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
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
the Hearts or in external Words or Writing †Vide Mr. Baxter on Confirmation the way to Reformation Secondly In the New Administration of the Covenant which receives its Alteration very much from the New Constitution of the Church for in the former all Circumcised were in the Church here it 's only those that are Converted so all Abraham's Natural Seed through Isaac and Jacob were within the Covenant as to all its visible Priviledges but in this New Administration they are brought under the Covenant by the Lord 's pouring out his Spirit on them by his putting his Laws in their Minds and writing them on their Hearts Heb. 8. The very Import of having a Law in the Mind is a willing and ready Compliance with them known a being made willing in the day of his Power a hearty undertaking to perform them followed with some suitable Endeavours and what is this else but personal Covenanting Our satisfying our selves with a Virtual Performance of this is too common and too gross a defect to be indulged that is a complyance with the Duties of the Covenant in some measure without a serious setting about this Duty first and entring into it this is doing Violence to the Beauty and Order of this well ordered Covenant which requires our In-being before our Doing or our Receiving Secondly It is an Omission of a positive enjoyned Duty Thirdly It is very unbecoming God's transacting with us who has formerly drawn up the Covenant in all its Articles and has set his Name to it and has recorded it in his Word and has appointed a vast Number of Men under the Office of the Ministry to Publish it and has furnished them with the Spirit to Interpret and Inculcate it and their great Message is Be ye reconciled to God be at Peace with him enter into Covenant with him and faithfully keep and observe it Is this a suitable Correspondence to God's Transaction that we wo'nt come under Obligation but we will do as we find Opportunity and have Occasion or Convenience as it may consist with our other Interests and Concerns This is in effect to say we will not at all for the Covenant requires that we be wholly God's utterly denying our selves and all our Interests as he hath given himself wholly to us Fourthly The Manner of Persons entring into Covenant with Sathan who is God's Ape and who hath set up a Kingdom and a Covenant in direct Opposition to our Lord Jesus Christ may have some Influence both for Illustrating and Inculcating this Duty which the Learned Weems thus explains Sathan doth all he can to perswade his Subjects formally to Covenant with him to put one Hand under their Foot and another above their Head and give all between them to Sathan or to write a Bond of Resignation of themselves and Seal it with their Blood and if they be Baptized Christians that they formally Renounce their Baptism but if he cannot attain these things he has a set of Ordinances made up of Charms and unreasonable Arts as Astrology Chiromancy c. which he in his way Blesseth with Success as far as he can those who follow the Practice of them This is a Virtual Covenanting with him Now as we would not Judge all such Witches or Wizards who do too frequently Practise Charms either in Cures Prognosticks or Injuries so we ought not to think all true Christians who perform Christian Ordinances And if Covenanting with Sathan has such a Power to make us his that but very few are recovered from Hell who go to such a heighth in sinning what an Influence must Personal Covenanting with God have to make us his when there is so great difference in Contracting for we are gull'd and deceived in the one It is in great Ignorance we Covenant with Sathan Secondly Sathan deceives us and never fulfills the half of what he Promises Thirdly God has an antecedent Right and therefore our Covenanting with Sathan is Unlawful Fourthly God has a greater Power and he hath sent Christ on that very Office to destroy the Works of the Devil therefore there is a Possibility of Recovery out of that State but no final Relapse from the other for No man can pluck the Sheep out of the Father's hand Fifthly The Discouragements that hinder Persons from such a sacred Engagement are more from Ignorance of them than reality in the things themselves As first Some are frighted by the greatness of the Obligation and their Inability to perform To which I answer We are under all that Obligation already it rather relieves than oppresses Christ says his Burthen is light and his Yoke easie it is no more Burthen than Wings to a Bird for the Apostle says He that is not under the Law is under Grace and what things the Law says it is to them that are under the Law There is no Duty thou engagest to perform but thou wast obliged as a Creature to perform before and by this Covenanting thou getst a Right and Interest in Christ by which all thy past Disobedience is pardoned the burden of Guilt taken off and thou receivest