City that hath the twelve Gates is allanerly Promise If Satan and our deceitful heart question thy right and say thou deserves Hell and thou hast many marks of going to it yet if thou have a Promise and a Title to the man that gives the Contract and draws the Articles of it thou may be very sure thy Covenant is a Covenant of Promise that is the second Name The third Name that is given the Covenant it 's called a Command ye have it getting this Name Gen. 17. Abraham is commanded to circumcise in the tenth verse every male child among them this is my Covenant which shal be betwixt me and you and thy seed after thee every male among you shall be circumcised and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskine If ye compare this with the 13 and 14 verses He that is born in thy house and bought with thy money shall be circumcised and my Covenant shall be an everlasting Covenant and the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off he has broken my Covenant that is my Command Here ye have the Covenant called under the Name of a Command And here I would enquire a little into two things 1st Why the Covenant goes under the name of a Command 2ly How we should improve this Name of the Covenant as a Command As to the First It goes under the name of a Command He has broken my Covenant that is my Command on these two grounds 1. The Covenant of Grace it does not only oblige to all the Commands of the Covenant of Works but to some moe this may seem a strange assertion there is no Command in all the Law but the Covenant of Grace binds to it I came not says Christ to destroy the Law but to fulfil the Law Thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours goods c. The Covenant binds to all these and to many moe it binds to Faith in Christ to Repentance which the Covenant of Works did not so no wonder it be called a Command for this Covenant binds to all the Duties commanded in the Covenant of Works and to many moe 2ly It comes to go under the name of a Command it was the same Covenant of Grace that Abraham had a seal of in Circumcision it 's called a command in regard never were persons so obliged to obey the command as these that are taken within the Covenant of Grace The taking of us within the Covenant of Grace is like a Woman Married that is more obliged against Uncleanness than she was before her Marriage the relation is in Christ the influences are from Christ The persons under the Covenant of Grace Antinomians say they are not so bound to the command as others but they mistake it quite if any person be bound in the world to the command it 's they that are not bound by the Law only but by Love the case is as it was with Moses Mother Pharaoh's Daughter calls her when she found Moses among the Flags and commanded her to Nurse the Child the best Motive that moved her to nurse the Child was Love she stood by to see the Child among the Flags and when she took up the Child Love influenced her as much as the Law So when there is a Covenant relation to Christ the person in Covenant has an eye to him not only from the command but from Love So that no wonder it be called a command for it has all the commands of the Law and some moe and the obligations to obey are stricter than under the Covenant of Works Quest 2. But here is a great Question ye say the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Works we love to hear Grace exalted and called a Testament and a Promise but that it should be called a command looks this like a Covenant of Grace Answ It 's true it 's called a command and it binds to all the Duties that the Covenant of Works binds to and a great many moe it binds to Believing in Christ to Repentance which the Covenant of Works had no dream of but this takes nothing away from the freedom of it therefore hearken to two or three remarkable things about the command and it will shew you that though it be a command the command takes nothing away of the freedom of it 1. Take notice that though it have so many commands as many as in the Covenant of Works and moe yet it will not stand on perfect obedience to them sincere obedience it 's one of the clauses of it and O! but it 's a sweet word He will accept of the Will in stead of the Deed Never one Treated with a Servant to give him a Fee if hâ— were willing to go to his Pleugh and go his Errands and if he did not go he indentured not to accept of the wilâ— for the deed but as a Father with a Child so he pitiâ—â— them that fear him it s a command indeed but he accept of the sincerity of the will it 's a remarkable way of dealing in this Covenant that he had with David he was siâ—â—ing in his house and grieved to see the Ark of God in the fields What am I says he that I should dwell in a house 〈◊〉 cedar and the Ark of God in curtains Nathan was sent tâ— him and told him because it was in thy heart to build me 〈◊〉 house I will build thee a sure house So there are Commandâ— in this Covenant that go under the name of a Commandâ— but the commands will be accepted in the point of obedience the Will will be accepted for the Deed. 2ly