are 1. Potestative in the Person 's Power to perform them 2. Casualis the other Party being uncertain whether we would Perform them or not 3. Causalis in respect of Right being of some Valuable Considerations and leaves a bare Necessary Connexion or Ordered Covenant instead of a Conditional Covenant and the many Ifs used in Scripture to be the Ifs of Demonstration used by Civilians in Testaments or Logicians in Arguing not the If of a proper Condition tho' it 's usual among Divines and Protestants to use it for Priority of Order and that is not inconsistent with Graciousness But I need not squeeze this Covenant so to bring Graciousness out of it by such Inferences when Rom. 4.14 the Inheritance is said to be of Grace the Covenant call'd a Covenant of Peace and its Blessings sure Mercies when all the Covenantees are Sinners Rebels when the greatest of them are often Chosen and that like Manasse in the Heighth of their Iniquity and when all their Sins are forgiven at once when the first Condition or Duty of the Covenant is meer Faith a Receiving and when to do that is the Work of the Spirit both as to first and last of it Heb. 12. The Author and Finisher of our Faith Eph. 2.8 It is the Gift of God And so long as one Spark of Life remains in that Appetite fixed or determined on God our right in the Covenant stands I believe Lord help my Vnbelief Faith as a Grain of Mustard-seed And tho' it shou'd lose sight of many of its Objects it ought to be receiving and trusting God for the Vnbelief of Man will not render the Faith of God of none effect We may sing Grace Grace to every Article of this Covenant and what can support a Man in sight of Death if Grace will not A Man cannot discern himself in a Covenant of Grace and not see God on a Throne of Grace and when a Soul apprehends God as gracious it apprehends him as 1. Good for that is the ground-work 2. As Love for that 's the Spring 3. As Merciful for the Object 's miserable 4. As Sovereign Free and Absolute in dispensing of Blessings and Benefits for to shew Grace is absolute Monarchy Hence all the Acts of Government are for Exalting this Throne to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace Eph. 1. I see my Guilt but I see Pardoning Grace I feel sin but I feel restraining and renewing Grace I see Death but I see over-ordering Grace This supports the Soul The Fourth Property is the Everlastingness of the Covenant Thou hast made with me an Everlasting Covenant Psal 103.17 The Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting Isa 55.3 The sure Mercies of David are called an Everlasting Covenant The Covenant of Works was before the Covenant of Grace in Time and in Order of Execution as all Means are before their End but the Covenant of Grace was before it in Divine Intention Grace could not have been so branched forth in Mercy and Forgiveness if the former had not been both made and broken On this Account this Covenant of Grace was from Everlasting being founded on Everlasting Love With an Everlasting Love have I loved thee therefore with Loving-kindness will I draw thee It is founded on the everlasting Thoughts that did emanate from that Love Psal 40.5 The thoughts that were ever of Old they are more than can be numbred and on the everlasting Purposes that those Thoughts did result in 2 Tim. 1.9 According to his Grace and Purpose which was given us in Christ before the World began And as it was from Everlasting so it is unto Everlasting A Person once brought into it shall always remain in it Psal 89.33 If they break my Statutes c. then will I visit their Transgressions with the Rod c. nevertheless my Loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them There is a threefold ground of this Perseverance 1. Because of God's engaging his own Fidelity he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail the Unbelief of Men will not render the Faith of God of none effect 2. His Promise unto Christ Once have I sworn to David that his Seed should endure for ever 3. The Promise of persevering and securing Grace he will put his Fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from him The Confederating Parties the Ever-living God and Immortal Souls are Everlasting and this Relation between them shall never be altered this is the Reason of Christ's proving of Abraham Isaac and Jacob's being yet alive Matth. 