for his Self-denial in refusing such Worldly Honours and Pleasures chose rather to be one of those mean Persecuted People the Children of Israel By Faith thousands of Blessed Saints before us endured tryals of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments they were Stoned they were Sawn asunder were Tempted were Slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and in Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in Desarts and in Mountains and in Dens and in Caves of the Earth Heb. 11.35 36 37 38. They were terrible Sufferings which the Servants of God in former times have been put to undergo but as dreadful as they were being supported with a firm belief that they should be infinitely recompenced for their Sufferings and Losses they thereupon cheerfully underwent the severest that the Wit or Malice of Men or Devils could invent or inflict upon ' em Such a powerful practical working Faith indeed was that for which the Holy Patriarchs and Saints were of Old renowned and are now rewarded in Heaven A Faith I say which excited them to the highest and hardest Acts of Obedience that it was possible for Men to perform And such a Powerful Practical Active and Working Principle is Faith whensoever the things Believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us And such an Operative and Practical Principle is Faith whenever the Things believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us Some things indeed as an Excellent Person does well observe are of such a Nature that the Belief or Knowledge of 'em goes no farther but rests in it self as the Knowledge or Belief of bare Speculative Truths that do not at all Concern us but some things again are of such a Nature as being once firmly and truly believed and known carry a Man out to action Thus for Example If you should hear another threaten'd that he should certainly be Kill'd if he stir out of his House to morrow it would not hinder you from going Abroad tho' you firmly believe the threatning because it is a truth in which you are not Concern'd But the Person so threatned if he does throughly believe the danger will certainly not stir out of his House that day because it is a Truth that he is very much Concerned in On the other side If you should hear of a Promise made to another Person of a Thousand Pound if he will be at the Pains to go but to such a place it will not make you go there because it is a Promise that you are not Concerned in but the other Person if he be certainly perswaded the Promise will be made good to him will certainly go to the appointed place because it is a Promise that he is Concerned in And so likewise as to the case in hand That a sure Promise of the Pardon of our Sins and Eternal Happiness is made over to us in the Second Covenant on condition we will forsake the Service of Satan and of Sin that we will Repent heartily Believe practically and Obey sincerely is a Truth that the Devils to their great grief are fully perswaded of for they believe and tremble St. James tells us But this Faith of theirs does not put them upon Repentance and Amendment because those gracious Promises do not Concern them and they have no Promise of Salvation tho' they should Repent and Amend But as to us whom they do Concern and to whom they are made if we are really perswaded that if we amend we shall be certainly Saved we shall immediately upon such perswasion seriously Repent of what has been done amiss heretofore and take care to Obey God for the future for every Man that hath this Hope in God purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 In short the Articles of our Christian Faith are every one of 'em so many Motives and those the most powerful ones in the World to stir us up to a diligent Reformation of our Hearts and Lives They are in themselves the most obliging Arguments to it and with respect to us they are the most Concerning and Important Truths that can be containing in the meaning of 'em either Threatnings to scare us out of Sin or Promises to allure us to Obedience Either such considerations as are apt to excite our fears when we are in a course of Impiety or are Grounds whereon we may build the vastest hopes in the Performance of our Duty And if any one does not live accordingly a Godly Righteous and a Sober Life I dare be bold to say it is owing to some spice of Infidelity lurking in his heart whereby he is not throughly perswaded of or does not actually consider these Truths But he that does throughly Believe and Consider them can hardly fail of being a good Liver Thus necessary you see it is that our Belief of all the Articles of our Christian Faith be such as does Influence us to good Works And then after all 2. It must be a Belief that causes us to betake our selves to Jesus Christ to Interceed with God the Father for their Gracious Acceptance 2. To Believe savingly we must apply our selves to Jesus Christ to interceed with God the Father for our Gracious Acceptance This I have formerly in the beginning of my Exposition insisted upon yet such is the growing Infidelity of the World with respect to this which is the most Essential part of Christian Faith that it would not be unseasonable should I again shew you that we must depend upon the Mediation of Christ with the Father for us that our imperfect Righteousness may be graciously accepted to our Justification This is that Act of Faith which is called in Scripture Believing in Christ and to such a Believing as this it is that our Justification is Attributed by St. Paul