A57966:458
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.
Obj. 4. How then is there a promise of the life to come made to Godliness, 1 Tim. 4.8?
Obj. 4. How then is there a promise of the life to come made to Godlinesse, 1 Tim. 4.8?
Answ. That promise is neither a promise of the Covenant of Works, for by the deeds of the Law no flesh can be saved: Nor is it a federal promise of the Covenant of Grace, strictly so called, except any would say that it is called a promise especially for faith, which is special Godliness,1 and the acknowledging of the truth, which is according to godliness, Tit. 1.1. and so a promise made to the Godly in so far as he is in Christ by faith, and in Christ is the promise of life, 2 Tim. 1.1. Nor 3. is the promise of a title and right, which is made to Christ our Ransom payer, made to our Godliness, as if it did buy our right to life eternal, or were the price thereof. 4. Life is promised to Believers who work, not because they work: And 5. the Lord in these only showeth the order of bringing men to glory, not the causes of the right and title to glory, except we say the mowing of the first quarter of the Meadow is the cause of the mowing of the second, because it makes way to the mowing of the second, and the mowing of the second quarter is a cause of the mowing of the third, and so forth, until all be mown. As, because God gives grace to work, to run, to use means, therefore he giveth, of free grace, the crown of life in the possession thereof.
Answ. That promise is neither a promise of the Covenant of Works, for by the deeds of the Law no flesh can be saved: Nor is it a federall promise of the Covenant of Grace, strictly so called, except any would say that it is called a promise especially for faith, which is speciall Godlinesse,