The Covenant of God Entered with Mankind, Title page 1 – To the reader 1
VINDICIAE FOEDERIS; OR, A TREATISE OF THE Covenant of God ENTERED WITH MAN-KINDE, In the ſeveral Kindes and Degrees of it, IN WHICH The agreement and reſpective differences of the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace, of the Old and New Covenant are diſcuſt.
The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace on mans part, are aſſigned and aſſerted.
The juſt latitude and extent clearly held forth, and fully vindicated.
Several Corollaries containing many heads of Divinity, now controverted, and practical points ſingularly uſeful, inferred.
In particular the neceſſity of a conſtant ſettled Miniſtry (to bring men into Covenant, and to bring them up to the termes of it,) and of Schooles, and Nurſeries of Learning, and an orderly call in tendency to it.
Infant Baptiſme in that latitude, as now in uſe in reformed Churches maintained.
Newly corrected and much enlarged, & in many places cleared by its Author.
Thomas Blake, late Miniſter of the Goſpel, at Tamworth in the Counties of Stafford and Warwick.
Whereunto is annexed, a Sermon preached at his Funeral by Mr. Anthony Burgeſſe, and a Funeral Oration made at his death by Mr. Samuel Shaw.
The ſecond Edition.
All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falſely in the Covenant, Pſal. 44. 17.
London, Printed for Abel Roper, at the Sun againſt St. Dunſtans Church in Fleet-ſtreet. 1658.
To his Reverend, and much Honoured Friend, Mr. SAMVEL HILDERSAM, Bachelar in Divinity, and Paſtor of Weſt-Felton in the County of Salop; Together with Mrs. MARY HILDERSAM, his pious Conſort.
NO time can wear out the memory of thoſe favours which I have received from your hands; You were of the firſt that gave me a viſit, when few durſt adventure themſelves under the ſame roof, being by the good providence of God, neceſſitated to leave a place ſorely afflicted with the Peſtilence; and labouring under a Feaver, wherewith preſently on my departure God pleaſed to afflict me: and were eye-witneſſes of the mean accommodations, which in thoſe ſtraits could be provided for me and my reverend brother, with both our wives and families, all caſt upon the ſame condition at that time; & you made it appear that your eyes affected your hearts, in giving a free invitation to me, and thoſe that had dependance upon me, to your houſe, aſſoon as with ſecurity we durſt adventure over any mans threſhold, where for many moneths we had free and liberal entertainment. If Paul in an Epiſtle did remember the like from Oneſiphorus (with ſpecial obſervation, that he was not aſhamed of his chaine) my heart muſt needs have checked me, if having opportunity of Epiſtling according to received cuſtom, you ſhould have been forgotten. I ſhall not be aſhamed of the language of beggers, if they have learnt it from ſuch a hand; The Lord grant unto you, that ye may finde mercy from the Lord in that day. In your houſe I had not only leiſure to make a good progreſſe in this Work, but ſingular accommodation from your accompliſht Library. So that you have not only a deſerved intereſt in the Author, but in the Work it ſelf; upon ſight of one part, you have often called upon me for publication of the whole. So that if the Reader reap any benefit, he may ſee how large a ſhare in the thanks is yours. I know you affect not Panegyricks, neither am I fitted for them, nor was ever accuſtomed to them. There is much publiſhed to the world of one of you in the life of your reverend Father, to whom I have often in my thoughts applied that of Doctor Hall concerning learned Whittaker; Who ever ſaw him without reverence, or heard him without wonder? Having led the Reader through his glory, they adde: And yet his name with the lively picture of his perſon lives, in his worthy ſonne, Maſter Samuel Hilderſam; whoſe learning Cambridge knew, when he was Fellow of Emmanuel Colledge; and whoſe preſent Miniſterial labours, and pious converſation at Weſt-Felton in Shropſhire, do perpetuate the honour of his Reverend Father; whoſe memory he doth much reverence; and whoſe rich vertues both perſonal and miniſteriall he doth happily imitate. And it is not little that is ſaid of the other, where it is remembred, that you were propounded by him, for a meet wife for his deareſt ſonne; and recorded that he was heard with affection to ingeminate theſe words; Never man had a kinder daughter in Law. To be a follower of ſuch a precident, and to be found worthy of ſuch a Teſtimony, is a greater glory, than all the noble blood that ran through the veines of the greateſt of either of your Anceſtors. Let this ſmall piece finde a roome in your Study and Cloſet, and teſtifie to the world that gratitude lives in the breaſt of
From my ſtudy in Tamworth, Novemb. 4. 1652. Your moſt affectionate friend and ſervant, THO. BLAKE.
READER,
THe Reverend Author of this Treatiſe is already known to the Preſſe by his former Labours, which do give ſo faire a character of his worth, and beſpeak of thee ſo ready an entertainment of this excellent piece, that were it not, that in this glut of books wherewith the world is cloyed, it might be unhappily buried out of thy ſight; We neither need, nor ſhould prefix theſe few lines, tanquam digitum indicem, to point thee to it. The ſubject about which it is converſant, is of nobleſt ranke; viz. The Covenant of Almighty God with Man-kind, which is diſtinguiſht into its kindes; of Works, of Grace. And this againe, according to the ſeveral formes or modes thereof, Old and New, which how they reſpectively take hands and agree, wherein they ſhake hands, and part. What the terms of the Covenant of Grace are, as propounded by God, and what the conditions on mans part, whereupon he (being thereunto reſponſal) becomes truely a conſederate, what is the amplitude and comprehenſiveneſſe thereof in reſpect of the perſons that have right to claim to the priviledges or intereſts of it, are all ſet forth in their various colours, and ſo drawne to the life, that thy ſpirit is not like to be tired with reading; but led on with an appetite ſo ſharp and quick, that when thou arriveſt at the end, thou wilt complaine of the ſhortneſſe of the way. For in the doctrine of the Covenant truly ſtated, an Orthodox Faith hath ſure foundation; thence practick godlineſſe receives powerful influence and obligation. Thereby very many errours of ſeveral ſorts of Erroniſts, as by a teſte or ſtandard are rectified, or diſcovered; from thence our Sacraments do as it were receive a ſoul, and thoſe pertinent and ſeaſonable digreſſions following in this book, concerning the neceſſity of a ſettled Miniſtry, &c. do by conſequence receive both ſtrength and uſefulneſſe. As concerning the remains of a former controverſie about Paedobaptiſme, which are preſented to thee in this Book, they are not out of their own place in a Treatiſe of the Covenant. We ſhall not adventure to ſay any more thereabout, but in imitation of that of Mr. Hooker in the Preface to his Eccleſiaſtical Politie, ſhall crave leave to re-minde all agitatours of that or any other controverſie. That the time will come, when a few words delivered with meekneſſe of wiſdome, ſhall afford them more comfort, than great volumes written with ſcornefulneſſe, and in the ferment of a ſower and angry ſpirit; for 'tis an honour to any man to be a Slave to another mans reaſon, and Maſter of his own paſſions, vale.
Thine in the Lord Jeſus,
Richard Vines.
Sam▪ Fiſher.