A09990:457
The new covenantThe nevv covenant
The new covenant, or the saints portion A treatise unfolding the all-sufficiency of God, and mans uprightness, and the covenant of grace. delivered in fourteen sermons upon Gen. 17. 1. 2. Whereunto are adjoined four sermons upon Eccles. 9.1. 2. 11. 12. By the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ John Preston. Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.The nevv covenant, or the saints portion A treatise vnfolding the all-sufficiencie of God, and mans uprightnes, and the covenant of grace. delivered in fourteene sermons vpon Gen. 17. 1. 2. Wherevnto are adioyned foure sermons vpon Eccles. 9.1. 2. 11. 12. By the late faithfull and worthie minister of Iesus Christ Iohn Preston. Dr. in Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiestie, maister of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by I. Dawson for Nicolas Bourne, 1629
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The third is,1 That it is a ministration of death, as it is called, 2 Cor. 3. a ministration of death, that is, it propounds a curse to all those that do not keep it, and it shows no means to avoid it; and therefore a man is affected to it, and to God the Author of it, as one is to an enemy that seeks his destruction; and therefore the ministration of it is said to be the ministration of death. The reason of all this is, not because there is any ill in the Law, it is a ministration of the letter, it begets fear & enmity, it is a ministration of death; I say this ariseth not from hence, that the Law of God is a cruel deadly Law: for the Law is good, but it ariseth from the weakness and the infirmity of the flesh: As for example, if you would take a Potters vessel, and dash it against a firm wall; the reason why the wall is the destruction of the vessel, is not any infirmity or weakness in the wall, for it is the excellency and virtue of the ⟨p. 74⟩wall to be hard, it should be so; but it is the weakness, and fragility, and brittleness of the Vessel, and thence comes it to be broken asunder: and so in this case, the reason why this Law, or Covenant of works (is a ministration of death, and of enmity, is not because there is any imperfection in the Law, it ariseth rather from the perfection of it, but) is from the weakness of the flesh, that is not able to keep the Law; it is the excellency of the Law, that it is so perfect, that a man is not able to keep it; and so it ariseth from the weakness and infirmity of the flesh, that is not able to observe this Law.
The third is,1 That it is a ministration of death, as it is called, 2 Cor. 3. a ministration of death, that is, it propounds a curse to all those that doe not keepe it, and it shewes no meanes to auoyd it; and therefore a man is affected to it, and to God the Author of it, as one is to an enemy that seekes his destruction; and therefore the ministratiō of it is said to be the ministratiō of death. The reason of all this is, not because there is any ill in the Law, it is a ministration of the letter, it begets feare & emity, it is a ministratiō of death; I say this ariseth not frō hence, that the Law of God is a cruell deadly Law: for the Law is good, but it ariseth from the weaknes and the infirmity of the flesh: As for example, if you would take a Poters vessell, and dash it against a firme wall; the reason why the wall is the destruction of the vessell, is not any infirmity or weaknesse in the wall, for it is the excellencie and vertue of the