A77360:487
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 5: The Way and Spirit of the New Covenant, or New Testament. SERM. V.
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.
2. A legal Spirit, also is a fearing Spirit, put on rather by the Threatening, than by the Promise; a Gospel spirit rather by the promise than the threatening. In the times of the Old Testament, the Threatening reigned: And, if you look into Deuteronomy, you shall find that when Moses the Mediator of the Old Covenant, preached and declared the mind of God unto the people, he begins with Curses, and Threatenings, Deut. 27. They were upon two Hills. and v. 14. The Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel, with a loud voice; Cursed be the man that maketh any Graven or Molten Image, an abomination unto the Lord. Cursed be he that setteth •eight by his Father, or his Mother: And, Cursed be he that removeth his Neighbours Land-mark, and so he goes on with Curses. In the 28. Chap. then comes the blessings: It shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice •f the Lord thy God, to observe and do to all his Commandments, which I command thee this day; That the Lord thy God will set thee on High, above all Nations of the Earth; and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee. Blessed shalt thou be in the City, and blessed shalt thou be in the Field; blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy Cattle, the increase of thy Kine, and the flocks of thy Sheep. Mark how the Blessing comes after. First comes the Curse, when Moses the Mediator of the Old Covenant preached.— But now look into the 5th. of Matth. and ye find that when Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant comes to preach, that he begins with Blessing. Blessed are the poor in spirit, and bl•ssed are the meek, and blessed are those that hunger and thirst after Righteousness, and blessed, and blessed. First comes the blessing, and then afterwards in the following ⟨p. 364⟩part of the Chapter comes the Law, and the curse. And if you look into this Scripture, you find the difference also: for saith the Apostle here, We are not come unto the Mount that might be touched, that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a Trumpet, and the voice of words which they could not endure, so terrible was the sight thereof: But ye are come to mount Zion. Would you know the difference between the dispensations? the one is terrible, the other comfortable. — The one is fearing, and the other comforting: