1. Then, saith Mr Goodwin, " Evident it is, from the whole tenor of the chapter, that the words contain especial promises, made pai'- ticularly to the Jews."
Ans. If by particularly you mean exclusively, to them and not to others, this is evidently false ; for the apostle tells you, Heb. viii. 6, to the end of the chapter, that the covenant here mentioned is that whereof Christ is mediator, and the promise of it those better :jpromises which they are made partakers of who have an interest in ^ mediation.
He saith, " As evident it is, upon the same account, that the
\ ,. ''^^ here mentioned was not made only to the saints or sound
uelieverK
, , A amongst the Jews, who were but few, but to the whole
/ ^,Nnerality of them."
. ,, ' "e, it is as evident as what before you affirmed, and that
•, ^f • r 'ind, — that is, it is evidently false, or else the promise
" 1 ' ,^^was never fulfilled towards them all. But I refer
"^ , , 1 , . ' fithor, who hath lone: since assoiled this difficulty, and taujjlit us to di. . . , , , ° _ , , t
° ^ p T "tmcfuisli between a Jew iv rw ipanpui and a Jew iv rf) xfUTT-^, of Israe^ » . a ,i n \ '» i r 4.
^^ , "HI I ^ccordmg to " the flesh and according to
,t . r T 1 » -d' ' also taufjht us that "they are not all Israel
that are of Israel, Kom. ... ^o o^ • /- h, * j xi i.
.^ . ^, , ,, , r- ,1 • ^ 28, 29, IX. 6, 7. And upon that account
it IS that the word of this prt .' ' . \ . ^^ j.x \ nu rr i« , f • tl f- > f -^^ise doth not fad, though all "of Israel
^ "^ ' — not that it is conditional, but that
IV.] THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 213
it was not at all made unto them, as to the spiritual part of it, to whom it was not wholly fulfilled. And chap. xi. 7, he tells you that it was " the election" to whom these promises were made, and they obtained the fruit of them ; neither doth that appendix of pro- mises pointed to look any other way. When you have made good your observation by a reply to that learned author, we shall think of a rejoinder. It is therefore added, —
3. " It is yet, upon the same account, as evident as either of the former that this promise was made unto this nation of the Jews when and whilst they were (or at least considered as now being) in the iron furnace of the Babylonian captivity, verse 23."
Ans. That this solemn renovation of this promise of the covenant was not made to them when in Babylon, but given out to them beforehand, to sustain their hearts and spirits withal, in their bond- age and thraldom, is granted. And what then, I pray? Is it any new thing to have spiritual promises solemnly given out and renewed upon the occasion of temporal distresses? A promise of Christ is given out to the house of David when in fear of being destroyed, Isa. vii. 13, 14; so it was given to Adam, Gen. iii. 15; so to Abraham, Gen. xvii. ; so to the church, Isa. iv. 2-6. But farther it is said, —
4. " From the words immediately preceding the passages offered to debate, it clearly appears that the promise in these passages relates unto and concerns their reduction and return from and out of that captivity into their own land."
Ans. Will Mr Goodwin say that it doth only concern that? Dareth any man so boldly contradict the apostle, setting out from this very place the tenor of the covenant of grace, ratified in the blood of Christ ? Heb. viii. 7-12. Nay, will any say that so much of the promise here as God calleth his covenant, chap. xxxi. 33, 34, xxxii. 38-40, doth at all concern their reduction into their own land any farther than it was a type or resemblance of our deliverance by Christ? These evident assertions are as express and flat contradictions to the evident intendment of the Holy Ghost as any man is able to invent. But,—
Mr Goodwin hath many deductions out of the former " sure and evident" premises, to prove that this is not a promise of absolute and final perseverance (it is a strange perseverance that is not final !) in grace to the end of their lives; for, saith he, —
1. "The ijromise is made to the body of the people, and not to the saints and believers among them, and respects as well the un- faithful as the believers in that nation."
Ans. It was made to "the body of the people" only typically con- sidered, and so it was accomplished to the body of the people ; Sjn- ritually and properly to the elect among the people, who, as the apostle 'tells us, obtained accordingly, there being also in the pro-
214 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
mise Wrapped up the grace of effectual conversion. It may in some sense be said to be made to the "unfaithful," — that is, to such as were so antecedently to the grace thereof, — but not to any that abide so; for the promise is, not that they shall not, but that they shall believe, and continue in so doing to the end. But, saith he, —