A30345:497
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.
and did men deny themselves, nourish the motions of Gods Spirit, and earnestly desire to believe, without question they should find the Lord gracious. If men believe it is of grace, not only that whereby they are enabled to believe, but whereby they are discerned from other men: if they believe not, it is of themselves, of their own ⟨p. 227⟩pravity; and they be not further from believing, then from desire to believe.
and did men deny themselves, nourish the motions of Gods Spirit, and earnestly desire to believe, without question they should find the Lord gracious. If men believe it is of grace, not only that whereby they are inabled to believe, but whereby they are discerned from other men: if they believe not, it is of themselves, of their own ⟨p. 227⟩pravity; and they be not further from believing, then from desire to believe.
It is objected further, that Christ as he died to impetrate remission of sins for me in particular, is the object of justifying faith. The mercy of God reaching to the pardon of sin in and through Jesus Christ is the object of faith justifying, as it is proffered unto us in the word of life: but it is one thing to believe that mercy is to be had through the death of Christ, and that it is offered unto us in the Gospel, and we called to embrace it, another to believe that Christ according to the complete and full will of God, hath laid down his life for us in particular to purchase for us both grace and glory. Proportionable to the persuasion a man hath of Gods willingness to be merciful, is his persuasion of the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction: and proportionable to his persuasion that God is merciful to him in the pardon of his sin, is his persuasion that Christ died for him in particular. Justifying faith is not without an apprehension of mercy in Christ to be obtained, but implieth not an apprehension of mercy reaching to the pardon of sin already obtained. It is not without an application of recumbency, reliance, or embracing, which presupposeth the offer o mercy, in and through Jesus Christ to be received, but the application of particular persuasion, that Christ died for me in particular, as well as for any other, or hath purchased for me grace and glory, is