66 The Covenant of Works Chap.9. for, would render a man entirely Religious : So allo that of 7e- remy 22, 15, 16. Shalt thou reigne, becaufe thou clofeft thy felf M Cedar ? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do juflice andjudge- ment, and then it Was well With him ? He judged the caufe of the poor and needy, and then it was well With him ; was not thu to no me, faith the Lord? Will he fay that that was all the knowledge that Ifay had ofGod ?or will he fay rather that this was an evident proofe of the fincerity of it; fo I fay, that which the Jews already underftood to be in the Covenant , together with that which thofe places of 7eremy and the Hebrews further hold forth , fet out the entire nature of a Covenant ; and fo in all of them Scri- pture is interpreted, not denied, And whereas Mr. Baxter af- firmes, that there is no condition on mins part in thofe Texts in queftion, Mr. Owen faith. lfyeu mean Fisch conditions that God re quireth ofui, yet Worketh in us ; it is there punEhually exprefl. As Gods work it is there expreft , but not as our duty ; which lame underftanding of the Covenant , hath wrought as much mifchief in our age ; fetting up free grace, without any eye upon his fove- reignty, looking at Gods work, and not at all on mans duty; as in that age their looking at duty without eye had to the power of grace, to enable for it. Hence are thole defperate counfels ; Sit ítill , do nothing; doing, undoes you : and that untoward Di- lemma, Art thou out of Chrift , thou mayft break thy heart iu working, and profit nothing : Art thou in Chrift, then all is wrought for thy hands. And fo doing ftill is vain ; and Matter Baxter.; jueftionifts like demands. How can you make it appear that according to the new Covenant We mull all for life, and not only from life ; or that a man may make his attaining of life the end of his work, and not rather obey it out of thankfulnejle and love ? To which 1 fuppofe he bath received a fatisfying and (if throughly weighed,) a fadning anfwer, See Appendix, pag.78, -9, &c. Fifthly, This appears in that differencing work which is Peen among men here in the flefh. There is a great difference between thofe that are ofGod , and thofe that are in the world that lies in wickedneffe. This is from thepower of grace, enabling to an- fwer to that unto which God in Covenant calls, and not from the different improvement of any power of man, or the exercife of that freedome f will , that together with the whole fpecies of mankind he hath received. The Apoftle puts the queftion , who hatb
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