A57966:447
The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace
The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace containing something of the nature of the covenant of works, the sovereignty of God, the extent of the death of Christ ... the covenant of grace ... of surety or redemption between the by Samuel Rutherford ...The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace containing something of the nature of the covenant of works, the soveraignty of God, the extent of the death of Christ ... the covenant of grace ... of surety or redemption between the by Samuel Rutherford ...
Edinburgh: printed by Andro Anderson for Robert Brown, 1655
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.
(6.) All these, thy faith hath saved thee, Matth. 9. Luk. 7. only believe, must be of this truth, thy good works hath saved thee: ⟨p. 176⟩only do good works. And it is strange that Paul saith, Eph. 2.8. By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of your selves, it is the gift of God. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Nor could Paul make an opposition between grace and works (as in Rom. 11.6.) if the grace of believing and good works were one in the New Testament, for so we should be saved by works, and not by works. And Paul by an [Greek or Hebrew], takes that away. Yea but we are saved, that is, justified and delivered from obligation to wrath by the works of free-grace. He answers, nay, but neither are we saved or justified by these works of grace as by means or causes.1 For we are first saved and justified before we can do good works, for good works are the fruits of free-grace, since v. 10. we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus (and so justified and saved in Christ Jesus) to good works, that we should walk in them. Yea and Paul undeniably removeth this doubt, 1 Cor. 4.4. I know nothing by my self (that is, by his grace I am free of such sins as bring condemnation, and so he must abound in works of grace) [Greek or Hebrew], yet thereby (and notwithstanding of all my inherent holiness by works of grace) I am not justified. (7.) There should be no ground of gloriation and boasting more then this, by the Socinian and Arminian way, if we should be justified by works which come from free-will not determined by any grace either habitual or actual which is merited by the death of Christ, but do proceed from pure free-will which separateth the believer from the non-beleever: Then might we glory and boast that we are not in the debt of Christ or of his grace for that which is our formal righteousness before GOD, and so no flesh can say they are justified by grace, but that we are justified by nature the same way that Adam should have been justified without being beholden to CHRIST or to his death.