that are falne out should come and endeavour to decide the difference first going to one and desiring him to be reconciled to the other and then going to the second and entreating him to be pacified towards the first till he hath united and reconciled them both together so it is here Christ is a friend both to God and man he is the Son of God and he is husband of his Church and being the Mediatour of the new covenant he comes first to his Father and sayes Father I know that all mankind hath broken that first covenant which they made with thee and are thereby justly lyable to all that wrath punishment due to the breach of it and I know thy anger and displeasure against them but I pray thee oh Father be reconciled and well pleased with thy people give them the sanctification of their Natures while they live here and give them heaven and happinesse when they dye and then Christ comes to Beleevers and tels them Sirs I have procured peace and pardon and reconciliation for you the sanctification of your Natures here and heaven when you dye and therefore lift up your heads with joy Christ first goes to his Father and sues to him for pardon and then comes to us and begs of us to be comforted 5. Adam under the Covenant of Works he had nothing but Works to save him and he was to keep this Covenant of Works only by his own strength he had no strength but his own to perform any duty he had no bottome no foundation but himselfe to stand on but under the Covenant of Grace we are kept by the mighty power of God through Faith unto Salvation we are under a far better condition under the Covenant of Grace then Adam was at first in the State of innocency for though hee was perfectly holy yet he was not immutably holy but now the foundation of God standeth sure we are kept by the mighty power of God unto Salvation 6. The Covenant of Workes if a man did once break them that did admit of no repentance had Adam and Eve after the fall wept their eyes out or prayed their hearts out all would have done them no good repentance will no way avail the Covenant of Works as it is in the civill Law if a man hath committed murder the Law does not enquire whether the man does repent or is sorry for what he hath done no but the Law takes notice whether he hath done the fact or no if he hath he must dye no repentance will avail but in the Covenant of Grace it is far otherwise for though you have done the fact and broken Gods Commandemants yet if you repent and mourn and grieve for the sins you have committed against God the Lord will pardon and forgive them as if they had never been committed so that this is another great happinesse you enjoy in being under the Covenant of Grace 7. Adam being under the Covenant of Works God took the very first forfeiture of breaking of this Covenant and one sinne made God to disanul that covenant whereas the Covenant of Grace is not made void nor disanul'd although you commit many sins as you may see in Ro. 5. 16 17. says the Apostle there Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgement was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification that is under the Covenant of Works there one sin did condemne all the world but being under the Covenant of Grace there the free gift is of many offences unto justification many sins are pardoned and many offences are passed over the Covenant of Grace pardons many sins and over lookes many weaknesses and failings though you break your Covenant often time after time yet the Covenant of Grace shall not be broken the first Covenant was disanuld for one sin but the second Covenant shall not be disanuld for many sins as you may see in Psal 89. 31 32 33. sayes God there If they break my statutes and keep not my Commandements then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes neverthelesse my loving kindenesse will I not uttery take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail my Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips and so in Psal 11. 5. The Lord will ever be mindefull of his Covenant so that this is another part of your happinesse 8. Pray observe this had Adam continued still under the Covenant of Works and kept the Covenant performing exact and perfect obedience to it yet he could never have come to heaven he should have had onely an ever lasting continuance in Paradise he should never have enjoyed heaven but being under the Covenant of Grace that entitles you to everlasting Salvation and happinesse in heaven by Jesus Christ 9. Under the Covenant of Workes though God did promise life to Adam upon the performing of the Covenant yet God did not promise pardon to Adam upon the breach of the Covenant God promised him thus Do this and thou shalt live but God did not promise him that though he should break his commands and sin against him yet hee should bee saved notwithstanding in the Covenant of works there is no promise at all of pardon but only of life but under the Covenant of Grace you have a double promise 1. You shall obtain life eternall and Salvation by Christ And 2. you shall have all your sins pardoned and washed away in the bloud of Christ that you doe commit against him you shall have pardon and remission of sins by Christ so that no sin shall be charged upon you 10. Under the Covenant of Works God did accept the person for the worke-sake but under the Covenant of Grace he doth accept of the Work for the persons sake and herein lies our happinesse under