Owen - BS1450 130st 093 1669

188 Nature,2>f andEnd Pfal.i3o. in it was given to the firfl Covenant made with Adam. For in the giving of the Law, and the Curfè wherewith it was ac- companied which were immixed with that Adminiftration of the Covenant , there was a folemn revival and Reprefenta. tion of thefirfl Covenant, and its SanElion, whereby it had life and power given it to keep the people in bondage all their dayes. And the end of the Abolition or taking way of the Legal Adminiflration of the Covenant, was meerly to take out of Gods dealing with his people, all ufe and Remembrance of the firfl Covenant, As was faid therefore, to take away, dif. annul, and change a Covenant fo made , ratified, and efta- blifhed betwixt God and man, is a matter that mull be refoly- ed into Tome cogent, important, and indifpenfable caufe. And this will the more evidentlÿ appear, if we confider, Nature, fiirft, In general; that the firjl Covenant tra! Good, Holy, tlfe and Righteous and Equal. It was fuch as became God to make, and end Coove fthe - was every way the happinefi of the Creature to accept of. We iìrí van% need no other Argument to prove it holy and good, than this, that God made it. It was the Eftf of infinite Holinefs, dome, Righteoufnefs, Goodnefs and Grace. And therefore in it felt was it every way perfe6`f ; for fo are all the works of God. Befides it was fuch, as man, when through his own fault he cannot obtain any goodby it, and muff perifh everlalf ingly by vertue of the Curfe of it ; yet cannot but fubfcribe unto its Righteoufnefs and Holinefs. The Lawwas the Rule of it, therein is the tenor of it contained. Now, faith the Apoftle, whatever becomes of the fin, and the tanner, the Law it holy, and the commandment is holy and jufl, andgood, Rom. 7. 12. Holy in it felf, and its own Nature, as being the Or- der and Coriflitution of the moll holy God. Ju(I and equal with referenceunto us ; fuch as we haveno reafon to com- plain of, or repine againfl the Authority of it, and the terms of it are moll righteous. And not only fo, bat it is-good al- to, that which notwithfianding the appearance of Rigor and feverity which it is accompanied withal, had in it an ex- ceeding mixture of Goodnefs and Grace, both in the Obe- dience conflituted in it , and the Reward annexed unto it,

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