The display of glorious grace, or, The covenant of peace opened in fourteen sermons…

Christ shall be a Redeemer, and make our Peace if we please; this puts a Bar to the Purchaser (as one observes) a Man can't in any good sense be called a Redeemer of such Persons out of Slavery, till the Persons perform ⟨p. 162⟩those Conditions, upon which he laid down the Price: As for Example, (saith he) I lay down an Hundred Pounds for the Redemption of a Person in Slavery, upon this Condition, that he yield to serve me Seven Years after; I must have his Consent before I can Redeem him; and therefore upon these Conditions I am certainly suspended from being a Redeemer; nay, and am no Redeemer of such Persons, if they refuse the Terms: So that for Christ to be an Universal Redeemer, is a Contradiction; for it is to be a Redeemer of all, if they please, but can be a Redeemer of none but of such that consented to the Terms proposed.

4. Besides, this casteth horrid Reproach upon the Son of God, as if he had done some great thing for us, in dying and making our Peace; when indeed, according to this Notion, he doth but deceive poor Creatures; for he has made their Peace and Redeemed them if they will but get out of Satan's Hands, and break his Chains and Bonds in pieces, and raise themselves from the Dead, and change their own Hearts, &c. whereas he knew we were no more able to do this, than to create a new World. Therefore, Brethren, pray observe; we affirm, that whatsoever Conditions were agreed upon in the Covenant of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ undertook to do and perform them all, both for us, and also in us; I will give them a new Heart, ¹I will take away the Stony Heart, and I will give them a Heart of Flesh, I will put my Fear into their Hearts, and they shall not depart from me. ²I will Circumcise their ⟨p. 163⟩Hearts to love the Lord their God—He that hath begun a good Work in you,