Gal. 2.16 Know this that a Man is not Justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have Believed in Jesus Christ that we might be Justify'd by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no flesh be Justify'd And as this Act of Faith the Relying upon God's Mercies in Christ does wonderfully exalt the Divine Justice and Mercy so it leaves no place to the Creature to Attribute any part of its Happiness to it self but does utterly exclude all occasions of Boasting God hath set forth Jesus Christ his Son to be a Propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God Where is Boasting then it is excluded By what Law of Works nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 2.25 27. So that it is not enough that we Believe punctually but it is moreover necessary that we rely also on God's Mercies in Christ that our imperfect Holiness may be accepted or otherwise even our Assent to all the
and Service so to us it gives even that which we could otherwise have no not the least Pretensions to even a Legal Right and Title to all the most inestimable Blessings and Favours of the Covenant It gives great Assurance of mutual Performances barely to be in Cavenant together It has been already more than once hinted and shall here be more fully declared how that it gives us mighty Assurance that the Mercies of God shall certainly be conferred on us that he has vouchsafed to engage Himself in Covenant to make 'em good unto us and that because this way of proceeding gives us even a Legal Right and Title to All the most inestimable Blessings and Favours of the Covenant For this we are to consider that 'till such time as God has condescended to engage so and so the utmost Services that we can pay him cannot give us sure and certain grounds to hope for or expect such invaluable Benefits to be conferred upon us Though we should never so heartily repent us of our Sins there is not that in Repentance alone that it should be sufficient of it self to satisfie the Justice of God and to salve that infinite Dishonour we have done him by our former Violations of his sacred Laws And though we should never so sincerely and faithfully Obey him for the future is it possible that such unprofitable Service as ours should merit and deserve of it self the unspeakable and unconceivable Joys of Heaven as a due Reward for such Obedient Service Pardon of our manifold Sins and Offences and eternal Joy and Happiness I say can never be expected meerly upon any Merit there is in our Repentance and Obedience nor at all 'till such time as he has graciously vouchsafed and freely condescended by Covenant to secure such Benefits unto us upon our serious Repentance and sincere Obedience But then when he has once condescended to ensure unto us by Covenant these unspeakable Benefits and we on the other side have also engaged our selves to the Performance of such Conditions then what our Repentance Faith and Obedience could not give us reason to expect or hope for meerly upon the account of their own desert shall however be ascertained to us by virtue of God's Covenant-Obligations which he has laid upon himself And Pardon and eternal Happiness shall be so far then the matter of our Hopes and Expectations that we shall have a Legal Claim and Title made over to us upon our Repentance Faith and Obedience to 'em insomuch that God will reckon himself as has been before said in Justice and Faithfulness bound both upon the account of Christ's Purchase and his own Covenanted Promises to forgive us our Sins as you may see 1 Joh. 1.9 and will then own us to have a Right to the Tree of Life Rev. 22.14 We shall then I say have a Right and Title to the Blessings of the Covenant not by virtue of any Outward Merit and Desert in our Performances but by virtue of the Divine Promises and Engagements to those who having solemnly entred into Covenant with him do take care faithfully to perform the Conditions of it So that this alone gives us mighty Assurance of the Divine Mercies that we are entitled thereunto by his having Covenanted them unto us as well as he is the more entitled to our Repentance Faith and Obedience because we have Covenanted to perform ' em But yet the more firmly to entitle as God to our Obedience so us to his Mercies because we never take our selves to be so well ensured of the performance of Articles as when we have 'em solemnly sealed to by both Parties God did therefore in compliance with our own Ways and Methods graciously please to Seal to his part the Promises and required us to do the like to our part the Conditions that he might be the better secured of our Covenanted Performances and we of his promised Mercies And then since he has condescended to ensure unto us not only by meer Covenant but moreover to seal unto us these unspeakable Benefits and we on the other side have also sacramentally sealed to the Counter-part of the Covenant the Conditions of it what can there be further thought of to entitle God to our Obedience or us to his Mercies And let this suffice as to the Sacrament or Solemnity whereby we entred into the Covenant of Grace which was by Baptism Baptism as you have seen is an Outward Rite or Sacrament of our Saviour's own Appointment for the solemn admitting of Persons into the Covenant of Grace instituted by Christ for the better Confirmation and Insurance of its Terms the Promises on God's part and the Conditions on ours it being thus mutually sealed to betwixt God and us For agreeably to our Frame and Nature as I have told you