The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace

It were non-sense to say to men under the externally proposed Covenant, repent, hear the Gospel, use the means, receive the seals, and yet you have no right to hear, nor have we any warrant to baptize you, until ye believe; for there is no promise made to you, nor to your seed and children, until first you believe. And it must say there was no threatening to Adam, Gen. 2.17. before he sinned, and no promise to Adam nor to any now, do this and live, until Adam first sinned, and first obeyed the Covenant; and so, if John Covenant to labour in Peters Vineyard, and Peter promise to him four pence, so he work twelve hours, otherwise he shall not pay him four pence, though John accept of the Covenant, and work but one hour, whereas his Covenant is to work for twelve hours, then no man can say to John (work, for there is a promise made of four pence to you) the other might deny; no such promise was made to me, except I work twelve hours. It were, sure, unfaithful dealing to John to say ⟨p. 90⟩so. For the four pence ought not, by this Covenant, to be given to him, except he work twelve hours: but he cannot, without palpable falsehood, say, I have broken no Covenant, in not working twelve hours: For though I consented to the Covenant, and began to work an hour, yet the promise was not to me simply, but to me as working twelve hours;¹ but there is neither face nor faith in this Answer: For the fulfilling of the Covenant is only to give four pence to John, if he work twelve hours; But the promise and Covenant was made to him, and he hath foully broken. Yea a conditional Covenant agreed unto and accepted, is a Covenant, if we shall (as in reason we ought) distinguish between a Covenant, in its essence and nature, and a Covenant broken or fulfilled, a Covenant or threatening, is a Covenant and threatening obliging Adam, if it shall be agreed unto, by silence, as Adam accepted the threatening, Gen. 2.17. by silence, and Professors within the Visible Church, by their professing of the Doctrine of the Gospel or Covenant of Grace, their receiving of the seals and professed hearing of the Word, are under the Covenant of Grace, and engage themselves to obey commands, promises, threatenings, and therefore promises are as properly made to them,