A09990:502
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.
Now, when Abraham had believed this, saith the Lord to him, This faith of thine, that is, not this particular act by which thou believest that thou shalt have a son, that shall be thine immediate heir, but that habit, that grace of faith, that believing disposition in thee, whereby thou art able to believe this promise, saith ⟨p. 113⟩he, with the same faith thou also believest the promise of the Messiah, that a certain seed• shall be given thee, in whom all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed. Saith he, this faith of thi•e I take for the condition of the Covenant on thy part, I will for this reckon thee as righteous, I will account thee as a man fit to be entered into Covenant withal. Again, the Lord tries him afterward, when Isaac was grown, Verse 22. Go, saith he, and kill thy son: Abraham was able to keep it, he went, and meant to have done it in good earnest; so there was the same ground for believing now, that there was before: So, saith he, GOD could have raised him from the dead when I had killed him, aswell as make me, when I was dead, and Sarahs womb, when that was dead, to bring forth a son: God can aswell raise him from the dead, as he could give him me from a dead womb at first. We see, that God upon this renews the Covenant again, and renews it with an Oath; sure, saith he, I will perform my Covenant, since I see that thou believest, and fearest me, and preferrest me before thine only son: these are but the concomitants of his faith. So, my beloved, it was this act of Abraham, by which he did believe the promise of God, that made him partaker of the Covenant. And if you ask now what is the condition that makes every man partaker of this Covenant of grace? It is nothing but only faith, ability to believe it, that GOD would ⟨p. 114⟩send such a Messiah, before the Law, and that he hath exhibited, and sent him since: for you must know this, that all the promises, the very giving of Isaac, the giving of the promised Land, all these were but shadows, as it were, of the great promise, of the main Covenant in Christ.
Now, when Abraham had beleeued this, saith the Lord to him, This faith of thine, that is, not this particular act by which thou beleeuest that thou shalt haue a sonne, that shall be thine immediate heyre, but that habit, that grace of faith, that bleeuing disposition in thee, whereby thou art able to beleeue this promise, saith