* Utinam tarn conserlis vtmiibus comperLam comprehensamque t^eriiatcm semel rtiitiere possejnus quam }>rotinus agnitamjestivh ocul-is hilares ciosculabainur.
AN EPISTLE TO THE HEAHEll. 425
cd spectator, when challenged and provoked to speak in defence thereof.
Is there any thing found in God's covenant with Abraham, Gen. xvii. to make it an abolished covenant of works, which doth not as injuriously bear upon, and strike at the very life of the covenant of grace, in the last and best edition of it, under which the whole church of God now stands? What is that thing (I would fain know) in God's covenant with Abraham ? Is it the promissory part of it, " I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee ?" Gen. xvii. 7. God forbid : for the essential and sweetest part of the new covenant is contained in that promise, Jer. xxxi. 33. Heb. viii. 10. Yet thou wilt find my Antagonist here forced to assert, God may become a people's God in a special manner, by virtue of the abolished covenant of works ; and such he makes this covenant to be.
Or does the restipulation Abraham and his were liere required to make unto God, even to walk before hiiriy and be perfect; doth this make it an Adam's covenant of works.? Surely, no. For as God there requires perfection of Abraham, so Christ requires the same perfection of all new-covenant federates now, Matth. v. 48. " Be ye perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ;" which is altogether as much as ever God required of Abraham and his, in Gen. xvii. 1. Take perfection in what sense you will, either for a positive perfection, consisting in truth and sincerity ; or a com- p)arative perfection, consisting in the growth and more eminent degrees of grace ; or a superiative perfection, which all new-cove- nant federates strive after here, Phil. iii. 12, 13. and shall certainly attain in heaven, Heb. xii. 23. In this also the covenant with Abraham, and with us, are truly and substantially one and the same.
Or doth my mistaken friend imagine, that God required this perfection of Abraham and his, as in the first covenant lie required it from Adam and all his ? viz. to be performed and maintained in his own strength, under penalty of the curse. But now, though Christ command perfection, yet what duty lies in any command, answerable strength for it lies in the promise ? Very well, and was it not so then ? Compare the command, Deut. x. 16. " Circumcise " therefore the fore-skins of your hearts," with the answerable gra- cious promise to enable them so to do, Deut. xxx. 6. " The " Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy " seed, to love the Lord thy God."
Or lastly. Did circumcision, the sign and seal added to Abra- ham's covenant, make it an Adam's covenant of works ? That is equally impossible with the former: for no man but such a daring man as I am concerned with, will dare to say, that a seal of the
424? ^ THE INTRODUCTIOK.
righieousness qfjaith (as circumcision was, Rom. iv. 11.) can mal<e the covenant to Avhich it is affixed (and which I have shewn in all the other substantial parts, the very same with that we are now under) to become an Adam's covenant of works.
These things I have here super-added, to leave as little as pos- sible behind me to be an occasion of further trouble and contention. Let all strife therefore, in so plain a case, be ended : contentious spirits are not the most excellent spirits among Christians. Fire (and so contention) is more apt to catch in low-built thatcht cotta- ges, than in high-built castles and princely palaces : the higher we go, still the more peace. The highest region is most sedate and calm. Stars have the strongest influence when in conjunction. Angels (though legions) have no wars among them ; and as wil- lingly go down as up the ladder without justling each other. And the most high God is the God of peace ; let us also be the children of peace. And I do assure the persons with whom I contend, that ■whilst they hold the Head, and are tender of the church's peace, I can live in charity with them here, and hope to live in glory with them hereafter.
/ remain, reader, thine and
X* INDING, by sad experience, what I before justly feared, that errors would be apt to spring up with liberty, (though the re- straint of just liberty being a practical error in rulers, can neve»be \}s\Q QWXQ oi mental errors in the subjects;) I judged it necessary, at this season, to give a succinct account of the rise, causes, and re- medies of several mistakes and errors, under which, even the reform- ed churches among us, as well as others, do groan at this day.
I will not stay my reader long upon the etymology and deriva- tions of the word. We all know that etymologies are no defini- tions : yet because they cast some light upon the nature of the thing we enquire after, it will not be lost labour to observe, that this word Error derives itself from three roots in the Hebrew language.
(1.) The first * " word primitively signifies to deviate or decline
* NUn Chatah^ a Scopo aberravit.
THE IXTRODUCTIOK. 425
*' from the true scope or path/' as unskilful marksmen, or ignorant and inadvertent travellers use to do. The least variation or turn- ing aside from the true rule and line, though it be but an hair's breadth, presently becomes an error. We read, Judg. xx. 16. of seven hundred Benjamites, who could every one sling stones at an hair's breadth, and not miss, nidh'' Hih^ Heb. and not err. This, by a metaphor^ is applied to the mind or judgment of man; and de- notes the warpings thereof from the straight, perfect, divine law or rule, and is usually translated by the word sin.
(2.) It is derived from another word also, which signifies to wander in variable and uncertain motions : You find it * in the title of the 7th Psalm, Shiggaion of David, a wandering song, or a song of variable notes and tunes, higher and lower, sharper and flatter. In both the former derivations it seems to note simple error, through mere weakness and ignorance. But then,
(3.) In its derivation from a third root -f, it signifies not only to err, but to cause others to err also ; and so signifies a seducer, or one that is active in leading others into a wrong way ; and is appli- ed in that sense to the prophets in Israel, who seduced the people, Ezek. xiii. 10. The Greek verb •rrXavaco, takes in both these senses, both to go astray, and, when put transitively, to lead or cause others to go astray with us. Hence is the word -rXar/ira/, planets, or wandering stars; the title given by the apostle Jude, ver. 13. to the false teachers and seducers of his time.