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A53077
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The covenant of grace effectually remembred being the substance of a sermon or two / preached by a minister of the Gospel.
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Newcome, Henry, 1627-1695.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing N894; ESTC R13264
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17,290
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32
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He will bring me forth unto the light and I shall behold his righteousness Read Isa 40.27 to the end 6. For a sanctified sufficiency of outward things Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 And seek the Kingdom of Heaven first and these things shall be added Psal 111.5 Mat. 6.33 your father knoweth that ye need these things and he doth remember his Covenant and he doth give them He hath given meat to them that fear him he is ever mindful of his Covenant Are any truly good extreamly poor Why 1. You take no notice how many good men prosper in the World and more than others this is not noted but if but one be poor this must be noted to be sure 2. Good men less will serve them than other men 3. They make conscience to avoid idleness and to take pains in their places and God doth usually bless the diligent they stand fairer for these things than any 4. It may be more might be had if the promise and providence of God were more eyed and relyed upon than it is 5. However God makes it out to the truly good whatever their condition is And they have all since they want not what they have not and this content is from the Covenant-Grace Godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6.6 He supplies his Children with fresh necessaries and excuses them the care and trouble and reckoning for abundance But he is faithful in his Covenant for the worldly concerns of all that are his 7. For necessary seasonable and sanctified afflictions As a father chasteneth his Son Deut. 8.5 so the Lord thy God hath chastened thee It is so far from being in the Covenant that you should not be afflicted fain poor wretches would have it so that it is expresly a part of this blessed Covenant that we must be afflicted Heb. 12.5 6. And God remembers for us his blessed Covenant about our afflictions in the greatest goodness truth and faithfulness 1. To see that all his be afflicted when they need 1 Pet. 1.6 2. That they be afflicted in measure Isa 27.7 8. 3. To be supported under them 1 Cor. 10.13 4. To be delivered out of them Psal 34.19 5. To have good by them Ro. 8.28 Psal 25.10 He will not have them in the furnace to be consumed but only to be tryed tho he cause grief yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Lam. 3.31 32. and as a Father pities his Children so the Lord pities them that fear him for he knows their frame and remembers they are but dust Psal 103.13 14 c. He remembers for them his Covenant when they are in distress Psal 106.45 I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Psal 119.75 O my blessed God! true and faithful is thy Covenant the word that thou hast commanded to a Thousand Generations thou hast remembred thy Covenant for me to my Soul to my outward supplies and in my needed good afflictions which I could not have been without no not one of them This a good Soul will say after all 8. For safety at death and for eternal life It is his express Covenant to give eternal life Again and again Christ hath said I give unto them eternal life Joh. 10.28 and 17.2 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel and afterward bring me to glory Psal 73.24 Death is terrible to Nature but when I come to dye God will remember his Covenant with me and will help me to dye The good man cried out not in vain when dying Lord be thou now present with thy poor Servant that is contesting with whole eternity thou art now leaving all thou knowest thine age is departed thou must now go into an unknown state to leave the world and men and to go amongst Spirits but God will remember thee then he will send to help thee he will send comfort to thee he will deliver thee from the evil of death and from the fear of death Heb. 2.14 15. 2 Tim. 1.12 He will keep the Soul for eternal life which thou hast committed to him 2 Tim. 1.12 and 4.7 8. The ship in the dry harbor cannot be lanched but when the tide comes in it goes out with ease If heavenly comforts flow in upon thee thou shalt go hence with ease and triumph he will remember his Covenant for his dying Servants and make their last act easie safe and blessed 9. For posterity The blessed Covenant is with us and with our Children for he keepeth mercy for thousands Exod. 34.7 that is for thousands of Generations As he visiteth the Sins of the Fathers upon the third and fourth Generation so he keepeth mercy for Thousands of Generations of them that love him As there is keeping of judgment for Posterity in some cases so there is much more a keeping of Mercy for Posterity and because he delighteth in Mercy as Mic. 7.18 therefore it is on this side a thousand to three or four He remembereth his Covenant for Childrens Children to such as keep his Covenant and remem bers his Commandments to do them Psal 103.17.18 The Children of thy Servants shall stand fast in thy sight and their seed shall be established before thee Psal 102. ult For grace it self the promise goes from the Posterity of the Godly Isa 44.3 I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon their offspring He is a Fountain of rich and infinite Mercy and he hath laid up after he hath laid out He hath as surely and fully shewed Mercy to thee as if thou hadst been the first come-over and as if thy Father had spent him none before thee and he hath Mercy as ready for thy Child as if he had laid out none upon thee such it is to live upon infinite and inexhaustible goodness that is always full and over-flowing and can never be drawn dry He thus remembers his Covenant for ever the word which he hath commanded to a Thousand Generations And for the sad Objection that some make in this case That so many of the Children of good parents do so wofully miscarry it doth not cloud this truth For. 1. We take no notice of the many Children of good Parents that do well wherein Gods Covenant doth most graciously obtain to the comfort and joy of such Parents and to the Observation of others But if one Child of a good man misprove this is greatly noted as indeed well it may be nay sometimes but one or two of several miscarry and several others do well and God is not glorified as he should be for this great Mercy 2. There are some Children of bad Parents are converted and do well and how can we tell but that this is from the Covenant that some remote Parents were in and God remembers them when they are forgotten in the World and takes their Children's