22.32 from God's being their Covenanted God I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Psal 24.7 The Faculties of our Soul under the Figure of Doors or Gates are called everlasting for they are so many Capacities or Desires for seeking after receiving and enjoying of that King of Glory Hence is that explicatory Verse 5 6. This is the Generation of them that seek him that receive the Blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his Salvation There is an everlasting God and an everlasting Soul an everlasting Appetite and an everlasting Satisfying that the Commerce among the Inhabitants of the holy Hill of the Lord consists in and this Covenant of Grace contains the Municipal Laws of that Traffick This is another Pillar that renders the Covenant of such a supporting Nature especially at Death for that cannot break an everlasting Tye tho we dye to this World and all the Relations founded by other Covenants whether Marriage Peace War Friendship Death is the Death of all of them but it makes not the least breach upon this Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life shall be able to separate us from the Love of God We are still alive to God and must receive the Promises suitable to that separate State between Soul and Body and must perform the Duties proper to it whereof we know nothing so much as the God in that Covenant Relation we go to which contains Comfort enough against the loss of all the Relatives we part with The Fifth Property is its Harmonious Order and the greatest Controversies among Protestants are about this the different Methods and Systems of Divinity are so many different Orders they conceive divine Wisdom to have fram'd the Covenant in And no wonder we mistake in attempting to fathom the depth of divine Mysteries untill the Eyes of our Understanding be enlightned with Vision and we admitted to read the Divine Records in their Original in Heaven We but know in part and no man that knows but a part of a Book only can give a true Analysis of it for every new Notion that we attain alters somewhat of our former Method This Order is called the Form of sound Words the Form of Godliness Order is a Disposition of things according to their natural or useful Priority or Posteriority the former
frequent that Company where he must always be uneasie always contend and be in danger of his Life A Second Reason is Because their End is Destruction They shall be utterly burnt with Fire Who would walk with men that are going strait to Hell Who would live with men that have Ulcers of uncurable Plagues running upon them when their Company is so infectious May be it has prevail'd already so far on thee that when out of their Company thou choofest not the ways of Life and Peace and returns again to the same without the least Antidote what canst thou look for but the Death of the Wicked that liv'st their Life For as the Tree falls so it will lye O that Children who have disobey'd the Commands of Parents when alive would at least let their last Will be sacred with them This Solomon observ'd long though at last too much forgot it How highly doth God commend the Rechabites Jer. 35. for obeying their Fathers severe Commands to drink no Wine and to live in Tents So highly displeased must he be with them who disobey most necessary and easie Precepts The Text and the Time both though not the Occasion where so much Love and Duty dwells obliges me to this The second thing is the Acknowledgment of his Infirmities Although my House altho he make it not to grow For the Matter of it tho it 's not an Auricular or particular Confession or in order to a Priestly Absolution yet from the Knowledge of his Life we may guess at the ground of his Grief 1. David had much Guilt on his Conscience tho he was a man according to Gods Heart yet his Perfection was not sinlesness he was not of the Quakers Principles to boast of his Perfection but did mourn over his Iniquities though committed some Twenty as his Murder of Vriah some Forty years before this 2. David had many Designs to fulfill he wanted to reap the Comfort of his Labours as to his own House or the House of God he had conquer'd all his Enemies round about and now he wanted to enjoy a triumphant Peace and plentifull possession He had Moses-like brought the People to the borders of the Land of Rest but he must not go over to possess that beautiful Mountain of Lebanon tho' he begg'd hard for it He had with most industrious Pains and incomparable Expences prepar'd all Materials for the House of God 1 Chron. 28. and God will not let him lay one Stone of the House for all that Psal 146.4 In that very day his thoughts perish All a mans Purposes were they never so good or usefull perish when the appointed Hour comes 3. Davids Children were not so with God as he would have had them there had been Incest Murder and Rebellion among them and these who surviv'd tho some of them lovely Children and wiser than their Father and the root of the Matter in them too Solomon the most wise was belov'd of the Lord and the Lord heard his Prayers again and again yet that Zeal that the Old Man had for God was not in him 4. Davids Grace did not grow or bud and flourish as the Original has it he had Faith but it did not flourish in the pleasant Blossoms of Joy and Assurance Psal 51.8 12. The Joy of thy Salvation that he wanted The temporal Afflictions that the Godly meet with for their Backsidings might be sufficient Warnings and Motives to others to walk more circumspectly and Watchfully all their days Here is an