A30345:239
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.
Most Divines hold the old and new Covenant to be one in substance and kind, to differ only in degrees: but in setting down the differences they speak so obscurely, that it is hard to find how they consent with themselves. For most commonly they distinguish them thus: The old Testament promiseth life to them that obey the Law, and condemns all not perfectly conformable: the new doth freely pardon sins, and give Salvation to them that believe in Christ. The old was written by the finger of God in tables of stone: the new by the Spirit of God in the fleshy tables of the heart. The old was the ministry of death, a killing letter: the new the ministry of the quickening Spirit. The old did lay upon the necks of the Fathers an intolerable yoke of rites and commandments: the new doth impose the easy yoke of the Spirit, enduing us with the Spirit of Adoption and liberty of the Sons of God. The old doth involve the Doctrine of the Grace ⟨p. 96⟩of the Messiah under the shadows of types and rites: the new doth contain the fulfilling of the types and figures. Moses is the typical Mediator of the Old Testament: Christ is the true Mediator of the New. The old is sealed by the blood of Sacrifices: the new is ratified by the blood of the Mediator the and death of the Testator. The Old by oblations did not pacify the wrath of God, nor purge the conscience: the new contains the true propitiation in the blood of Christ. The old was imperfect, intolerable, weak, and therefore to be abolished: the new perfect, easy, and to continue for ever, &c. with other the like before mentioned. And many things herein are spoken truly, but how all these differences should stand, if they be not Covenants opposite in kind, it is not easy to understand. Some few have laboured to reconcile them one of these two ways. First that the Old Testament doth promise life eternal plainly under the condition of moral obedience perfect, that is under a condition altogether unpossible, together with an heavy burden of legal rites and an yoke of most strict policy, but covertly under the condition of repentance and faith in the Messiah to come prefigured by types and ceremonies, that by this form of doctrine, worship and policy, a proud, gross, and stiff-necked people might be more tamed, and convinced of their own unrighteousness:
Most Divines hold the old and new Covenant to be one in substance and kind, to differ only in degrees: but in setting down the differences they speake so obscurely, that it is hard to find how they consent with themselves. For most commonly they distinguish them thus: The old Testament promiseth life to them that obey the Law, and condemnes all not perfectly conformable: the new doth freely pardon sinnes, and give Salvation to them that believe in Christ. The old was written by the finger of God in tables of stone: the new by the Spirit of God in the fleshie tables of the heart. The old was the ministery of death, a killing letter: the new the ministery of the quickning Spirit. The old did lay upon the necks of the Fathers an intollerable yoke of rites and commandements: the new doth impose the easie yoke of the Spirit, enduing us with the Spirit of Adoption and liberty of the Sonnes of God. The old doth involve the Doctrine of the Grace