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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A COMPEND OF THE Covenant of Grace AS The most Solid SUPPORT under the most Terrible CONFLICTS OF DEATH THOUGH Arm'd with Desertion Decay of Grace and Sense of Guilt By Walter Cross M. A. LONDON Printed for Henry Barnard at the Bible in the Poultrey 1693. fluence of Example and Praise to make them good and virtuous 3. The Mouths of those are stopt whose Duty it is to take all such Opportunities to recover a degenerate Age from Hopes of Glory or Honour at Death who glory in their Shame when they Live But the Abuse of a Natural and Necessary Duty ought not to remove totally its use it 's engraven on the very Nature of Man to speak well of the Dead By the Jewish Custom a Bride takes place of a King but a Corps takes place of both Lev. 10.18 The Mourning for the Dead takes place of positive External Worship Moses was satisfied when Aaron told him the Reason of not Eating the Sacrifice in the Holy Place was because of his Grief for the Death of his Sons And what is the Language of Morning for the Dead but Praising of them Sorrow is a Passion rais'd from the Apprehension of the Loss of a great good and not to Lament the Dead is next to leave them without Burial as Dung upon the Earth Jer. 16.14 The Dead have not their Justa duely paid them when no Tears are mingled with their Dust the Gospel that wipes away all Tears from all Eyes only mitigates this 1 Thes 4.13 Sorrow not as those who have no hope of ever meeting again Christ himself wept over a Lazarus that he could and did raise again presently but as to more remote Relatives or Friends it enjoyns Sympathy Rom. 12.15 Weep with them that weep Tho' the Egyptians hated Israel they mourned over a dead Jacob Gen. 15.10 so that the Canaanites call'd the Place Abel Mizraim the Weeping of the Egyptians How unnatural are the Affections of those Children and other Relatives that the Possession that they succeed to drowns the Sorrow and prevents the due Performance of Honour to the Deceased who have spent their Lives if not Sold their Souls for an Estate to them Whatever others do they ought to be zealous of keeping their Names savoury and fresh Forreigners Aliens will Commend the Names of their Founders But These four Rules seem to be drawn from the most pure Fountains of Nature guided by the most powerful Conduct of Reason Confutius 1. To shun all Ostentation and Magnificence in Funerals that savours of Pride and Vanity 2. Not to bewail the Dead with Excess or be overcome with Grief that bespeaks want of Reason and more the want of Piety and submission to our Sovereign Lord. 3. Not to extinguish Grief totally or hide the Profession or Expressions of it for the want of Natural Affection is a desperate Condition and no Person can expect faithful Friendship from that Man that can bury his Love and Duty to his Friend or Relative and his Memory and Esteem of him with his Corps 4. That Applauses or Encomiums are the proper Duty of Friends Neighbours or more distant Relations Modesty shou'd suppress it in Husband Wife or Children except to intimate Acquaintance for that is but Praising themselves Others ought not to be silent The Law of God allow'd an Office for it once In this Case the Modesty of Relatives has suppress'd a Name that deserves to be wrote in Letters of Gold but it suited the Person 's Temper that rather would have a Name in Heaven than Fame on Earth and would have it rest with the Dust and be silent as the Grave until that glorious Resurrection A Second Restraint is that it's Ministers Duty to Preach a dead and a risen Christ his Will and Testament is the Gospel we ought to Preach our Office is making of his Funeral Sermons R. 1. Christ is willing that his Saints share of his glory while it is an exalting of his own also The manifestation of Christ's Care of his Saints is much for his Glory Consider the Patience of Job and the End of the Lord. When a Man has been an envi'd persecuted Man for the profession of Truth and dyes in peace leaving his Family in Plenty and Prosperity it is a clear demonstration of Christ's Care of his faithful Servants and his just Resentment of the Indignation done to them when we may observe an invisible Moth consuming the Estates of their Enemies and an invisible Worm gnawing their Consciences 1. Destruction is threatned to them who observe not the Dispensations of Divine Providence Psal 78.3 And 2. Rods have as observable a Nature as any they have a significant Voice that every wise Man should understand Mic. 6. Zeph. 1.14 3. Death is as great a Judgment as can be When Plague Sword Famine come on a Nation or City it 's but Death still but tho' the Death of the Wicked be the greatest Judgment a frequent Death of the Righteous is the greatest Prodigy Isa 57.1 The Righteous perish and no Man layeth it to Heart Not knowing they are taken away from the evil to come 4. The Death of the Righteous at this Day is as determin'd in its Language as ever and more Rev. 14.13 Blessed c. from henceforth I shall give this Paraphrase of it according to my imperfect Scheme of that Book We are now about the time of the Death of the Witnesses which tho' it be a severe stroke to the Militant Church a time of Faith and Patience