the doctrine of baptism/chapter 6

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A Plain Christian Treatise, explaining
the Doctrine of Baptism, and the two
Covenants made with Abraham, and
his two-fold Seed.

That I may with as much clear satisfaction, inform others as God has clearly convinced my own soul of the truth of this, I shall propound this method to be handled:

There are Two Covenants Held Forth in the Scriptures, One of Grace and One of Works

First, I shall make it appear to you that there are two covenants held forth in Scripture, the one a Covenant of Grace, and the other a Covenant of Works. An absolute covenant and a conditional covenant.

The Covenant of Circumcision was not a Covenant of Life, but a Covenant of Works

Secondly, I shall prove, that the Covenant of Circumcision was no Covenant of Eternal Life, but a conditional covenant, a Covenant of Works.

Thirdly, I shall prove, that none but believers ever had; or shall have a right to the Covenant of Grace.

Fourthly, I shall endeavor to answer such Scriptures (especially those in the New Testament) that are usually alleged for defense of a Covenant of Life in the flesh.

Two Covenants, the One of Works, the Other of Grace,
or the One the Old, the Other the New.

To the first: there are Two Covenants mentioned in the Scripture. This is very plain. One is a Covenant of Eternal Life, the other is a Covenant of Works in which eternal life was not conveyed or given, as appears in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

"But behold the day cometh, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt, which my covenant they brake, although I was to them an husband saith the Lord.

But this shall be the Covenant that I shall make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts and will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord; for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their Iniquities and remember their sins no more."

You see here Two Covenants, the one Old, the other New. As here we find a New and Old Covenant, so there is likewise mention of Two Covenants in the eighth to the Hebrews. There you have the very same words, only it is clear that Jesus Christ is the Minister of the New Covenant, in the 6th and 7th verses of that chapter: "But now hath he obtained a more excellent Ministry, by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant, which was established upon better promises, for if that first Covenant had been faultless, there would no place have been sought for the second."

In which place we may understand Two Covenants, a New Covenant and an Old Covenant, and Jesus Christ holding Himself to be the peculiar Minister of the New Covenant, (unto the Church then gathered) which is all those who are in Christ, being God's Israel, Abraham's seed.

If you be in Christ then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise, Gal. 3 to the latter end. So that those who are Christ's have this Covenant now made to them. It appears at the 3rd verse that the other covenant was a mere Covenant of Works, in that he says He has made the first old.

That which waxes old is ready to vanish away. He means the old covenant, that typical Covenant of Works, which ran upon the fleshly line of Abraham till Christ came out of the flesh of Abraham and so put an end to that covenant in the flesh. This you have further proved in Heb. 9:15,16. There is again mention made of Two Covenants or Testaments, the first and second.

The First Covenant was Confirmed by the Blood of Animals and
the Second by the Blood of Jesus Christ

The first was confirmed by the blood of goats and calves, the second by the blood of Christ. Now if anyone will search these Scriptures it will appear that there are two real, distinct Covenants or Testaments, the one of Grace, and the other of works. One is conditional and the other is absolute.