of which ye will find meeting in the Covenant of Grace 1. Ordinarly the Master and the Superior Indentures with the Servant for several things the Servant according to the nature of his station is to perform his part of his Service every one that comes under a Covenant are not called to the same service the Master will have one to wait on his own person another to hold the plough a third to call the plough yet all come under a Despotick Covenant with the Master thus it is in the Covenant of Grace the great Lord and Mediator has Treated the Covenant so as every Christian that enters in Covenant though he be not bound to all the Work of other Servants yet he becomes particularly bound to all the work of the Station and of the calling to which by the Covenant he is called readily he is not bound to the work of an Officer but to the work of a more privat station but all the Duties of his station the Covenant binds him to them whatever be the station thou art in whether thou be a Merchant or a Master or a Servant or a Friend whatever be the station or relation God in the Covenant has bound thee to all the Duties of that station both in reference to thy Master and all thy fellow-servants so that when we wrong our neighbour let it be in his name or in his Possession we fall under a breach of one Article of the Covenant so though the Covenant bind first and principally the Master to the Servant coming under the Despotick Covenant and the Servant he is especially bound to the Master yet when he is under that Despotick covenant the Master will not allow the Servant to strike his fellow-Servants but he is bound in his carriage to be at Peace with others so in this Despotick-covenant it binds first to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our mind with all our soul and also to love our neighbour as our selves so the injuries done to our Neighbour are a breach of the Covenant with God 2. In a Despitick-covenant we have not only service Required but it 's ordinary for Masters to tell the Servants the manner of the service he will have them to do it humbly and obediently and readily now in the Covenant of Grace as the Father has enjoyned all the Duites of the station of the Servant he takes in Covenant so be hath told the manner how it must be performed he tells it must be performed sincerely and in faith and with an eye to Christ and from a Principle of Love to God and to the Glory of his Master or else he tells us in the Covenant he will regard it no more than the cutring off a dogs neck or as if he had killed a man so when we do the duties of our station if we do them not with the qualifications required in the Covenant we break the Covenant O how many breaches are we guilty of when we are so little at our Duty when we engaged in the service we engaged to do it seincerely and spiritully that it 's not done in Love Faith and in the right Gospel Motive we break the Covenant no wonder many Believers go with their hand on their loins for breach of his Laws when both the Duties of the station are neglected or if they be done they are not done according to the qualifications required 3. In doing this service there is a Reward promised on the Masters part to the Servant the Lord of that Servant when eh cometh verily I say unto you the Master shall make him Lord over all that he hath nay more the Lord of that Servant shal gird himself and stand and serve him so that in effect in this Covenant as the Covenant binds to the Duties of the station and that they should be done in such and such a manner so there is a great Reward promised to them that do them Lastly Sometimes liberal Masters in making Covenants with Servants will give them some Arles something in hand so we read in Scripture of the Earnest of the Spirit that is in our beginnings the Arles of the Spirit the beginnings of Love of life of Liverty of Peace with God of delight in God they are like a Master that he may encourage the Servant to do the Work he hath commanded him not only he promises to give him a Reward but to give him all that he hath and will give him an Earnest of that It 's remarkable Princes that intend to be liveral in their Offers which they make as Herod did to Herodias they have said Ask of me and I will give it thee to the half of my kingdom never one offered to give them all that he had and to make them Ruler over all that he had so ye see the Tenor of the Covenant under all these three Formalities but all these three hold not out the nature of it so fully as the fourth it 's a Marriage Covenant it 's a Covenant Transacted not only quing together c. but it is a Marriage Covenant and that best expresses the nature of it SERMON VI. 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow AMong many Differences betwixt the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace this is one there is no Promise in the Covenant of Works but there are four Commands for it but there is no Command in the Covenant of Grace but it hath two Promises there is a promise of strength to obey and a promise of Reward when it is obeyed Therefore no wonder it be called a Covenant of Promises I told you that there were four sorts of Covenants among men and the Covenant of Grace was a Complex of all the four it had something of the nature of a Covenant of Peace and War it has something of the nature of a Covenant of Traffique and Commerce it 's a Despotick Covenant such as betwixt Master and Servant and Prince and Subjects but the truth is all these three do not fully express the nature of it therefore the fourth which remain a little to be spoken to will open it more fully it 's a Marriage covenant therefore ye find very frequently in Scripture mention of Espousals 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you saith Paul as a chast virgin to one husband even to Jesus Christ I will remember thee the kindness of thy youth even of thy espousals herein it differs from the Covenant of Works the Covenant or Works was foedus amicitiae God and Adam were friends but this is foedus conjugale a Marriage-covenant That I may the better open this formality of the Covenant as a Marriage-covenant I will offer these two things to be considered 1. I will shew you that this Covenant establisheth a Marriage
1. There must be consent to all the Articles by both parties And 2. There must be Obligations to secure the consent for the future otherways variable Creatures like us if there were not a penalty and a curse put into the Covenant what would our consent signifie Now both the two are necessar in Transacting of all these four sorts of Covenants in all the Head and Articles of it First There must be consent of parties to make up the Covenant Secondly An Obligation trom the hazard or curse in case that insent be past from and here I will speak a little of the Consent that is necessary to make up this Covenant I need not speak of the Consent on Gods part I will evidence to you the most hearty consent that ever waâ given to a Contract on His part by these three things First He committed the drawing of the Govenant to the Mediator It 's true the Prophets were the Pen-men and Secretaries but the Mediator was the Inspirer of all the Articles now it was an evidence of His hearty consent that He committed the drawing of the Covenant to the Mediator and t is Glory is a thousand times more advanced by the Covenant of Grace than it was by the Covenant of Works all the payment He would have gotten from Adam was nothing to the payment he hath gotten from His Son if all the Angels if all the Sons of Adam had met together to do Him service they would not all make up such a piece of service as he got from His Son the Man that was His Fellow 2. His consenti's all along declared in the Scripture why has He penned this Bible and appointed his Ministers to Preach and press it on people if He were not serious in his designs Why makes he such protestations As I live I delight not in the death of sinners Why weeps he when his offers are refused as he did over Jerusalem if he had not given his consent in the Covenant 3. The Mediator that drew the Covenant and sealed it by a Testament with His Blood of all the persons that ever were received into Glory He received Him in the greatest Triumph when he welcomed His first-born Son to Glroy He set Him down on His right hand and bade all the angels worship him If He had not done Him the greatest Service would He have used Him so And would He had so great pleasure to have them singing Worthy worthy is the Lamb But all the matter in making up the Covenant is about our Consent to the Covenant now a Christian gives his consent to the Covenant and thereby in all the four Heads makes it to be a sure and fast Bargain First We give our consent to the Covenant in the second Adam as we gave an implicite consent to the Covenant of Works in the first Adam so we gave a consent to the Covenant of Grace in the second Adam Here you would take notice that though the Covenant of Grace be made with all Believers and every particular Believer may make use of it as if it were only intended for him yet the principal Parties Treating the Covenant are the Father and the Mediator the Covenant of Grace is especially made with the Mediator now when the Messiah giveth His consent and accepts of the Covenant as a Publick Person standing in the room and supplying the place of all the Elect we gave our consent in Him and the truth is there is never a Christian that comes to be backward to imbrace the Covenant or that after they had imbraced the Covenant breaks it but in a manner they say that Christ consented to more than they will stand to for as the Father in Baptism binds the Son to the Covenant so the Mediator as a Publick Person standing in the room of all the Elect the Father had given His consent and the Mediator had given His consent to the Covenant in all our Names and has engaged to get our consent as a Husband may consent for the Wife or the Parent may consent for the Child that is a Minor so doeth Christ as a publick Person consent in our Name and who ever break the Covenant they as it were flee away from our consent of the Covenant Transacted betwixt the Father and the Mediator Secondly We give our consent to all the Articles of the Covenant in our Baptism A Christian before he can be engaged to other Lovers the Lord keeps him as it were from the Womb he will give him his Name the Seal of the Covenant it 's true the Parent binds for the Children as men may make Bonds binding their Heirs so they have a warrant to bind for their Children to God There are two consents we give and both of them are implicite our Parents binds us to be Christ Friends in Baptism to buy of him gold fine linen and to accept of him for our Lord to marry him and to have nearest Union with him and the sweetest Communion that may be enjoyed But there is a two-fold explicite consent that we give to the Covenant First It 's an explicite consent when we accept of the external Priviledges of the Church the Word and Sacraments when we accept of these and state our selves Members of the Church the very accepting of the Priviledges is a consent to all the Articles of the Covenant a person that is not resolved to be serious in taking the Covenant on all these four Heads had done better not to have accepted the Priviledge of the Church the very accepting of the priviledge to go to the Church to get your Children Baptized to come to the Table of the Lord is as much as to say I will stand to what the Mediator Treated and what my Parents did engage to when I was Baptized 2. We give this explicite consent either in the Sacrament of the Supper or at any time that a Christian comes under a personal Vow both of these are express consents so that though it may be as ye will hear the consent be not cordial for there are many kinds of consents to the Covenant though I say the consent be not cordial yet it 's enough to bring thee under the curses of the Covenant though it bring thee not under the blessings of the Covenant thou has neither a Covenant of Friendship nor a Covenant of Traffique the Mediator gave his consent and thy Parents gave their consent and in they accepting of the Priviledges of the Church and the Sacrament of the Supper thou gave thine and though they bring thee not to to be married to the Mediator yet they may bring thee under the Curse of the Covenant for when it may be thou replyes thou did not give thy consent to the Covenant but thy consent was given in thy accepting of the priviledges of the Church or when thou came to the Sacrament of the Supper or came under a personal Vow and in this consent either we accept and cordially imbrace the
and I have heard that God cannot make greater Promises and to speak with reverence It 's impossible for him to make greater and shall the like of me a poor ignorant polluted thing make a Covenant with him I confess thou had reasoned well if thou had been under a Covenant of Works but since thou art under a Covenant of Grace I will say but these three things to thee 1. If thou will go home this night and give him thy hand and Indenture with him to be true and faithful to him though thou hast no money all these things shall be given thee without money and without price 2. I will say more to thee though thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me Nay 3. I will say yet more to thee whatever thy guiltiness hath been and though thou has been a transgressor from the womb yet if thou wilt yet go and seriously indenture with him and enter in a personal Covenant for the time to come all former by-gones shall be by-gones and thy want of money and want of price to give for all these things shall be no hinderance to thee and the great reason I give for this it is a Covenant of Grace therefore go and indenture with him and take the tide ãâã it it may be the Master rise and close the door on you and if ye be found without and go down to the Grave onâ of these days ye may meet with Depart from me I know you not therefore take the tide so long as the Mercat lastâ and go and engage in this Covenant of Grace A second sort it speaks to if it be a Covenant of Grace it speaks a word of reproof to you that do not notice and take it up as a Covenant of Grace and there are three sorts that take it not up so 1. There are some that would take up the Covenant of Grace for a Covenant of Liberty and Licentiousness indeed it 's a Covenant of Grace but not of Liberty and thou that wilt go and neglect Prayer and be a stranger to all the acts of fellowship with God and of Grace and will go follow thy Lusts and will talk of a Covenant of Grace thou calls it a Covenant of Liberty and of all Creatures he will be angry with and be avenged of it will be thou 2. It reproves these that never will deal with God by way of a Covenant of Grace but by way of a Covenant of Works ay when they come to him they would ay have money in their hand to give for the wine milk and honey proud man cannot endure to hold of free Grace of all the Doctrines of the World it hath been most opposed in the Church Papists Socinians Arminians Lutherians they become generally enemies to it 3. It reproves these that though they acknowledge it to be a Covenant of Grace and without merit and alluring motive yet they would have it a Covenant of a mixed nature they would have some mixtures of some things of their own in with the Grace of God therefore they go constantly trembling alas I have such a heart and such a way I have no love to God nor delight in him therefore they will cast away hope as if the Covenant were a Covenant partly of Grace and partly of Works no it 's a Covenant of pure and unmixed Grace it 's a Covenant of perfect and full Grace it 's a Covenant of persevering and continuing Grace now go not to turn it into a Covenant of another nature But since the Father hath resolved to exalt Christ and his Grace subscribe to the Tenor of the Covenant Thirdly It serves to press Believers to make use of it as a Covenant of Grace I will tell you three or four things wherein I will especially press you to make use of it as a Covenant of Grace 1. If ye have any great thing to seek from God may be some have a Temporal thing to seek from him they have a strait to come thorow may be some have a Spiritual thing to seek they have committed a sin and would have pardon for it and they can scarcely expect that God will hear them take up this Covenant as a Covenant of Grace it is the nature of this Covenant to give Pardon freely without money and without price and if ye go to him and say Lord bring me out of such a strait Lord forgive me such a sin and ye think ye will not be heard why I have no money to give for it but let the Papists give their Pardons it 's not so in this Covenant 2. Make use of it in answering all challenges I will have occasion when I come to that Although my house be not so with God To let you see how the Covenant answers challenges I believe it 's the thing that makes many Christians spend the most part of their Religion in complaints they are either ignorant or forgetful of the Covenant 3. Improve it in all external difficulties In a word there is no case no incident case no challenge no difficulty no petition we carry to God but the consideration of the Covenant and of all the Promises of it as an Act of free favour and Grace may be eminently useful to them Learn all of you to take it up as a Covenant of Grace and take heed when God hath given you a Covenant of Grace and the Mediator hath purchased it that ye deal not ordinarly with your self as if ye were under a Covenant of Works SERMON IX 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Proposed in this Verse five particulars to be handled First The nature of David's security it 's a Covenant I have spoken to this in some preceeding Sermons and I purposed to dwell no more on it Therefore I come to the second Branch of the Words The Parties among whom this Covenant is Transacted The Lord hath made with me a Covenant That I may the better reach what is comprehended in this Branch of the Verse I desire may take notice of four particulars in it 1. Ye have the Author and efficient cause of this Covenant The Lord hath made He doeth not say I have made with the Lord but the Lord hath made with me a Covenant 2. Ye have the Parties concerned in this Covenant the Lord and me 3. I shall take notice of the particulars and personal way of Covenanting or expressing these Parties he says not the Lord and Christ and the Lord and all the Elect have made a Covenant but the Lord hath made with me personally Lastly I shall take notice of the Assurance which his confident asserting of it imports he can affirm it with a deal of confidence as a thing he is perswaded of The Lord hath made with
