Chap iò. and the Covenant of Grace. r ó5 CHAP. XVI. What degree of obedience the Covenant of Grace calls for from Chriftians, HEre is feafonably moved , and is not without force difficulty anfwered , what degree of obedience this new Covenant calls for from us,. that fo we may endeavour it and underftand our felves when we haveby grace attained to it ;that having enured Covenant with God we may not be found of thofe that have wickedly departed,and dealt falfely in the Covenant. In this there are feveral opinions which are to come under examination. Firil, Some fay that it is required of Chriftians in an exact way, in a full perfec}i.on as- ofparts fo of degrees, anfwering to the perfection of the Law as written in the heart, and given on Monnt Sinai and fo required that obedience in a more low degree, will not be accepted or the mercies promifed in the Covenant ob- tained ; which docirine of theirs (rigidly followed) ftands as that two-edged[word, Gen. 3. 24. keeping the way of the tree ofLife, and making the way to falvation unpafiable. Thus the Councell of Trent. a If any man ¡Tall fay that by Ba- ptifine men are obliged to Faith oily , and not to the éhfervation of the whole Law, let him be accurfed ; which Chemnitiuu in his Examen confeired in a qualified fenfe, might be ad- mitted, feeing perlons baptized owe fubjecti- on , but not in the fenfe which that Canon holds forth, being an allufion to that of the Apo_ftle, Gal. 5.3. 1 te/lifie again to every man that is circumci¡ed,that he is a debtor to the whole Law; by which Gloire, Baptifrne makes Chrift of none effea as well as Circumcifion, as it was taken in the . fenfe of thofe falfe Teachers among the Galatians, vit. as a lead. ing ceremony of the Law binding to the ob- fervation of the whole. And fo alfo Bellar. lib, I °. de Baptif. cap. is. b Baptifine doth not make ue debtor., to Faith only , brat to keep P the Pcrfe&ion of degrees is not fo çalled for of God in Co- venant , that upon failing it, the mercies promifed in Covenant are loft. a Si quis dixerit , baptixatos per ba- ptifmum ipf ni folios tantúnt debitores fidei fieri, non auteur univerfa: legis Chrifti fervand.e; anathema ft. Seß: Sept. Canon. Soc. b Bapti fats non id eficit, ut ho- mo folios fidei debito,. fit, non autemim_' plenda univer fie legis. Duobus modis intelligi puffe hominem baptitatum dici liberata à lege divina f ervanda ; uno modo ut facere contra eam legem non fit injuftum nec peccatum, quali lexabro- gata effet; de hoc fcn%u non eft con - troverfia. altero modo intelligi poteft ut facere contra lègem fit guidon pecca - tum', tandem non tmputetur iis qui fident habens; nec pendeat juftifzcatio aut Jalua ab,iriipletione logis, fed a fila mife- ricordiá qua per fidem apprebendi- tut.
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