which consists of Bodily Senses as well as Spiritual Faculties God has given us besides those most rational Terms and Conditions of the Covenant Recorded in the Gospel being such Promises as are becoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God to make and such Conditions as are highly befitting us to perform besides these he has appointed to us those Outward and Express Solemnities we call the Sacraments to seal these Things betwixt us And because that Baptism is a Rite most significative in it self and would be most acceptable to all sorts of People Jews and Gentiles he was therefore pleased to Adopt that to be the Solemnity of our Entrance into and Sealing the Covenant with him And this Covenant you have seen he would have thus mutually Sealed to betwixt Him and us that the Obligations to Performance might be the stronger upon us both to discharge each his part of the Covenant And thus having spoke to the Sacrament or Solemnity whereby we enter into Covenant evpress'd in these Words In my Baptism the next thing to be shewed you is the great Obligation which lies upon us to perform this our Covenant with God THE XXVI Lecture Quest Dost thou then think that thou art bound to Believe and to Do as they have Promised for thee Answ Yes verily IN my Exposition of the Preliminary Questions and Answers of your Catechism having already given you a general account first of the Nature of the Covenant of Grace and secondly of the Sacrament whereby you did solemnly enter into it I shall now think my self happy if I can but convince you of the mighty Obligations that lie upon you accordingly to perform it And this the Words that I have now read do manifestly lead me to declare unto you for taking the Question and Answer both together they do plainly import this Doctrine viz. The vast Obligations lying upon us both from the Mercies of God and our Baptismal Vow to perform the Covenant of Grace The vast Obligations upon us from the Mercies of the Covenant especially from our Vow in Baptism faithfully and conscientiously to discharge their Covenant with God And what those several Obligations are
in these Questions and Answers now read as the Text beginning First With what pertains to the Nature of the Covenant of Grace And in order to the Understanding hereof it may not be amiss to premise something concerning the more general Notion of such Covenants as are usually made betwixt Governours and their Subjects And such an One if it be perfect in all its Parts and fully exprest may be defin'd to be An Agreement between the Two Parties wherein there are Promises The Notion of a Covenant Rewards or profitable Considerations made over on one Part and certain Conditions to be perform'd on the other And wherein also there is an Obligation on the one side of undergoing some certain Penalties in case of not performing those Conditions consented unto by him and impos'd on him by the other A Covenant I say is a mutual Agreement between Two Parties It is a mutual Agreement for if it be not mutual and both Parties are not consenting to the Terms the One to the making good the Promises the Other to the performing the Conditions the Agreement is none at all or it is not Perfected nor is it Obliging on either side There may be indeed a Law given by one that is Superior in Power and Authority which the Inferior is bound to Obey whether he consent or no because he is plac'd by the Divine Ordinance under the Other 's Command and if he does refuse to Obey he may be justly Punisht but then such a Transaction is to be consider'd as the giving of a Law not as the making of a Covenant Nor is this a slight Difference for where a Superior has given a Law if the Inferior has also Covenanted and consented upon good Considerations and upon the Expectation of promis'd Rewards to obey that Law such a Covenant does withal lay a farther Obligation on the Party on whom the Conditions ly to be perform'd by vertue of his own Consent to do it so that in the Violation of his Duty in such a case he shall be accounted not barely Disobedient but a Covenant-breaker which is added as a more aggravated Sin Rom. 1.31 and therefore deserving a more severe Punishment As there are Conditions therein on our side so express Promises on the other It was farther added in the Definition That in a Covenant there are certain Promises Rewards and profitable Considerations made over on one Part on certain Conditions to be perform'd on the other And herein also with respect to these Promises there seems to be another main Difference betwixt the Imposing of the Law and the Making of a Covenant The Difference seems to be in this That in the Imposing of a Law the Law-giver does not necessarily oblige himself to confer any Benefits more than natural Equity does oblige him to and it is sufficient to the Validity of his Law to render it Obligatory if there be a Threatning of Punishments great enough to deter the Subject from the Violation of that Law But a Covenant does imply something more comfortable in the Notion of it and therein the Party covenanting tho' it be God himself does graciously Condescend to oblige and bind himself by express Promises and usually by some outward Solemnities as visible Signs and Seals to the performance of such Promises And here also is another very considerable Difference betwixt the Obligations of a Law and a Covenant that whereas on performance of Obedience to the Laws of a Superior the Subject upon such his Obedience can have only by vertue of the Law some general