A30345:547
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.
that by divine imputation Christ should die for every man, when the merits of Christ be not communicated unto them: that the promised seed should be given to Abraham, no blessing or multiplication following. If Christ have purchased a new Covenant, faith, redemption, reconciliation for every man, without question they are or shall be delivered from the condemnation and dominion of sin; the Spirit is given or shall be given to abide with them; they ar• or shall be renewed after the Image of God. If Christ be a King, he hath a Kingdom, subjects and territories, wherein he doth exercise his regal power. He is a King not only in personal right, or to punish enemies; but a King to feed and rule a people. God hath given his Son the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, and shall men with-hold it? Shall God give men unto Christ, and shall they detain themselves from him? If Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, (that is sin, as the Apostle shows, 1 Joh. 3. 8. Joh. 8. 41, 44.) and to deliver men from the fear of death and the devil, shall we not think, that Satan is cast down, and death abolished? Christ is a Saviour as in merit so in efficacy, else should his purchase be in vain, the end of his coming into the world be uncertain, his purpose in laying down his life be frustrate, and Christ should merit by the appointment of God, what God doth not give: therefore▪ the impetration of righteousness must not be plucked from the application, nor doth the giving of benefits purchased by the death of Christ depend upon the pleasure of men any more then the acquisition doth. Betwixt the purchase and application of Christs death, ⟨p. 257⟩faith comes between: but that faith is merited by the death of Christ, and for Christ vouchsafed to them, for whom he died, Tit. 3. 6. Ephes. 1. 3. Phil. 1. 29. Ephes. 6. 23