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
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
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