the Covenant of Works God did accept of Adams person meerly because his works were altogether righteous and good and he accepted his person no longer then his works were good for as soon as ever he broke the command God was displeased with him but under the Covenant of Grace God doth accept of the works for the person sake as you see in Abel he was first accepted and then the sacrifice first his person was well pleasing to God and then the sacrifice for the persons sake so God accepts of our praying reading hearing and all that we doe through Jesus Christ he being well pleased with our persons in Christ he is delighted and well pleased with all our services in him 11. The Covenant of Works was made to all men generally and universally without exception but the covenant of grace was made onely to a select and chosen people all mankinde were in Adam under a Covenant of Workes if Adam had kept the Law all mankinde had lived by him but herein lies your happinesse in being under the Covenant
your sins to remembrance with a great deal of grief and sorrow and bitternesse of spirit and therefore when young gallants wil boast of their sins and tel how often they have been drunk and have made others to be so and how often they have plaid the whoremaster and have drawn others to do so this is a most Diabolical remembrance 2. You must not cal your former sins to remembrance with stupidity of heart neither Beloved there are many men can remember what lewd courses they have taken and what wicked lives they have lived how often they have been drunk and unclean and the like and yet are never troubled at the remembrance of it their hearts do not smite them with remorse and sorrow but are like a rock the sense of sin never troubles them this is no way of calling sin to remembrance with a blockish and stupid heart this is not thanks worthy but it must be done with a broken and a bleeding and a contrite heart And 3. Take in this caution too it must not be done with despondency of minde neither There are many converted ones that do cal their sins to remembrance but it makes them discouraged and unwilling to come to Christ it makes them think that they have no interest in the covenant of grace but this should not be the true effect that the consideration of your former sinfulnesse should produce should be your laying your souls low and making them humble and the more sensible of that indispensable need you have of Christ of going unto him for salvation and comfort These are the Cautions necessary to be premised I come now to give you the Reasons of the point why it is the will of God that people in a converted estate should often cal to minde the sin and misery they were in before conversion and Reas 1 1. God will have it so because by so doing you will be provoked the more highly to magnifie and admire the greatnesse and riches of Gods grace to you there are none in the World greater admirers of Gods grace and mercy then those that are most studious of their own sin and misery thou wilt never solemnly and throughly magnifie Gods mercy till thou art plunged into a deep sensiblenesse of thine own misery till the Lord hath brought thee to see in what a miserable and deplorable condition thou wert in before conversion thou wilt then admire and magnifie the riches of Gods free grace in bringing thee out of that condition into the estate of grace as in 1 Tim. 1. 13. the Apostle Paul when he would magnifie the free grace of God to him saith he I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious and yet through the abundance of Gods free grace and mercy I have obtained mercy the consideration of his former sinfulnesse did elevate and scrue up his heart to make him admire the free grace of God to his soul that man can never prize liberty as he should do that never was in prison But Reas 2 2. Another reason why God wil have it so is because this will be as a spur to quicken and engage men to be more eminent in grace after their conversion when a man doth frequently and seriously consider how bad and sinful he was before conversion it cannot but provoke him now to be more humble and holy after his conversion It is very observable in Paul that all those sins and wickednesses he was guilty of before conversion he did most of all strive against and labour to excell in the contrary graces after conversion as first before conversion he did labour to hale others to prison for worshipping of Christ but after his conversion he did labour to draw others to Christ Act. 26. 10 11. Many of the Saints did I shut up in prison and gave my voice against them and punished them oft in every City and I was exceeding mad against them and banished them into other Cities and now you shall see that after conversion Paul did labour to outvie in grace that evil course he was in before as before conversion he did imprison those that did belong to Christ so after conversion he was shut up himself in prison for the cause of Christ before conversion he gave his voice against the people of God but after conversion he did pray to God for them before conversion he did punish them often but afterward he did preach to them often before conversion he did compell men to blaspheme Christ but after conversion he was very earnest to perswade people to beleive in Christ he was exceeding mad against them before conversion but afterward hee was so exceeding zealous for the people of God that every one thought hee had been mad and lastly before conversion he did persecute Saints to strange Cities but afterwards he did go preaching of the Gospel to strange Cities Oh my Beloved let Pauls pattern be your task cal to minde your sin and wickednesse in your unconverted condition but so that it may provoke you that now you are converted you may labour to abound in grace as formerly you have abounded in sin Reas 3 3. Another reason why God will have us call to minde the sin and misery we were in before conversion is because this will be a means to kindle a great deal of pity and compassion in our souls towards those that remain yet unconverted this the Apostle exhorts us to in Tit. 3. 