JLcolung unto jjcfu.S'. Book III. ;nd da them according to all which I commandJOlt, fo flu•llyou be my people, and I will be yotsr God Both thefe Scriptures fpeak of the moral Law, or: ten Co.mmandments, contain-· ing ;he preface andpron:'ifes ; and how fl~ould that Law, be any other but a Covenant of grace, whichrunqn tlustenour, I wtll oeyo~<tGod, andy01<j1Milbemy people; mypecu– /"ar treafure. " Kingdom of Pnefts, an holy Natton, •f you w>/1 but hear and obey my Com– ~andments? Surely thefe privi!edges could never have been obtained by a Covenant of works· what? to be aKingdomofPrieils, an holy Nation, a peculiartreafure tothe Lord? 'what? to be beloved of God as a de(irable treafure (for fo it is in the original) which aKing delivers not imo the hands of any ofhis Officers, but keepeth it to himfelf? this cannot be of works. No, ·no ., thefe are priviledges vouchfafed of meer grace inJefus Chrifl· and ther;fore Peter app!yes thi• very promife to 1he people of God underthe Gofpel: I Pet. 2. 9· 1 Pet." 9· 2. It appears by that contract betwixt. Go.d and Ifrael in the promulgation of the Law • then it was that God proclauned hrmferf to be the God of Ifrael; faymg , I am the Lordthy God, which br011ght thee out of the Land of Egypt , ollt of the houfe of bon– dage. Some hold this to be the af!ir~ative part of the. fir!l Commandment ; in 1~hich the Gofpd is preached, and the promrfes therem contamed are offered. We fay 1t rs a preface to the whole Law, prefixed as a reafon to perfwade obedience to every Command– ment. But all univerfally acknowledge that it is a free Covenant, which promifeth par– don of!in, and requiretl1 faith in the Mefiiah ; when God faith to Ifrael, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, doth ~1e not propound himfelf as rheir King, Judge, Savwur, and Redeemer?' Yea, and fprmual Redeemer , from their bondage offin and S"'an, whereofthat temporal deliverance fromEgypt was truly a type< the Lord begins his Commandments with an evangelical promife? and it is very obfer– vable, that as thefe words, I am the Lord thy God, are prefixed immediately to the firfl: Commandment, fo in fundry places ofScripture they are a11nexcd to all the reO: ; yejhall Lev. 1 9• 3." .fear everymanhu mother, andhufather; andlz§ep my Sabbaths, 1am the Lord your God: u, u. ,6.18~ ye jhall notfteal, neither dealfalfely, neither lie o11e to another, and yejhall not fwear by my namefalfely, neither j11alt thou prophane the Name ofthy God; I am the Lord.- Neither jhalt thoujland againjt the'bloodof thy neighbour, I am the Lor~.-In a word, tholt jhalt /ovethy neighbo11r as thyfelf, I am the Lord; onf that .contam only the fecond Table, therefore Jhall yeobferve all my Jlawtes, and all my jlldgments, and do them; I am the Lord. Add we to this; that in the fecond Commandmeot God is defcribed to be one ll1ewing mercy unto thoufands; all which mufl: needs argue the Law to be a Covenant ofgrace. . . 3. It appears by the ContraCt betwixt God and lfrael after the promulgation of the Law : is it not plainly expre!Ted by Mofes, Thou haft avo11ched the Lord thu day to be thy God; andto walk._in hu wayes, and to /zfep hu ftatutes and commandments. -And the Lord hath avouchedthee thu day to be hu pewliar ·people, as he bath pro'fli{ed thee, and that thou jhouldft k_eep hu commandments? Yea, and after this in the land of Moqb, Mofes was D<ut 1 6 , 7 commanded by the Lord to make a covenant with the children of Ifrael, befides the cove- .s. · · ' nant which he made with them in Horeb; norv this was the very fame that God. made with them onSinai, only it nmll be renewed, and it is exprelly faid, ye ftand thu day to enter tnto a covenaut with the Lordyour God:-- 'fhat he may eftablijh you to be a people unto 0 himfelf, and that he may be a God unto you, M he had [worn to .Abrah£m, Jfaac, cut.' 9 ' 11 ' 13 and {acob. Su_rely this mull needs be acovffiant of grace, how /hould it be 'bur ofgrace that Godprom1fed to be the God ofifrael? here are many fweetandpreciouspromifes, and they are all free and gracious. and therefore we conclude the Law in the fenfe aforefaid, tobeacovenantofgrace. ' ' 4· Why fhould God in the Law deal with us in a covenant-wa)i' , rather than a meer abfolute fupream way? I anfwer, I. In refpe<'t of God ;· it was his pleafure in giving the Law not only to manifefl: hisWifdom, and Power, and Sovetaignty, bur his faithfulnefs, and truth, and love, and the glory of his grace ; that he might malzf /wo•vn (as Rom. 9 • the Apo!Ue fpeaks) the ~iches ofh.ug_lory on the veJFls of mercy, whiab he had aforeprepnred 1 )oh. 4· s. llnto gltr:y• Gods love IS apart ofhrs name, fpr r;od;. love , and Gods fa1thfulnel$ is a part of hrs name, I faw heMJen opened (faid [ohn in a vilion) and beholdfl white horfe , and Rov. 1 9· 11 ; he thatfate tepon lnm ~Yas called faithful and true : now how Jhould we ever have known Gods love, at leallm fuch a meaCur.e? or how 010uld we ever have known Gops fairhf~lnefs and tru~h at all, if he had not emred into acovenant with ns ? ids true, if he, had giVen the Law m a meer ab~olure fupream ~ay, i~ h~ had given the precept ~ithout any promife,
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