and faint Hopes of Benefit so far as is Equitable and as those who do well may expect to receive well But by vertue of a Covenant the Party promising has moreover given to the other a full assurance of certain Benefits to be made good to him insomuch that upon our Repentance and Confession of our Sins God will reckon himself in Justice and Faithfulness bound since the giving of the new Covenant to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 So that in short A Covenant lays a greater Obligation than the meer imposing of a Law does upon both the Parties joyn'd in Covenant a greater Obligation I say upon the One to perform the Conditions upon the Other to make good the Promises And let this suffice to have remark'd upon the more general Notion and Nature of a Covenant A View of â—he Covenant â—f Grace But for our better understanding the distinct Nature and Notion of the Covenant of Grace in particular we must take our Rise from the very Creation and consider the several Dispensations of God by way of Covenant with Mankind And to begin with the Covenant made with Adam and in him with all Mankind the whole Proceeding stands thus God having made Man â—pright and â—n a capacity â—ever to have violated his Covenant did Engage him â—o a perfect â—xact and â—nsinning Oâ—edience God having made Man upright and given him a great measure of Light to direct him and of Strength to enable him to do as he should appoint proceeded then to make this very reasonable Covenant and Agreement with him He agreed to continue and increase that Light and Strength to him and to reward his acting according to it with immortal Life and Happiness provided he making use of his Understanding and Power would persevere to obey his Maker's commands which if he should not do in every particular Instance of Duty he threatned him with Death and eternal Misery But then leaving him to act according to that freedom of Will wherewith as a reasonable Creature he had endow'd him Man did â—iolate it Man did by his own voluntary Disobedience thro' the Cunning of Satan tempting him thereto transgress the Law given him by his Maker Gen. 2.17 and did thereby cast himself into a State of Sin and Misery under the Bondage of Satan without any power or possibility to recover himself out of that wretched Condition And thus he broke his Covenant with God Sinn'd against his Creatour and so forfeited all the Happiness convey'd to him therein both for himself and his Posterity And now was Man in a desperate and forlorn Condition His own Sin had made him liable to the severest Strokes of God's displeasure and the Divine Justice and Wisdom The Divine Justice Wisdom and Holiness requir'd satisfaction and Holiness would not permit the Almighty however his Goodness inclin'd him to Pity to let his Sin go unpunisht and to restore him to a capacity of Happiness without a valuable Satisfaction made to infinite Justice such as should shew the Divine hatred of and severity against Sin for the security of his Government in the World And yet no Creature in the Heavens above or in the Earth beneath was sufficient for so great an Undertaking as to satisfy for him For There is no Man can Redeem his Brother or pay God a Ransom for him for the
an Eternity of Woe and Misery His Mercy is sufficiently satisfied in laying no Tyrannical Impositions upon us as Satan and all false Gods have done upon their superstitious Votaries It is yet a farther Demonstration of his Mercy that our vertuous Performances tho' they are their own Reward here yet they shall be also abundantly Recompenced hereafter He does moreover let us see his Mercy in his long Forbearance of us notwithstanding that by our numberless Provocations we do Grieve his Holy Spirit But he has given us the greatest Discoveries of his Mercy beyond what could ever enter into the Hearts of Men to expect when he gave his own Son to be an Atonement and Expiation for our Sins that his Justice might not proceed against us and when he sent him to us with a Covenant of Grace as an Act of Pardon proposing to us not only a perfect Reconciliation with our offended God but infinite Rewards in Heaven if we would return to our due Obedience and Pay him no other but a reasonable Service I think this is sufficient for Mercy to do and if such immensurable Mercies will not win upon us it is time that as severe a Justice should then take place for we are to consider God as the supreme Governour of Men and Justice is as necessary an Attribute in Government as Mercy Nor is his Severity in Punishing the Sins of a short Life with an Eternity of Woe and Misery but what is agreeable to his Justice and Wisdom as supreme Governour of the World It is necessary in all Governments that the Laws thereof should be enforc'd with such Penalties as shall be sufficient to deter People from the Transgression of those Laws And therefore the Penalties being future it is necessary they should be vastly Great to Over-balance the Profits or Pleasures of Sin which are present It may seem hard indeed at first sight in Humane Governments that a Person for Clipping a Peice of Silver which bears the Image and Superscription of Caesar or for Stealing it from another should forfeit not only his Goods and Chattels but also his Life it self but yet since upon the Temptations of present Profit bad Men will adventure to commit such Facts and the Authority of Laws cannot otherwise be kept up nor Men's Rights and Properties preserv'd It is not thought by the Honest Part of Mankind Inconsistent with the