It contributes to evidence the freedom of it in the point of 〈◊〉 command in that there is nothing commanded but it 's promised it was not so in the Covenant of Works they haâ— habitual Grace the Grace that Adam was created with he was to have no other stock but that Make to your selves 〈◊〉 new heart and renew a right spirit within you If any will take that command and not look to the Promise they might say I may ly down and die there is no hope of Heaven for me I can no more make a new heart than I can make a new Heaven or a new Earth but a new eeart will 〈◊〉 also give thee and I will renew a right spirit within theeâ— There is no command but there is a Promise suâ—table to it that was not according to the Covenant of Worksâ— there was no promise of a new heart or of assisting in Prayer in the Covenant of Works though there be as many commands in the Covenant of Grace as in the Covenant of Works and many moe yet since we bake beside Meaâ— we need not be discouraged 3ly Not only will he give toâ— will and strength to will but which is a great mercy itâ— admits
as he might have been exalted in his Power Wisdom and Justice if he had taken Noah to Heaven when he drowned the old World and then made another World but the great thing wherein men are most exalted is Goodness and Grace we read of some that have Ruled Tyrannically and when they were dying they have been like a Candle put out that leaves an ill smell behind it there is nothing better than to be exalted in Goodness and Grace and there is no better way to do it than that man should fall and that he should give his Son to die for him and to make a Covenant with him that he shal give him Peace with himself and an deaven for all Eternity So it looks like a Covenant made by him 3. God being a Communicative Good Good in himself it 's impossible for him not to communicat Good to others as impossible as it 's for the Sun which is Light in it self not to communicat Light therefore when God made the World he behoved to make Man that he might communicat the good of the World to him he being a Communicative Good his nature carries him to do good to others and the Covenant is so ordered that there is no good that man can be capable of but it 's promised in the Covenant Now all these three declare that it was he that made the Covenant because it tends so much to the exalting of his Son his Goodness and Grace and his being a Communicative Good I will not dwell more on this Vse I will only say some few things by way of use that I may come to speak of the Parties The Lord hath made with me ye see the nature of it there are many practical Improvements of it that I cannot now dwell on Only here 1. How humble men ought to be the greatest ground of boasting we have in the World is the Covenant but alas we had no hand in it nor yet the Angels they could not have contrived it and we are very far from it O! but Christians whose greatest Charter in all their Chest is this everlasting Covenant we ought to be be walking very humbly on this account for we contribute not so much as a desire unto it not only did we not merit or was there any alluring motive but there was not so much as a Prayer for it or did we spend a Tear for it or had a sigh or a groan for it But the Lord hath made with me he contrived it and drew all the Articles of it therefore go humbly and walk as one that in the thing wherein thou has the greatest ground of joy that ever thou had yet had no hand in the contrivement of the Covenant 2. It puts you to admire the unsearchable riches of this grace will ye but sometimes take a view of your case when Adam fell and run away amongst the Thickets to hide himself and he and all his posterity were forfeited Take a view of what ye have deserved by that fall if the things that ye can tell of your selves were written on your Foreheads ye would be forced to go to some corner like an Owl to flee to the desart and hide your selves But O! the breadth the length the depth and the height of this Grace that God will contrive the Covenant and draw the Terms of it and stand on both sides of the Covenant both on our part of the Covenant and his part and Redeem us go home and fall down before him and exalt him that ever he condescended to make the Covenant What would have been our lot or whether would we have turned our selves or whether would we have fled or left our Glory if we had not this Covenant to run to Therefore go and admire and praise him It 's a notable frame of Spirit when things revealed in publick carries persons to a corner with some suitable thoughts of what they have heard and indeed we should carry our Duties in privat suitable to our Duties in publick Praise him who in such a desperat case was content to make as Everlasting Covenant with thee 3. Here is great ground of encouragement to you that are not yet brought under the bond of the Covenant He that made the Covenant and brought persons under it he chused whom he will he chused a Jacob and not an Esau a Peter and not a Judas Judas he had not done so much ill as Paul had done before his conversion