2 3. Speak evill of no man sayes he be no brawler but gentle Shewing all meeknesse unto all men for we our selves also were sometime foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another as if the Apostle should have said I Paul and thou Titus we were sinful as wel as they and did serve divers lusts as wel as they once let us therefore be pitiful and merciful and compassionate towards them this consideration wil greatly provoke us to commiserate poor sinful souls the great reason why we pity them no more then we do is because we do not cal to mind our own sinfulnesse and what we were before conversion Reas 4 4. Another reason may be this because the consideration of our former misery will greatly abate pride in the hearts of converted men this will be a great means to abate and keep under pride and advance humility in the hearts of Gods people Beloved a good man naturally is apt to be proud we are not proud of our sins but of our graces pride is apt to grow in the best mans heart and therefore God would have us sometime look back upon what we were in our unconverted estate that so that might abate the pride of our spirits you have an excellent place for this in Ezek. 16. 3 4 5. compared with the last verse of that chapter Sayes God there to Jerusalem Thy Birth and thy Nativity is of the land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite
of darknesse where infernall spirits are reserved in chains of darknesse to the judgement of the great day Which way soever a Christlesse man looks there are nothing but miseries accompany him if he looks outward there the creatures are against him if he looks inward there is a galled and accusing conscience ready to accuse him if he looke above him there is an angry God against him if he look below him there is the Devill ready to receive him a Christlesse man is in a most sad and dolefull condition as I might exemplifie by this familiar similitude Suppose a man were falling into a great and dark dungeon wherein there were nothing but Toads and Serpents and all manner of venemous beasts and as he were falling in should catch hold of a twig of a tree that might grow over the mouth of the dungeon and then suppose a lean beast should come and begin to gnaw and bite off that twig what a miserable case will that poor man be in why just so it is with thee oh Christlesse man thy life in this twig and death is the lean beast that is biting off this twig of life and then thou failest down into a dungeon of darknesse there is nothing but the twig of life between thee and hell 5. If you look before you there is nothing but misery likewise approaching thee and these are the snares and temptations the Devill layes in thy way to ensnare thee and intice thee to sin there is not a step thou treadest nor any company thou goest into but the Devill layes a trap to ensnare thee 6. If you look behinde you there is nothing but a huge heap of past sins unrepented of unsatisfied for and unpardoned that are able to sink thee into the bottomelesse pit of hell how then canst thou think of thy past sins but with a sad heart how dreadfull is it to consider how many thousands of sins thou hast been guilty of and yet never hast been humbled for them nor never shed one penitentiall tear for them the guilt of the least of them being enough to plunge thee into hell for ever 7. Look on thy right hand and there are all the blessings of God all thy fullnesse and prosperity thy riches and great estate are all made a curse to thee God gives a wicked man riches for his hurt Eccles 5. 13. Prosperity shall kill the soul of the wicked Oh Christlesse man thy riches and prosperity are all instruments and means to further thy everlasting ruin and destruction 8. Look on thy left hand and there are all the miseries and afflictions and sufferings and reproaches and diseases and sad accidents that you meet with as so many forerunners of those unutterable and untolerable and unsupportable sufferings which a Christlesse man shall undergoe to all eternity Oh then unhappy man that thou art that hast not an interest in Jesus Christ without thee and within thee above thee and below thee before thee and behinde thee on thy right hand and on thy left there are nothing but miseries accompanie thee on every side Thus much for the first positive part of the misery of a Christlesse man it is a very sad point that I am now upon and therefore I shall sweeten all in the close with two or three words of consolation But 2 Beloved follow me now Thou that art a Christlesse man or woman thy misery in the positive part of it lies in this there wil be nothing in the world so dismal and intolerable to thy soul as the apprehensions of a God without Jesus Christ God that is an amiable and desireable and an