Wisdom and Justice of Governours to inflict even such Punishments as extend to the loss of Life It is these alone are sufficient to Out-weigh the present Consideration of Profit to the Offender and effectually to move him to live in Obedience to Government and therefore these as great as they be are esteem'd but Just and Equal So here in the Government of God over us The Pleasures and Profits of Sin to compass which Men will Transgress the Laws of Heaven are but short true it is but yet being present and the Punishments Threaten'd to 'em being apprehended by most Sinners to be at a great distance they are therefore generally prevailing and Men for that Reason do venture to Transgress the Laws of God a Thing of worse Consequence than the Violation of Humane Ordinances and therefore it is no other than what can be expected from the Justice and Wisdom of the supreme Governour of the World to inflict such infinite and eternal Punishments In short Divine Vengeance as well as Humane must be such as will Over-balance the Reasons and Motives to Sin And the Pleasures and Profits of Sin being present and the Divine Punishments not taking place but in another World according to the Fundamental Rules and Reasons of Government they must be Infinite and Eternal and all little enough or otherwise they will not be sufficient to secure our Obedience to the Laws of Heaven So that there is no Strength in this Argument of Sinful Men against the Justice of Eternal Torments in the behalf of their Lusts whereby they would perswade you as well as themselves into a most dangerous Security and with-draw you from or slacken you in your Duty Secondly Nor are the Duties of our Religion hard Sayings which no Man can bear II. That the Duties of Religion are hard Sayings which no man can bear as they will likewise plead All the Duties enjoin'd us in the Gospel respect either God our Neighbour or our Selves Those to God as we find 'em laid down in pure and undefiled Christianity undefiled I say with the Inventions of Men are no superstitious senseless and uncouth Observances so much the matter of all other Worships besides the Christian but are all of 'em indeed a most reasonable Service Those which respect our Neighbour are no other than Acts of Justice Peace and Charity the contrary of which would destroy Humane Society or make us Beasts of Prey one to another And as to those Duties we owe to our selves why they are no other than that we should truly and justly Value our selves neither overmuch by Pride nor too little by letting base Lusts to reign over us or the inferiour Part of our Nature to Domineer it over our Reason and Understanding the Superiour and in all Equity the governing Part of us And what is there hard in all this that we should Quarrel with our Duty except we count it hard that God who has made us reasonable Creatures would not suffer us to Transform our selves into unreasonable Brutes Thirdly And this is a sufficient Answer also to that other Pleading of sinful Men That they are made of Flesh and Blood and therefore sure God will not require Men upon the Forfeiture of Salvation if they do not to Mortify the Flesh III. That they are made of Flesh and Blood and that therefore sure God will not require Men upon the Forfeiture of Salvation if they do not to mortify the Flesh For these Men who Plead thus ought to consider that they consist of Soul and Spirit as well as of Flesh and Blood and as the Soul is Superiour and the Governing Part within us So it is highly Reasonable it should have the Obedience of the Other And this is all the Mortification which Religion puts the Flesh to It would keep it in Subjection to the Dictates of right Reason and that is all And tho' this Mortification of the Flesh is to be exercis'd by Imposing some Severities sometimes upon the Body as by Fasting and Watching c. Yet this is no more to be complain'd of than that Refractory Children and Servants and Subjects must be sometimes kept up under Discipline as there shall be occasion Nay but Lastly say these Men God has set us in a World full of Temptations and abounding with sensual Delights and Pleasures and he therefore who has Plac'd us in it sure will not Command us upon Pain of Damnation to Overcome those strong Temptations and to Deny these Pleasures of the World Lastly that God has set us in a World full of Temptations and
his Name to all Nations Thus has God provided us of means which will most certainly restore us to his Favour He has not left us in a forsaken state but has prescribed us this Method of Repentance to recover us out of it and to be the great Instrument of our Pardon and Reconciliation And our Repentance through the Mediation of Christ will be accepted for our Pardon whatever our Sins have been whether known or unknown whether they have been wilful or involuntary Sins Repentance will be accepted to our pardon for our known or secret Sins whether wilfully or unwilly committed but now forgot though generally repented of 2. For our most known and wilful Sins if particularly repented of First Our unknown or secret Sins which whether wilfully or unwillingly we have committed but now we have forgot shall be forgiven us upon our hearty though general Prayer to God to forgive us such as was that of David O cleanse me from my secret Faults Psal 19.12 and upon our diligent care hereafter not knowingly and wilfully to transgress any of God's Laws And Secondly Our most unknown and wilful Sins even they shall also be forgiven us if for every particular Sin we