I will cast you in Hell no Superiâââ especially being infinitely a Superior would have done otheââwise 2ly This makes it wonderful in regard a Covenant seems to be a Treaty among equals it 's not ordinary to maââ Despotick Covenants betwixt Princes and Subjects or Covenants betwixt Masters and Servants but betwixt Friends aââ Equals or Persons in Marriage they that come under a Maâârage Covenant ordinarily there is some Equality of their blooââ or of their Lot but to come under a Covenant with him aââ yet he to be our Maker thy Maker is thy Husband are words ãâã wonder Therefore it may be a great Question in the entry ãâã this Theme what is the reason that should move God whââ being mans Maker and might call for all he could do withoââ a Covenant to enter into a covenant with him it's so great ãâã Mystery that Mr. Durham pens that there is any proper covenant of Grace he says it 's so far below God to make a covenant There are many Reasons given why he hath entered in covenant with man and when they have breanched them all out ãâã seven eight nine or ten Branches they resolve all in âââce in Love in condescendency There can be nothing âââgined to induce him to deal with man by covenant but this ãâã true man is honoured thereby and encouraged to do him âââice and made inexcusable by it if he do him not hearty âââice who has been pleased to come under a covenant with ãâã and to abase himself and to encourage him in his ââvice and when they have branched all the Reasons in all âââir Members to the outmost there is nothing that could âââve so great a Lord to enter in a covenant with such base ââângs but alâanerly his Condescendency his Grace and his ââââe especially if ye take in the Tenor of the covenant a covenant on such Terms that he shall take his own Son and âââer him up in a sacrifice to let us go free and of all the acts ãâã Grace that ever he yet shewed or will shew nay I may ãâã more of all the Acts of Grace he can shew there cannot ãâã a greater The third Consideration that I will give you about this ãâã that God has made two Covenants with Men I know ââdeed there are some of our Country men speak of three ââvenants some of four Cameron a professor in Glasgow ââd France is for a Covenant of Nature Mr. Dickson has ââd much to prove a Covenant of Redemption the current ãâã Divines reduce them to two Covenants according to that âorld Gal. 4. Which things are an Allegory for these are ââe two Covenants I will not debate whether they be two ãâã three or four Covenants the Covenant of Nature the âovenant of Redemption the Covenant of Works the Covenant ãâã Grace I will only speak to the two Covenants that God âs condescended to deal with men Covenant-wayes and there âe at least two signal Covenants the Covenants of Works and âe Covenant of Grace I 'le not dilate much on the Covenant ãâã Works for it 's in the Covenant meaned by the Text that I am ãâã it would take many Sermons to tell wherein the Covenant ãâã Works agrees with the Covenant of Grace and wherein it âiffers I will readily have occasion to hint at it but this Covenant of Works is not the Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and made Sure only because it falls so directly in my wââ I will clear two Questions about the Covenant of Works aâ shall say no more of it and they are indeed the two great difficulties that ly about it Quest First it 's asked what evidence is there that God maââ a Covenant of Works with Adam we find not in all the Boââ of Genesis in all the Writings of Moses any thing that worâ seem to confirm this that there was a Covenant made wââ Adam there was a Command and a Threatning given hiâ but what ground was there to think that there was a Covenâ made with him Answ For Answer to this I will not deny what Mr Burgâ acknowledges that readily Adam might scarcely know to he was to bind for him and all his posterity I know not that can be fully and particularly evinced from Scripture ãâã that Adam came under a Covenant of Works with God thâ things will make it appear 1. In the new Testament ãâã 4.23 The transaction made betwixt God and Adam is call two Covenants expressely there meant by the bond-woman aââ the free But 2. All the parties of the Covenant are mention in the Book of the Genesis Gen. 2.16 and 17. Verses Of the trees of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the treâ knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the ãâã thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die These words are a diââ Covenant for 1. There is a Duty imposed thou shalt not eaâ it and there is a Threatning thou shalt surely die the Threatening contains a Promise importing this so long as thou ãâã not of the tree thou shalt not die Adam upon the oââ hand accepted this Command on thir terms not only ãâã he not object against the terms but accepted them by take him to the priviledge of eating all the Trees of the Gardââ and when he violat and transgressed the Command his conâââence terrified him and he sewed figtree-leaves together hide himself from God the terror of his Conscience ââââported his condescendency to the Command and Therââning that was a direct Covenant for all the terms of ãâã Law were written in his heart and they were con-natural him he had them from his creation he had the Law wââten in his heart as distinctly as we have the ten Commaââ Many other things are brought to prove that it was a distââ Covenant of Works made with Adam before his fall and as tryal was put to the Tree in the midst of the Garden and âoses gives us account of all things of a covenant both on God's art and Adam's part Quest 2. I 'le clear another difficulty now after the fall who ââre the persons that are under this covenant of Works made with Adam For clearing of this I will only give this one poââtion That all natural men and all that are not effectually called they are under this Covenant of Works I have often had a design to follow this point the reasons of this are ãâã They are in the first Adam there can be no real claim to âhe covenant of Grace untill we be interessed in the covenant we can no more plead the priviledges of the covenant of Grace in a natural state than a woman can plead âhe Articles of a contract that is not married to the man âhe contract corcerning her untill we be effectually called ând in our effectual calling united to Jesus which is but âhe Articles of the contract of marriage betwixt Christ and Believers we have no more right to the covenant of Grace âhan
the woman that has not married the man this is a most dreadful state for to be under a covenant of Works admits of no repentance if a man should mourn as many tears as there are water in the Sea if they be under a covenant of Works they find no place for repentance Next the covenant of Works admits of no cautioner a person under the covenant of Works pleading to Christ is like man pressing another to pay a Debt and his name was never named in the bond can a man be cautioner and his name never named in the bond the covenant of Works admits not of Christ for a cautioner So he that is in the first Adam and not effectually united to Christ the covenant in which he is admits neither of Repentance nor of a Mediator the truth is to go gand discourse to you of this covenant of Works of the nature and properties of it it might draw out a great length all that I designe to say is that there is such a covenant made with Adam and that all natural men are under it 4. That I may come to the covenant mentioned in the Text the everlasting and will ordered and sure covenant I must premise before I enter on this covenant some few generals about it I will name some of them now and follow the rest in the afternoon First This covenant has four names given it in the Bible and truly all the four do excellently express and open the nature oâ it First it 's called a Testament Secondly it 's called a Promise the Promise made to Abraham this is the Covenant made with Abracham Thirdly it is called a Decree And lastly its called a Covenant Now these that would rightly take up the Nature of the covenant would consider something of all the four for in effect we cannot rightly take up the nature of it except we search a little in these four names given unto it First It 's called a Testament Heb. 7.22 When christ is spoken of to be the Mediator of it he his said to be Surety ãâã a better Testament now the consideration of it as a Testament renders it exceedingly Sweet I will name but found things in a Testament that agrees to a covenant 1. a Testament it comes not to be valid except it be ratified with the death of the Testator if the man that makes the Testament live he may revock or alter it or turn it in another strain than it was but when this death comes to be interâposed all the Legacies left by the Testator become firâ and valid and must be obeyed it 's a sacred thing to obey the will of the dead the light of nature has made Heathen tremble at doing contrair to the will or the dead the Testament is ratified in all the Articles and clauses of it by the death of the Testator this is that which renders it excelent that the Lord has made the covenant a Testament and ratified it by the death of the Testator So what we are ãâã say of the covenant as a Testament it 's still to be remembered that there is no alterations to be made now more than there is of the will of the dead we are not to contrive new Articles in the covenant or to think that any Article in it will not be subscribed for the Testator is dead and has ratified the covenant with the death that he did undergo at Jerusalem in all the Articles of it 2. It has thââ as a Testament in it that in effect in a Testament there in no more required but to accept the Legacies that the Testator leaves it 's not like a mans Testament as it is in a covenant of Traffick wherein one binds to give ãâã much cloth and the other binds to pay so much Money ordinarly ãâã Testament is without such Trafficks but in the covenat Legacies are left and the persons to whom they are left it 's required of them that they accept and there is no more required of them but that they accept this makes it of the nature of a Testament 3. It has this in it of the nature of a Testament and wherein he exceeds all other Testaments that the Legator leaves Legacies and he leaves others to give them but he in the covenant first leaves the Legacies and then he gives the Legacies it 's remarkable when he is about to die he calls his Disciples and tells them he is going to Jerusalem and he behoved to die there It was in his fare-well Sermon and they were much against his going and he tells them I will leave you a Legacy My Peace I leave you and he puts in the things that never man did put in any of a Testament and My peace I give you so that it has the nature of a Testament in it consisting of Legacies 4. It has this of a Testament which is also singular it 's not ordinary in Testaments Lawyers observe that both the Law of Nature and all other Laws have made against it that men should dispose of an Inheritance by Legacies and Testament the reason is because they think folk when they are dying are not so composed therefore the wronging of Heirs comes to be excepted in disposing of Inheritances but in this Testament it 's not Peace or Pardon or Communion with God that he leaves only but it 's a Testament wherein he Communicats the Inheritance without wronging of the Heir So it has something of a Testament in it it takes in Inheritance as well as Moveables and so it 's formally a Testament and therefore the Spirit of God and the current of Interpreters on the Scrptures thought fit to call the Scrptures the Old and New Testament the same on the matter with the Old and New Covenant but I pitch on the name of Testament as it were to shew his latter will both to shew what Curses he leaves and what Blessings he leaves and the way how to get the one and eshew the other they are confirmed by the Death of the Testator nay the Heir is rather glorified by the Testament though it take in the Inheritance SERMON IV. 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I have shewed you what a Covenant is this it is a Sacred ty among parties agreed about some Article There is no man nor society of men can loose the t ys of a lawful Covenant but it binds if it be vinculum reale as they call it the persons and their Posterity Moralists have acknowledged this by the light of nature demonstrable by many Arguments I came to speak of the Covenant of Works and touched only on it in two heads First to prove that it was made with Adam and that all the unregenerat are under it and in the close I came to speak
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 pitiââ 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 siââing 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã 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 ãâã also give thee and I will renew a right spirit within theeâ There is no command but there is a Promise suâtable 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
of repentance when we have done an ill turn to our selves if we had weeped as many Tears as there are Waters in the Sea If we should give the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul if we had offered our Children to God for what we had done it was all to no purpose In the day thou eats thou shalt die but though this Covenant be commands and yet though they be broken if we go and mourn over them the Covenant admits of Repentance And lastly which takes away the gall of being a command it admits of a cautioner and the Covenant is so ordered that it we can go and mourn and lay the weight on Jesus it 's all one as if we had not broken it at all so that it is a command of all that the Covenant of Works command and of many moe for there are many things commanded in the Covenant of Grace that were not commanded in the Covenant of Works and yet the calling of the Covenant a command takes not away the grace and freedom of it So ye have heard of the Covenant of Grace and of the three Names given to it that are handled this day it 's a Testament a Promise and a Command but the Name I especially designed to handle is the calling of it a Covenant Vse I will not fall on the Covenant now only I exhort you to three things which I resolved to press in the close of this Sermon 1. From all the work of the day learn the difference betwixt the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works if ye be out of the state of Nature and can prove your effectual calling and that God has wrought a work of Conversion within you I know no tempation nor discouragement that needs to afflict you with the fear of Hell make but sure under what Covenant ye are and that God has indeed brought you to be born again and stated you under a Covenant of Grace the Glory ye look for how simple how low how guilty soever ye be it 's left to you as a Legacy in Christ's Testament and the Father will not control the will of the Dead If thou can come to be stated under a right Covenant thou needs not fear to plead as a Dept of Justice Lord give me thy Peace and thy Pardon If thou should say I am simple poor and ignorant but will these make exception against the things left in Testament by Christ The Mediator has left them in the Testament and if thou know once the things left thee in Testament nothing can obstruct any Peace however there may be a Fatherly anger there is nothing that can obstruct fundamentally and radically thy Peace about thy great interest for they are thine by vertue of a Testament and the Father cannot but fulfil the Will of the dead Learn then to know what Covenant ye are under for if ye be in Nature all your grief for sin all your repentance for sin all your pleading to Christ is all in vain yââ Covenant admits neither of Repentance nor of a cautionââ is the danger of men that are not effectually called on ãâã acount 2. I would have you look on this Covenant as a Promiââ when ye get any thing of it either accomplished or a woââ let in to you of it remember how ye held it Isaiah ãâã many a sweet Promise Jeremiah has many a sweet Promiâââ Ezekiel Moses and all the rest of the Prophets has maââ a sweet Promise and how come they to be set down thereââ They were not besought by us we did not so much as seââ them to be set down far less were they purchased by ãâã they came only by Promise and take in what is requiââ to a Promise these things are the fruit of his condesceâdency of his liberallty and they bring an obligation ãâã him to accomplish them 3. And I close with it from the work of this day ãâã may see that the Covenant is a command they have brokââ my Covenant that is they have broken my command theââ are many practical Antinomians among us they run away ãâã the Promises and forget that the covenant is a command ãâã no it's a Truth that I am not afraid to Preach there is nothing that the covenant of Works requires but it 's required in the covenant of Grace and a great deal more theâ were many things never called for in the covenant of Workâ that are called for in the covenant of Grace and yet thââ Believer needs not be discouraged they are all promisedâ the Will will be accepted for the Deed but if thou ãâã down carelesly and cast off the command and pleads ãâã the covenant as a Promise thou takes not up the covenanâ aright of all persons bound to keep the covenant it 's thou that art in covenant with him like Moses Mother that nurâed the child not only out of command but out of Loveâ but of all the Rebels that ever sinned against him are these that sin against this command SERMON V. 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. ââthough my house be not so with God yet he hath made with ãâã me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure ãâã for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he ãâã makes it not to grow I Entred the last day to speak of the covenant of Grace and the first thing I proposed concerning it was to consider the Names it gets in the Bible I have spoken of is as a Testament and I have exhorted you to labour to try if your Names were in the Testament It 's called ãâã Promise and it 's likewise called a Command of all which âe heard the last day but the proper Name of it it 's called ãâã Covenant it 's true Antinomians they deny that properly it 's a covenant for they say it 's free and without conditions but in effect this covenant of Grace whatever Grace appears in it it 's properly a covenant There are three things that properly make up a covenant and all the three concur in this covenant First there are parties indenturing and treating and concluding together 2. There are articles and terms on which the agreement is made 3. There is the interposing of Obligations for ratifying the Articles for the covenant carries a curse in the bosom of it against the breakers of the covenant and where these three are there is properly a covenant these three I would make appear to you for the Parties I will not speak of them now when I come to the second Branch of the v. God hath made with me I will ââeak of the Parties The things that I will insist on to evince the nature of this covenant to you is the Articles and the Obligations that are interposed for the ratifying of these Artieles the clearing of these two will contribut much to open the nature of the Covenant Therefore hearken and ponder them As for the Articles that ye may know what
