Secondly, There is (saith he) something more in it; the Lord by the power of his Spirit doth cut us off from any power of our natural Gifts and Parts, and spiritual Gifts also, or from any Confidence of our own sufficiency; the Lord hath cut us off from hope in the Righteousness of our Parents, and from boasting of Ordinances. And again he saith, This we read of, Mat. 4. 1. It is spoken of the Ministry of John the Baptist, which did burn as an Oven, against all the Scribes and Pharisees, and left them neither the Root of Abraham's Covenant, nor the Branch of their own good Works: He cutteth them off from the Covenant of Abraham, &c. And by cutting them off from the Root, he leaveth them no ground to trust on. Thus Mr. Cotton on The Covenant, p. 177, and p. 21, 22. Now evident it is, that nothing but the dispensation of God's ⟨p. 13⟩Providence, or the Expiration of that period of Time determined by the Almighty for the standing of the Church of Israel, could cut the Jews off as a Nation, from being a Church and peculiar People unto God; I mean in respect of that Legal Covenant. I deny not but that the Covenant of Grace God made with Abraham, and with his true spiritual Seed, stands firm for ever and ever, and none in that Covenant can be cut off, nor fanned away: for the Jewish Priesthood, Church-state and Church-membership, and all their Church-privileges, were to remain until Christ came, or until the time of Reformation; that is, till the Gospel-days and Gospel-dispensation took place, and no longer: But now that time being come, and they not seeing an end put to the old Covenant-Church, as it was made with the natural Offspring of Abraham; and that their right to legal Ordinances, and Church-membership, could not give them any right to Gospel Ordinances, nor Gospel-Church-membership, and they not believing in Christ, not accepting of the Terms of the Gospel, were all of necessity purged out or fanned away, by the Fan of the New Testament-dispensation, and so were no longer a people in any sense in Covenant with God.
Secondly, There is (saith he) something more in it; the Lord by the power of his Spirit doth cut us off from any power of our natural Gifts and Parts, and spiritual Gifts also, or from any Confidence of our own sufficiency; the Lord hath cut us off from hope in the Righteousness of our Parents, and from boasting of Ordinances. And again he saith, This we read of, Mat. 4. 1. It is spoken of the Ministry of John the Baptist, which did burn as an Oven, against all the Scribes and Pharisees, and left them neither the Root of Abraham's Covenant, nor the Branch of their own good Works: He cutteth them off from the Covenant of Abraham, &c. And by cutting them off from the Root, he leaveth them no ground to trust on. Thus Mr. Cotton on The Covenant, p. 177, and p. 21, 22. Now evident it is, that nothing but the dispensation of God's ⟨p. 13⟩Providence, or the Expiration of that period of Time determined by the Almighty for the standing of the Church of Israel, could cut the Jews off as a Nation, from being a Church and peculiar People unto God; I mean in respect of that Legal Covenant. I deny not but that the Covenant of Grace God made with Abraham, and with his true spiritual Seed, stands firm for ever and ever, and none in that Covenant can be cut off, nor fanned away: for the Jewish Priesthood, Church-state and Church-membership, and all their Church-priviledges, were to remain until Christ came, or until the time of Reformation; that is, till the Gospel-days and Gospel-dispensation took place, and no longer: But now that time being come, and they not seeing an end put to the old Covenant-Church, as it was made with the natural Offspring of Abraham; and that their right to legal Ordinances, and Church-membership, could not give them any right to Gospel Ordinances, nor Gospel-Church-membership, and they not believing in Christ, not accepting of the Terms of the Gospel, were all of necessity purged out or fanned away, by the Fan of the New Testament-dispensation, and so were no longer a people in any sense in Covenant with God.