know our selves to have committed we particularly repent of it by confessing it to God and by taking care to amend and forsake it for the future 'Till we are reclaimed indeed from our former Sins and are become God's dutiful Sons and faithful Servants for the present and for the future it is not consistent with the Honour of his Justice and Holiness with the Authority of his Laws and with the Wisdom of his Government to receive us into his Favour But as soon as ever we are conscientiously reform from our Sins he will be reconciled to us if we are heartily sorry for what has been past and amended for the future and in case of Injury and Wrong done to God or Man we undo as much as in us lies what has been done amiss by making amends and reparation for what we have injured either We cannot be said to repent of a Sin unless we undo And in case of Injury to Man if Restitution be made as much as in us lies what has been done amiss Therefore if any one has offended his Neighbour and given him just cause of Anger against him he that will truly repent and expect that God will hear his Prayers for his Pardon must go and acknowledge his Offence endeavour to appease his Neighbour and be reconciled to him for so our Saviour has ordered Matth 5.23 before he offer his Prayer to God And he that has injured his Neighbour either by taking away his good Name by Slander or his Goods by wrong Dealing must take off the Slander and restore what he has unjustly got and so did good Zacheus upon his Repentanee we find Luke 19.8 when he embraced the Gospel And so likewise towards the Reparation of God's Honour I must needs add as a necessary part of Repentance Of high Dishonour to God and Religion if that be not repaired by an eminent Repentance that he who has formerly liv'd a very notorious and scandalously ill Life to the great Dishonour of God and Religion must now towards the Reparation of God's Honour be as famous for his eminent and exemplary Piety that his Repentance may be accepted a private Sorrow for publick Scandals falling vastly short of undoing what has been done amiss in which consists the restitutive part of Repentance The necessity of this we have exemplified in the case of the Woman who washed our Saviour's Feet with her Tears and wiped them with the Hair of her Head Luke 7.44 She had formerly it seems been a very vile Woman but the reason why her Sins which were many were forgiven is said by our Saviour to have been because she loved much vers 47. And thus if we do repent our Sins shall not be imputed to us but through the Merits of Christ's Death and the Grace of the Gospel they shall be looked upon as if they had never been And thus I have shewed you that other great Difference betwixt that Obedience required now under the Covenant of Grace and the Obedience required by the First Covenant That whereas the Obedience required by the First was a Perfect Exact Vnsinning Obedience the never Offending at all Now not only our involuntary Sins and Infirmities but also our most voluntary and and wilful Transgressions when by Repentance we bewail and forsake 'em and take better care to avoid 'em for the future they also through the Mediation of Christ according to the Terms he has obtained for us in the Covenant of Grace shall be forgiven us and not prejudice our being Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven And upon the whole I have now shewed you The sum of Evangelical Obedience as to all that Obedience required now under the Gospel to make us Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven that there is not required indeed a Perfect Exact Unsinning Obedience the never offending in any one part which was the indispensible Condition of the First Covenant but there must be a Sincere and Entire Obedience paid to all the Laws of the Gospel Sincere it must be by being a true and undissembled Service Obeying 'em not only because most for our Health and Interest as generally the Laws of Religion are but even where they are contrary to our Inclinations and Interest because God commands us And entire it must be by being the Obedience of the whole Man of our Understanding our Wills our Affections and our Actions to the whole Law of God and that at all times And this if we endeavour the best we can to do that our unwilling and involuntary Failings which through Ignorance and Frailty we commit shall upon our Prayers to God be forgiven us and that our wilful Transgressions when we repent of and forsake 'em through the Mediation of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel shall not be imputed to our Condemnation In a word That Obedience to speak also in the Words of the Learned Dr. Hammond The sum also thereof according to Dr. Hammond which is the Condition of the Second Covenant and of our being made Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven Negatively it is not a Perfect Exact Unsinning Obedience the never offending at all in any kind of Sin this is the Condition of the First Covenant Nor secondly is it never to have committed any deliberate Sin in the former course of our Lives Nor thirdly never to have gone on or continued in any habitual or customary Sin for the time past But it is positively the New Creature or Renewed Sincere Honest Faithful Obedience to the whole Gospel giving up the whole Heart unto Christ the performing of that which God enables us to perform and bewailing our Infirmities and Frailties and Sins both of the past and present Life and beseeching God's Pardon in Christ for all such and