universall good in Christ yet out of Christ this great God that is so good and rich in mercy and free in grace is cloathed with red and Scarlet you that are out of Christ cannot look upon God but with dreadfull apprehensions of him you cannot look upon God as a God of mercy to pardon you but as an angry Judge ready to condemn you not as a friend that seeks your welfare but as an enemy that sets himself in battel array against you to ruin you you cannot look upon him as the Rock of Ages in the clifts whereof you may finde safety but as a burdensome stone the weight whereof will beat you down and grinde you to powder you cannot look upon God as a Refiners fire to purge away your drosse but as a consuming fire and everlasting burning to consume you to ashes these these are the awakening and soul-affrightning apprehensions which every poor soul that hath not an interest in Christ must see the apprehensions of God will be very dreadfull to you 3. Your misery in the positive part of it lies in this that all the creatures and blessings you injoy in the world are acurse to you for all blessings are given in and through Christ there is no blessing given thee as a blessing nor no mercy as a mercy if Christ which is the mercy of all mercies be not given to thee and here I shall shew you your misery in this particular under these five heads 1. To have an estate is a blessing of God but yet all the estate and revenues and substance which you have gotten by the labour of your hands and the sweat of your brows are all accursed to you if you have not an interest in Jesus Christ as in Deut. 28. 17 18. Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field cursed shalt thou be in thy basket and in thy store cursed shalt thou be in the fruit of thy body and of thy land in the encrease of thy kine and in the flocks of thy sheep cursed shalt thou be when thou goest forth and cursed when thou comest in and so in Job 20. 15. He shall swallow down riches but he shall vomit them up again and in Eccles 5. 13 sayes Solomon There is a sore evill which I have seen under the Sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt 2. You are cursed in your house likewise as in Job 28. 15. The terrours of God shall dwell in the taberuacles of the wicked and brimstone shall be scattered throughout his habitation and so in that place I quoted before Deut. 28. 19. 3. He is cursed in his name as in Prov. 16. 7. The name of the wicked shall not 4. He is cursed in his calling as in Prov. 21. 4. The ploughing of the wicked is sin and in Deut. 28. 20. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all thou settest thy hand unto for to doe 5. He is cursed not only in his estate in his house in his Land in his calling but in his eating and drinking too you have a strange expression for this in Job 20. 23. When he is about to fil his belly God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him when he is eating so in Psal 38. 30 31.
that carries the body but if a man hath a wooden legge the body must carry it so wicked men are a great burden and trouble to the Church as Paul sayes speaking of wicked men I wish sayes he they were even cut off that trouble you such men as are loose in practise and loose in opinion truly both these have been great burdens and troublers to the Church of God they are to the Church as Jonah was to the ship what a storm have they raised in this kingdome which God knowes whether you or I shall ever live to see it blown over Thus much for the second part of Mans misery by Nature That at that time ye were aliens to the Common wealth of Israel SERMON VIII EPHES. 2. 12. And strangers to the Covenants of Promise WEE come now in order to the third part And strangers to the Covenant of Promise but before I shall draw out any Doctrines from these words I shall resolve these five questions which are very needfull to be discussed Quest 1 1. What is the difference between the Covenants and the Promise For many look upon them to be both one and the same thing 2. What is meant here by the Covenants of Promise 3. Why it is called the Covenants of Promise 4. Why it is called in the plurall number the Covenants of Promise And lastly What it is to be a stranger to the Covenants of Promise Quest 1 1. Quest What is the difference between a covenant and a promise Answ Answ In answer to this you must know that though every Covenant is a promise yet every promise is not a Covenant a Covenant is a more comprehensive thing then a promise for a Covenant is nothing but a bundle of promises all the promises in the Gospell bound up together in a bundle so that herein you see the difference between a Covenant and a Promise Quest 2 2. What is meant by the Covenants of Promise Answ I answer That it is the free and gratious promise that God made with Adam after the fall and with the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the faithfull wherein he promised them Salvation and eternall life through Christ which was to come this is the Covenant of Promise even the promise which God made with his children before the coming of Christ wherein he did covenant to give them life and salvation through Christ which was promised to come Quest 3 3. Why is it called the covenants of promise Answ Answ It is called so because Christ the matter of this Covenant was not actually come but onely promised that he should come that is the reason of this phrase here the covenant of Promise Quest 