on this condition, If ye obey my voice and doe my Commandments. But conditions are of two sorts, antecedent or consequent. Antecedent, when the condition is the cause of the thing promised or given, as in all civill contracts of Justice, where one thing is given for another. Consequent, when the condition is annexed to the promise as a qualification in the Subject, or an adjunct, that must attend the thing promised. And in this latter sence, obedience to the Commandments, was a condition of the promise; not a cause why the thing promised was vouchsafed, but a qualification in the subject capable, or a consequence of such great mercy freely conferred.
Of them that slip aside and transgresse the Covenant, God calleth for and commandeth repentance, that is, it is his will and command, that they be thinke themselves of their evill doings, confesse their iniquities, and turne unto the Lord. The frequent and earnest exhortations of the Prophets made to backsliding and rebellious Israel, Jer. 3.7, 22.
& 4.1,2.
Ezek. 18.27,28.that she should acknowledge her wickednesse, and returne unto the Lord, is a full Commentary of that which God required of them in this Covenant, in case they should turne away from the holy Commandment. The Lord protesteth by his Prophet Ezekiel, Ezek. 18.31,32.
& 33.11,12.that he hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth; but rather that he should repent and live: and the same for substance he made knowne to Israel in the Covenant which he stroke with them: sc. that if they transgresse and goe astray, he doth admit, will accept and approve, nay command their unfained repentance, and comming home unto the Lord, that they might live. This question, Why will ye die, ye house of Israel! is put forth to the people in Covenant, and not indifferently to all and every man living: It is manifestly spoken of the house of Israel, whom God had spared, notwithstanding their manifold and great provocations, to whom he not only gave space of repentance, but used meanes to bring them to repentance, by sending Prophets unto them to admonish them of their sins, to denounce the judgements of God against them for their impenitency, and earnestly to exhort them to cast away their transgressions, that they might live. God then doth approve, and command the returne of his people that have gone astray, he waiteth for their amendment, useth meanes to bring them to the knowledge of themselves, is not wanting to them in any thing that in justice or promise he ought to doefor
