A30345:186
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.
To walk with or before God then is to commit our selves wholly to his care and divine protection both in life and all our actions, and assuredly to persuade our selves that he is the present and just beholder of all thoughts, words and actions; to reverence him as ever present and beholding all things; to be ready at his beck and command, studiously, readily, cheerfully to receive his Commandments, and at all times reverently to demean and carry our selves before him: to turn our eyes and fix all our senses upon the Lord, and to attribute what good soever we enjoy, to the Lord alone. In brief, to walk before God, is from a true and sincere heart to believe, think and do whatsoever God prescribeth, and that in such manner as he prescribeth; to attend upon the pure worship of God, and to live holily, justly, unblameably: as they are said to be just before God, who are truly and sincerely just or such as be righteous by way of eminency1 in comparison of others: what is done sincerely, and elegantly, is said to be done before the Lord. 1 Thess. 1. 3. Luk. 1. 57. 1 Thess. 3. 13. Thus Abraham was commanded, and by the grace of God enabled to walk with or before God. Gen. 24. 40. and 48. 15. But sometimes in a peculiar sense, to walk with God is to minister before God. 1 Sam. 2. 32, 33. and to walk before the face of God is to be understood in the same manner: the Metaphor being taken ⟨p. 75⟩as it seems from two friends, who well agree betwixt themselves, and willingly take their journeys together being at one, and in good agreement. And to go before the Lord is spoken of John the Baptist in a peculiar sense, Luke 1. 17. noting that2