A30345:263
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.
Eighthly, the Law requireth faith as well as love and obedience, and doth build these upon it as a foundation. For the end of the Commandment is love, love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. That love which the Law requireth, either towards God or towards man, must flow from a pure heart, and faith it is that purifieth the heart. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness sake, and the Law is a School-master to bring us unto Christ. But bring us unto Christ it could not, if it did not point him out unto us, or presuppose him as promised: He is not the end of the Law, if the Law did not direct to him, and require faith in him. He is the end of the Law, as the Law leadeth and driveth us out of our selves, and from all confidence in any works of the Law, that by faith in Christ we might obtain righteousness. It is not the property of a School-master to beat and strike, and not to direct or teach. That the ceremonies of the Law did prefigure ⟨p. 110⟩Christ, direct unto him, and require faith in him, is a thing1 confessed and acknowledged of all men. Now the ceremonies are appendices of the Law, especially of the first and second Commandments,2 as they were given to the Israelites. And if they require faith in the Redeemer to come, how should we think it to be a thing passed over in silence altogether in the Law. The deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt, was a type of our spiritual deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan, by the power of Christ; as appears by the Ceremony and Sacrament of that corporal deliverance, the Passover, which was a3 figure of Christ our Saviour. Therefore in the first Precept the Mystery of our Redemption by Christ is taught and contained. That particular mercy mentioned in that Precept, taught the Israelites to expect spiritual Salvation in the Messiah promised. In4 Scripture they are pronounced blessed, who keep the Commandments, and observe the Statutes and Judgements of the Lord: but withal their blessedness is said to consist in this, that God5