Objects Some, perhaps, will say, Who liveth and sinneth not? Who is there that faileth not of the duties he is engaged to?If you reject this way as unsound, who then can be saved? — ⟨p. 180⟩Answ. True believers will be saved; namely, all who do, by faith, take hold of God's covenant. But this kind […] govenant is men's own covenant, devised of their own heart; not God'• covenant revealed in the gospel of his grace• and the maki•• of it is nothing else, but the making of a covenant of works with Christ, confounding the law and the gospel; a covenant he will never subscribe to, though we should sign it with our heart's blood. Rom. iv 14. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. Ver. •6 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed. Chap. xi. 6. And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work God's covenant is everlasting: once in, never out of it again; and the mercies of it are sure mercies, Isa. lv. 3. But that covenant of ••urs is a tottering covenant, never sure, but broken every day. […] is a mere servile covenant, giving Christ service for salvation: but God's covenant is a filial covenant, in which the sinner takes Christ, and his salvation freely offered, and so becomes a son, John i. 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the ••ns of God: and being become a son, he serves his Father, not that […] inheritance may become his, but because it is his, through Jesus Christ. See Gal. iv. 24. and downward. To enter into that spurious covenant, is to buy from Christ with money; but to take hold of God's covenant is to buy of him without money, and without price, Isa. l•. 1. that is to say, to beg of him. In that covenant men work for life; in God's covenant they come to Christ for life, and work from life. When a person under that covenant fails in his duty, all is gone: the covenant must be made over again. But under God's covenant, although the man fail in his duty, and for his failures fall under the discipline of the covenant, and lies under the weight of it, till such time as he has recourse anew to the blood of Christ for pardon, and renew his repentance;
Objects Some, perhaps, will say, Who liveth and sinneth not? Who is there that faileth not of the duties he is engaged to?If you reject this way as unsound, who then can be saved? — ⟨p. 180⟩Answ. True believers will be saved; namely, all who do, by faith, take hold of God's covenant. But this kind 〈…〉 govenant is men's own covenant, devised of their own heart; not God'• covenant revealed in the gospel of his grace• and the maki•• of it is nothing else, but the making of a covenant of works with Christ, confounding the law and the gospel; a covenant he will never subscribe to, though we should sign it with our heart's blood. Rom. iv 14. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. Ver. •6 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed. Chap. xi. 6. And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work God's covenant is everlasting: once in, never out of it again; and the mercies of it are sure mercies, Isa. lv. 3. But that covenant of ••urs is a tottering covenant, never sure, but broken every day. 〈…〉 is a mere servile covenant, giving Christ service for salvation: but God's covenant is a filial covenant, in which the sinner takes Christ, and his salvation freely offered, and so becomes a son, John i. 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the ••ns of God: and being become a son, he serves his Father, not that 〈…〉 inheritance may become his, but because it is his, through Jesus Christ. See Gal. iv. 24. and downward. To enter into that spurious covenant, is to buy from Christ with money; but to take hold of God's covenant is to buy of him without money, and without price, Isa. l•. 1. that is to say, to beg of him. In that covenant men work for life; in God's covenant they come to Christ for life, and work from life. When a person under that covenant fails in his duty, all is gone: the covenant must be made over again. But under God's covenant, although the man fail in his duty, and for his failures fall under the discipline of the covenant, and lies under the weight of it, till such time as he has recourse anew to the blood of Christ for pardon, and renew his repentance;
