A30345:139
A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the gradual breakings out of Gospel…A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the graduall breakings out of Gospel…
A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the gradual breakings out of Gospel grace from Adam to Christ are clearly discovered, the differences betwixt the Old and New Testament are laid open, divers errors of Arminians and others are confuted, the nature of uprightness, and the way of Christ in bringing the soul into communion with himself ... are solidly handled / by that faithful servant of Jesus Christ, and minister of the Gospel, John Ball ; published by Simeon Ash.A treatise of the covenant of grace wherein the graduall breakings out of Gospel grace from Adam to Christ are clearly discovered, the differences betwixt the Old and New Testament are laid open, divers errours of Arminians and others are confuted, the nature of uprightnesse, and the way of Christ in bringing the soul into communion with himself ... are solidly handled / by that faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, and minister of the Gospel, John Ball ; published by Simeon Ash.
London: printed by G. Miller for Edward Brewster, 1645
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.
In the former Covenant a secret honour was put upon Eve, as she was made (if we may so speak) the first pipe whereby God conveyed the grace of his Covenant unto her posterity, who did not degenerate into the seed of the Serpent. But here the Covenant is made with Abraham, who received it, not as an example only, nor as a type, but as an Ordinance leading unto the conveyance of the same Covenant to all the confederates. In which sense it is plainly spoken to in the Epistles to the Rom. and Gal. and he called the Father of the faithful. Rom. 4. 11, 12, 16. and they which are of the faith the children of Abraham. Gal. 3. 7. the seed of Abraham, Gal. 3. 29. Abraham is not the Father of the faithful effectively, as if he should be the worker of faith in all, or that men should be borne faithful of him: For so God only by the holy Ghost is the Father of the faithful: But analogically for the grace of the Covenant given unto him on that condition and privilege, that as Fathers transfer and pass over their rights and inheritance to their children: so he as a Father should propagate the righteousness of faith and free blessedness to all the faithful by Doctrine, Example and Covenant. So that all who receive this Covenant from God in Christ, do likewise by faith draw it through Abraham, to whom the promise was made, Gal. 3. 16.
In the former Covenant a secret honour was put upon Eve, as she was made (if we may so speake) the first pipe whereby God conveyed the grace of his Covenant unto her posterity, who did not degenerate into the seed of the Serpent. But here the Covenant is made with Abraham, who received it, not as an example only, nor as a type, but as an Ordinance leading unto the conveyance of the same Covenant to all the confederates. In which sense it is plainly spoken to in the Epistles to the Rom. and Gal. and he called the Father of the faithfull. Rom. 4. 11, 12, 16. and they which are of the faith the children of Abraham. Gal. 3. 7. the seed of Abraham,