Covenant or by our consent we expose our selves to all the curses of it the very consent engages us to all the curses of it therefore will he say unto thee Out of thy mouth I condemn thee So the Father is cordial in in his consent and the Mediator can bear him witness of it and all in the visible Church they visibly profess they stand to the Covenant at he drew it they approve of the consent he gave and that their Parents gave in Baptism and by their accepting of the outward priviledges of the Church and when they take the Sacrament of the Supper they give their own consent and when they have given their own consent they are either under all the curses of the Covenant or all the blessings of it Quest I will only clear one case of Conscience that may be very obvious against this Doctrine and so shall close this Sermon some may say I am afraid to give an express consent or else I would go home from this Sermon and go to a corner and tell him I owne what the Mediator did when he consented to the Covenant in my Name I owne what my Parents did in Baptism and I give my own consent and gives my hand and as it were strikes hand with the Father I will go and do all these things but I am afraid to give my consent on a two-fold account 1. I am afraid that my consent be not sincere And 2. I am afraid that it be not abiding I confess this is a great Objection for the Covenant cannot be really Treated but by Confenters who are upright and who will persevere For answer to the Question I will offer you two or three things 1. I would have you notice that several times the first motive of the Souls consenting to Covenant with God it 's often fear I confess indeed fear is a changeable thing and we may do with our fears asthe fame goes of the man that when he was upon Sea he Vowed to the Virgin Mary that if he came safely to Land he would offer her a pound of Candle but when he came to Shore he said a plack candle might serve her our resolution alters with our Fears yet many times fear of Hell and desire of Heaven drives on the beginning Ye must not think the work will not be sincere because the fear of Hell may be at the bottom of thy consenting to the Covenant no like a Woman that is marrying a Man the first motive of the Marriage is he is a great man and has a great Estate and I will have an easie life with him but yet afterward she comes to love him for himself the beginning of the work and thy giving thy hearts consent to owne the Mediator in what he did iâ may be fear of Hell and love of Heaven and thou may love the man that is offered to be thy Husband because thou wilt get great things with him yet afterward thou will love him for himself therefore stand not at it on this account but come forward Secondly Take notice that sometimes there may be a very hearty consent when yet 's it but ill exprest there may be much in the heart and little in the expression the truth is the case is in our consenting to the Covenant as with two men the one is an honest man and down not endure cheating but for his hand-writ he can draw no hing but his mark the other man is a Clerk and can draw excellent Letters and Gild them all with Gold but he has a cheating hand and a false heart In thy consent to the Covenant though thou can but take up more of thy ill and knows not what thy comfort is yet there may be much love thou art like the man that is writing only his mark and the fear of Hell and love of Heaven makes thee given thy consent and where thou hast given thy consent thou cannot write thy own name but thy mark yet come forward write thy mark Thirdly I exhort thee that makes this doubt to consider that the strength to persevere in the Covenant when thou hast consented it must come from the Covenant the cast is with us as with some poor men that comes to a Writer and bids him write the Bond of such a Sum and after it is writter he bids him pay for the writing of it and he saith I have nothing to pay for it until the Bond be payed to me in the point of perseverance it 's so with us we are not to go and torment our selves with I will fall away I will not persevere we are not bound to pay for the Bond until that the Bond be payed to us therefore it is the ground lesest thing in the world to stand at I will not give my consent to the Covenant for I will not be sincere I will not get bidden at it but I will give my consent when the Bond is payed to me and then I will pay for the writing of it and I will get strength to perform and to persevere thou has no furniture neither for being cordial nor for perseverance until conce the Bond be begun to be payed Lastly Christian know thou that stands at consention on these Grounds know this for certainty that there has a great many entred in Covenant with Christ and consented to it they have gone and made a personal Covenant and holden up their hand and Vowed it in a Covenant with God that were as weak at the beginning as thou and by their hanging on the Promises of the Covenant have been keeped constant if in thy consent to the Covenant and endeavouring to keep it if thou honestly endeavour to keep it every breach of it will not make him cast thee out of it I confess some Covenants men will make they have this clause in it if the one fail the other is loose the Master and Servant are free at the Term it 's not so in the Covenant of Grace the Covenant of Grace binds God to his own Faithfulness and his Son if we believe not he abides faithful he cannot deny himself the scope of this is to put you to owne your Mediators consent and your Parents consent and go home and strike hands with Him and accept of the Covenant of Peace and a Covenant of Traffique that ye will be more in going to the Mercat where gold eye-salve fine-linen are to be sold without money and without price and that ye will accept him for a Lord and readily when the Bond is beginning to be payed ye will find enough for stedfastness and sincerity There is Gods part and our part in the Covenant and we will never do any thing at our part until He begin to do at His part all the furniture on our part must come from Him therefore we can never be the first pay-master and can never be the Party in Covenant that will begin first to pay the Articles of the Covenant no in
the day we Covenant with Him we make this an express Article in the Covenant Lord till thou fulfil thy part I can never fulfil my part SERMON VII 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Divided this Verse in five Branches the first Branch was the Nature of the Security that David had from God for his encouragement he calls it a Covenant I have dwelt on this at length though Divines that write of the Covenant insist on several things that I have not mentioned yet I need dwell no longer in opening the nature of the Covenant than I have done there is no man nor society of man can loose the Obligation of a Covenant it always binds either to the Duties or to the Curse and Penalty of the Covenant and if we cast off the Obligation to the Duty wely under the Obligation to the Penalty But before I yet leave this Branch there is one thing I proposed in the Point when I named it that I will dwell on in the Work of this day which is to evidence and prove that this Covenant is a Covenant of Grace for so I told you in the proposing of the Point that the great ground of encouragement at death is the Covenant of Grace I confess I remember not where in all the Scripture it 's expresly called by this Name It 's called a Covenant of Peace and a Covenant of Promifes Ephes 2.12 And it 's called a Covenant consisting of mercies Isa 55. I will make an everlasting covenant with them even the sure mercies of David the root and end of it is said to be Grace to the praise and glory of his grace and to the exalting of his grace There are multitudes of Names given it in the Bible equivalent to this Name a Covenant of Grace Therefore it may very rationally have this Name a Covenant of Grace But the thing I intend to follow in the work of the day is to do these four things and if the Lord be with us and bless us they may be for our edification and advantage 1. I will prove and make appear to you that this everlasting Covenant this ordered and sure Covenant is a Covenant absolutely of Grace 2. I will shew you some reasons why God in Transacting this Covenant would have it to be entirely a Covenant of Grace 3. I shall clear an Objection or two And lastly shall help you to improve it in reference to some particular cases First For proving that it 's a Covenant absolutely of Grace I must first clear what is meaned by the word Grace It 's true sometimes it 's put for inherent Grace which Papists call Gratia gratum faciens 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ most ordinarly it 's put for Gods free favour and good will so we find Rom. 11. If it be of grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace would not he grace And when we call it a Covenant of Grace the meaning is it 's a Covenant consisting of meer Favour and Good-will and this is the thing I am to make out this day that this Covenant is absolutely and entirely a covenant of Grace I confess this is a generally supposed Principle among Christians yet it 's not well understood First That covenant which is founded neither in the merit of the Creature nor in any alluring motive from the Creature must be a covenant of Grace with the Creature there are must be a covenant of Grace with the Creature there are ordinarly two things that influence Transactions and Covenants the merit of the Creature or if there be no merit some alluring motive Abimelech entered in a Covenant with Isaac because he saw God was with him Shechem is content to enter in a Covenant with Jacob's Children for all their cattel saith he will be ours Many will enter in Covenants with others either on the account of merit a Master will covenant with his Servant to pay him his Fee and that because he hath wrought well or if there be no merit they go on some alluring motive a man will enter in a Marriage covenant sometimes on the account of beauty and sometimes on the account of riches but God is entering in a Covenant with us saw neither merit nor any alluring motive as for our beauty Ezekiel 16.6 When I past by thee thou wast cast out in the high-way lying in thy blood to the shame of thy nakedness and no eye pitied thee I passed by thee and cast my skirt over thee and the time was a time of love And for our goodness and riches Psal 50.12 If he were hungry he needed not tell us for the cattel upon a thousand hills belong to him and Psal 16.2 Our goodness extends not the thee He had been no less glorious nor happy if He had never created Man it had diminished nothing from His infinite perfection Now a Covenant founded and transacted betwixt Him and us where there is neither merit nor any alluring motive must absolutely be a Covenant of free will and entire Grace But Secondly the evince this yet further that it is a Covenant absolutely of Grace compare it with the Covenant of Works the Covenant made with Adam for in the Covenant made with Adam there was indeed Grace in it yet not so much Grace as appeared in this Covenant the Covenat made with Adam was made with a person that did not merit a Covenant yet it was made with an innocent man however he had not provoked God yet he did not merit that God should Covenant with him the Covenant made with Adam was made with an undeserving man indeed but He makes the Covenant of Grace with his enemy For when we were yet enemies Christ died for us Rom. 5. And he gave Himself for the ungodly and not for the innocent any of us may know by our own temper if we shall make that the measure whereby to consider Acts of Grace if a man had never wronged us nor injured us in word or in deed how ready are we to make peace with Him but if he had done his outmost out of malice and contempt of heart it 's not easie to fall under a Covenant with him The Covenant made with the first Adam was made with an innocent man that had done nothing to disoblige Him but when He made the Covenant of Grace He made it with fallen man the ungodly man that was his enemy now what a great deal of Grace was there in this if we had bound up Covenants of friendship and fellowship with a man and if he had betrayed and gone contrare to his engagements and turned implacable and vindictive would we bind up a Covenant with that man again And the case was so when He treated a
Covenant of Grace He not only saw no merit nor alluring motive but he saw us in a state of enmity yet that hindered him not to make a Covenant with us Thirdly To shew the Grace of this Covenant consider the great Blessings that he is content to promise and engage for in the Covenant far greater Blessings than in the Covenant of Works nothing contributes more to evidence it to be a Covenant of Grace than the consideration of the Blessings promised in the Covenant I suppose a man should take a Beggar or a Prince should take a Rebel and promise him his Life and make him his Kitchin-Boy and give him liberty of scour the Vessel and to turn the Rost it were much but if he Indenture with him that he shall feed him with Wine and Milk and Honey and Spices and give him Gold in his Purse and Eve-salve nay more if he Indenture with him to give him his Son in marriage nay to give him himself considering there is neither merit nor alluring motive for this the person is a Rebel a base and unworthy man in the Covenant of Grace the Lord hath taken this way to evidence the Grace of it to speak with reverence it 's impossible for him to promise greater things He is at the outmost of what he can do and Men and Angels admire of what He can do however He be infinite in Power yet it 's impossible to speak with reverence for the eternal God to promise greater things than Himself and his Son for all Eternity and that in such a way as the creature can be capable to enjoy so that considering the great Blessings of the Covenant not to speak of Pardon Peace and Communion and Joy but to promise Himself and his Son In the Covenant He promises to give His Son to suffer to be a curse and subject him to the lowest things except Sin that He could be capable of It is a great controversie betwixt us and Papists if He descended locally into Hell we deny it but we maintain that He had the equivalent of the Pains of Hell on his Spirit and that Article of our Bellef is to be understood of horrour of Spirit now to advance us to the greatest priviledges we can be capable of which are the enjoyment of Himself and his Son for all Eternity in the perfectest measure we can be capable of what a deal of Grace is in it Fourthly To evidence that it 's thus a Covenant of Grace consider on what Terms in the Covenant these great things are and indeed here especially lies the Grace of the Covenant any would think the Terms behoved to be very high considering the Glory of the Merchant and the greatness of the Marriage here is the matchless Grace of the Covenant the Terms on which all these are offered makes it indeed of Grace and in reference to the Terms I will offer these five remarkable Considerations that evidence it a Covenant of Grace 1. He that offers these Commodities offers them with a free Discharge of all bygone Debt If for the future the Covenant will be embraced this is a remarkable Article to evidence the freedom of the Terms there is no blasphemous person like Paul none that hath had seven Devils like Mary Magdalen there is no persecutor like Manasseh it 's supposed he was one of the most terrible persecutors of whom the Apostle Heb. 11. speaks of sawing asunder he sawed Isaiah asunder with a Saw no Publican like Matthew no denyer of Christ like Peter no murderer and adulterer like David no person of whatsoever guilt except one Sin He hath excepted the Sin against His Spirit but he is content in the Covenant if any embrace and take hold of the offers He will pass all bygones if there be accurat walking for the time to come 2dly It 's remarkable in the Terms that He requires no other condition but allanerly Faith and its Concomitants this is in effect as much as a free Discharge and ye shall not pay for it only humbly and thankfully accept of it Faith is altogether consistent with Grace suppose there were a great man would offer a Begger a Talent is it not an Alms and an Act of Grace if there be no more required of the Beggar but to take the Alms The Covenant of Grace runs in this Channel only believe accept of the Offer of my self and of my Son for all eternity and this is all that is required 3dly The least degree of this acceptance providing it be sincere and not counterfit the Covenant accepts of it if your Faith be as the Grain of Mustard-seed suppose it be never so small if it be not counterfit the Covenant accepts of it And lastly the Covenant accepts of it though it be mixed with much Corruption that poor man in the Gospel that came crying to Christ hath a kindly answer Help me Lord I believe help my unbelief Mark 9.23 My Faith hath a great deal of dross among it it is as large unbelief as Faith but Lord help my unbelief Now the Covenant that runs on these Terms is not this a Covenant absolutely of Grace But lastly to add no more it 's evident to be a Covenant of Grace if ye consider the way how this Covenant is followed it 's not only without merit and alluring motives it's not only made with fallen Man and not only with at innocent Man not only holds it out the greatest things God can give and on the freest Terms But lastly it 's evident to be a Covenant of Grace if we consider how He follows it I will name but three or four things how He follows it and they will evidence it yet further to be a Covenant of Grace 1. He is the first seeker and offerer of a Covenant any body would think that we should begin the motion for we were the men that had the toom hand and He had the full but yet He is the beginner and He may say of any when they are effectually called and brought under the Bond of the Covenant I am found of them that sought me not and sought them that asked not for me 2dly It 's remarkable in the way of following it that the persons whom He follows they are not only in all things equal with others but several times they are worse than others if ye take a view of them in their natural priviledges was not Esau Jacobs brother and the elder brother and had the Birth-right Yet Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Ordinarily these that he follows to bring under the Covenant are alike in all things two lying in one Womb two grinding at the Miln two on the house top yet He makes a Covenant with the one and passes by the other but often they are worse than others often-times ye will find them simpler than others they are the foolishest things things that are not yea sometimes they are very ignorant and that in the great things of