for the Saints the repeating of that Index Rev. 11.13 a great Earthquake in Sicily is such an Argument for it that I know not how we can disbelieve it without saying God designs to deceive us in his Providence which is the best Comment by fulfillment of these Prophecies for a greater never was The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah tho' it hath some Likeness yet no Equality nor Proportion to it whether we compare the number of Cities People or sulphureous Lakes the Largeness of the place or the Dreadfulness of the Manner beside another Vulcan new erected or a mouth of Hell open'd yet it is an Harvest for the Triumphant Rev. 14.15 God is now gathering all the Righteous out of the Earth that he may set the Earth on flames Rev. 14.18 The Angel that has power over fire This Fire is the Wine-press of Divine Wrath wherein the Wicked are to be trod down Lot must be removed from Sodom before the sulphureous Flames be kindled The Harvest of the Righteous must precede the Vintage of the Wicked the Salt of the Earth must be gone before its Corruption come There was a Spring-time of the Gospel in the Apostles time the Summer of Persecution follow'd Now is the Harvest and the Winter to the Wicked is at the Door But it is more than time to return to my Text the first Verse whereof affords this Doctrine That the Spirit of God doth often immediately pen the
Praises of the Righteous at their Death and write their Elegies The man who was raised ap on high the Anoynted of the God of Jacob the sweet Psalmist of Israel Some Commentators expound all the fourth Verse to be of this nature and to have David for the subject It is very observable that not only the great men that are wicked are often buried in Oblivion as the most of the Monarchs of the first and greatest Empire but some good men too God industriously Deut. 34.6 hides the Sepulchre and obscures the Tomb of a great Moses while he erects Monuments of Praise and Records of Memorial for the mean and Low who have been Faithful in their Generation Gen. 35.8 Debora an aged Woman and but a Nurse must have an Allon Bachuth an Oak of Weeping erected for her and the Epitaph must have a room made for it in Sacred Writ So must Eliezers Fidelity and Dorcas's Coats of Charity the Bed Table Stool and Candlestick for the Prophet the Barley gleanings the parched Corn and Vinegar Ebedmelech's Clouts Rahabs stalks of Flax the Widows Mite and the Womans Alabaster box of Oyntment Should not we be followers of God in this also The second Observation from the Text is Gods great Mercy towards David in the Circumstances of his Death not only that such a Man of War should dye in Peace but should enjoy the use of his Understanding and Tongue to the last yea the conduct of the Holy Spirit for the Guidance and Direction of both These are the last Words of David The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his Word was in my Tongue the whole of Psal 72. witnesseth further wherein is contained his last Prayer These last words of David may be divided into these three heads 1. His last Will and Advice to his Family 2. His Acknowledgment of his Infirmities setting them up as Sea-marks or Buoys to prevent their Shipwrack 3. His Profession of a secur'd and assured Salvation notwithstanding these dangers that he might engage them never to forsake their Fathers God and their Fathers Covenant that could suit and comfort a man tossed among the Storms of Temptations the Sands or Shelves of Sin and Rocks of Death and Judgment First His Advice to his Family especially his Sons consists in these three things 1. Justice v. 3. He that ruleth over men must be just Honesty is far before Honour the latter is but an abuse of the word without the former The Lord forbids seeking for great things in this World but commands the providing of things honest in the sight of all men Injustice in such a Posterity would have the aggravation of vile degeneracy it would be a disowning of their Father and preferring the Name of a Moral Bastard before the Son of an Upright David 2d. Is Piety ruling in the fear of God this David enlarges his Commands about 1 King 2.3 Keep the charge of the Lord c. 1 Chr. 28.8 Keep and seek for all the Commandments of the Lord your God Seek for them what is of his appointment and what not and keep them sin not against Knowledge Paul obtained Pardon because he did it ignorantly Seek and keep all of them thou obeyest none because God has commanded if knowingly thou omit any This is the too common sin of Parents to separate Justice from Piety in the Education of their Children If they be good Husbands and Moral or Civil they care for no more but they will more and more find that a vain attempt to have their Children honest without Religion both in the Root and Profession of it it is as impossible as to have a Picture without the Canvase it 's drawn on or a Shadow without the Substance or a Blossom preserved without the Root 1. It is Worship and Religion that God has annexed his Promises to Psal 1. 