of you 3ly It 's remarkable the means he prescribes That ye be not slothful importing that slothfulness will hough their Assurances and that Diligence is the way to attain it here is a place that evidences that a Believer may come not only to Assurance but full Assurance and every one that is Diligent may come to it 2ly It 's evident that this Assurance is attainable in regard there are some Duties called for that were impracticable without Assurance as for Example Christ calls a man to this dost thou Believe if the man could have no Assurance nor Knowledge of the Faith the Question were impertinent he might Answer It 's impossible for one to be Assured of any Interest in Christ he would never have asked the Question if he could not be Assured and Christ hath bidden us Rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God and rejoyce that you names are written in the Book of Life and can we rejoyce in the hope of Glory or that our Names are written in the Book of Life if we could not be assured of it 3. That this Assurance is attinable is evident from this that there is a necessary Connexion betwixt the golden links of that golden Chain of Grace Whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justifies and whom he justifice them he also glorifies It 's not denyed but we may be assured of our effectual calling they say a man may have Grace but the knows not if he will persevere they say he may be in Covenant with God the day and with the Devil to morrow no there is an inseparable connexion Whom he did predestinat them he also called and whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he also glorified so granâ— that we may know our effectual calling and that we are in a state of Grace we may be assured we shall be glorified and our interest in the Covenant being once cleared it can never be disput again 4ly that this assurance is attainable it 's evident from this there are many recorded in Scripture had it and laid down inthe Grave with that Psal 16 9. My flesh also shall rest in hope Vers 10. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Vers 11. Thou will shew me the path of life Paul had it Rom. 8 38 I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separat me from the love of God in christ Jesus But say they will ye compare with them They had immediat Revelations and Inspirations why are ye not also Pen men of the Scriptures Why writ ye not a new Bible We answer if the grounds of this Assurance had been extraordinar Revelations we should never have pleaded Assurance because they had it but the ground of our Assurance is the love of God in Christ and the love of God in Christ is common to all Believers as well as to Paul it 's like the fountain opened in the house of David that 's opened for all the House as well as for David himself so if they had Assurance upon grounds common to all the Elect all the Elect they may attain this Assurance These things being laid together will clear this Truth that as this Assurance of a personal interest in the Covenant is necessary so it 's attainable Before I proceed to shew the Method and way how the Spirit brings up to this Assurance here ye would mark two things 1. Take notice That this Assurance of a personal Interest in the Covenant is not like the Interest it self but it differs in two things from it 1. The interest it self it 's not acquired by us it is that which is conferred on us in effectual calling when we are meerly Patients the greatest Interest in the Covenant is so made up that in effect we are meer Patients when we are interested in it it 's not so in the Assurance of an Interest I deny not but the Spirit sometimes will give a glance of Light when one will be very slothful but it 's rare we are to come by our Assurance by Diligence readily sometimes the Spirit will give extraordinary things that Mystery that Mr. Sibs reports of a woman in England when she was going to die all the Ministers that came to her as they had often discourses with her they could bring her to no clearing of her Interest or that she would come to Heaven she having a Glass in her hand she says to them I can no more be saved than that Glass can be preserved by throwing it against a Wall and she threw it against the Wall and it did rebound safe from the Wall the case of these extraordinary things is like a man coming to a deep water in a dark night where there are Steps and providentially one should hold out a Candle to him and let him see over the Steps if another should come at such a time of the night he must not think that a Candle will be holden out to him this is not the ordinary way we must not expect extraordinary things our assurance of an Interest comes in by Diligence Give diligence to make your calling and election sure so this clearing of an Interest comes in by Diligence and is not like the Interest it self which readily at the beginning is made up when we are meerly passive and in a state of nature 2ly Ye would notice another difference that of all things that ever God made a Believers interest in the Covenant is most enduring it shall be as lasting as the Union betwixt the humane