the Gospel the subtilties of Philosophy are almost ridiculous to them yea many times they are the worst and greatest of sinners that He brings under the bond of the Covenant the like of Paul of Peter of Manassâh Now that He should follow the Covenant thus that He should follow them that have the same things naturally they are pieces of Clay out of the same Pit they are Stones out of the same Quarree and that He should make choise of one like a shrub and the things He leaves like tall Cedars What a deal of Grace is there in it that He should take the shrub and pitch upon it bring it under the Covenant and leave them that are wise for Wit and Learning 3dly If ye take a view of this the Grace of the Covenant will appear that after He hath sought them and found them and feltered them and bound them with the Cords of the Covenant the Grace of it appears in this that once bound and ay bound it 's everlasting there is no getting out under it again it contributes to evidence the Grace of the Covenant that He will bide so many refusals that He will stand and knock at the door until his head be wet with the dew and his locks with the drops of the night and then put His hand at the hole of the lock if he can get but an hole in the door though He cannot get an open door He will put in His Finger at the hole of the door and drop in Mirrhe upon the handles of the lock may not all these things evidence the Grace of the Covenant but nothing evidences it more than this that no unbelief no guiltiness will cast without the Covenant again if once in Covenant with Him once in and ay in it Thus He covenanted with David if his children offend He will correct them with the rods of men He will visit their iniquity with rods and their transgressions with stripes He will send them to prisons and to scaffolds but his presence nor his loving kindness will he not take from them Now lay all these together and I hope I have evinced to you that this Covenant is absolutely and entirely a Covenant of Grace Quest I would clear one Objection before I give you the Reasons of it May not some say are there not conditions in the Covenant and are they not difficult if not impossible to be performed Can that be a Covenant of Grace that calls for self-denyal for taking up of the cross for repentance for faith for being holy as God is holy Nay more it calls for all the duties of the Covenant of Works and more for the Covenant of Works bound Adam neither to repentance nor faith but this Covenant binds to obedience to the whole Law and to repentance and believing which the Covenant of Works did not and can this be a Covenant of Grace that runs in this channel For Answer to this Question Antinomians indeed say there are no conditions and therefore they deny it to be a proper Covenant they say it 's rather a Promise than a Covenant we maintain there are Conditions in it and all these things are true it binds to obedience to the whole Law but there are three things in the conditions that in effect make them nothing contrare to this that it 's a Covenant of Grace 1. There is no condition in it to be performed in our own strength a man goes quite from the Covenant of Grace that would wring repentance out of his own heart or that would pray or preach or hear in his own strength indeed this suited well with the Covenant of Works and when we go like Sampson in our own strength we go directly from the Covenant of Grace the Father in the Covenant hath appointed a Nurse to bear us up He hath appointed a Tutor to govern and guide us a Purse-master to bear our stock so that of our selves as of our selves we can do nothing according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace we are to do nothing whether to suffer to pray to preach to hear the Covenant is so contrived that all these things called for are not called for in our own strength we break the Covenant if we wring them out in our own strength the main thing is to lay our stock in Christs hand whether to do or to suffer it 's according to the Tenor of the Covenant that we should be supplied by his Grace that we should have wisdom sanctification and all from Him which is a necessary thing for Believers to observe that take them to the Covenant of Grace they are sometimes exceedingly prejudged by not eyeing this Covenant when they pray or go to hear they think the furniture they have from Grace or the habitual Grace they have will carry them through the duty no ye break the Covenant if ye eye not Him in all things the Covenant calls for 2ly Although there be many conditions in the Covenant yet nothing is a condition on our part but it 's a promise on Gods part there cannot be that Duty instanced in all the Covenant for which there is not a Promise so is the business contrived as if he saw a Merchant that lays out a piece of cloth to a man to buy and the man hath no money to buy it with but he engageth to give him money but before he buy it the Merchant promiseth to give him Money to buy it with so there is no Duty let it be named Mortification or Vivification there is no Grace required or Duty to be performed but there is a Promise in reference to that Grace and that Duty Now since there is no condition on our part but there is a Promise on Gods part the condition makes nothing against the Covenant 3ly There is no condition in the Covenant the want whereof will cast us out of the Covenant it 's remarkable the Covenant betwixt God and us the Covenant of Grace is not made as a bargain betwixt two men wherein they engage I vow and promise to do this to you providing ye do this to me I will give you such a Sum of money if ye give me against such a day such a piece of cloth and if he bring it not against such a day the other is loosed from the condition of the money where there is a conditional bargain he that falls on the one part of the condition he loses the other it 's not a binding obligation It 's not so in this Covenant though there be conditions in the Covenant our not fulfilling of the condition looses not God from His part of it if there were any thing that would loose Him Faith being the great condition of the Covenant it would be the want of Faith if we believe not yet he abides faithful he cannot deny himself There are conditions in the Covenant but there is no condition required so that if once we be in the Covenant will loose God from
the condition on His part of it the reason of it is the Cautioner in the Covenant becomes bound for our failing in the Covenant and what is wanting in our Sanctification and Obedience the Lord gets satisfaction for it in Christs Righteousness So there are conditions and great things required yet they make nothing against it's being a Covenant of Grace I hope from all this I have in this Sermon abundantly evinced that this everlasting Covenant is properly a Covenant of Grace though it hath conditions in it SERMON VIII 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although ãâã makes it not to grow IT 's an Act of Grace that God did ever condescend to any kind of Covenant with man so great a God but to make such a Covenant a Covenant of Promises and of ãâã great and precious Promises we may indeed do as the builders that builded the second Temple cry Grace grace unto him I was proving in the forenoon that this Covenant was a Covenant of Grace notwithstanding oâ all the conditions in it Before I proceed in the following of it I would have you notice that when the Covenant is called a Covenant of Grace ye are to suppose that the Grace of the Covenant hath these three properties 1. It 's a Covenant of pure and unmixed Grace there is nothing but Grace in it there is neither merit nor motive and therefore the whole contrivement of it is Grace and only Grace 2ly While we call it a Covenant of Grace it is not only to be understood of pure and unmixed Grace but of perfect Grace the Grace in the Covenant is advanced to so great a hight as the definition of perfection agrees to it Moralists say that that is perfect in which nothing is wanting and to which nothing can be added now the Grace of the Covenant is of this nature 3ly When we call it a Covenant of Grace it 's to be understood of persevering Grace Grace which cannot be changed Some things may be pure and perfect but they are variable the most part of the kindnesses of Cretures are of this nature let them run like a burn in a spait yet a Summer comes and they dry it 's not so with the Fountain They say the original of all Springs is the Ocean and that the Waters grows fresh running through the bowels of the Earth and they must drain the Ocean ere they drain the Spring no wonder then it be persevering Grace so that when we call it a Covenant of Grace the meaning is it 's a Covenant of pure unmixed Grace perfect and full Grace and of persevering and continuing Grace But before I improve this the calling it a Covenant of Grace because it will have a great influence on all the Sermons following I would clear two or three questions that may come in as Objections against the Covenant being a Covenant of Grace Quest 1. It may be objected what reasons or motives since there was neither meriting nor moving consideration what rise could this Covenant have to be a Covenant of pure perfect and preserving Grace These that write of this Head bring a number of reasons they say that God intended to humble man and to make him inexcusable for when He shall judge him at the great day he will have no thing that will be a clock of excuse according to that word Joh. 15.22 If I had not come unto them and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no clock for their sin To refuse a Covenant of Grace takes off all clock of excuse I deny not but there may be many reasons why He made it a Covenant of so pure perfect and persevering Grace but I conceive the special reasons why it 's so made may be reduced to these two 1. He made it thus of Grace that it might be sure Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith and by grace that the promise might be sure to the seed Mark there it 's by Grace that the Promise might be sure had God entred with us in a Covenant on any terms in the world but Grace it would never have been sure suppose we had been as perfect as Adam and had had as great a stock of grace within us yet He would never make a bargain with the like of us who were so changeable things if the bottom of the bargain had not been Grace therefore it 's through Faith and by Grace that the Promise might be sure to the seed He knew what we were when we were at our best when we were new come off the stocks and were new come from His Hands by Creation probably Adam stood not above five hours and what would a Covenant with the like of us signifie if it stood not on Grace 2ly He made it thus of Grace that He might exalt Christ the securing of us and the exalting of His Son both contribute exceedingly to His own Glory afterward I will make it out to you if the Lord will that the Father is infinitly more Glorified in thâ Covenant of Grace than if the covenant of Works haâ stood but the great design He had in making a covenant of Grace was to secure us and exalt His Son the covenant runs in these Terms that in all Daties in all our sufferings we must ay go to Christ for strength But if any would ask our right to the Crown what ground we have to think that He will not cast us in Hell how we will pray how we will suffer and believe and how we think to be freed from Hell The Answer of all these Questions is in one word in Christ the covenant is so contrived as when we have to do for Wisdom Sanctification Righteousness Redemption the truth is in the covenant Christ is made all things He is the way the truth and the life the door the bread the drink and the apparel the Apostle sums them up in one word He is all in all Now the exalting of His Son never was there so submssive a Son to the Father He was his Equal and was content to be trampled on and in a manner bruised therefore the exalting of His Son is the great contrivement of the covenant so that in effect it is of Grace both that the Promise might be sure to the seed and that Christ might be exalted in both which the Glory of the Father is more advanced than in all the Works of Creation and Providence and that clears the first difficulty why God resolved to make it a covenant of Grace Quest 2. The second difficulty against this that it 's thus a covenant of pure perfect and persevering Grace How can this stand with the Justice of God and with His Holiness God is naturally just and infinitly just and He as necessarly punishes sin as the
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
consists I will not go to speak any thing of Gods part either when we make or renew the Covenant with him But all I shall say now shall be something of our part when we personally Covenant with him I will reduce them to these two Heads First Our personal Covnenating with God consists in our accepting of the offers of the Covenant as they are made by God 2. In our engaging to the Terms of the Covenant required by God for the Terms must be the Terms that he hath made in the Covenant we must not make now Terms neither must we reject any of the Terms already made I deny not as ye shall hear when I come at it but on the account of a particular failing a Christian may be more in engagin with respect to one things than another especially where he hath failed most and Conscience doeth challenge him most but we are neither to make new Terms nor reject the Terms already made in our personal Covenanting with God we must keep to the Terms already made and proposed in the Covenant in all the Articlaes and Clauses of it First then It consists in the accepting of the offer of the Father made in the Covenant I confess I like well to read the excellent Soliloquies many have had with their own Souls in the accepting of this offer and entring in this Covenant ye have patterns of them set down Mr. Allan in his Vinditiae Pietatis Mr. Baxter in his Saints Rest It 's like these holy mens souls when they have been Transacting this personal Covenant with God they have been in a very elevated frame they speak part of the Language of Canaan What Apostrophies and what turnings to their own soul and what excitements and encouragements they offer to the soul and then closes with either I accept this Covenant or this contrivement of the salvation of sinners as it is offered or else readily I swear and subscribe it with my hand or else I lift up my hand Mr. Allan approves for some length of the lifting up of the hand that the solemnity may be the more binding in the accepting of the Covenant and of the Terms offered in the Covenant But here I will offer you two things about this accepting of the Covenant which is the first thing wherein this formal act of personal Covenanting consists First Take notice that this acceptation if it be done cordially seriously deliberatly and according to the Gospel it 's a most difficult thing it 's not an easie thing to bring the heart to it I will not say this for the discouragement of any but there are three things that makes it most difficult 1. There is no seed of Believing naturally in man Naturalists have observed that it is a most difficult thing to bring Creatures to act about a thing whereof they have no principle within them How difficult is it to Teach Philosophy or Reason to Bruits And the great ground of it is they have no feed or principle of it within them and this makes the accepting of the offer of the Covenant to be a thing most difficult 2. In the accepting of this Covenant not only have they no seed of Believing in them but all the principles in man are contrair to it It 's a wonder to see how proud man repines to accept of an imputed Righteousness ye will find in the Church Papists Socinians Arminians and I know not what a multitude of them crying down Justification by Faith alone and mocking at the Term of an imputed Righteousness and O! that there were not too many amongst our selves running headlong to these principles 3. The difficulty of it will appear if ye consider