1 King 2.3 1 Chr. 28.8 2. It is to attempt the keeping of a part of an Indivisible thing without the other as if a Spiritual Being could be parted 3. It is to attempt to preserve the Duties of the Law without Motives the Awe of God Fear of his Wrath or Love of his Goodness We may see the succeslesness of it in the Debauchery of the Age since Religion and Profession of it came in so much contempt on that ground can we think God will take care of our Children when we take no care of our Childrens fearing God Do we think Children a fit subject for Liberty of Conscience If they are Baptismal Bonds are a most grievous Yoke imposed on Parents to train up Children in the Knowledge of God Father Son and Holy Ghost and to bring them within the Bond of the Covenant with the blessed Trinity A third Advice is about their Company which is comprehended vers 6 7. in shunning the Society of Belialites such men as Joab and Shimei it 's like for these are named 1 King 3. Two things are remarkable about them 1. Who they are 2. Why their Company so dangerous 1. The Belialites are men without Yoke men of no Conscience no Profession Atheists they could be of any Profession that which was most for their Profit or their Humour but were really of no Principles under no Law if they took up any it was as they do the Fashion and Custom of the Place they live in for Company A man had better be a Quaker Papist c. of any Sect rather than a Belialite of no Religion an atheistical profane Crew that can give no other Answer to any Question of Religion about the Governour and Judge of the World or their Souls Condition than to grin like an Ape as if their Reasonable Souls by Debauchery were degenerate into Risible ones The Spaniards say that Don Quixot has ruin'd the Courage of Spain and Sir William Temple who records it observes That we are like to exchange the Riches the Religion the Wssdom of the Nation for this Ridiculing Humour by Fools call'd Wit Never did these Vermin swarm thicker than at this day which makes with the former two Marks viz. the Death of the Righteous and Earthquakes in divers places a Triple proof that the day of Judgment is at hand 2 Pet. 3. These are the Scoffers of the last days saying Where is the Promise of his coming 2. Why their Company is so dangerous 1. The Text says because of their Untractableness they are as apt to hurt a man if he come in their Company as Thorns to prick a man if he touch them there is need of being fenc'd with Iron if he come nigh them they wound so mortally for a man must either comply with their Company then his very Soul and Conscience is wounded or he must resolutely oppose them and then there must be War Opposition Quarrelling Disputing If the former he is a Proselyte to the Brutal Herd and an initiated Member of the Congregation of Evil-doers if the latter there is both need of Arms and Armour and what man will
shows us the reason of the thing also by setting down a Copy of this well-order'd Covenant which I shall Analyse in these seven several Heads that are so many Arguments to prove the Truth of this Doctrine Its 1. Divinity 2. Personality 3. Graciousness 4. Everlastingness 5. Order 6. Sureness 7. It s Perfection as to Salvation or Satisfaction Having shewn from each of these apart and much more from all put together with how much satisfaction every Covenanted Soul may dye whatever be the Imperfections or blasts upon the growth of their Grace or whatever be the disorder of the Affairs of their House whatever terrible use Satan may make of them or sorrow we may have from them yet we may safely lay down our Corps in the Dust and bid Farewell to Sun Moon and Stars to the Creatures below us and our Friends about us and say Welcome Fellowship of Angels Hail ever blessed Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier I come I come help me thorough this pain guide me thorough this dark Valley of Death dispell this only remaining Cloud between me and that Sun of Righteousness I shall conclude with some usefull Application having proved and explained this Truth 1. There is the Divinity of the Covenant the more of God that there is in any thing the more of Goodness there must be in it for there is none good but God God is 1. The Author of this Covenant he hath made The like expression we find Isa 55.3 Jer. 3.31 Man that was but of Yesterday could never make an Everlasting Covenant Angels that are charg'd with folly and are yet Students of its Mysteries 1 Pet. 1.12 could never bring things confounded by Sin into Order again this Politick Union is founded on the Personal Union of Immanuel Who could have contriv'd that Who could have contriv'd a Righteousness to answer the broken Law of the first Covenant There are two most comforting Thoughts arises from Gods being Author of the Covenant the Goodness of the end and wise contrivance of the Means 1. The Goodness of the End Persons that have any Grains of Honesty left when they enter a Confederacy with others design a mutual Advantage It is a meer Cheat to draw Persons into a Commerce or Policy they can get no good but hurt by But God can receive no Good Ps 16. Our goodness extends not to him and his Glory consists in giving that we may see there is such an inexhaustible Fountain of Goodness and Blessedness in him that when Sinners have receiv'd a full Salvation Guilt a compleat Pardon and all empty desire a full satisfaction measur'd out by Wisdom so that it may not satiate but still preserve so far the Desire as to delight in receiving all the advantage must be ours If