nature and the Divine as long as Christ is God-man in one person as long shall the Members make up a mystical Body if the Interest in the Covenant be once secured it 's as sure as the personal Union betwixt the humane and Divine nature yet there is nothing more unsure than the Assurance of that Interest readily it will be had one day and doubted the next day And here before I open the way how the Spirit brings up one to assurance that the Lord hath made with me a Covenant I would open somewhat that hath influence on the changeableness of this assurance that we can assert at one time over the belly of all temptations and at another time the least thing will make us doubt 1. Several times a Christian comes to this assurance two ways these two ways that Christ speaks of when he is exhorting his Disciples To lay up treasures in heaven where the moth and thief will not come ye know there are many utensils and things that folk lay up that are taken away sometimes by the moth and sometimes by the thief Divines understand by the thief scandalous sins if a Christian fall in sins against his Conscience he will be sure to have his Assurance clouded he will not be able to say The Lord hath made with me a Covenant why the Thief
opens a Traffique as it 's a Transaction betwixt Lord and Servant so betwixt Flosband and Wife so it 's a Marriage Covenant and it establishes and Union and Communion Quest Before I leave this there is one question to be cleared one may ask How is it possible that there should be a Marriage Union betwixt Christ and his followers in this Convenant there may be a Treaty of Peance and War there may be a Traffique betwixt Kings and Subjects there may be a Covenant as betwixt Lord and Master but how can there be a Covenant as betwixt Husband and Wife The great reason of his difficulty is the inequality betwixt the parties he is the Potter and we are are the Clay and the Potter to Marry the Clay there is not only a physical difference but a Moral He is infinitly holy and we are exceedingly sinful and how then can it be a Marriage Covenant Answ For clearing of this I desire ye may take notice of three or four things 1. Our blood is honoured and made noble by the assumiing of our Nature into a Personal Union with the God-head this has in effect preferred our Nature to the Nature of Angels Man is now exalted above the Angels and they think it no disgrace to them they were our elder Brethren by Creation and they were more noble Creatures and we were made a little lower than the Angels but now they think it no disgrace to worship One that is Man and to follow Him where ever He goes How low soever we be by Creation yet our Blood is Nobilitat in that it 's unite to the Person of the God-head in the Person of the Mediator 2. Take notice of this That Christ has a way of purifying these that He marries the case is as it was with Ahasuerus and Esther she is pitched on to marry Ahasuerus but there must be thirty days wherein her Maids were to perfume her before she was married this was Typical and shews that though there be an inequality betwixt parties yet Christ has a way of purifying and making them that have an ill smell'd breath to give a sweet smell He has persumes that can make them sweet and odoriserous 3. Though there be a great inequality betwixt the parties yet the Covenant may drive this Marriage in regard how low soever we be by Creation we are the Father Gife in Election to the Son the Father gave Believers to the Son in Election All that the Father giveth me shall come unâ—â— me Now how inconsiderable soever we be by Creation and how despicable a Gift yet he respects the Gift for the Given sake Lastly Christ is exceeding condesceading for as great and as noble and as eminent as Christ is yet he is oâ—â— all the most condescending he took well with that not tâ— to have a hole to lay his head in and to be cruciesid betwixt tâ—â—â— thieves and no wonder he take well with it to marry a blace Bride especially since she was the Fathers Gift and he knows how to perfume her and nobilitat her blood by unting it to the God-head So that ye see the Marriage is very forcible on all these four accounts Now if ye would rightly take up this Covenant of Grace and understand what yet are doing when ye make a Covenant with Carist ye must take up the Covenant in all these four respects it 's a Covenant of Peace and War that Christ and ye shall have common Friends and common Enemies it 's a Covenant of Traffique where ye may buy and sell ye may buy fine Linen Gold Eye-salve without money and without price It a Covenant betwixt Lord and Master and Subject and Servants that ye shall serve him and in the manner prescribed in the Covenant and he shall give the greatest Reward as the Term and an Arles until it come and withal it 's a Marriage Covenant take youto the Covenant under all these formalities and ye will take it up right And that ye may be put to it take up the Covenant as a Marriage Covenant I will but give you these three Qualifications that are necessary in ones carrying a Marriage Covenant First I exhort you to pearken to Christ's wooing motions