the opposition that it meets with in the World in accepting this imputed Righteousness How many oppositions did Christ himself meet with when he was among men It was constantly his work to be pressing this yet when he came to his own even amongst the Jews they required a sign before they accepted it and when he was preaching to the Gentiles they required Arguments and Demonstrations ere they accepted it in effect man having no principle within him for accepting this Righteousness and all the principles within him being contrair to it and Christ himself having met with so much opposition when he preached it ye may conclude from these that it 's not an easie thing to perswade a sinner to accept of this Righteousness of the Covenant But I will add another thing that this Act of accepting it 's one special part of that wherein personal Covenanting consists and for clearing of this I would have you to notice three things 1. Ye shall take notice that God in the Covenant of Grace he hath as it were past from the Terms of the Covenant of Works no but he requires the same duties in the Covenant of Grace I have already evinced it to you that the whole Law we become bound to obedience to it in the Covenant of Grace yea there are some Duties required in the Covenant of Grace that are not required in the Covenant of Works yea he hath bound us to the whole Law in our accepting of this Righteousness I say though he hath bound us to the Law it 's not the Law that is the great condition of the Covenant of Grace it 's not our obedience that is the great condition it 's our believing and accepting of the offered Righteousness so that though obedience to the Law was the great condition of the Covenant of Works the tenor and nature of the two Covenants are exceeding different and now the great condition though the Law be required the Law is not the condition it 's the accepting and imbracing the offered Righteousness which is necessary to be observed in regard there are many precious to God they deal with themselves ordinarly as if the Covenant of Grace run in the same channel that the Covenant of Works run in and if they have not the same perfection of obedience and if our Sanctification have not such and such qualifications and such degrees they utterly sentence themselves as cast-aways no obedience is required in the Covenant of Grace but the accepting of the offered Righteousness is the great condition of the Covenant of Grace 2. Take notice that this accepting of the offer it 's really and formally the very act of Believing In personal Covenanting it may be convenient that one should say and another subscribe with his hond but the very act of accepting is the act of Believing so the Soul tranfacts with God in this part of the personal Covenant when it puts out an act of recumbency and relying on Jesus Christ as he is holden the out in Covenant so this is the great condition of the Covenant and this accepting is the very formal and proper act of Believing I add 3. This accepting is the special thing in personal Covenanting I deny not but the Terms as ye shall hear on which the offfer is
house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Proposed in the second Branch of this verse three things to be considered First Who is the Author of the Covenant Of this I have spoken Secondly The parties considered personally and particularly and the special thing I insisted on the last day was That every particular Believer ought personally and particularly to find himself concerned in the Covenant and named five or six grounds to prove the warrantableness and necessity of personal covenanting with God And then opened that Question wherein personal covenanting consisted I also requited in this Question who were bound in this Duty of personal covenanting I told you that it was the duty of all the Members of the visible Church but especially the Elect. I shall now that I may the more fully open the Duty of our personal and particular covenanting or entering in a covenant of Grace with God open some properties of this Act of personal indenturing and covenanting with God and I shall name these five or six of them and from them ye will better understand the nature of it First This Act of personal covenanting with God it 's an absolutely necessary Act it 's indispensibly necessary that we should accept his offer in the covenant and bind our selves to the Terms of the covenant and that is the first character and property of it It 's observed by Divines there are some things God hath forbidden there are some things God hath left indifferent and hath neither commanded nor fordidden them there are some things God has commanded and they are necessar necessitate praecepti they are to be obeyed hic nunc as the Sacrament of the New Testament is and there are some things necessar necessitate medii as School-men speaks we cannot be saved without them Now this Act of personal covenanting with God is of this nature it 's of absolute and indispensible necessity which will appear from the consideration of these three or four things 1. Unless we particularly and personally and expresly accept of the covenant of Grace and indenture with God on the Terms of the covenant we cannot be stated in a Covenant-relation with God The Covenant made in Baptism by our Parents wherein we have but a virtual consent doth not state us in a real covenant with God until we really Indenture and with consent covenant with Him in the Covenant so until we consent we must be under the curse and covenant of Works in all the Clauses and Heads of it and cannot claim unto the Covenant of Grace in all the Clauses and Articles of it for there cannot be a Covenant-relation with God until we expresly particularly and personally Indenture in a personal Covenant with Him 2ly Until we thus particularly and personally Covenant we cannot have any benefit by Christ's Death whatever he hath purchased and he hath purchased great things yet until we accept and take hold of the Covenant and particularly and personally Indenture in it we can have no benefit by his Death the Covenant is as it were the Contract and there is no woman that has a right to the Contract but she that marries the man until we be unite to Christ we can have no benefit by the Covenant and until we enter in the Covenant we cannot be unite to him Ephes 2.12 At that time ye were aliens from the common wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise mark how these two go together without christ and strangers to the covenant of promise even so that until we come to Indenture personally and particularly in the Covenant we are without Christ and without a right to the benefits of his Death 3ly Until we come personally and particularly to indenture with God and accept of the Covenant of Grace we can have no comfortable views of Providence especially if they be dark and humbling Providences The Covenant is as it were a Key that opens all Providences it 's a remarkable word Psal 25.10 All his ways are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant mark here all his ways are mercy and truth And how come they to be known to be Mercy and Truth They come to be known by our interest in the Covenant and by the Covenant it self Let him do to us what he will let Him correct and let Him do it never so sharply yet by the Covenant and our Interst in it we see them to be Mercy and Truth 4ly Until we thus personally Indenture and Covenant with God we neither owne our Baptism nor can we rightly Communicat there is a Covenant indeed made with God by our Parents in Baptism in whom we virtually consent to the Covenant in all the Clauses and Articles of it but this not enough as a man suiting a woman he judges it not enough that he have her Parents consent it 's her self he must marry and he must have her own express consent before they marry so in Baptism our Parents gave their consent that we shall accept Christ on the Terms of the Covenant but we never owne our Baptism until we personally covenant with God neither go we rightly about the Sacrament of the Supper which is as Seal of the Covenant until we personally Indenture and Covenant with Him Lastly Until we personally Covenant and Indenture with God there can be no comfortable viewing of the Great Day the thoughts of Judgement and Eternity are terrible to them that have not an interest in the Covenant It 's a remarkable word Psal 50. The beginning whereof the current of Interpreters refer it to the Judgement of the Great day in the 5. and 6. verses Gather my Saints to me those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice the heavens shall declare his righteousness for God is judge himself mark here that Day will be a comfortable day to the Saints and who are they that are to be gathered to him that day It 's those that have made a Covenant by Sacrifice with Him and God himself is Judge now lay all these five together and ye will find that this particular Indenturing with Him is of absolute necessity But I come to a second property of this Covenant this Act of covenanting personally with God and accepting of the Covenant of Grace personally and particularly as it is an Act of absolute necessity it ought to be a Deliberat well pondered Act no Act ought more to be pondered many go about this rashly they are like that Scribe that came to Christ in Matth. 8.20 The Scribe saith Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest Christ tells him the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head but we read no more of that Scribe it 's as much as thou art not
deliberat thou offers to follow me whithersoever I go it 's a rash offer thou knows not what thou sayest This Act ought to be a very deliberat Act on these grounds 1. Man is a rational Agent Reason is the great specifick Difference distinguishing him from a Bruit if in any thing his Reason is to be exercised it 's in his Religion for however God hath called us to believe several things which our Reason cannot comprehend as that there should be three Persons in one Essence two Natures in one Person our Reason cannot fathom nor dive into the deep of these Mysteries yet there is nothing in our Religion contrare to Reason and however we have such dusty Spectacles that we will take the thing for Reason the day which we will count Folly to morrow however our Reason since the Fall hath gotten a Wound that makes us like Jacob go halting when he is touched on the hollow of his Thigh and yet so much of the exercise of Reason is left to us as that in our Religion there is a special exercise for it God calls not man in this Act of personal covenanting to deny his Reason but rather to exercise it And when a Christian goes in his walk with God on well founded Reasons Scriptural Reasons and the Authority of God in the Scriptures readily that Christian is not frothie driven like chaff before every wind of Temptation but is solid in his walk 2ly This Act of personal covenanting with God ought to be deliberat in regard of the great importance of it Nature will teach us that things of great importance ought to be done with great deliberation and hardly is there a thing of more importance than our accepting of the Covenant of Grace and Indenturing with the Father on the Terms of the Covenant many ponder not the importance of it but it 's of so great importance as for all Eternity so long as God will be God it 's of importance for us it ought to be very deliberat unless we will be pound fools and penny wise who will be deliberat in Trifles like children busking their Babies and rickling up their Houses 2ly It ought to be deliberat in regard undeliberat Actions to God-ward makes them soon evanish there are some if they come under afflictions or if they fall in sickness or a Fever and God shake Death over their head or if they be at some solemn Ordinance they will be at resolving and purposing and readily bringing vows on hemselves of personal covenanting with God but as they are easily gotten so they easily evanish Psal 78.34 When he slew them then they sought after him and returned and enquired early after God several times our affections are like a Gutter when there is a great Showre we will be running over with purposes after God Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongue for their heart was not right with God nor were they stedfast in his covenant and yet when he slew them they sought after him and they yearly enquired after him so that indeliberat Actions and covenatings with God as they are hastily begotten they no less suddenly evanish the SAction ought then to be deliberat when we Indenture with the Cautioner and obliges our self to more watchfulness and more tenderness or else it will soon evanish Quest But here I will clear a Question whereabout are we to deliberat what is a person to deliberat about when he thus Indentures with God The Answer is obvious and I will reduce what I will say of it to two heads 1. We are to deliberat to consider and ponder what Offers God makes in the Covenant 2ly On what Terms these Offers are made both these two being by a rational soul rationally pondered may have great influence on a fixed work with God and not prove a flash like what is in an Hypocrite First We are to consider and deliberat on the Tenor of the Offer made by God which we are to consider positively and comparatively 1. Positively we are to consider his Offers the multitude of them the greatness of the things he offers some have laboured to reduce them to heads he not only makes offer of peace and pardon and happiness in the Covenant but to speak with reverence of the Majesty of God he is at the utmost of what he can offer to say it with reverence it 's impossible for Him to make greater Offers He cannot make greater Offers than of Himself and of his Son and both these He offers in the Covenant for all Eternity Now when we enter in a personal Covenant with God we are to ponder the Promises of the Covenant that they are great and precious Promises we are to consider the multitude of things offered in it and the greatness of them that in a manner He is at his utmost in His offers He cannot make a greater Offer 2ly We are to consider these Offers comparatively the heart of man hath many Wooers suiting it sometimes it hath something in the World suiting it sometimes Lusts are suiting it sometimes Sathan is suiting it sometimes one thing sometimes another but let them carry it that makes the best Offers lay these Offers in the Ballance with what the World offers and the Honours and Advantages of it lay them in the Ballance with what your Lusts offer and with what Sathan offers and let them carry the Heart who makes the greatest Offer the consideration of these things when one sits down like that man that when he came to the exercise of his Reason he began to consider it 's not long since I came to the World and in a little I will be no more in it and wherefore came I to it what is my business in it There are many things suiting my heart and whoso makes the best and the greatest and the surest Offers let them carry it Such a Soliloque betwixt a man his his Soul acting like a ratinal Agent will readily put the soul to accept of the offer of the Covenant and Indenture with God Secondly We are likewise to consider the Terms on which these Offers are made and upon which we are to Indenture with God many will make this Bargain as sometime a Drunkard will make a fresh bargain in his drink that when he is fresh he rues it and would steal from it again but we are to consider the Terms on which we enter in this Covenant and we can never rightly enter in this Covenant with God and without entering in this Covenant we cannot be saved except we ponder the Terms on which we Indenture and there are three things necessar to be pondered about them 1. The multitude of them it 's true the Covenant is a covenant of Grace adn not a Covenant of Works and as I said believing in Jesus and accepting of Him is the only proper condition of the condition of the Covenant of Grace God in the Covenant