4 4. Why is it called in the plurall number the Covenants of Promise seeing there was but one Covenant of Grace the Covevenant of Works was made to Adam before the fall and the Covenant of Grace after the fall Answ Answ It is called the Covenants of Promise not as if there were severall kindes of Covenants and of Salvation by Christ but because there were divers exhibitions and administrations of this one Covenant not as if this Covenant were many in kinde and substance for it is the same now that it was at the beginning but only it was diversly administred explained and enlarged sometime it is called a new Covenant that is new in regard of the urging exhibition of it the like phrase you have touching Love Behold a new command I give unto you that you love one another it was called new because it was then newly enforced upon the people The Covenant of Grace the tenor of which is that we shall have life and salvation through the bloud of Christ it is called Covenants because it was so often renewed and administred first it was made to Adam after his fall The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head and then it was renewed to Abraham Paul explains it in Heb. 3. and after him to Isaac and then to Jacob and David and Solomon and all the faithfull but the Covenant was still for substance the same though it was many times renewed and so it continues the same to this very day thus you have a brief account of these four Queries Quest 5 5. What is it to be a stranger to the Covenants of Promise Answ Answ Did you but dive and look into the bottome of it you would finde it to be the finall upshot of the misery of an unconverted man to be a stranger to the Covenants of Promise is to be in such a dismall and lamentable and deplorable condition as that none of all the promises of God for Grace and life and Salvation by Christ doth appertaine to him and is not this a very miserable and sad condition that the Lord lookes upon a man in an unregenerate estate as uncapable of any mercy life or salvation by Christ A Covenant as I told you is a bundle of promises it containes all the promises of Grace life and salvation now if you be without the Covenant you must needes be destitute of all the promises by Christ Thus having by way of premise opened these five particulars I shall now draw out this one Observation from the words Doctr. Doctr. That all men during the time of their unregenorácy are strangers to the Covenants of Grace so that they can lay no just claim to any promise of having life and Salvation by Christ you are strangers to the Covenants of promise and Beloved when I tell you that you have no title to any one promise of life or Salvation by Christ it is the saddest news that ever you can open your ears to hear if you are a stranger to the Covenant you are without all the promises for the covenant is a bundle of promises all the promises of God bound up together In the handling of this point I shall onely shew you two things and then apply it 1. I shall shew you what the Covenant of Grace is 2. How you may know whether you are men without the Covenant of Grace yea or no and can lay no just claim to any promise of life and Salvation by Christ 3. I shall winde up all in a practicall use both for consolation to those that are in the Covenant and for terrour to those that have no right to the Covenant 1. For the Nature of the Covenant of Grace it is that free and gracious Covenant which God made with Adam after the fall promising him pardon of sin and eternall life through the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ This is the summe and substance of the Covenant of grace it is the promise of God first made to Adam and then renewed to Abraham Isaac and Jacob David and Solomon and all the faithfull it is the solemn promise that God made to the Elect of their obtaining Salvation through the righteousness of Jesus Christ Now here you must be very careful lest you run into a mistake for
as having thy portion and interest in him and in none else this is an undoubted evidence that you doe belong to the Covenant of Grace 3. For God to be your God it notes Gods soveraignty and power over you for your benefit the Lord will reign over you and subdue corruptions in you and quell your pride and humble your heart and give you a meek and quiet spirit If you finde that God is yours in these three particulars you may comfort your heart in an unquestionable interest in the Covenant of Grace if God be your God and you his people that you have given up and devoted your selves wholly to the service of God in every thing that you doe 2. Another speciall blessing of the covenant of grace is that God hath promised to sanctifie and renew your natures as in Ezek. 36. 