all the Sermons and Scriptures that are the grounds of this Marriage they are indeed Christ's wooing motions he would not only be at peace with them and have a Traffique with them but he would have a Marriage It 's true there are many of you ye may say as Abigail said she was married to Nabal and David se et to take her to him to wife I am not worthy to wash the Feet of the servants of my Lord yet she arose and went to meer the Messengers to go with him indeed we are not worthy to go to his Marriage-bed and to be priviledged with the priviledges of the Covenant yet entertain his wooing motions Secondly I would desire you to consider what the priviledge of such a Marriage is O such a joynture as he prepares though he get no Tocher as a wonderful joynture he gives It 's remarkable Ahasuerus had married Esther a poor maid Mordeci's Neice yet he loves her so that he says to her at the Feast of the Banquet of Wine what is thy petition Queen Esther and it shall be granted to thee even to the half of my Kingdom But these are not the Terms that he makes to his Bride they are strange offers in the Covenant concerning my Sons and my Daughters command ye me Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my Name he shall give it thee Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee according to the desire of thy soul Thirdly That ye may enter this Marriage Covenant remember the Terms on which ye must enter as a Woman in Marriage does when she marries Husband she marries him for good and ill readily ye may see your Husbands interests very low but let not that dissolve the Marriage as guiltiness will not dissolve the Marriage on his part so the Cross attendig him should not loose it on our part Now they that understand the Covenant rightly and know what they are doing when they are personally Covenanting with him they do all the four they accept of him as a Friend to be at peace with him and to have common Friends and common Enemies and they accept of a Covenant of Traffique that they will buy gold and fine linen and they accept him as a Lord but especially they take him for a Husband the Covenant is a Marriage Covenant These four will sum up the great Heads of the Covenant But to go further The third thing I would open is how this Covenant is made up on all these four Heads I will not here speak of the Mediators part I pitched on that else and shewed you what the Mediator did in reference to the Covenant But for the making up of all these four sorts of Covenant there are two things necessary to make it up
fire burns or as a weighty things moves downward It 's remarkable the Scripture tells He cannot behold iniquity nor suffer it to go unpunished now to make with Rebels and swear a covenant to accept of men perfect holiness to accept of the Will for the Deed to pardon iniquity to cast their sins in the bottom of the sea to tell them in the covenant the iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for and not be found How stands this with Justice Doth not Grace prevail over Justice Answ For Answer to this know that this covenant of Grace is made on all these Terms that I spoke of it the forenoon without the least violation of Justice and two things will evedience the truth of this 1. Christ the Mediator of â—he covenant before He could accomplish and order a covenant of Grace He treated a covenant of Redemption I think indeed that is a proper covenant though generally forraign and domestick Divines have not adverted to it yet many of late have seen all the essentials of a covenant in it in the Son before the covenant of Grace was in all the particulars of it Transacted He Transacted a Covenant of Redemption with the Father wherein He undertook to satisfie Justice and the Covenant of Grace runs in so free a current and channel on the account of the Mediator's indenturing the Covenant of Redemption 2ly It 's no wrong to Justice to accept of a Cautioner there was Mercy in the midst of it there was Grace in the Fathers accepting a satisfaction from the Son The School-men speak of the Fathers uniting the God-head with the Manhood and so glorifying the humane Nature and the accepting of a Satisfaction from the Humane Nature was an Act of Grace yet such an Act of Grace as Justice was satisfied fully by a person that had not committed thee deed Zaâ—eucus emitted a Law that whosoever committed Adultery â—n his Kingdom both their eyes should be put out and when the Heir of his own Kingdom committed Adultery he appointed one of his eyes to be put out and one of his own because he thought that the person that sinned should suffer but this was neither perfect sufferings nor perfect satisfaction and Justice but here Justice is aboundantly satisfied though the person sinning was not the person sufferer to be brief the Covenant of Grace being a result of the Covenant of Redemption wherein the Mediator undertook the paying of the sinners Debt it 's abundantly satisfying to Justice and Mercy and Justice kiss one another for Mercy has gotten full scope and Justice has gotten full satisfaction Quest 3. The third question I will move against this Truth that it 's