any part of this Design should fail of making us compleatly happy it would reflect on Divine Alsufficiency it would eclipse his Glory We are made Sons by Covenant and will a Father see his Children starve while he possesses any thing 2. The wise Contrivance of the Means there is not one Article of the Covenant that we would desire left out or one Article we could desire added to it if our Understandings were come to a mature perfection to judge of such a Concern 1 Cor. 3.22 Death is ours we would rather want it but how shall we get to Heaven without Death for Flesh and Blood cannot enterit Or how shall this Earth be chang'd into a glorious Condition without Death There are many more Reasons we know not all things present are ours We would rather want many of our present Conditions and Circumstances Sickness Poverty c. but Rom. 8. all these work together for our good If this Covenant should any way fail or prove deficient we may bless God we had no hand in it or rather that all in it was Contrived by him all its Clauses Terms and Articles were settled and Authoritatively publish'd before we knew one Word of it if it come short of its End it will not be thorough our Default he knew what we were when he Contriv'd the Covenant for our Happiness he enter'd into Covenant with us as Sinners it will reflect on his Wisdom and Circumspection his Foresight or Prudence Obj. The first Covenant fail'd of its End and that was made by God Resp It 's positively false for it was Contriv'd and that Primitive Constitution of Man too as a Means to bring in the Covenant of Grace and the Happiness of Man thorough it Man's Blessedness was not the immediate End of that Covenant To say God is come short of his End frustrated and disappointed is to make him not God The learned Strangius says tho' Sin is no means of God's Glory Permission of sin was for that made way for Creatures being brought from a lower Condition and greater distance from God than meer nothing was by it the steps of nigh infinite successions and degrees of Happiness are increas'd Goodness blossoms into Grace and Mercy by making an Inhabitant of Hell whether by Act or Desert an Heir and Possessor of Heaven but it had remained a meer Goodness that it had made a Clod of Clay an Angel What a Manifestation of Infiniteness for Creatures to be always increasing but ever short of God's fulness Secondly The Divinity of the Covenant appears in God's being the Party as well as the Author Zach. 13 ch last Ver. I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God and that distinctly in all the Relatives of the Blessed Trinity We enter into Covenant with God as Father Christ says I go to your Father and my Father We enter Covenant with God as Son in all his Mediatorial Offices We enter into Covenant with the Holy Ghost in all his sanctifying and glorifying Influences We see David here set all the Blessed Trinity the God of Israel the Rock of Israel and the Spirit of the Lord before the Covenant as the Persons he did indent with And it is yet more distinctly set down in the Baptismal Form of the Covenant in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost This helps to remove some Difficulties about the Covenants Conditionality for the whole Law being in its Nature as unchangeable as the Relations between the Creator and Creature it stands still the Measure and Standard of Duties and Conditions of the Covenant of Grace but what Conditions the Father as Fountain of Authority requires the Son as Mediator Surety and Cautioner performs and what this Mediator as God's Vicegerent and Deputy requires the Spirit enables us to do whose Operations are both preventive and effectual so this Covenant of Grace is an absolute Disposition of Grace notwithstanding all the Laws and Duties of it for there are no preparative Duties required in order to the Spirits Influences nor may be no Persons in this World without some of his Beams and Rayes for as it is Christ's Merits that preserves this Earth from being a Hell so
no more remains but our accepting of him for our Mediator and suffering his Spirit to do in us what he will a Self-denyal a doing nothing is our principal Duty The Sureness of our Salvation is to be next spoken to and the Suitableness of it consists in the strict Union between the Commands and Promises Holiness and Happiness must go together The Sixth Property is the Sureness of it so ordered and so guarded nothing can break it 1. The clear Assertions of the Spirit of Truth confirms this Isa 55.3 The sure Mercies of David Jer. 33.20 If my Covenant with Day and Night can be broken so that they should cease then may also my Covenant with David be broken 2. The Nature of the Covenant confirms this for there is nothing in the Matter impossible or unlawful Not the former for the Promises are so ordered that they render the Commands easie not the latter for the Will of God is the Measure of Duty to us and tho' its Duties are inconsistent with our praeingagements in a Covenant with Hell and Death yet that Covenant being unlawful and its works contrary to what 's our Duty antecedently to this it no way renders this Covenant unsure 3. The Party of the Covenant GOD the whole of it depending on Him not us if we consider his Mindfulness Psal 111.5 He will ever be