The Gofpel ofCircumcifion. 177 him and therefore he and his Seed were faved byChrift ; for Grace was in this Covenant. 4.. To be a God to any Man, this is not carnal, this is not Works, but Grace. It is true, God was a God .to Adam before he fell : But to be a God toSinners,this is Grace ; he was a God toAdam in In.nocency by virtue of the Covenant of Works, but he is not a God to any Sinner but in a way of Free Grace. Now that was the Covenant, i will be a God to thee and tby Seed, Gen. 17. 7. Abraham was a Sinner, and a Child of Wrath by Nature, as well as others ; yet God was his God truly. For God to be a God to thofe that never finned, there may be Merit : But for God to be a God to thofe that have finned, this is Grace indeed. Angels are faved by Works, Sinners cannot be faved but by Grace. That ever the Lord fhould eondefcend to engage in fuch a Relation, as to give a Sinner Intereft in him, and Propriety in him as his God, this is Grace ; they that do not think this is Grace, they do not need Arguments, but Pity and Prayer. 5. Confider that it was the fatal Error and Mifcarriage of the car- nal Yews, that they did underftand Circumcifion and all the reft of thofe ancient Types and Ceremonies, as a Covenant ofWorks, and herein they loft Chrift and their Souls. It is every where charged up- on them as their Sin ; all the Prophets and Apoftles do endeavour with all their might, to beat them out of thofe Mifconftruûions of Circumcifion, and the Covenant of God in thofe Times. The Apoftle proves it at large in Rom. 4. that it was Grace and not Works, that Abraham was juftified by. Now this was the Error that all the car- nal dews fell into, that they took it to be a Covenant of Works : As thePbariffes they had a Righteoufnefs of their own, they were all of i that Spirit; they took t all as Law, even the Gofpel and the Grace that was in the Covenant, and fo fell fhort of the BlefCings of it : Therefore if our New Teftament-Circumci /ion be praftifed by any as the Covenant of Works, as the Yews did when the Aponte preached to them, they will fall fhort of Heaven. Now if they took it to be a Covenant of Works, (hall we juftifie their Errors and Mifcarriage againft the whole preaching of the Gofpel ? This is enoogh to Phew that it is the Covenant of Grace, that Circumcifion Both relate to. Now briefly, What is this Covenant of Grace ? And what is the Grace of the Covenant which Circumcifion relates to? This is a very large Field. There were there parts of this Grace of the Covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and his Seed. z.. Tobe a God to him. A a a. To
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