of Grace hath bound us to all the Duties be hath commanded in the Covenant of Works what a multitude of them there are take a compend of them in that word 2 Cor. 7. at the beginning Having these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God mark there we must cleanse our selves of the fil hiness of the flesh and spirit a famous Ancient said well when he read that verse this seems to me says he like the Message the King of Syria sent to the King of Israel 2 Kings 5.2 I have sent my servant to thee that thou mayest recover him of his leprosie what says he am I a God to kill and make alive that this man sendeth to me to cure him of his leprosie 2ly We are to consider the constancy we are bound to in these Terms if we enter in Covenant with God it 's a marriage Covenant whatever fall out to a man or woman except Adulters the marriage-tye remains firm if one were never so sickly or tender it does not break that tye all the variety of cases his people can come under cannot dissolve it we are not to be Time-servers in these things for in a little they that serve Time their Master will be taken from them Rev. 10.5 And I saw an angel Hand upon the sea and he lift up his hand to heaven and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever that there should be time no longer But 3ly We are to consider the difficulties that will accon pany these Terms the Terms are to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God what multitude of difficulties must these Terms be carried on with will they make a man walk like an Owl among the rest of the Birds What a deal of crosses and difficulties will attend him that makes a Covenant with God Now one that would Indenture in a personal Covenant with God must consider and ponder all these Now this is the second Property of personal Indenturing with God it 's an Act of absolute necessity and we ought to be very deliberat and serious in it Thirdly This Act of personal covenanting as it ought to be deliberat so it ought to be sincere and an Act of the whole Soul Psal 16.2 O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my God God will dispense with any Infirmity in this Act sooner than Hypocrisie He cannot endure to be mocked For clearing this that it ought to be done with the whole Soul I would have you notice First This Act of personal covenanting requires a very well ordered Soul not only Morally well ordered but Spiritually Divines observe well the Soul is well ordered in two Cases First When the Will comes to beled by the Understanding several times the Will like a domineering Lady it glories in it's Liberty and Freedom it will bind the Understanding and draw it after it we are easily brought to believe what the Will inclines us to and to find our Reasons for justifying of the thing which it desires Next the Soul is well ordered when Understanding Will and Affections follow the Conscience and the Conscience is regulat by the Word of God the Affections often it holds true of them that is said of Fire and Water they are good Servants but ill Masters when the affections comes to domineer they are ill Masters but when they are ruled by the Conscience and the Conscience regulat by the Law of God so that we can moderat our Anger and not sin that we can desire nothing but what we lawfully desire and we fear nothing but what we lawfully can fear when gref keeps within it's bounds when the Affections are thus regulat what a sweet calm is there in the Conscience like an Instrument that all the Strings of it are rightly placed and when ye strike on them every string gives the sound they ought to give so the Understanding Will and Affections when they are rightly regulat they give the sound that is proper for them when the Understanding is thus regulat that the Will follows the Understanding and the Soul is regulat by the Conscience and the Conscience by the Word of God 2ly This Soul covenanting it imports a rightly ordered frame of the Soul for it 's an affectionat and sincere Act it 's not to be wrung out of us Bellarmine calumniats Protestants when he says we maintain in the Act of Effectual Calling that Deus torquet voluntatem in he doth not thraw the Will no in this Act of personal covenanting it uses to be done when it 's done with the Soul not with the Affections only but with the Bensil of the Affections it 's as it were the marriage day and in that day the Soul is clothed in its best Appatel and the Unferstanding Will and Affections are at the height of their Vigor and Fervency it 's necessar it should be so for the Lord when he entered in Covenant with us O! so sincerely and affectionaly as He enters and when he hath found the lost Goat and stragling Sheep He call His neighbours and friends to rejoyce with Him Luk. 15. I likewise say there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repents c. When he doth it so affectionatly and is so much taken when a person doth personally Covenant with Him ought we not to Covenant sincerely with the Bensil of the Affections SERMON XIV 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow AMong many excellent Truths in this verse this is one not of the meanest that David speaks of the everlasting Covenant as a thing personally and particularly made with him he doth not say the Lord hath made with the Church but with me an everlasting Covenant I entered on the Properties of this personal Covenant and spoke to three of them there are some yet remaining and therefore I shall proceed as this personal covenanting with God is of absolute necessity and is a very deliberat Act and a sincere Act so there is a Fourth Property of it it 's an Act that ought to be timeously speedily and early done without delay some of our Divines in their casuistical Disputs with Papists they rationally alledge that the Doctrine of the Popish Casuists in some Principles tends to hough all the Practises of Religion for among other things they maintain that if a sinner fall in sin he is obliged to repent when he comes under some cross or at some solemn Ordinance or at the hour of Death we maintain against them that a sinner is obliged to repent immediatly on the back of the commission of the Sin the same we say of personal covenanting with God it 's to be
done without delay To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation Heb. 3.7 Cited out of Psal 95.7 It 's not said to morrow if ye will hear his voice but to day It 's true there are some times and cases when it 's sweeter going about this work than at other times there are some approaches in Spirit to us which we should exactly observe as Courtiers that have their Nobilissima fandi tempora they get some fit opportunities of putting up their Petitions to Princes 1. It 's an excellent time in going about this work of Indenturing vowing and resolving with Christ when the Spirit is making his approaches yet we are not to delay till these times for the Command of God lies on us at all times It 's a great delusion of Quakers that think they will not pray or hear but when the Splrit comes the Obligation to Duty is the Command and the Command lies on us whether we be in frame or out of frame 2ly It 's true the Lord will sometimes deny his People assisting Grace that he may make way for accepting Grace He will leave them to toyl and wrestle with Duties and then He will take the strained Duty off their hand several times He will do with them as He did with the poor Widow to whom He gave but two Mites to cast in the Treasury and He accepts of them He will leave one to toyl and wrestle with Duty as one under Irons and then kindly accept of the Duty so whether we be in frame or not as we should pray read and meditat so it 's not in these times only that we should make a personal Covenant with God but we are to do it without delay and that upon these Reasons 1. Hardly is there a greater mercy bestowed on a person than when they give their youth to God and begin early to seek Him it 's remarkable Solomon shuts up that Book of the Ecclesiastes with Rmember thy Creator in the days of thy youth the time that others give to vanity the time that is most difficult to be regulat by Reason and Religion we are to give that time to God and to begin to enter in a personal Covenant with Him 2ly It ought to be done without delay in regard of the uncertainty of time and of the Gospel Offers we are all of us Tennents at will we know not what to morrow will bring forth it 's a wonder to see what a number of doors can easily be opened to let us in to the Grace and many have died very speedily that young Divine that died in Holland when he was yet a young man he wrote a Book wherein he says some have died of an hair in Milk some have fallen back from off the Stool that they sat on and died now since both the time and the Offers of the Gospel are so uncertain this accepting of the Offer and Indenturing on the Terms of the Covenant ought to be done with all speed and without delay 3ly It ought to be done timeously and speedily in regard ay the longer one continues in sin and in a natural estate they are constantly the more hardned the Conscience like a foot that it used to go bare it gathers a scurff what a rare thing is Conversion in old age how seldom falls it out So that this Work of personal Covenanting ought to be done without delay for ay the longer it 's delayed the heart grows the more averse and the more hardned and the custom of sinning takes away the conscience of it 4ly It ought to be done speedily in regard many times delays puts the Work wholly by it is never done when it is delayed there are severals as a man reported of himself when he was dying that took this gate of it If I were once come to thirty years I would be holy and when he comes to thirty he puts it off till he came to fourth and when he came to fourty he died Lamenting that he had delayed and put off so long It was so with Felix when he heard Paul preach of Righteousness and Jedgement to come I will bear thee says he at a more convenient time and that convenient time never came yet ordinarily delays evanished in nothing And lastly it ought to be done without delay in regard as we tell Papists in casuistical Disputs that Death-bed Repentauce is very suspicious it 's true we read of one and but one in all the Bible the good Thief on the Cross who got Repentance at Death there is one to shew its possible and but one to shew that it 's not very probable The Scripture calls it an houling on the bed readily the Lord will say to them then Because I called and ye did not hear ye shall call and I will not hear I have stretched out my hand all the day long to a rebellious people it 's remarkable in the Vine-yard some are called at the seventh hour some at the eight some at the ninth some at the eleventh but why are there not some called at the tweltth They say that the twelfth hour is the time of dismissing Servants and not of putting them to their work All these presses that this Act of accepting the Covenant and Indenturing through the Mediator ought to be done early and without delay This is the fourth Property Fifthly As it should be done deliberatly sincerely and timeously so it should be done confidently and boldly Heb. 4 16 Let us come with boldness unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Let us come bodly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some render the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quesi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã let us confidenly speak out all that is in our heart But ye will ask why may we not do it tremblingly fearingly and doubtingly I will tell you some Grounds on which Faith may build confidence in this Act of Indenturing with God 1. We have the Command of God to indenture with Him and accept of this Covenant it 's the great Command He has given if we slight Him in this Command He values not what we do in other things John 3.23 This is his command that ye believe on his Son that is a ground of confidence not only hath He commanded it but He hath threatned if we slight Him in this remember the similitude I illustrat to you the other day suppose ye were coming by a house and the Master of the house should cry down to you come in and eat and drink with me were it presumption for your to come in especially if he should swear if ye come not in I will come out and kill you So the Lord in His Indenturing in the Covenant hath not only commanded but he hath sworn by himself he will cast you in hell if ye do not accept of Him 2ly Desperat necessity is a ground of confidence I confess
we are not to debate the Event he that commanded the Duty foresaw the Event before he commanded it and we are to leave the ordering of the Event to him O! says one if I Covenant with him I will look for a harsh life of it says another I will never be able to wade through the things I see if I ingage in a personal Covenant with him all these things should be referred to him who commanded the Duty Lastly If this be a Duty personally to Covenant it informs us that certainly these who Indenture with him will get strongth to perform for they are about a duty however it may be the failings that adhere to our corrupted nature may accompany us in the Duty yet if they be not wilfull failings but that they be in sincerity minding their duty the case will be as if a Father call to a Child to give him a Glass of Wine and the Child takes the Glass and throws it in a passion on the Ground and breaks it no question the Father will be angry at him and scourge him but if the Child take the Glass and fill the Wine but his shaking arm lets the Glass fall readily the Father will pity him because it is an infirmity accompanying his arm There are in our performing Duties many infirmities accompanying our Arm we will not get it perfectly done but the Arm will shake and let the Glass fall yet if we set sincerely about the Duty we will get strength to perform They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength All these Uses of Information follows from this natively that this personal Covenanting with God is a duty it 's no Phanaticism it 's a Commanded Duty it 's the great Duty of the Gospel it is on the matter all one with Believing it 's no presumption to Covenant with him But I insist not on this there are some moe special and practical Improvements of it than this general Therefore I proceed Vse 2. To a Second Use of Information Is this personal Covenanting with God a duty and so great a duty as is proven then be exhorted to Covenant with him I have pressed you before to go home and do it and not delay it and to make it as express and distinct as to the Terms as ye can and either with writing or saying it over to God as that place ye heard cited Isaiah 44. One shall say and another subscribe with his hand I am the Lords But this Use of Exhortation that I may the more distinctly handle it I shall follow it with Reference to two sorts of Persons in the visible Church and in this place who have need of Exhortation 1. There is a multitude of carnal careless Professors that readily are at the pains to wait on Ordinances and the Externals of Religion are punctually observed but for personal Covenanting with God for ever having done any thing of this kind they are great strangers to it That I may at least leave a conviction on these I will speak a word to two things 1. What are the things that hinders the generality from this of personal Covenanting with God 2. What is their misery Quest First What is it that hinders the generality from this personal Covenanting with God Answer Among many things I will name these Four First A great many understand not the nature of the Covenant they are in the estate of nature they are under the Covenant of Works it 's a truth beyond all controversie all natural men however they may be visibly under the Covenant of Grace they are really under the Covenant of Works they are in the first Adam and therefore they are under his Covenant until they be really unite and married to Christ the Covenant is the Contract and until we marry the Man we have no right to the Contract now the generality understand not the misery and danger of this Covenant they consider not that it 's a Covenant that requires perfect and personal obedience they are under a Covenant if they fail in the least they must be damned for it however they cry to Christ and die hoping in Christ yet their Covenant admits not of a Christ nor of a Cautioner nay the Covenant they are under admits not of Repentance It 's remarkable the Covenant made with Adam was on these terms in the day thou eats thou shalt die it 's not said in the day thou eats if thou repent thou may be spared no it admits of no Rpentance if Esau should seek the blessing with tears he cannot have it he rews that he had sold his birth-right but he could not obtain the blessing though he sought it with tears even Adam in the state of innocency could not keep this Covenant the generality consider not the misery of it but were it pondered as becomes men that in a little will meet in the Valley of Decision and reckon before the Tribunal of God for ye are under a Covenant that admits not of a Christ nor Cautioner nor of Repentance but it requires personal and perfect obedience if it were seriously pondered O! what pains there would be to get a Covenant made with God through the Son 2. The generality do neglect this personal Covenanting with God because other things take up their time it is very remarkable Isaiah 55.2 3 and 4. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David but what goes before why spend ye your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not There is the impediment that hinders many from entring into this personal Covenant they are so taken up spending their money for that which is not Bread and their labour for that which satisfies not that their ear is not inclined to hearken unto this everlasting Covenant with Christ readily the thing hinders you from personal Covenanting that hindered Martha from hearing Christ she was busie taken up in the house Martha saith Christ thou art troubled about many things and very lawful things may be sinful hinderances in the way of this Covenanting It 's remarkable the persons that sent the Answer to the Master of the wedding when he sent out his servants to invite them the one of them says not I have a Whore I cannot come another says not I have a drunken lawing to count I cannot come but one of them says I have a Farm another I have a yoke of oxen another I have a Marriage I cannot come all the three were lawful things but they became sinful hinderances in the way of coming to the Wedding No the truth is earthly-mindedness lyes in the way of many in this place of personal Covenanting with Christ They spend their money for that which is not bread and their labour for that which satisfieth not 3. A third impediment in the way of the generality in making this personal