Intimation of twenty years Desertion and the Hour of Death fill'd up with the dreadful aspect of Guilt The Counsel of dying Persons about Religion about Conscience about Duty and Sin ought to be highly esteemed then they feel how evil and bitter a thing it is to sin against God If we see our righteous Fathers groaning over and smarting for their Infirmities on their Death-bed what may we expect if we get our Souls for a Prey The third Thing is what was David's Comfort under the sense of approaching Death thus arm'd with the Terrors of his own Guilt and the Frowns of Heaven It is certain no mean Cordials no Temporary thing can support his fainting Spirits then Rooms full of Gold the Company of all our Friends and Relations the sweetest Harmonies of Musick the daintiest Dishes the strongest Cordials and most skill'd Physicians the only Helps a Man must betake himself to are Spiritual for the Carkass perishes If a Man be not skill'd in Divinity and have some Spiritual Experiences there is nothing that can bring any shadow of relief to him but it is not every Divine either that can administer to himself or others support against Death tho' that is the only Science that affords relief Some expound the 3 4 5 Verses as so many different Topicks of relief to his Condition 1. Experience The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me Shall God let me perish to whom he has given his Holy Spirit in such a measure But this might be baffl'd God has taken his Spirit from thee thou hast sinn'd away that Grace a deserted and tempted Soul is full of Error and either may not believe the Doctrine of Perseverance or may mistake the Graces of the Spirit for Gifts such as Balaam had 2. The Nature of the Blessed Trinity The God of Israel the Rock of Israel the Spirit of the Lord the Attributes of God the Mediatorial Offices of the Son and sweet Influences of the Spirit But these may all become Thoughts of Terror and Dread to a Soul without some sight of an Interest in them as Peter Depart from me for I am a sinful Man and Adam when he heard God's Voice hid himself in the Garden Therefore David 3. Finally concludes on the Covenant of Grace as that thorough which the spiritual Experiences were convey'd and as that which contain'd the Terms of his Interest in God its Properties and Articles did obviate all Objections the Disease could never be too strong for its Balsams nor the poyson'd Arrows of Death could never drink up its comforting spirits This affords the Doctrine I intend for the subject of the following Discourse Doct. The Covenant of Grace is able to comfort all the Covenantees in it against the Assaults of Death arm'd with the most dreadful Stings that the Law Sin Satan or Desertion can afford to it This is the Honey we may eat out of the Carcase of this Lyon of the Tribe of Juda this is the rich Legacy left by his Will to all that are in Covenant with God this is his advice to all poor Sinners as ever they would be safe at death be sure to be in Covenant with God We have not this on his Experience only he found it so at Death nor on his Testimony only the word of a King is too weak a Pillar to build the Salvation of our Immortal Souls upon nor on the Testimony alone of the Spirit of God speaking by him But the same Spirit
difference that was between him and any other Man in Matter of Religion It was the Awe of God upon Conscience that extorted the Truth out of it and I have heard Free-willers pray as inconsistently with their own Profession which made me have far more Charity to their Persons than their Principles But 2. Thy Condition is like the Lepers at the gate of Samaria thou art sure to starve if out of Covenant and art sure to sin against God out of Covenant in every thing thou dost but thou hast a May-be for it if thou fly to this Refuge and lay hold of the Covenant and dost not thou think that if God spoke immediately from Heaven to thee in a time of Plague Famine Sword or Sickness and say May be thou shalt be safe in such a Place that thou wouldst speedily fly to such an Asylum But we have more encouragement the King already holding out the Scepter and declaring his readiness to accept Imperfect Performance that we may approach with greater Courage than an Esther before her Ahasuerus Sixthly It is such an Encouragement at Death when all other Comforts prove as broken Cisterns without Water Thou hast made with me a Covenant is a Shete-Anchor of Hope and so much the more when they have had the Verdict of a Society of grave serious and experienc'd Christians that their Covenanting was not formal and hypocritical but sincere and accepted of God that the temper of Mind it was performed with could be the Effect of no less Author than the Spirit of God the Birth bespoke its Father to be Heavenly when each of that Company of sagacious Saints witness'd that it was on the same Bottom their Hopes were built and that their Souls were all in a like Condition in the same