Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
... Again it may be asked, whether all mankind were ever in the covenant or no? Ans. We cannot say that all & every man hath been & now is in the covenant, but only that little part of mankind which in all ages hath been in the Church of God; & hath by faith embraced the covenant. as Paul plainly avoucheth, The scripture (saith he) hath concluded all under sin, that the promise of the faith of Jesus Christ should be given [not unto all men] but to them that believe.
Without faith no man can please God: and therefore God makes no covenant of reconciliation without faith. Again since the beginning of the world there hath been always a distinction between man & man. This appears in the very tenor of the words of the covenant made with our first parents, where God saith he will put difference between the seed of the woman & the seed of the serpent: meaning by the seed of the woman, Christ with all the elect whom the father hath given unto him, who shall bruise the serpents head, and tread Satan under their feet. And by the seed of the serpent he meaneth wicked men. ...
For more, see William Perkins on the covenant of grace with believers.
Without faith no man can please God: and therefore God makes no covenant of reconciliation without faith. Again since the beginning of the world there hath been always a distinction between man & man. This appears in the very tenor of the words of the covenant made with our first parents, where God saith he will put difference between the seed of the woman & the seed of the serpent: meaning by the seed of the woman, Christ with all the elect whom the father hath given unto him, who shall bruise the serpents head, and tread Satan under their feet. And by the seed of the serpent he meaneth wicked men. ...
For more, see William Perkins on the covenant of grace with believers.
