A59035:103
The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth…
The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation : also the treasures of grace, blessings, comforts, promises and privileges that are comprised in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with believers / by that faithful and reverend divine, Mr Obadiah Sedgwick ... ; perfected and intended for the press, therefore corrected and lately revised by himself, and published by his own manuscript ...The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation : also the treasures of grace, blessings, comforts, promises and priviledges that are comprized in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with believers / by that faithful and reverend divine, Mr Obadiah Sedgwick ... ; perfected and intended for the press, therefore corrected and lately revised by himself, and published by his own manuscript ...
London: printed by Edward Mottershed for Adoniram Byfield, 1661
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.
In this Covenant, there is place for repentance, and mercy for the penitent. Repent, that your sins may be blotted out, Acts 3. 19. He that forsakes his sins shall have mercy, Prov. 28. 13. So that as to the Covenant of works, you must be altogether perfect, and always so; if you sin at all, you are cast and condemned; But as to the Covenant of grace, the sinner being penitent, is received to mercy, and spared. This is one great difference betwixt the Covenant of Works and of Grace.
In this Covenant, there is place for repentance, and mercy for the penitent. Repent, that your sinnes may be blotted out, Acts 3. 19. He that forsakes his sins shall have mercy, Prov. 28. 13. So that as to the Covenant of works, you must be altogether perfect, and alwayes so; if you sinne at all, you are cast and condemned; But as to the Covenant of grace, the sinner being penitent, is received to mercy, and spared. This is one great difference betwixt the Covenant of Works and of Grace.
2. In the condition of man, with whom God doth Covenant. The Covenant 1of works was made with man as perfect, upright, innocent, and then sinless; and therefore it is called by some, Pactum Amicitiae, a Covenant of friendship: because before the fall, there was nothing of variance or enmity betwixt God and man; that estate was an estate of love and kindness, and friendship; God was Adams friend, and Adam was a friend to God; they agreed together, and conversed as loving friends. But the Covenant of grace, was made with man as breaking friendship, as fallen off by sin; as under the estate of emnity, when his sins had separated betwixt him and his God; and therefore this Covenant is called Pactum Reconciliationis, a Covenant of Reconciliation, an agreement made betwixt parties who had fallen out. The Lord was pleased to look after man again, and to take pity on him, and to propose new Articles of life unto him.