strength to obey better for the future For the Providential Language of God in Covenanting with a Soul is the giving of his Spirit hence this is the Language of one that understandingly enters into Covenant with God Isa 45.24 Surely to him shall men come saying In the Lord have I righteousness and strength A second Discouragement is from the sense of Desertion and want of the Spirit from persons own unfitness and unholiness they say with Peter Depart from me for I am a sinful man Resp This is from a Mistake about the end of the Law the Lord blesses the Law or sends his Spirit to impower it Joh. 16. when the Spirit convinces of Sin so the end of this is to drive us to Christ to make us seek a shelter under Grace when we are scorched with the heat of the fiery Law Hence Christ calls Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden Secondly How disorderly would we have God to act toward us to say If he will fill us with Comfort and Joy and give us Assurance the very top Blessings of the Covenant in this Life or rather the Earnest and Beginnings of the other Life if he will fulfill all the Covenant to me then will I enter Covenant with him A third is from the fear of Hypocritical acting with God and so rather sin and provoke him to destroy me than to receive me into this State of Salvation Resp I know no better Cure of Hypocrisie than to bring and keep the Heart in the View of God and under the Awe of his Presence In the 18th of Luke we see this wrought a considerable Cure upon a Pharisee tho' the greatest Hypocrites in the World Vers 11. God I thank thee that I am not as other men He did not speak suitably to his own Principles to own God the Author of that
difference that was between him and any other Man in Matter of Religion It was the Awe of God upon Conscience that extorted the Truth out of it and I have heard Free-willers pray as inconsistently with their own Profession which made me have far more Charity to their Persons than their Principles But 2. Thy Condition is like the Lepers at the gate of Samaria thou art sure to starve if out of Covenant and art sure to sin against God out of Covenant in every thing thou dost but thou hast a May-be for it if thou fly to this Refuge and lay hold of the Covenant and dost not thou think that if God spoke immediately from Heaven to thee in a time of Plague Famine Sword or Sickness and say May be thou shalt be safe in such a Place that thou wouldst speedily fly to such an Asylum But we have more encouragement the King already holding out the Scepter and declaring his readiness to accept Imperfect Performance that we may approach with greater Courage than an Esther before her Ahasuerus Sixthly It is such an Encouragement at Death when all other Comforts prove as broken Cisterns without Water Thou hast made with me a Covenant is a Shete-Anchor of Hope and so much the more when they have had the Verdict of a Society of grave serious and experienc'd Christians that their Covenanting was not formal and hypocritical but sincere and accepted of God that the temper of Mind it was performed with could be the Effect of no less Author than the Spirit of God the Birth bespoke its Father to be Heavenly when each of that Company of sagacious Saints witness'd that it was on the same Bottom their Hopes were built and that their Souls were all in a like Condition in the same Bundle of Life and this not without a Minister of the Word holding that Glass before their Face wherein they might see their Language to be a Copy of that Original and that this Harvest was from the Seed of the Word This has prov'd to many the sweetest and strongest Cordial they had at Death and there is ground to judge the Consolation solid since Mat. 18. Christ has declar'd what they loose on Earth he would in Heaven what they agreed about to ask he would grant and such a Verdict is not pass'd without serious Prayer to God in the Name of Christ for a Judgment of Discerning in that present affair Is this the thing that discourages People from Joyning unto Churches of such a Constitution that becomes so much matter of Comfort and Encouragement at the hour of Death Who that are seriously concern'd about their own Salvation would want such an Ordinance of Tryal I think it is the Reverend Mr. Ba. who advises Persons to write the Condition of their Soul and desire some Ministers or understanding Christians Verdict of it But I think this Verdict is preferable on several Accompts 1. As much as the Verdict of many is before the Judgment of one or a Church before a single person's 2. As much as a Divine Ordinance that has such Promises of the Spirits Conduct Mat. 18. before a humane Help and Expedient That which indeed first recommended it to me was a Gentlewoman on her Death-bed who bewail'd David-like her want of growth much and had this complex Evidence alone left which she improved much more pathetically than I have here express'd it I have found it the Experience of three more since in the like condition tho not