Children after many Generations in faithfulness unto them and who can tell but these bad Children's Children may likewise come in 3. It may be if the Covenant was better understood and better kept and better taken hold of for Children than it is it might more effectually operate for them in the case they are in who knows but that Mercy might sooner be obtained for them and they might yet turn to their Fathers God and the disobedient might yet come in again to the wisdom of the just 4. And who knows yet what may be done for these Children of the Covenant God may remember Mercy for them and bring them back again 5. And doth not God remember his Covenant for such Children in that tho they have not the desired grace of the Covenant yet God give them the discipline of the Covenant Psal 89.31 32 33. God doth correct them duly for their Trangressions and they are usually crossed as some others in their Circumstances are not It is not ordinary for bad Children of good Parents to prosper in the World they may account to be crossed which I take to be Gods remembring the Covenant of their Fathers for them to withhold them thereby from some degrees of wickedness and to keep them still in the way of cure and recovery by their afflictions So that he doth remember his Covenant for ever with respect to our Children 10. For the Church of God He still will have a Church the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it The Enemies shall not be able to root it out God hath not cast off his People when they are in greatest distresses he hath remebered for them his holy Covenant When his People were in Egypt in great distress and bondage Psal 106 4â— he says I have heard the groanings of the Children of Israel Exod. 6.5 whom the Egyptians keep in Bondage and I have remembered my Covenant And we know how effectual it was for their thorough and speedy deliverance when there is none shut up nor none left he will then own his Relation to his own People He sware to Abraham to give him that Land whereas yet he had no Child when so long there was so few when oppressed so long in Egypt yet it is done at last If the promise seem to run under ground yet it shall break out again in a mighty stream Isa 43.1 to the 8. His Covenant for his whole People as his Church as the body of Christ the fulness of him that filleth all in all Eph. 1.23 shall obtain it in two things especially 1. That whatever advantages Enemies get shall in the end make against them It is but to ripen them for their ruin they do but in one misery fill up the measure of their iniquity and the full account will be brought upon them and they shall not do what they will neither 2ly Whatever the Church suffers shall in the end tend to its advantage the very sufferings for the truth shall advance it Philip. 1 12. all tends to the furtherance of the gospel the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church 3ly How should we be always mindful of this Covenant 1. To close with it In an utter disclaim and abhorrence of all worth of thy own to lay hold of the grace of the Covenant â—ieb 6.18 To fly for refuge to the hope that is set before thee let the righteousness of Christ reign in thy Soul continually Phil. 3.8 9. Count all but loss and dung that you may win Christ and be found in him If he be extream to mark what is amiss who can stand but by the Covenant there is forgiveness with him we are undone but for the Promise that hath no foundation but meer Mercy and Goodness Psal 103.3 4. Isa 56.4 6. The Eunuchs and the strangers that take hold of the Covenant shall find favour This explicite owning of the Covenant is our duty and interest as in all the benefits of it Isa 44.5 The Soul consents to the match to belive and to recive Christ They delivered and gave up themselves to the Lord and unto us 2 Cor 8.5 We Ministers as the friends of the Bridegroom sue for consent in this case we pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.20 And men should be mindful always to do their duty on this account 2. To keep it Gods Mercy is Everlasting to them that keep his Covenant and remember his Commandments to do them Psal 103.17 18. They are mindful of the Covenant that feel themselves under the force of its obligation that observe the terms and the condition of it that they may keep up their title to all the benefits of it Exod. 19.5 If ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a People unto me above all People for all the Earth is mine If ye will have me remember my Covenant for you you must be mindful to live by the rules of it to take heed that you forget not the the Covenant of God Isa 44.17 but that with purpose of heart you cleave unto the Lord Acts 11.23 3. To trust to it God would be believed and relyed on He would have men to set their hope on him Psal 78.7 He taketh pleasure in them that fear him and in those that hope in his Mercy Psal 33.18 The Church relies for pardon upon the Covenant which is compounded of Mercy and Truth Mic. 7. ult He takes pleasure to be trusted Be always mindful of his Covenant so as to trust in the Lord at all times Psal 62.8 for every thing Soul and Body Self and Others Private and Publick 4. To plead it Remember thy word to thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust Psal 119.49 says holy David And Nehemiah when he prayed for the Church in great distress he pleads with God in prayer from this That he is God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy for them that fear him and observe his Commandments Neh. 1.5 and 9.32 the best Plea we can have at the Throne of Grace and that which an infinitely good God that remembers his Covenant for ever delights to be argued with 5. To renew it Frequently and Solemnly Jer. 30.21 22. and 50.5 and this upon solemn occasions and ordinances for that purpose wherein we have opportunity to take fresh hold of it and to renew our engagements in it 6. To improve it Against temptataitions 1. To sin When tempted to sin remember the Covenant is this according to the Covenant am I not bound to do otherwise Is not my own hand against me As I hope for the priviledge must I not do the duty of the Covenant 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Cor. 6. uli I am devoted and vowed and espoused to the Lord and I cannot be free to sin 2. To despondency Why whatever my condition is this well-ordered Covenant is all my Salvation and my desire 2 Sam. 23.5