a Covenant of Grace some may say there might have been more Grace in it than there is there might have been Promises of perfect holiness now in all the Bible we have no Promise of perfect Sanctification and which makes this the more difficult we are commanded to endeavour perfection and yet we have no promise of perfection in all the Scripture we cannot go to God in Faith and pray to make us perfect in this life for we can Pray for nothing in Faith whereof we want a Promise so that it would seem it 's not of such perfect Grace as I have been saying for there is not in all the Bible a promise of perfection Answer For the clearing of this I will offer you these three things 1. It 's the nature of sincerity to aim at perfection it stands as it were on its Tip-toes and stretches its arms to it its true they are but childrens arms and are but weak and cannot reach far off yet there is never sincerity but there is an aim at perfection therefore ye shall find the true godly the most part of their exercises run not on the want of Grace but on the weakness insufficiency and the Imperfection of Grace The great reason is sincerity will be constantly complaining untill it be perfect until it reach the resurrection of the dead therefore there comes in the heart that is upright ay some complaints alas I cannot get grief proportioned to sin I cannot get love to God alas I cannot grieve enough for sin it 's called perfection in Scripture because it aims as perfection and will ay be complaining until it be perfect 2ly Know this that though in all the Covenant there is not a promise of perfection nor perfect Sanctification noâ— not one until we come to Glory and untill the woman clothed with the Sun have the Moon under his feet there the Crown will be set on and love and delight will be perfected the great reason is because perfection here would neither suit our duty nor our case no were there perfection of holiness here it would overturn the whole frame of the Covenant which is that we shall go to Christ for pardon for healing for making up of wants Perfection would be inconsistent with all these beside to be perfect here would neither suit with time nor place take the finest Gold or the best Jewels and lay them in a reikie house readily they would get the smel of the reik It 's remarkable ever Paul was it danger to be puffed up with abundance of Revelations therefore it 's no wonder for as great as the Promises are that perfection be not promised for the Jewel would be in a reikie house and we would be puffed up with abundance of Revelations so it 's no way inconsistent with the covenant its being a covenant of Grace that the roving Patient hath not from the Physician all that he crys for the Physiciain gives what is suitable and agreeable to the nature of his case so the covenant is of perfect Grace because it contains promises of perfection and so much Grace as was necessar for our case Quest 4. The fourth Difficulty I would move against this the covenant its being a covenant of Grace Doth it not contain the Cross and are there not a multitude of clauses in it bearing afflictions and crosses And indeed some have observed the threatning part of Afflictions in the covenant it often holds as true as the promising part of Peace and pardon which may be a very great scruple sometimes in one that has taken them to the covenant and has resolved not to follow the guise of the world they will credit the Promises and take them to the covenant and in the mean time the only part of the covenant that is most verified is that part which contains the Cross the Promises of supping with him and bringing them into the banqueting house they know little of that But as for that part of the covenant they know He hath been a true and faithful witness and true to His word now the question is looks this like the covenant of Grace Ans For answer to this I desire ye may take notice of three things first Take notice what the covenant removes in reference to the Cross and we may go to
the Blessings of the Covenant if ye will but view them in their greatness that God should be our God that Christ should be our Mediator that we should have Pardon Peace Fellewship and Heaven readily we could neither Merit nor give Peace nor Service but some trivial thing in time but what could we do for Heaven if there were no more to make Popery odious that is enought that they plead for merit they that will plead for Justification by Works there seems to be some Magick in them 2. If ye view the Conditions or Terms on which they are made it 's impossible that there could be an Offer made but upon some terms unless God would bring all to glory both the Reprobate and Profane and the Godly he behoved to make some terms and it was impossible for him to make them lower than to accept of believe in and imprace the Son 3. If ye view the end of the Covenant which is the exalting of the glory of his Grace since the beginning of the World he hath exalted his power in his Government of the World and in the end he will exalt his Justice but here in making this Covenant he hath exalted his Grace so ye see this Covenant