A26923:552
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches by reconciling explication without much disputing. Written by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1691
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.
§. 15. It may seem to some a difficult Question whether God by such a Law made them Happier or Worse than the rest of the World? And whether Christ's Abrogation of it was not a returning them to the common, easier and better Condition ⟨p. 136⟩of Mankind? Ans. 1. You must know, that though God made a common Covenant of Grace with Mankind, the rest of the Nations about them were fallen into Ignorance and Idolatry; and the Jewish Law much tended to cure both, and to make them better know God and the meaning of the Covenant of Grace, and to return to him from Idols, and worship him aright. So that the Jews were happier than other Nations. 2. The abuse of their Law was through their fault and folly, and the Law by the faithful among them was better understood and used. 3. Christ, after setting up a better Covenant in its stead, did bring the Church into a better state than the Jews were: But the Unbelievers and idolatrous World, that had not Christ's better Covenant, were still left in a worse state than the Jews were before Christ's Incarnation.
§. 15. It may seem to some a difficult Question whether God by such a Law made them Happier or Worse than the rest of the World? And whether Christ's Abrogation of it was not a returning them to the common, easier and better Condition ⟨p. 136⟩of Mankind? Ans. 1. You must know, that though God made a common Covenant of Grace with Mankind, the rest of the Nations about them were fall'n into Ignorance and Idolatry; and the Jewish Law much tended to cure both, and to make them better know God and the meaning of the Covenant of Grace, and to return to him from Idols, and worship him aright. So that the Jews were happier than other Nations. 2. The abuse of their Law was through their fault and folly, and the Law by the faithful among them was better understood and used. 3. Christ, after setting up a better Covenant in its stead, did bring the Church into a better state than the Jews were: But the Unbelievers and idolatrous World, that had not Christ's better Covenant, were still left in a worse state than the Jews were before Christ's Incarnation.