Downame - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .D75 1628z

CHAP.* of the Cotenant of' yYorkes. 223 bey, as if u'ee were togaine Heauen by it. But fee the exceeding bountie and goodneffeofGod, that will not haue vs ferue him for nought. He is plcafed for the per- fea keepingof his Law, and the Righteoufneffe by him inioyned,not only to promife a recompence of reward, but to contra&and couenant with vs,and vnder certaine conditions, as it were, to bind himfelfe veto it , which is the fame that we call theLawor Couenant ofworkes the fir(I Couenant that euer God made with his Crea- tures. The femme whereof is in' few words, Hsi, that b itoat.tß 1. sloth thefe things, /Mall line by thetas. As on the other fide, Csrfed is enerie one that continueth not in all the things c GaT..ie, thatare written in the Book! of the Law to doe them. For this Couenant requireth workes done by the tirengthof Nature, and according to the Law of our Creation, an- Swerableto Gods Iuf}ice, the expreffe Image whereof is in the Morall Law : And therefore the nature of Men and Angels, beautified in their fir(f Creation with Holi- neffe,and the light of Gods Law written in their heart, is the ground and foundationof this Couenant: for other- wife it could not.haue flood with the Tu(fice of God, to require thefe things at their hands , vnleffe the Law of Godhad beene Ramped and figned in them , and their nature made holy and pure , able byCreationto doe the fame. The Couenant therefore of Workes, hath thofe two parts before remembred:for the Law ofGod,as all other Lawes that are but flre:mesandfhaddowes ofthat euer- lafling Law, is vpholdenby two things, Reward andPu- nifla,ment ; without which, there would, bee neither care to obièrue, nor feare to breakc it. This reward commetb fromGods free and vndefer. ed goodneffe : for what can the Creature deferue at the Creatours hands , doing nothing but that which the Lawof his Creationbindeth him unto ? Wherefore our ,Sauiour s Zoe 17,ío. doth admopifh,, whenwee haue done

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