A59035:1563
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.
3. To put sinners upon contradictions, is no way suitable with the wisdom and goodness of God. But if God should have set up a Covenant of works for sinners, after he hath set up a Covenant of Grace, he should have put the sinner upon contradictions: you must believe, and you must not believe; you must be justified and live by works, and you must not do so. The Covenant of grace saith you must believe; the Covenant of works saith you must not believe. That saith, believe and you shall be saved; this saith, do this and live: what is this but to build up, and pull down; to offer mercy, and to deny mercy; to give life, and to take way life?
3. To put sinners upon contradictions, is no way suitable with the wisdom and goodnesse of God. But if God should have set up a Covenant of works for sinners, after he hath set up a Covenant of Grace, he should have put the sinner upon contradictions: you must believe, and you must not believe; you must be justified and live by works, and you must not do so. The Covenant of grace saith you must believe; the Covenant of works saith you must not believe. That saith, believe and you shall be saved; this saith, do this and live: what is this but to build up, and pull down; to offer mercy, and to deny mercy; to give life, and to take way life?
4. To make the Covenant of grace to be changeable and void, is quite contrary to the intention and purpose of God who hath made that Covenant to he everlasting, and never to be altered, no more then the Priesthood of Christ is changeable, ⟨p. 174⟩of which God hath said, Thou art a Priest for ever. But if God should set up a Covenant of works after a Covenant of Grace, this would void and frustrate the Covenant of grace. It would throw down Christ as a Mediator, and the Righteousness of Christ, and all the Fabric of a Sinners salvation by a Christ.1
4. To make the Covenant of grace to be changable and void, is quite contrary to the intention and purpose of God who hath made that Covenant to he everlasting, and never to be altered, no more then the Priesthood of Christ is changeable,