I. Scripture-light the most sure light ... delivered in three sermons on 2 Pet.…

The Spirit of God is promised in the Covenant; I will put my Spirit into you, saith God: but Faith and Repentance are not before the In being, or Gift of the Spirit: Surely therefore, all the Blessings of the Covenant, are not given out upon these Conditions.

The Spirit of God is promised in the Covenant; I wil put my Spirit into you, saith God: but Faith and Repentance are not before the In being, or Gift of the Spirit: Surely therefore, all the Blessings of the Covenant, are not given out upon these Conditions.

If the Covenant of Grace should be thus Conditional, then the Covenant of Grace should be harder than the Covenant of Works, made with Adam in Paradise; for, then the Condition was to be performed by our common Person, who was strong, and free from all sin; but now we are weak, and full of all sin, and therefore if the performance of the Condition lie upon our hands, the terms of this Covenant will be worse, and harder for us, than the terms of that Covenant of Works; neither can it be said, that if all men have a sufficiency of Grace, and power to believe, that the performance of the Condition of this Covenant, will be easier than of that; for who doth not know that it is an harder thing for one of us sinful Creatures to believe, than for Adam to abstain from eating the forbidden Fruit? But surely the Covenant of Grace, is easier, and sweeter than the Covenant of Works; and therefore the Condition thereof, was performed by Christ our Second Adam, and there is now no Condition of the Covenant to be performed by us: Yet it is our Duty to believe, and repent, and obey, which we are commanded to do by the Gospel; but all our Repentance, Faith, and Obedience, is a Fruit of that Covenant, not the Condition of it: As in case Adam had stood, his Seed should have obeyed; yet their Obedience should not have been the Condition, but the Fruit of the Covenant; and as his Posterity could not have had Life, unless they had obeyed, yet that their Obedience was not the Condition of that Covenant: So though we cannot be justified unless we believe, nor be saved, unless we repent and obey; yet our Repentance, Faith, and Obedience, is not the Condition, but the Fruit of the Covenant: Christ, and Christ alone, our Second Adam, did perform the Condition; as to us, the Covenant of Grace is free, absolute, and without all Conditions.