Judas was preaching Christ and was casting out Devils and was in Christ's company yet Judas was left to betray him Paul was pensecuting and blaspheming Christ and making havock of the Church and yet an Elect Vessel to lift up his Name amongst the Gentiles therefore all of you that are without the Covenant since he made it with a Paul and not with a Judas with a Jacob and not with an Esau and yet Esau was the elder brother on this account keep up your hope and go to him and press him to bring you under the bond of the Covenant for what brought in Jacob a Paul a Peter into the Covenant but his own Grace Lastly Was it he that was the Author and Maker of the Covenant Then behold amongst all the things that ever he did since he created the World it 's the thing that contributes most to exalt him it was a great Work for him to say Let there be light and it was light and for him to stretch out the Heavens and the Earth and to make an Earth as it were to hang on no foundation and the circumference of Heaven about it all these were great Declarations of the Greatness and Power of God but all of these may stoop to this that he has made a Covenant of Grace who in one Person is both God and Man and on the foundation of this Mystery hath founded so many Duties and great Priviledges that if himself had not revealed them they would appear the greatest fancies in the World and they that do not believe what he hath revealed counts them all Phanaticks that credits them but here is the greatest demonstration of Grace that ever he gave that he hath ordered a Covenant and contrived it and made it so secure that no breach on our part shall break the Covenant and he is bound for our part of the Covenant as well as his own and he is engaged for our consent and when we come to subscribe the Covenant He will lead our hand Can any imagine such a Declaration of Grace O! be ye astonished O ye Heavens at the length and breadth and depth of this Grace and Power and Love But I will close all with saying three things about his making the Covenant 1. If there had any advantage redounded to him by making the Covenant it had not been so strange I confess there is a Declarative Glory like a man that comes to such a spring of Water and then he commends it but he infuses no new quality into
World for thy happiness why fulfills not thou thy lusts in it If thou take the World to come for thy Portion why walks thou not suitable to thy Hope It 's a lamentable thing many they will find they lose both Heaven and Earth they have been denied to the pleasures of the Flesh and yet for not going a greater length they have lost Heaven also often Hypocrites do so and the generality of sober Civilians that comes not up the length the Gospels calls for but comes some length they are like to lose both this World and that which is to come 2ly I would have thee considering thou that comes some length that there are many who have been almost Christians that have all their life struk at that Almost and eternally perished in it the famous Agrippa a friend of Augustus could tell Paul thou almost perswads me to be a Christian would to God says he not only almost but altogether thou were such as I am except these bonds I will recommend thee to a Book on that Text The almost Christian many of you have need of that what does it signifie to be almost and not altogether one Thou had as good renounce it altogether as to be almost and not altogether a Christian 3ly Consider thou that comes some length in this personal Covenanting what a foolish bargain hast thou made with Christ to agree with him in many Articles and to be content to pay many things and to break off the bargain for a penny it 's a business of a Heaven and of a Hell and thou that would make a Covenant with him I shall not be a Drunkard I shall not be a Swearer I shall wait on the Ordinances I shall pray in Secret and in my Family but for the inward Lusts of my heart and secret walk with God I dare not Covenant for that there thou has offered fair for Heaven and art like to lose it for a little he that is the Author of the Practice of Piety he brings in many that are in Hell saying O but I was near heaven and did many things and suffered many things for him and yet I am here that agregges their Torment and their Misery Readily thou may have gone a great length yet it may be it encourage thy blasphemy against him in the place of the damned thâ—â— thou has done many things and suffered many things and 〈◊〉 thing is lacking 4ly I would have thee Consider that thou that art sitten down in an Almost on this Motive that thou readily thinks at Death or some period of Time or another thou will come to do it Altogether Thou would know if thou sit such a Sermon on it as this it shall be denied to thee at Death if thou sit this afternoon and do not resolve to take Him on the Terms he offers himself if thou wilfully harden thy self against all these things thou shalt have enough to do to wrestle with the Fever when it comes thou may be roving and lose the Composure of thy Spirit and the thing thou wilt not