under such backsliding or desertion The Third Property is the Graciousness of the Covenant The word gracious is not in the Text nor is it any where in Scripture verbally the Epithet of this Covenant tho most usual among Divines and there is reason enough for it for a Covenant cannot be made between the Creator and Creature without a gracious condescendency and therefore some will not allow the Law of Works to bear the Name of a Covenant because there cannot be a Covenant and not of Grace Persons that have a Despotick Power as a Master over a Slave or a Father over a Child will not enter into Terms with them The end of a Covenant is to bring Persons under Obligation that are free and therefore Kings love not to hear of Covenant terms between them and their People Now Gods antecedent Right being Soveraign and absolutely founded on Creation it 's rather a giving away his Right than getting one Thy Maker is thy Husband contains a Miracle of Grace in it 2. It s being a Testament this famous Name gives Title to all the Bible the Old and New Testament This is the Nature of a Testament it can Convey nothing but what is good Priviledges but no Punishments All things that are Convey'd are Tokens Legacies Estate or Inheritance if any hard Condition be annexed the Person is not Obliged to accept so must be gracious by its being a Testament but how much more if we consider it as summ'd up by Christ from John 12. to 18. ch He leaves the Father our Tutor and Guardian the Holy Ghost Executor Heaven as an Inheritance Measures of Grace as Legacies Joy and Peace as Love-Tokens he leaves us under the Notion of Babes that cannot Forfeit their Estate without their Executor and Guardians consent which is impossible therefore in this sence true He that is born of God cannot sin 3. It 's gracious because so full of Promises Gal. 3.6.17 it 's call'd a Command and a Law too Ps 111.10 who hath commanded his Covenant for ever because all the Law that is holy just and good is still required in it being unchangeable in their Nature but now Grace shines in their being put in this Covenant where Grace is promised to enable and strengthen us to obey We are under all the Law Mat. 5. Christ came not to destroy it and our Condition enlarges the Duties of the Law mixes Humility with Sorrow Obedience with Repentance and so the new Discoveries of God by the Gospel enlarges the Objects of Faith Ye believe in God belive also in me And our Obligation is greater as a Married Woman is more obliged to Chastity than a Virgin and Moses's Nurse more obliged than another Nurse because also a Mother But there is so much Grace in the Promises that overballances all this 1. The mixing or joining of Christ's Works with ours the Covenant of Grace and Redemption together supply the Place of the broken Covenant of Works Hence our Imperfect Obedience if in Faith is accepted for perfect the Will for the Deed. Nathan says to David Because it was in thine Heart to build to me a House I will build to thee a sure House it admits of Repentance to supply the Place of Obedience it gives strength to Obey this Uniting of the Command and the Promise makes it appear Conditional but the Certainty and Ability to perform the Conditions both depending upon the Promises takes away the proper Nature of a Condition whose Properties
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
holds in Speculatives the latter in Practicals There are three things in the Covenant whose Order is principally to be observed The Subjects the Matter the Ends. 1. As to the Subjects I shall but name them First God is concern'd about the Covenant before us he made it Secondly That the Order of the Trinity is observable in it 1. It flows from the Love of the Father and is contrived by his Wisdom 2. The Blessings of it purchased or way for the Execution of the Contrivance that it might consist with the Justice of Divine Government made by the Son 3. The Execution of it is by the Spirit Thirdly That Christ as our Mediator and Head was in Covenant for us before us as the first Adam was in the first Covenant before us so the second Adam was hence we receive all thorough him Eph. 1. He hath bless'd us with all spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus He shall take of mine and give it unto you We eat his Flesh and drink his Blood we receive our Measures from that Immense fulness treasur'd up in him There was no new Covenant to intervene between the first Adam and his Seed in order to their partaking of the Priviledges promised to him or possess'd by him Fourthly Persons must first be in Covenant before they partake of its Priviledges Subjects must precede their Properties all the Promises of the Bible blotting out Sins and Iniquities cannot solidly comfort thee who art not in Covenant only thus far I may be in Covenant and then they are mine The Man must be first taken before any Right to what he has this is the one thing necessary to poor Sinners that they be in Covenant once Fifthly There is a