26 27. saies God there A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and will take away the stony hearts out of your bosomes and will give you hearts of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them God will not onely give us life for our happinesse but grace for our holinesse he will not only give us imputed righteousnesse for our justification but also inherent righteousnesse for our sanctification now therefore examine your selves have your natures ever been sanctified and regenerated have you been ever washed with clean water and those stains of sin and corruption wiped away from you hath the beasom of sanctification ever swept your inward man and made it not a cave for every unclean bird to lie in but a habitation fit for the holy Ghost to dwell in if it be so you have a reall right to and interest in the covenant of grace for no man can have the blessings of the covenant but he must have a beeing in the covenant of grace It is very observable that God is not only as the covenant represents him a God gracious and mercifull slow to anger and full of compassion c. but he is a holy God as well as a mercifull God and therefore he will work holinesse in us and expect holinesse from us if ever we expect to have mercy and happinesse from him never lay claim to God nor expect life and happinesse from him as he is a mercifull God unlesse you resolve to be conformable to him as he is a holy God Object But here some may say This is not so great a blessing as you speak of to be sanctified by vertue of the covenant of grace for there are many men that may be sanctified by the covenant of grace and yet never be saved by it and this objection they ground upon that place in Heb. 10. 29. And they shall count the bloud of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing Answ I answer that the sanctification here spoken of is not a true sanctification but onely in profession in the sight of men not in the fight of God it is not a sanctification in very deed and in truth but onely in shew and in the judgement of men 3. Another blessing of the covenant of grace is the forgivenesse of our sins as in Jer. 3. 34. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sins no more now beloved can you say that God hath pardoned your sins and done away your offences if so then you are under the Covenant of Grace Object But here some poor soul may say Alas I have been a great sinner and have committed offences against God and therefore I fear I have no reall interest in the covenant of grace Answ Be not discouraged for it is the glory of the covenant of grace to pardon great sins it puts a great deal of glory upon God to pardon great sins and passe by great offences as in Amos 5. 12 15. I know sayes God your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins here you see are manifold and mighty sins and yet saies God hate evill and love good it may be the Lord will be gracious to you nay the Lord he will be gracious to you though thou hast manifold and mighty sinnes yet it is not the greatnesse nor mightinesse of them but thy stubbornnesse of heart in not coming in and closing with Jesus Christ that undoes thee 4. Another blessing of the covenant of grace is Gods writing his Law in our hearts that we shall never depart from him as in Jer. 31. 33. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts I will be their God and they shall be my people that is God will put into our hearts a sutable frame and disposition answerable to every command of God in his Law that we shall be able to obey observe and keep it and say that it is good and then saies God you shall never depart from me now examine your selves hath this effect beene wrought by the spirit of God in your hearts hath God written the Sermons you have heard not in your books but in your hearts if so these are good evidences of your interest in the covenant of grace 2. Another discovery or character of your interest in the covenant of grace is this if you have in you the inseparable concomitances that belong to this covenant of grace there are some things that doe alwayes accompany the covenant of grace as I shall instance in 3 or 4 particulars 1. If you be a man under the covenant of grace in covenant with God then you are disingaged from that league and covenant which you have made and contracted with your lusts whosoever is in covenant with God he hath broken his league with his lusts you cannot be in covenant with Christ till you fall off from your lusts and break off from your sins as in Act. 3. 25 26. sayes the Apostle You are the children of the Prophets and of the covenant which God hath made with our Fathers saying to Abraham even in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed First unto you hath God raised up his Son Jesus Christ and him hee hath sent to blesse you in turning every one of you from your iniquities so that if you are children of the covenant the Lord will turn every one of you from your wicked wayes and therefore you that are not turned from the evill of your courses that have not broken that league you have made with death and hell you can lay no claim to the covenant of grace as in Psal 50. 16. sayes God there to the wicked What hast thou to doe to take my covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed and castest my words behinde thee thou wilt not forsake thy lusts nor leave thy sins and therefore what
hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant of grace you can lay no claim to the Covenant till you have cast off the old man and subdued and overcome your sins and corruptions 2. Another concomitant of the covenant of grace that will accompany you is this you will be a people wholly devoted and given up to the service of God Jer. 31. I will be your God and you shall be my people the covenant of grace is called an holy covenant Luk. 1. 72. not so much because it was made by a holy God as because it was made for the holy creature it will make them holy that do enter into it and therefore those that are in Covenant with God are called a holy people and they must be a holy people as in 1 Cor. 6. 20. sayes the Apostle You are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are Gods and in 2 Cor. 7. 1. Seeing therefore we have these promises dearly beloved Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God those that are in covenant with God they are a holy and crucified people 3. Another concomitant is this that man that hath a share in the blessings of the Covenant he doth make conscience to walk in the wayes of the Covenant hee will not only close with the promise of the Covenant but also make conscience of keeping the commands of the Covenant for the covenant of grace does not onely bestow blessings upon you but require something of you too as in Esai 55. sayes God Incline your ears and come unto me and hear hearken and your souls shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David the covenant of grace is a sure and everlasting covenant but sayes God you shall come unto me first and then I will make with you an everlasting covenant God will have you to obey him if ever you think to have any share in the covenant of grace those that let God command what he will will doe what they please this argues that they doe not belong to the covenant of grace but if the blessings of the covenant of grace are given by God to you and the concomitants of it found with you and lastly the conditions of it found in you which is faith the only condition of the covenant of grace beleeve and be saved if God hath brought thee into a believing estate that there is not one promise in the Gospell but you do beartily assent unto and close with if it be thus then you may conclude that you do belong to the covenant of grace And thus I have done with these charactars by way of tryall Use I have only now a word or two more by way of use and so have done with this third part of mans misery and the Use that I shall make of this shall be for consolation to all those whose hearts can bear them witnesse that they doe enjoy the saving blessings of the Covenant of grace God to be their God and they to be his people and that God hath sanctified and renewed your natures and pardoned and passed by all your sins and iniquities and hath written his Law in your hearts that you doe not depart from him if you have the concomitants of the Covenant that you are disingaged from the league and covenant you have made with sin and death and hell if you are wholly devoted and given up to the service of God and doe make conscience to walk in the ways of the Covenant and if the conditions of the Covenant of Faith in Christ be found in you if you are brought into a beleeving condition if all these things be wrought in you then hearken to the great happinesse and benefit you enjoy by being under the Covenant of Grace 1. Thou hast that which is more worth then a kings ransome nay then all the world thou hast God to be thy God which is all in all it is more then that which was promised to Esther by King Ahasuerus to the half of his Kingdome you have more then the Devill promised to Christ when he carryed him to the top of the mountain and shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them thou hast more then the whole world for thou hast God to be thy God and thou hast an interest in the Covenant of Grace which is a bundle of promises and includes in it all the promises of the Gospell which are all yours and you may goe and apply them to your own soules in whatsoever condition you are in 2. You that are in Covenant with God labour to admire the great condescension of God that he would be pleased to proceed with you by way of a Covenant I have read of some Authors that have more wondred and stood amazed at this then at any thing else in the World that God that is the Soveraign Lord of all the workes of his hands that he should not rule us and command us by a Law but deal with us by way of a Covenant for God is not bound to give us a reward though we should serve him all the dayes of our lives God might command us as we are his creatures to serve and obey him to pray read hear and walk holily and humbly before him and when we have done all this yet he might say to us I will never give you heaven nor happinesse nor any reward at all he might have said thus to us but he hath condescended so far as to make a bargain with us that if we will beleeve in his Son Jesus Christ and live holily and walk uprightly before him then he will be our God and we shall be his people he will write his Law in our hearts and sanctifie and renew our natures and pardon and forgive all our sins and give us heaven and hapninesse when we dye Oh what an infinite condescension is this in God and what unspeakable bounty and free grace that when he might say to us you are bound to serve me and obey me and to love and fear me but I am not bound to make a Covenant with you and promise you my Son and life and Salvation through him but though I am not bound to it yet I will give you my Son and heaven and happinesse and I will be your God and you shall be my people and I will regenerate and sanctifie your natures and create in you new hearts and write my Law in your inward parts I will freely do all this for you sayes God Oh what infinite condescension and free grace and mercy is this 3. Another great happinesse you doe enjoy under the Covenant of Grace is this the Lord will pardon all the great sinnes you commit against him and accept of all the weak duties and services you perform to him though you commit great and mighty sins