Bundle of Life and this not without a Minister of the Word holding that Glass before their Face wherein they might see their Language to be a Copy of that Original and that this Harvest was from the Seed of the Word This has prov'd to many the sweetest and strongest Cordial they had at Death and there is ground to judge the Consolation solid since Mat. 18. Christ has declar'd what they loose on Earth he would in Heaven what they agreed about to ask he would grant and such a Verdict is not pass'd without serious Prayer to God in the Name of Christ for a Judgment of Discerning in that present affair Is this the thing that discourages People from Joyning unto Churches of such a Constitution that becomes so much matter of Comfort and Encouragement at the hour of Death Who that are seriously concern'd about their own Salvation would want such an Ordinance of Tryal I think it is the Reverend Mr. Ba. who advises Persons to write the Condition of their Soul and desire some Ministers or understanding Christians Verdict of it But I think this Verdict is preferable on several Accompts 1. As much as the Verdict of many is before the Judgment of one or a Church before a single person's 2. As much as a Divine Ordinance that has such Promises of the Spirits Conduct Mat. 18. before a humane Help and Expedient That which indeed first recommended it to me was a Gentlewoman on her Death-bed who bewail'd David-like her want of growth much and had this complex Evidence alone left which she improved much more pathetically than I have here express'd it I have found it the Experience of three more since in the like condition tho not under such backsliding or desertion The Third Property is the Graciousness of the Covenant The word gracious is not in the Text nor is it any where in Scripture verbally the Epithet of this Covenant tho most usual among Divines and there is reason enough for it for a Covenant cannot be made between the Creator and Creature without a gracious condescendency and therefore some will not allow the Law of Works to bear the Name of a Covenant because there cannot be a Covenant and not of Grace Persons that have a Despotick Power as a Master over a Slave or a Father over a Child will not enter into Terms with them The end of a Covenant is to bring Persons under Obligation that are free and therefore Kings love not to hear of Covenant terms between them and their People Now Gods antecedent Right being Soveraign and absolutely founded on Creation it 's rather a giving away his Right than getting one Thy Maker is thy Husband contains a Miracle of Grace in it 2. It s being a Testament this famous Name gives Title to all the Bible the Old and New Testament This is the Nature of a Testament it can Convey nothing but what is good Priviledges but no Punishments All things that are Convey'd are Tokens Legacies Estate or Inheritance if any hard Condition be annexed the Person is not Obliged to accept so must be gracious by its being a Testament but how much more if we consider it as summ'd up by Christ from John 12. to 18. ch He leaves the Father our Tutor and Guardian the Holy Ghost Executor Heaven as an Inheritance Measures of Grace as Legacies Joy and Peace as Love-Tokens he leaves us under the Notion of Babes that cannot Forfeit their Estate without their Executor and Guardians consent which is impossible therefore in this sence true He that is born of God cannot sin 3. It 's gracious because so full of Promises Gal. 3.6.17 it 's call'd a Command and a Law too Ps 111.10 who hath commanded his Covenant for ever because all the Law that is holy just and good is still required in it being unchangeable in their Nature but now Grace shines in their being put in this Covenant where Grace is promised to enable and strengthen us to obey We are under all the Law Mat. 5. Christ came not to destroy it and our Condition enlarges the Duties of the Law mixes Humility with Sorrow Obedience with Repentance and so the new Discoveries of God by the Gospel enlarges the Objects of Faith Ye believe in God belive also in me And our Obligation is greater as a Married Woman is more obliged to Chastity than a Virgin and Moses's Nurse more obliged than another Nurse because also a Mother But there is so much Grace in the Promises that overballances all this 1. The mixing or joining of Christ's Works with ours the Covenant of Grace and Redemption together supply the Place of the broken Covenant of Works Hence our Imperfect Obedience if in Faith is accepted for perfect the Will for the Deed. Nathan says to David Because it was in thine Heart to build to me a House I will build to thee a sure House it admits of Repentance to supply the Place of Obedience it gives strength to Obey this Uniting of the Command and the Promise makes it appear Conditional but the Certainty and Ability to perform the Conditions both depending upon the Promises takes away the proper Nature of a Condition whose Properties