great difference tho not in Right yet in Priority of Order as to Possession among the Subjects of this Covenant 1 Cor. 15.23 Every one in their own Order Isa 9. Of the Increase of his Government there will be no end and that Increase by Order There are Variety of Forms and Classes in Christs School the Lowest is in this World which is but a meer Initiation into it The greatest Blessings here bear the Nature of Titles or Earnests of the Future Eph. 1.17 tho so big as to enable us to live to maintain and propare us By vertue of this Order Sinlesness is as necessary a Condition of our entring Heaven as Faith is of our Pardon or Justification 2. There is the Order of the Matter of the Covenant which consists in the Promises and Precepts of it abstractly or in their mutual Aspect 1. Abstractly with respect to the Promises of the Covenant there is an Order among them there are some Promises whose fulfillment we may expect and do enjoy in this Life some not as that no Temptation shall befall us that shall totally conquer us in this Life but a perfection in Knowledge and Holiness a doing away of what is in part a being without Spot or wrinkle are Blessings proper to the future Life a being freed from all Suffering is proper to the other Life 1 Pet. 5.9 There is no Promise but what beiongs to the Covenant nor no Blessing but what comes thro' the Promises 2. There are some Promises absolute others conditional God gives a Stock before he requires any Improvement God required no Duty untill he had made a Creature and â—â—tted it with Faculties for performing of the Duties he required nor doth now the Covenant of Grace although the Law still keep up its Right and claim the exercise of Faith one of the first duties of the Covenant but the Gift of Faith is before it The Promise of the Redeeming Seed Gen. 3. was preventive of all Duties there was need of believing it in order to all saving Blessings by it Heb. 11. but the Nature of that Faith was such as no external Revelation or Motives could alone bring forth A clear Discovery ver 1. of invisible things realized to the Mind the Idea of them form'd in the Soul for Joh. 1. darkness could not comprehend the Light and the natural Man knoweth not the things of God 3. Legal Promises are before Evangelical Joh. 16. the Spirit convinces of Sin before it convince of Righteousness though there be great difference between the degrees of Conviction and Humiliation some are under yet no man will ever fly to a Refuge that is not sensible of need no man will trust to anothers Righteousness that doth not despair of his own when the Law came sin revived and I dyed 4. The Promises about the Being and exercise of Grace are before the Knowledge of them An Act presupposes an Object there are many things in our Souls we are ignorant of or doubtful about Whether Freedom be an Attribute of the Will or rather of the Man How far it is active or passive Whether it can form an Idea never impress'd Whether it be capable of Traduction or another Soul may be propagated from it or created out of it And how long may we be ignorant of the Accesses and Recesses of the Spirit of God with which is his Language to it and what Influences speak a State past the danger of final Relapsing 5. The Promises that give a Capacity before them that fill and satisfie it It is not orderly acting to put an Estate in a Minors power one under Age. Our Lord took two of the most ripe and early Children that ever this World afforded and gave the World an Experiment of their Unfitness for enjoying the Comforts and ravishing Enjoyments of the other World Peter and Paul they were both confounded they knew not what they said nor what they heard 6. The Promises suited to our Need rather than Desire Our Desire is corrupted and feverish we often long for what would injure us but our Saviour minds our Salvation first this is all my Salvation and all my Desire 7. The Lord reserves to himself some Monuments of his former despotical Right a Sovereignty in the disposal of some Blessings in the Covenant as about all outward Blessings Plenty Peace Prosperity about the Time of effectual Calling into the Covenant about the continuance under Legal Frames or a spirit of Bondage there is a May be as to many Mercies in the Fifth Command Honour thy Father c. that thy days may be long God may give another Mercy for long Life If a man give a pound of Gold for Lead he breaks not Promise especially where more need of it The Second Part of the Matter of the Covenant is its Precepts and Commands There is a beautiful Order also observable among them 1. In a suitableness to our Condition He lays not heavy Burdens and galling Yoaks on the Necks of Children but the most easie and facile the Work and Employ of Angels who perpetually praise God is not charg'd on us or such Personal War with Devils the chaining and restraining of them We are not fit to be God's Instruments in the great Revolutions and Messages they
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