clear that it is meerly of Grace Before I clear any Objection against it I would inqure into the Reasons why the Lord would have this Covenant absolutely of Grace and free Favour many reasons are brought by them that treat of the Covenant but I will pitch on three or four 1. The Lord would have it a Covenant of meer Grace that is might be sure it could stand on no Foundation without tottering but on his Grace therefore it is of faith Rom. 4.16 That it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed that which makes the Covenant sure is that it stands on God's Grace the Covenant of Works stood on Adam's free will it 's true he had an excellent qualified will and abundance of power and con-creted greace too in as great a measure as he was capable of yet when it stood on Adam's inherent grace it could not be sure but now it stands on Gods grace so that Gods grace must fail before the Covenant fail why he hath made it stand on the foundation of Christ and so long as Grace endures the Covenant endures 2. As he hath made it sure to them that do not deserve it so he hath made it a Covenant of Grace that he might make all the refusers of it inexcusable If I had not come and spoken to them them had not had sin but now they have no cloke for their sin he might have come and spoken the Covenant of Works and that readily would not have taken away all excuses form them but Christ came and spake the Covenant of grace and if he came and spoke it what cloke can be invented for sin and rejecting of Christ in the Covenant ye are told he will forgive all by-gones if ye be but willing and thought ye have a mixture of unwillingness yet if ye come with that unwillingness and accept of his Offer he will forgive does not this take away all excuses what excuse can the sinner have and imagine to have at the great day when a Covenant of grace is offered to him and yet he rejects it 3. it 's of grace to keep the godly humble it keeps them humble if ye take a view of three things that are brought under th Covenant 1. The time was when they were like the worst of sinners there is not one piece of Clay in the hole of the pit not one stone in the Quarrie but they are like other Jacob is like Esau in the hole of the pit 2. Any thing that hath made the difference betwixt a Believer and a Reprobate it 's a thing given What hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why boasts thou as if thou had not received it they are alike in natures and any defference there is it 's but as ye saw on a wall there is one place of the eall dark and on another place there is a ray of the Sun that ray came not from the wall but from the Sun and if there be an Interpostion it will be as dark as any other place in the Wall and this contributes to keep them humble 3. The Lord would have this Covenant to be of grace that he might exalt his Son and there is indeed the great Reason of it the Father intended to exalt the humane nature of the person of the Mediator that is one Design like the Dream Joseph saw in the Fields I dreamed says he that all your Sheafs fell down and mine stood up this Dream the Father accomplishes in the Covenant of grace he would have yours and mine and all our Sheaves fall down and Christs stand up the exalting of him is well payed for he merited it does he not deserve it the exalting of his Son is one great Design he hath in preserving and governing of the World for he hath done him besides the love he had to him a wonderful piece of service that it is a wonder to be considered so that the Covenant might be sure that it might make the Be probate inexcusable for rejecting of him and make Believers humble and yet exalt Christ it 's made a Covenant of grace Lastly he would have it a Covenant of grace that there might run a considerable difference betwixt it and the old Covenant of Works I deny not but there was grace in that Covenant but it was nothing to this these Reasons do sufficiently evince why the Lord would have this Covenant of Grace Object There is one only Objection I will answer May not some say did not our Cautioner purchase this Covenant and in a legal sense what the Cautioner hath payed the Principal hath payed as to all uses of the Law the Act of the Cautioner is to be imputed to the principal Debitor and if the Cautioner hath payed how can it be a Covenant of grace and free favour Answ This Objection will be taken away if ye notice three things 1. It was Grace that made the Father give Christ was ever the like of it heard tell of a Father loving his Son and loving him so well and giving him for his enemy would that derogat any thing from Grace I like the Observation of a Divine he says there are many gracious promises in the Covenant but the Kernel of the grace of them lies in giving Christ of all the wonderful acts that ever was heard tell of the like of this was never heard that the Father shojld bive Christ it 's true Abraham offered to give his son Isaac but Abraham was a Servant and was commanded and he had done a great sin if he had refused beside he knew well that God was able to raise up an Isaac out of his Ashes so that is was of grace he