with your hand if ye have not done it go and do it ye should be exhorting your own Soul to it and your neighbours ye that have children should be pressing them to do it Husbands should be saying to their Wives Come let us return to the Lord come and let us enter in a personal Covenant with him they that hath sitten all these Sermons and have not advanced one step I am afraid they be the Tree of which it is said Never fruit grow on thee henceforth ye are daily dying and going off this Stage therefore be exhorted to take you to this personal Covenant SERMON XX. 2 Samuel 23. 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant or dered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Have spoken to Two uses of this Doctrine of personal Covenanting with God one of Instruction which consisted of five or six Branches another of Exhortation which hath been prest in several Sermons by removing the Impediments and considering the Advantages of personal Covenanting The third Use might be of Tryal whether we have personally Covenanted with God or not but since this will come in in the Third Doctrine of this Branch of the verse David's asserting The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant I will refer the marks of personal Covenanting until I handle that Branch of the verse I purpose this Afteernoon to close this Head of personal Covenanting though it will occur often in handling this verse after wards I will shut it up with an Use of Direction Vse 3. For the right management of this Work of personal Covenanting with God I have proven the necessity of it opened the Nature and Properties of it and have cleared many Questions about it Now the Key and Kirnel of Direction follows to be handled and that I may do it the more distinctly and clearly I will follow it to four sorts of Persons which will readily take up the substance of this afternoons Sermon First is it a Duty thus personally and particularly to Covenant with God then it speaks a word to these who have hitherto neglected or it may be are still averse from this Duty they can count on many things that have occurred in the wilderness to them our never of a personal Covenanting with God I have spoken some what to this sort of people before and may be the shorter now I shall only name these four things to them 1 It is already proven to be a Duty of absolute necessity the Saints of old have practised it if we believe particular Election and particular Redemption and that we stand bound personally to the Duties of the Covenant that we personally and particularly claim the priviledges of the Covenant we stand obliged of absolute necessity personally and particularly to Covenant to them I think I have on solid Gospel Principles proved that there can be no benefit by Christ without particular Covenanting with him thou ownes not thy Baptisme thou goes not rashly about the Sacrament of the Supper if thou do not particularly and personally Indenture with God I exhort thee to consider these grounds who has never dreamed of this Duty all that is in Christ all that is in the Covenant all that is in the Father they signifie nothing to thee without a personal and particular Covenanting with him 2ly I would exhort thee that has never done it to consider the wretchedness and misery of the Covenant that thou art under until thou particularly Covenant with Christ according to the tenor of the Covenant of Grace thou art under the Covenant of Works Doest thou hear This is a Covenant that admits not of a Cautioner nor of Repentance that will not dispense with the smallest transgression nor admits not of Sincerity however thou talk of Christ and of Repentance if thou has not made a particular Covenant with God according to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace thou art under the Covenant that admits not of a Christ Repentance and Sincerity 3ly Thou that has not made this personal Covenant and particularly Indentured either by Word or Subscribing or lifting up the hand to God I would have thee considering that there is in thy Lot somewhat that is worse than the cââe of Heathens they have no Revelation of a Covenant of ãâã they will not be comptable for the thing that was never revealed Tyrus and Sidon Sodom and Gomorrab the men of Nineveh will rise in judgment against thee for at the preaching of Jonah they repented but thou that lives under the drop of the Gospel and hears of a particular and personal Indenturing with God thou shall have them coming from the East and the West at the great Day and they shall all be witnesses against thee for at the preaching of Jonah Nineveh repented and thou hast this Covenant pressed on thee by the Gospel yet thou dost not repent nor make this personal Covenant 4ly I would have thee to consider that if thou be not in a particular personal Covenant with God thou can lay no claim to the Covenant at all Thou art an alien to the common wealth of Israel and a stranger to the Covenant of Promise we must either be particularly inerested in it or not at all it must have our several consents or we have no claim to it thou that has never made this personal Covenant with him and yet art living under the drop of the Gospel thou art neglecting a Duty of absolute necessity thou owns not thy Baptism thou can plead no benefit by the Covenant if all these things will not move thee I know not what will do it if thou sit them out thou art like to be the Tree on which fruit never will grow thou may be fewel for burning but not for bearing and I am afraid there are many so that are standing in the vineyard and are Trees for burning but not for bearing Secondly this was of personal Covenanting speaks a word to a second sort of Persons and that is to those who come some length but they stick in the Birth and never come up to the full length in this act of particular and personal Covenanting with God There are a great many that do so we have a number of sober Civilians some Divines that write of personal Covenanting they say It 's the lot of many persons of Quality they go some length in Covenanting but they go not the full lenght length readily they forsake the pollutions of the World but comes not the length of giving themselves over to him according to the Covenant of Grace in their lot and service and condition in the World I would have such considering for there are many that sit down betwixt Towns betwixt Heaven and Hell I would have them considering three or four things 1 Thou art in danger to lose two Worlds If thou take this present
grown secure and neglects Duty and goes out against sin as a friend and has not taken it up as a Enemy and dealt with it so thou may say I have made a Covenant with the Lord but thou cannot say the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant Secondly These that have made a personal Covenant with him and he with them they have a second Mark they follow the design of the Covenant which is Holiness 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Now he that hath entered in Covenant with God and would have a sure Mark from his Holiness should look to these two 1. He is to look to the Holiness of his heart and conversation if he say I am holy in my Desires and holy in my Delights I have a holy Joy and a holy Peace and has not a holy Walk and looks not like a savourie Christian in his conversation that person cannot readily say the Lord hath made with me a Covenant he may have made a Covenant with God but he cannot say God hath made a Covenant with me Besides 2ly Not only must Holiness be in the conversation and in the heart but he is careful to prefer the design of the Covenant to all other things if the Lord should give thee the Offer that he gave to Solomon at Gibeon Ask of me says he Riches or Honour and many things he named and I will give it to thee he preferred Wisdom to them all So he that is in covenant with God would prefer Holiness to any thing that God could offer It 's remarkable Psal 119.111 Thy testimonies have I chosen as an heretage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Mark how he came by that I have chosen what choosed he I have chosen thy testimonies that is a general word it 's no I have chosen thy Promises but I have chosen thy Testimonies taking in the Commands Mark 3ly For what he choosed them I have chosen thy Testimonies for my heretage Mark 4ly The reason why he choosed them I have chosen thy testimonies for they are the rejoycing of my heart importing whatever I meet with I get no true joy from it therefore I have chosen the testimonies for my heretage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart I can get nothing that rejoyces my heart but allennerly thy Testimonies therefore I have chosen them that is the second Mark whereby ye may try if God hath made the Covenant with you if ye have come to take up sin as an Enemy and deal with it so and if ye have taken Holiness not only in heart and conversation but ye have chosen it as your Heretage because it rejoyces the heart Thirdly ye may know if he hath made this Covenant with you by his accomplishment of the Covenant to you if he hath begun to fulfil the covenant he hath certainly made the covenant with you Experience is a notable ratification of the Promise O but it is a sweet proof of the truth of the Promise he that believeth hath a witness within him that Christ is the Son of God he hath the Spirit within him and none can send the Spirit but the Son of God take a view of the Promises and sort them that ye may go to such a Promise when ye are under challenges under deadness and desertion and mark them it 's a dreadful thing when all the Bible is alike to us and when we have not some passages of the Bible that we may say of them these are may Scriptures Now if he hath been pleased to acccomplish the Promise thou may say he hath made with me a Covenant It will fall in afterward when I speak of the several passages in this Verse by what Rules we shall try if the things that we meet with in our Spirit be the accomplishment of the Promise Observe your case and compare it with the Promise many have no skill to do this they take the Promises in Grosse they observe not absolute and conditional Promises they compare not their case with the Promise therefore none is so confident to say God hath made with me a Covenant I say to you go home and say to your hearts the word that Ahab said to Micajah How often shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but the truth Go and charge your Heart and Conscience with see thou tell me nothing but the truth if these Marks do not agree to thee whatever thou say of making a Covenant with God thou may go home after all these Sermons and say I have made a Covenant with God but I dety thee to say God hath made a Covenant with me SERMON XXIII 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow WHen first I entered on this Verse I proposed four things to be considered First the Nature of Davids security it 's a Covenant 2ly The Parties Transacting in this Covenant the Lord and me of these two I have spoken all the things that I judge necessary to be spoken in a multitude of Sermons The other two Branches of the Verse which are the most natural remain to be handled the first whereof are the Properties of this Covenant there are three of them mentioned in the Verse it 's everlasting it 's ordered in all things and sure Where by the way in the general ye would notice two things First That these three Properties are marks of Distinction betwixt the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace it was neither Everlasting nor ordered in all things in any way suitable to mans Salvation nor was it sure so that from these three Properties we can prove That the Covenant God made with David it was a Covenant of Grace and not the old Covenant of Works 2ly Ye would notice that such as would have peace from the Covenant they must study and be acquaint with the Properties of it it 's no sufficient ground for David at death to say the Lord hath made with me a Covenant unless it be an everlasting Covenant and well ordered and sure these who are ignorant of the Properties of the Covenant can never have the sweetness and consolation that the Covenant affords Therefore without further I will begin and handle this day the first Property that is here mentioned of this Covenant it 's an everlasting Covenant it 's true the main thing I design is to handle the order of the Blessings of the Covenant and here before I can come at that I am to handle there are two textual Doubts necessary to be cleared 1. How is the Covenant said to be everlasting 2ly Whether this be a peculiar Property of the Covenant of Grace not
belonging to the Covenant of Works Quest First In what sense the Covenant of Grace is said to be everlasting Answ For opening this take notice that a thing is said to be everlasting in a two-fold sense 1. That is said to be everlasting that is never to end though it had a beginning So ye find it Psal 24. Lift up your heads ye everlasting doors that is meant of the heart and Soul of man which though it had a beginning yet it 's to endure for ever so Everlasting and a proper Eternity are not one thing it will take two Everlastings to make one Eternity from everlasting to everlasting thou art God mark there an Eternity takes two Everlastings 2. A thing is said to be Everlasting when it hath a proper Eternity So Isaiah 9.6 Christ is called wonderful counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace now Everlasting is to be taken in the second sense it 's an eternal Covenant not only is it never to end and is everlasting but it 's from everlasting however it was Transacted in time with man yet it was Transacted with Christ from all Eternity and it 's as antient as the Covenant of Redemption so ye see in what sense it 's called an everlasting Covenant that is an eternal Covenant from Eternity to Eternity Quest 2. Whether is this a peculiar Priviledge of the Covenant of Grace that it 's everlasting The reason of this Difficulty is 1. The Covenant of Works is older in Time for it was made with man in a state of integrity 2ly The covenant of Works is first in the order of nature for the covenant of Grace being made with lapsed man it supposes the covenant of Works to be broken 3ly It 's supposed by many great Schollars that if Adam had not broken the covenant of Works he had been everlastingly in Paradise and would have continued in pleasure without death so the covenant of Works in the nature of it was an everlasting covenant and consequently this is no peculiar priviledge of the Covenant of Grace Answ For Answer to the Question however the Covenant of Works was treated with man in time and though it be in the order of nature prior to the covenant of Grace yet in the counsel of God the covenant of Grace is before the covenant of Works the reason of it is that which famous Doctor Twisse lays as a Principle that a rational Agent intends first the end and then the midses as a man going to War intends first the end and then the midses the covenant of Grace being the great end in making the covenant of Works that by it he might make way for the end the covenant of Grace the covenant of Grace is first in his purpose in regard it 's the great end of the covenant of Works and he intended the end before the midses 2ly Whatever the covenant of Works should have been is a Question of which the Scripture is silent yet the covenant of Works if Adam had not broken it would have been everlasting but being broken it 's laid aside so that it 's far from being everlasting in regard of duration that it 's supposed that man stood but few hours and it was broken and he was lyable to the Penalty so the covenant of Grace is not only everlasting but the only everlasting Covenant So having cleared that this Covenant is everlasting I will take only this Note and handle it this day Doctrine That the Covenant with Believers is an everlasting Covenant so ye find it frequently called in Scripture Isaiah 55.3 Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David So Ezekiel 16.60 Nevertheless I will remember my Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth and I will establish unto thee an everlasting Covenant It is frequently called an everlasting Covenant in Scripture I shall not need to insist to prove so well a known Truth but to take way to the Doctrinal Part I would Doctrinally enquire into two things First In what respects the Covenant of Grace is an everlasting Covenant 2ly I would enquire into the Grounds why the Lord in his making a Covenant would not have it a Tack for a lease of years but an absolute Gift and an everlasting one Quest First in what respects it is an everlasting Covenant Answer For clearing of this I desire ye may notice these two generals 1. It 's an everlasting Covenant in regard of Duration it 's from Eternity to Eternity it 's remarkable Psal 103.17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him it 's as antient as God and will endure as long as God for all his Decrees and Purposes are everlasting and eternal and an Eternity hath no beginning nor end this Covenant was treated with the Mediator from all eternity and will endure with him to all eternity But 2ly Take notice of this in the general that when God transacted the Covenant with man he intended not to set him a Tack or Lease with reserves but he intended to make an absolute irrevocable Gift therefore it 's exprest in the New Testament not by way of Tack having a number of Clauses in it but by way of Testament it 's the Gift of a Testator ratified by his death and none can revock his Will no he cannot revock it himself so that in effect it 's not a Tack or a Lease made of Pardon or Peace or a Heaven in the Covenant with many reserves but it 's an absolute Gift like the Gift in the Testament that cannot be revocked by any no by him that made it which will appear if ye notice three things First Take notice that when God transacted the Covenant himself and his Son he in a manner bound up his own hands from ever revocking the Gifts contained in the Covenant if once he give them then he cannot revock them Psal 89. If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgements if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Mark there he binds up his own hands he hath made the Gift so absolute that though he be provocked he will not break it 's not like a Tack made betwixt a Lands-lord and a Tennent that if the Lands lord be forefaulted the Tack will fall he hath past from all these Articles and Clauses and bound up his own hands that if my children offend I will correct them with the rod of men but my Covenant I will not break 2ly I deny not but there are conditions in the Covenant but the man that gets the Gift cannot