mindful of his Covenant c. his Power Righteousness Wisdom nothing can fail that he has undertaken And if we consider the Form of the Covenant he has undertaken all Faith bears the room or place of a Condition in the Covenant of Grace but this very thing makes it lose the proper Nature of one that It is Gods Gift Eph. 2.8 1. The Beginning and Perfection of it Heb. 12.1 2. The Growth of it Lord increase our Faith 3. The Exercise of it I believe Lord help my unbelief But if Faith should fail the Unbelief of Man will not render the Faith of God of none effect tho' we believe not yet he abideth faithful he will not deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 but that he secures that it shall not Jer. 32.40 They shall not depart from me Hos 14.5 He shall grow as the Lilly I have prayed for thee that thy Faith shall not fail 4. The Foundations of this Covenant demonstrates its sureness The Decrees of God The Love of God The Death of Christ 1. The Decrees of God Our duty is founded on his Legislative Will the Commands contain what we should doe but the Promises are Results of his Purposes what God will do Psal 2. This is Gods decree That the Heathen should be Christs Inheritance and the Ends of the Earth his Possession And since Promises and Purposes are of so nigh a Kindred it 's not so improper to say Purposes give a Right that needs to be stigmatiz'd with the Brand of Error and Heresie 2. The Love of God I have loved thee with an everlasting Love Nothing can hinder the impetuous Endeavours of Love among Creatures Love is strong as Death the Coals thereof have a most vehement flame If these shadows of divine Love have such an Influence and Power to remove all Impediments that obstruct its desire what can resist divine Love 3. The Death of Christ this was the Fruit of the former God so loved the World as to give Him to Redeem it and what then will he not do for it Eph. 1.13 Will ever he withhold the Inheritance or any part of the Purchase since he gave his Son to dye a Sacrifice that Love might communicate it self in a consistence with the Measures of Wisdom and Rules of Justice 5. The Sealing of the Covenant renders it sure The Death of Christ Heb. 9. the Oath of God Heb. 6. the Earnest of the Spirit Eph. 1.13 the external sealing Ordinances are all confirming Seals to render their Consolation solid and strong that have fled to this Covenant as a Refuge 6. The Covenant its having both Date and day of Payment annex'd Sacred Chronology contains the one and the Prophetical Aera's contain the other Psal 102.13 Hab. 2.2 1 Pet. 5.6 Rev. 22.12 There is a due Time a fit Time an appointed Time for every Person Measure of Grace and Condition of the Church and the Lord will never be slack concerning his Coming 2 Pet. 3. he will not let any time be lost The Knowledge of the time as to particular Persons he reserves as a Secret to himself but the Time of Deliverances and Fulfillments of the Promises to the Church he hath more communicated and the Neglect of studying them must flow from an unconcernedness about her Affairs There are two things certain about them 1. That there is a set time for great Promises to the Church 2. That many of them have their set times revealed the Four hundred thirty years from the Covenant made with Abraham to the Coming out of Egypt the Seventy Years from the beginning of the Babylonish Captivity to the end of it the Four hundred and Ninety to the Coming of Christ in the Flesh So the One thousand two hundred Sixty dayes Forty two Months the Time Times and half Time But such is our Infirmity and weakness that we may doubt of the time when it is on the very brink of fulfilment as our Fathers did 7. It is as sure as the Covenant of Redemption which was made between Infallible Persons For tho they may be considered as distinct Covenants yet the one is Foundation and Security for the other it is like a subsequent Surety entring a Covenant with the Creditor to pay for past Debt and engage as Surety for future Credit so that the Suretiship in the Covenants between God and Man is what he undertakes in his own personal Covenant with God He hath given him for a Covenant to the People It is more sure than the Covenant of Nature with Day and Night c. for by Miracles the one be disordered but all Miracles are to confirm the Covenant of Grace and assure us of its Truth The Seventh Property is its perfection or Allness as to Salvation and Desire There are two things to be premised to the proof of it 1. The difference between these two Alls. 2. In what respects the Covenant contains them 1. The All of Salvation is less than the All of Desire Pardon and Sinlesness will compleatly save us but not satisfie us Adam needed not Salvation before he perished but his Desire was not compleatly satisfied 2. They differ as Food and Physick as the Religion of sinless Angels and sinful Men the one is Vital and becoming a perfect Healthful State the other is Medicinal a remedial Religion to restore us to Life and Health the Desires of the one are often to be corrected mortified the other to be nourished and still strengthen'd the Desire or Appetite still increasing with the Reception 2. In what respects the Covenant contains them 1. The Revelation and Discovery of them 2. It 's the Instrument of