6/ th1 Covenant. 22Q Therefore the Apofile lays down, for the foundati– on offaith, to thefe who had even embrued_their hands in the blood of the Lord- ofglory,' their interefi in the promife, Alrs .ji, 39· ' For the promife is · unto you, and to your children, and to all t hat are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God fhall call.' To whom– foever then the gofpel comes, we may warrantably fa y · the promife is to you, and to you, and ' every one of– you; even £he promiie of the tefiament: and ye have accefs to claim it. by faith, as your ~wn legacy, you.t; own mercy, Jo~n ii. 8. And all the arguments addu~ed on the head of the objeCl: of Chrift's adminifiration., ·which n·ecd not to be repeated here, do prove tnis. And it is mofi agreeable to the n~ture of the thingo In Chrifi's tefiament, the legatees are not exp.refi by - their names, as in tefiaments where the Tefiator ha rh his children and friends about him, to whom he leaves his legacies: but 'tis here as in the cafe, wherein .fome of the children ,or friends of .the Tefiator, are not come into the world, at the_time of the making of the .tefiament; who ~ufi therefore have their legacies left to them under fome general defignation. Multi– tudes, multitudes of Chrill's legatees were not born when he died; and multitudes of them have not to this day feen ,the fun : nay, when Chrifi .firfi made his tefiament, there were but two perfons in the world .. Therefore the legatees have been exprefr in it, under a general defignarion, as thefe of fuch a family. Now, this general defignation of the 1/egatees in Chrifi's te– fi~ment, is not a~ual ' believers, that is, fuch as h~ve already believed : for aCl:ual believing is the legatees claiming of the legacies !eft them, whereby they are . put in po!feffion thereof; the which claim mufl: of ne• ceffity have,a foundation in the t~!lament, prior unto it, And indeed the tefl:ament is 'the ground of faith .. Therefore it was made, before there was one aCl:ual believer in the world, bein.g made in Paradife, and ther.e recited in the hearing of our gl.lilty firfi parents, P 4 who,
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