that there he may finde that which by the law he cannot obtaine But the Covenant of the Gospel requires that a man should first renounce himselfe and all his owne righteousnesse and seeke salvation and righteousnesse in Christ by faith and that being justified by grace in Christ he should by way of thankfulnesse labour to the utmost to bring forth all fruites of holinesse righteousnesse and obedience to all Gods commandements and that for this end that he may glorifie God adorne his profession and be more and more assured of his communion with Christ and sincere love to God Secondly these Covenants differ in matter and substance The matter and substance of the Covenant made by the Ministery of Moses it was mixt it was partly conditionall and partly absolute partly legall and partly Evangelicall it required to justification both workes and faith but after a divers manner and it was a mixt Covenant of two divers Covenants both the Covenant of Workes and the Covenant of Grace First it required workes that men should doe the workes of the Law and live and this it did by way of the first Covenant For the morall Law written in two Tables of stone and consisting of the ten Commandements which God spake from mount Sinai is called by the name of a Covenant Deut. 4. 13. He declared to you saith Moses there his Covenant which he commanded you to performe even ten Commandements and he wrote them upon two Tables of Stone and Deuter. 9. vers. 9. These two Tables are called the tables of the Covenant by these testimonies it is plain that the law was given to Israel as a Covenant which required obedience for justification and life Secondly this Covenant given by Moses promised Christ and required that whēsoever they failed in their obedience to the Law they should flee to sacrifices and sinne-offerings which were Types of Christ and did prefigure signifie and seale his satisfaction and atonement for sinne and that by faith they should seeke righteousnesse and satisfaction in him and shoul rest upon those promises which God made with their Fathers that in Christ the blessed seed all Nations of the earth should be blessed And this is the second even the Evangelicall part of the Covenant and is called by the name of another Covenant Deut. 29. 2. For indeed this is the Covenant of Grace as the other part is the Covenant of Works This GOD propounds absolutely the other is conditionall that a man shall doe it if hee can and if hee can doe it hee shall live if hee cannot that he should flee by faith to Christ foreshadowed in types and promised to the Fathers Thus the Covenant which God made with Israel was not a simple but a mixt Covenant and the matter of it was mixt But the Covenant of Grace in the Gospell is simple without mixture and propounds no other way to salvation but onely in and through Iesus Christ no justification but that which is by faith in Christs obedience without our owne workes This is a second difference The rest of the maine differences are plainely laid downe by the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 3. One is that the Covenant which God made with Israel was an old Covenant For it is called by the Apostle {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} vers. 14. But the Covenant made with all Nations by the Gospell is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the New Covenant vers. 6. Now the Covenant with Israel may truely bee called Old and is so indeed in respect of the Covenant under the Gospell for two reasons First because the legall part of it which was the Covenant of Workes laid downe in the ten Commandements of the Law written in Tables of Stone is in substance all one with the first Covenant which God made with Man in the state of Innocency the summe of both is that one thing Doe this and live Secondly because the Evangelical part of it which promised life and righteousnesse in Christ the promised seed was given after the old manner as it was to the Fathers before the Law that is in generall darke and obscure promises did shew Christ onely afarre off to come in the latter ages of the world But the Covenant of the Gospel is every way new It is made with us after a new maner It sheweth Christ already come and that most plainely and it hath no reliques of the Old Covenant of works in it but teacheth justificatiō by faith without works even by communion of Christ and of his righteousnesse alone without any concurrence of our own righteousnesse and workes of the Law concurring for justification Another difference wch the Apostle makes betweene these Covenants is that the one is the Letter the other the Spirit For so he affirmes ver. 6 Now the reasons of this are two especially The first reason why the Covenant with Israel is called the letter and the Covenant of the Gospel the Spirit is because Moses who was the mediator of the Covenant with Israel did give onely the Letter of the Covenant that is the Law and the Covenant written in Tables and in Letters but he could not give the Spirit to make them understand the Covenant nor any inward grace and ability to make them keepe it But Christ the Mediator by whose Ministery the Covenant of the Gospell is given hath also the Holy Ghost in himselfe without measure which Spirit he by his Word and together with the word of the Covenant sends into our hearts and enables us to beleeve and to keepe the Covenant And as Iohn the Baptist comparing himselfe and his ministery with the ministery of Christ saith I baptize you with water but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire that is I give onely the outward signe but he gives the inward grace So it may be said of Moses and Christ that Moses gave onely the letter or writing of the Covenant but Christ gives the word and with it the Spirit of Grace also