368 Dit·e!Jions mrenf word is n1gh thee, even in thy mo_uth, .and in thy heart; that is the word offaith which we preach.' So · that the righteoufnefs of Chrifr, to wit, the holineft tJf nature wherewith he \vas born, and which he re- . tained unfpotted till death, the righteoufnefs of his · life, and his fatisf.·u9:ioh made by his fufferings, is in that word freely offered and exhibtted to. you, as the fulfilled conditicm of the covenant, being therein re· vealed unio faith, Rom. i. 17. Gr. as alfo, thepromife ofeternal life,, a~ the promife of the,covenant, to.b~ fulfilled, being therein left you, Heb. iv. . .r. Hence it appears, That the duty ofper{onal cove– nantbrg is much mifiaken and mifmanaged, where the party apprehending th:lt God, in the word, declares 1 hiinfelf wi1ling to be his God, upon certain terms to be by him performed, different from accepting God's . full and free covenant of promife, does accordingly , n1ake a covenant with God, folemQly taking him for his God upon thefe terms; promifing and vowing, That if God will be his God, pardon his fins, be at peace with him, and fave his foul; -he will, for his part, be one of his people, aJ:?d faithfully ferve him all the days ofhis life,watching againfr ~'H known fin, and performing every known duty: This is ju!l: as if the woman,in the cafe before, put, fuould tell him who offers her the contract, That !he is content to take him for her hu.flJand, upon certain terms; particular'– ly, That if he will be her hujband, and do the duty of a hufband to her, £he will, for her part, be a faith– ful wife to him, all the days of her life, doing all ,that fhe is able to do, for paying off her debt, 111anaging· l1erfelf and his houfho]~ to the bell: of her !kill, and. taking all pains on her fares to make her lovely in -his eyes: the which b~ing quite contrary to the defign and end of that unufi1al kind of contract, which is; to have the wife wholly indebted to the hufband for ~l J , doth a·lter the nature Qfth9 propofal, and wo~ld_ qu1tc ·
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