do now shal be denied thee then Therefore thou that art come up almost to do it I have removed the Objections out of thy way know if thou hope to do it afterwards and will not do it now in the day of thy distress or at Death it shal be denied to thee and thou shal die either Roving or Sleeping or Stupid and shall be laid in the Grave like a Sheep Therefore whoever has come up almost to Covenant but not altogether but hopes there will come a Better day afterwards Remember if thou refuse it this Night and go not home thus to Indenture with him on the Terms you have heard belike Roving Stupidity or Presumption will deprive thee of it when thou art lying on the Bed of languishing Thirdly Is it thus a Duty personally to Covenant with God then it speaks a word to them who have done it and broken again They find they have a heart so slppery that it will bind the day and break the morrow unto these I would say three or four things 1. Thou that hast Indentured and Broken I would inform thee that ay when we break God does not break it would never be called an Everlasting Covenant if it had only a reference to us it might be called an Hourly Covenant a Daily Covenant a Diurnal kind of a Covenant but not an Everlasting Covenant The thing that makes it be called an Everlasting Covenant is the Everlasting Faithfulness of God it is so contrived as tho we break if we believe not yet he abides Faithful now when he enters in a Marriage Covenant the Contract is not like the Clauses of the Marriage betwixt a Man and a Woman if one of the Parties commit Adultery the Law provides a Divorce Thou hast played the Harlot with many Lovers yet return to me for I am married to thee 2ly I would have thee that has Covenanted with God and broken to mind that in the Covenant there are promises of Reviving Renewing Restoring and of binding up that which is broken and strengthning that which is weak it would never have been Everlasting if there were not such Articles in it So that if thou has broken thou art not to run from the Covenant but thou art to take thee to such promises of it as concern thy Case all the Promises relating to Reviving Restoring Renewing healing that which is broken and strengthening that which is weal It 's a great failing in many precious to God when they find they have made a Covenant and broken it they resolve to make no mo but altogether give it over In that case they are to go and seek out such Promises as relare to Restoring Reviving Renewing binding up that which is broken and strengthning that which is weak other ways the Covenant could never be an Everlasting Covenant 3ly I exhort thee who have broken to go mournfully and plead the Promises if thou do it presumptuously It 's like thou has no Claim to these Promises there are many when they fall they presently talk of Christ and of the Covenant and before ever the Plaister be applyed the Sore is heal the Plaister of Reviving Grace nothing makes it stick better to nor Tears If thou shalt go and take the Plaister and apply it to the breach of Covenant and not mingle in Tears with it the Plaister will not stick there is nothing that makes it stick so well as Tears flowing from a contrite heart Therefore thou that has broken Covenant with him and are guilty of this Sin which many of the generation are guilty of thou hast Indentured with Him and dealt deceitfully in his Covenant go and apply these Promises of the Covenant of Reviving Restoring Renewing and binding up but know that nothing will make the Plaister stick so well to as Tears if you do it presumptuously thou may apply the Plaister but in a moment it will fall off 4ly Thou
observed in reference to the timing of them that the promises of the first graces which are fundamental and absolutely necessary they are made out to the Elect sometime at the third hour sometime at the sixth and sometime at the ninth and sometime at the eleventh it 's near twelve then but he hath reserved this liberty in the order of the Covenant that though thou be an Elect and shall have all the fundamental priviledges and all the priviledges built on the foundation yet some may have them at the third hour some at the sixth some at the ninth and some gets them not until the eleventh so he hath ordered the Covenant in reference to the timing of the promises so excellently that yet he remains a Lord the Marriage-tye that makes him an Husband deprives him not of being a Lord and of timeing all the particulars in reference to believers But Thirdly Consider the Covenant in the manner of dispensing the Promses and the order is remarkable in this and here ye would notice these things 1. In Gods dispensing the Covenant there is this order in the Promises of it that the mercies bestowed are all first given to Christ and through him they come to be ours the Fathers pardon his Peace and Communion with him we come to be blest with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places through Christ the Father has contrived the Covenant so as they come to us all through Christ and it is the more excellent order that the smell of his purchase and his intercession is on them some move a Question What is the reason that Christ should be an Intercessor and should pray for the thing that he bought and payed for They tell that the Father in the contrivement of the Covenant he would first have his Jestice satisfied which is satisfied by his purchase And secondly he would have his grace glorified which is by the intercession of a Supplicant now when any thing comes the Covenant-way to a Believer through Christ it comes so as the price is considered that he gave for it and that 's a fruit of Gods Justice and then the intercession is considered so that there are in the Covenant Mercies but it smells of the Fathers Justice and of his Mercy and of the Sons Purchare and Intercession ye never get an Act of Communion nor an answer I Prayer but it hath the stamp on it both of Christs Purchase and Intercession 2. In the dispensing of the promises of the Covenant there is this order in the manner of dispensing them that God dispenses them to Believers according to their capacity readily he doeth with them as with the Corn or the tender Plants if he should open the Windows of Heaven and let out Rain as a Deluge it would drown all the Corn and the tender Plants but he makes drops fall here and there and now and then that the Corn and the tender Plants may spring up and grow the promises are ordered so as they are full but we have no Vessels to contain the Oyl It 's remarkable there are two great Apostles in the New Testament Peter and Paul Peter is brought up to mount Tabor Paul is caught up to the third Heaven the Lord hath recorded these instances to see how we would carry if we had an Heaven upon Earth Paul sees Christ transfigured and Moses and Elias with him and how carries he Master saith he let us build here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias the Text says he wist not what he said Paul he is ravished up to the third Heaven and he knows not whether in the body or out of the body he heard things unutterable and what follows a messenger of Satan was sent lest I should be puft up with abundance of revelation The order of the Covenant is so contrived as the bleslings of it they shall not come one as a full deluge as they did upon Peter and Paul that descended on Mount Hermon 3. In the matter of dispensing the promises of the Covenant he hath wisely provided it so that the Covenant-blessings shall be rather suited to our necessity than to our appetite there are two things that the Father considers in the blessings of the Covenant and they are our need and our appetite as a Physician that hath a Patient in a Fever but he is roaving he considers neither what is best for his need nor for his appetite had we been at the contrivement of the Covenant we would have put in nothing but peace pardon and prosperity these are nothing but roavings of Children in a Fever but he hath put in among the promises the cross nay the correcting with the rods of men why hath he put in this Though it agree not to our appetite yet it agrees to our necessity sometimes a desertion and sometimes a prosperous condition may be wholsome for us therefore he hath appointed all the blessings of the Covenant to come through Christ so he hath ordered them in a way rather suiting our necessity than our appetite which is necessary to be observed when we lay our hands or our loyns and we tell there is a Covenant of such promises and I have neither peace nor joy thou may have the thing that suits thy need and be refused of the thing that suits thy appetite so if ye consider all these ye shall find the promises are all well ordered they are much better ordered that we would have carved them out if we had been at the contriving of them if we had been trysted with abundance of revelations we would have been puft up if we had been on Mount Tabor we would have roaved so the Covenant is far better ordered than if it had consisted of eminent raptures of love and transcendent ravishings of joy Quest But here is a difficulty may some say are there not many contraries in the Covenant as for example find we not mercy and justice in it find we not Christ killed find we not many Law-works and Evangelick find we not plentiful promises and dark providences and can that be a well ordered Covenant Ans To consirm that the Covenant is well ordered I would have you notice two or three distinctions that are most necessary to be observed by a Believer and to be eyed in this deep of the ordering of the Covenant 1. Distinguish betwixt the beginning of Christs accomplishing a promise and the end of it ye would not think the beginning a piece of the same Web with last ordinarily when he begins to accomplish a promise ye would think it a threatning there is hardly any that looks on it but they would think it like Abraham's going to Mount Moriah with his Son Isaac with Wood and Fire to offer him up in a Sacrifice ye would think that he were to accomplish a threatning but wait until the end and ye will see it otherways the Gold-smith before he dress a Watch he will take it all