Member that is taken in Covenant is an everlasting Party in this Covenant it may be some of them thirty years or thirty two years will open their Grave and they must ly down in it but even there they cease not to be Parties in the Covenant it 's remarkable Mat. 22. I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living from which he proves the Resurrection the meaning of that place is Abraham Isaac and Jacob are living or else the Covenant could not be everlasting Abraham is living in regard of his Soul his Body is living in regard of the Resurrection at the great day for the Covenant is made with his Dust however it were hard to find his Dust yet he is considered as a living Party in the Covenant yea even his Flesh is an everlasting Party in the Covenant although it be dispersed into Dust and the Fowls and wild Beasts carry it away yet says Job with these eyes and no other for me shall I see God This proves the Party to be everlasting every Believer is an everlasting Party in the Covenant so that taking either the Grounds on which the Covenant stands the Decree of Election and Love and the covenant of Redemption or considering the constantness of the Covenant amidst all the changes of Providence and the case of Believers like the Sun that is the same Winter and Summer or considering the fundamental priviledges of the Covenant all of wich are everlasting it 's everlasting Election on which it 's founded and everlasting Calling everlasting Pardon and an everlasting Heaven but the Parties are also everlasting not only in regard of their Head but Abraham is a Party in the Covenant and God is his God which is the Sum of the covenant after Abrahams dust can scarce be found in the Grave I will speak a word to the second thing that I proposed the grounds why the Lord would have this covenant to be an everlasting covenant 1. In the contrivement and drawing up of the covenant of Grace the Lord designs the exaltation of his Grace and that was to the praise of the glory of his Grace as the Apostle words it in the Ephesians now if there be never so great things promised he hath promised I will take away the heart of stone and give you an heart of flesh but had the ease been the next day that he had said I will take away the heart of flesh and give you an heart of stone what would that have signified for the exalting of his grace Had he been one day giving an heart of flesh and another day taken it away wherein would his Grace have been exalted by sinners unless it had been by I will give you an heart of flesh and I will never take away your effectual calling Had there been no more to debase Grace but the changeableness of it it had been enough therefore God would have his Covenant everlasting and herein he would have a distinction betwixt the Covenant that was made of Grace and that which stood on the free will of man the principal ground on which the Covenant of Works tood was Free will and in that state he had Free Grace yet it depended on his Will but herein is Grace exalted in that he cannot alter his Covenant no therein lyes the exaltation of Grace and the difference betwixt the Covenant standing on the Free will of man though perfect and the Covenant founded on Grace and Christ that the one is everlasting and the other endured but for a few hours so that it is to the praise and glory of his Grace and the exalting it above all his other Attributes that he hath made this Covenant an everlasting Covenant it 's not that he is payed for it on these Terms it 's not from merit nor purchase that he hath fulfilled this Covenant but meerly to the praise of the glory of his grace in Christ Jesus that the Covenant is made so everlasting that though God to speak with reverence and man encline to alter it they cannot after it 2ly The Lord made it thus everlasting that Believers might have strong consolation it 's remarkable the allowance of joy in the Covnenant it 's full joy These things have I spoken unto you that your joy may be fuil they are bidden rejoyce evermore and rejoyce always and no wonder we be bidden rejoyce when there is full joy allowed in the Covenant nay there is not only consolation but strong consolation Heb. 6.18 God hath confirmed it by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye that they might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us and the truth is it 's a Principle of Arminians they tell a Believer may have Grace to day and they may have the Devil to morrow they may be effectually called to day and a Child of the Devil to morrew it houghs all consolation if they were in never so sweet a temper to day they cannot tell but they may be a Child of the Devil to morrow and what peace and comfort would there be if the Covenant were not everlasting So when we have searched all the grounds why God would have this Covenant everlasting they are summed up in this in exalting the Grace of his Son and affording strong consolation to them that have taken themselves to the Covenant So ye see the Covenant is everlasting not by way of Tack for so many years but it is an absolute Gift and the Father hath not only not put in reserves into it but he hath absolutely bound up his hand and confirmed it by two immutable things wherein it is impossible for him to alter which is his Oath and the blood of his Son so that now it stands on such Terms as to speak with reverence of the Majesty of God it 's impossible for him to alter it SERMON XXIV 2 Samuel 23. Vers 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow IT is a sweet Observation that some have made on that word Everlasting as it 's applyed to the Covenant taking everlasting for a proper Eternity it 's a peculiar Attribute of God agreeable neither to Angels nor Men and yet God hath given this Attribute to the Covenant it 's an eternal Covenant God puts in a Letter of his own Name in Abrahams name He puts in the Letter Jehovah he was first called Abram and then puts in this Letter and calls him Abraham He puts in a Letter of his own Name Elohi in Jacobs name he was first called Jacob and then he calls him Israel but in the Covenant He puts in one of his own essential Attributes and that is Eternal and this could neither be said of Angels nor of
falling on the just and the unjust the shining of the Sun and Moon persevere but these natural things how changeable are they We have health to day and may be sick to morrow there are few but in a little ye will scarcely know their faces to be what they were there is a moth in their body and a thief in their strenght many time our humours are like our beauties we lose the things we love we find our Relations dissolve the Friends we hd are dead the Enemies we had and the things of time like a Wheel are constantly reeling and turning about and there is nothing but a few months produces another face than it had but it 's not so with these mercies of David in the Covenant they are everlasting it 's not so with our Election our effectual calling our union with Christ it 's not so with any fundamental priviledge of the Covenant ye that are constantly complaining and finding the reelings of the World learn like a Child that is weaned from the Pape it 's not that the Mother intends to hunger the Child but that she would have it feeding on stronger Meat the reason why so many are complaining of the bitterness of the things of time and the changes of them their health their strength and their friends are not what they were it 's not that ye should want them but we would have you seek them in the Covenant and the sure mercies of David there is a considerable difference betwixt them and the things of Time for who ever builds on the things of Time they are drawing their waters out of the Gutters and not out of the Spring but these are founded on an everlasting Covenant 7ly If the Covenant be everlasting then it informs us of the Wisdom and Skill of the guide of them that make choice of the Covenant there is hardly Wisdom in the choice of other things they will not last variable and changeable Humours and variable and changeable Things that every day fade they are no Fanaricks that take them to the Covenant the mercies of the Covenant are great mercies for though they were small yet they are everlasting and better long little than soon nothing and there is nothing in Time everlasting but like a Waster they soon spend and waste thy heart thy sense thy Flesh will fail thee thy Reason will turn to Melancholly and thy young Ones will look on thee as one that hath scarce the exercise of Reason all these things will reel to and fro in the World and we must expect that it will be so but this everlasting Covenant is as the Sun it will ay rise at its appointed hours and go to at them and there will be no stop of its Course it s not Fanaticism to go on the surest Grounds that ever men followed that take them to this Covenant and resolve to hang both their ill and their good on it that is the first use of the Point Vse 2. The second Use of the Point is this Covenant an everlasting Covenant then Christian labour to improve it as an everlasting Covenant make use of this Property of the Covenant that it is everlasting And there I will offer you five Cases that truly take in the most part of the exercise of Believers all of which come to have some answer in this Property of the Covenant that it 's everlasting 1. It comes to be an ordinar case and the improvement of the everlastingness of the Covenant it is a good answer to it I say it comes to be an ordinar case I am guilty I cannot feed on the Covenant for I know the thing of my self that no other knows this Property of the Covenant takes aways this challenge if God had made this Covenant so as he made the Covenant of Works in the day thou eats thou shalt surely die this Covenant is broken but the Mediator contrived it to be everlasthing which would never have been everlasting if ay when we were guilty the Covenant should be altered no under all the challenges that thou has if ever thou was in Covenant and hath the Marks that were given the last Sabbath Day of God's making the Covenant with thee there thou must continue in the Covenant or thou must scrape out of the Covenant everlasting Covenant no this Property of the Covenant when I come to the last verse and there shew you how you shall answer your Challenges ye will hear that guiltiness does not cast out of the Covenant for if that were it were not everlasting 2ly There is a second case wherein it is to be improven and it is very frequent I am a poor crossed Body and scarce have Bread and either I am not in the Covenant or he hath broken it But I say also that this is answered in this that it 's everlasting I like a word of Master Dicksons he says it 's ordinar for persons that treat with God in the Covenant they conform the Covenant to their case but they will not conform their case to the Covenant suppose there should be never so many crosses in thy case yet thou art to rule thy case by the Covenant and not to bring the Covenant to thy case it 's ordinar for thee to tell thy neighbour either I am not in Covenant with him or else it 's broken betwixt God and me but suppose thou should go to thy bed supperless and the next morrow have a greater cross and knows not what to get to thy Breakfast thou art to bring thy case to the Covenant but bring not the Covenant to thy case Abraham when he is to offer up Isaac on mount Moriah in a burnt sacrifice no body that would have met him but they would have said God hath broken the Covenant with him In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earther be blessed Abraham knew well that out of the ashes of Isaac God would fullfil his Promise he reduces the ashes of Isaac to the Covenant reduce ay thy case to the Covenant but bring not the Covenant to thy case 3ly There may be another great improvement of it and it 's this I am frequently challenged and deserted it 's not poverty and sickness that I complain of but of challenges and desertions and I am undoubtedly out of Covenant it is not everlasting to me for I am challenged and deserted The Husband may go from home and bide long away and come home angry but that looses not the marriage ty the marriage union remains neither does his absence nor his quarrels prove the marriage to be loosed the Covenant the marriage Oath remains firm it 's a sore matter that when we come under any exercise we can never understand where we are until our exercise comes to fundamental doubtings it 's a sweet complaint my Husband is long away and he is come home but without a challenge to me but it 's a fore matter to come home with he hath declared himself
Flourishes nor Apples 2. This Doctrine tends not to security nor prophanity in regard all that are in this Everlasting Covenant they receive Influences that keeps them from security and prophanity I will not say but they may have their Winters David had it for a year it was a year after he went in to Bathsheba and murthered Vriah before the Prophet comes to him The Spouse is made to sing The winter is over and past the Summer is come the time of the springing of herbs is come the Spring must come if thou be in Covenant with him therefore it opens no door for Security or Prophanity for they that are in Covenant with him it 's impossible for them to continue in Security I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me 3ly This Doctrine hath no tendency to Security for ordinarily these that are in Covenant if they will not be awakened by the Word the Lord will awaken them by the Rod I have told you that Christ hath three Posts he sends after Believers there is his Word and his Rod and if none of these two will prevail he will send his Spirit and that will prevail they that are in Covenant cannot get leave to live in Security and Prophanity if the Word will not waken them the Rod shall do it and if neither of these two do it the Spirit shall do it so if any shall say I am secure and am living in Security thou may go and dash thy head against a stone but this Covenant is Everlasting and it cannot be altered we shall be judged by it in the day of our appearing SERMON XXV 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow IN the right up-taking of the Covenant we must not only search into the Nature of it but into the Properties of it three whereof are expressed in this verse it 's everlasting it 's ordered in all things and it 's sure The first of these I spoke to the last day that it was Everlasting and have shewed you many things about it Doctrinally and Practically I come to the second Property Ordered in all things this though ye do not at first see through it yet ye may see it afterward having a great deal of Marrow into it and it 's a very material Property of the Covenant the Word in the Hebrew Vehalma Mentanus renders it dispositum in omnibus Junius renders it ordinatum in omnibus The Septuagints or the seventy Interpreters Translate it by a Word borrowed from a General Marshal in an Army putting all his Forces in a Military Order it 's well ordered as a well Marshalled Army wherein every one is in their proper posture and so is the Covenant ordered the meaning is every thing in the Covenant is fitly disposed or appointed or ordered And for clearing of it ye must take notice that the intention of the Spirit of God in speaking by David that it 's fitly ordered is not only to shew that there is an excellent method and sorting of all the parts of the Covenant but that it is excellently sorted and ordered in order to the great end for which the Covenant was made to advance the Glory of God and the Salvation of the Elect which are the two great ends for which it 's made and herein it differs from the Covenant of Works for though it 's not denyed but it be well ordered and fitted yet it neither contributes so much nor was it so conducible to exalt God and bring the Elect to Glory as the Covenant of Grace is which I might let you see in many particulars it was well ordered in a way suitable to that Dispensation but not in all things in a way tending to exalt God and the salvation of the Elect as the Covenant of Grace is to be brief this is a very special property of the Covenant of Grace and a distinguishing one from the Covenant of Works that it 's ordered in all things not abstractly but in order and in reference to the end which is to exalt God and to promote the salvation of the Elect. So this property of the Covenant is considerable as it 's an everlasting Covenant so it 's Marshelled and Ordered and disposed as an Army in an excellent posture for a Victory This being the meaning of it I will make two Observations and follow them in several following Sermons the first of them I will but name but shall God willing dwell on the second The first is this that such as would have consolation from the Covenant must observe the order and method and disposal of the contents of the Covenant 2ly I will take this that the Covenant is excellently and singularly ordered in all things relating to the exalting of the Father and the Mediator and the salvation of the Elect. Doctrine first Such as would have peace as David had at his death from the Covenant are to consider the order of the Covenant so doth David here when he is rejoycing among his last acts from the Covenant that God had made with him he considered it as a Covenant ordered in all things these that take not up the right order of the Covenant and the method of it can never have sweetness nor peace nor consolation from the Covenant For confirming and clearing this to you I desire ye may take notice of these three things 1. God who is the God of Order and not of confusion for so the Scripture calls Him he is very exact in observing of Order Observe him in natural Things in the Work of Creation what an excellent Order he keeped first to make Light then to make other things and then bring in Man when all things were Ordered for him There is an excellent Order in his Providences the Ordinance of the Sun and Moon and all the Stars have an Order by a Decree appointed them it 's true there will appear confusion in his Providences but they are but like the black and white Threeds in a Web or like the discordant Strings of an Instrument of Musick they all move to make the Instrument play or like the Wheels of a Knock though some of them move against other yet they all tend to make the Knock strike when the hour comes so all his Providences tend to the end he hath Decreed he hath appointed Order in his Church Let all things be done decently and in Order they that are for confusion are not for God for God he is the God of Order and not of confusion it 's true Papists and Prelats would build on this a multitude of humane Inventions but Order is best keeped in the Church when it 's according to the Scriptures God is the God of Order and Parity among Church-officers hath no tendency to
called for is Faith Faith is the special part of the Covenant required on our part this is his Command that is the great command in the Covenant of Grace for it was not commanded in the Covenant of Works that ye believe in his Son whom he hath sent God hath required many things in the Covenant of Grace but the great thing he hath laid on and commanded is believing There are three or four things will evidence the truth of this to you 1. Ye shall find the great Inquiry he makes when he Inquires about a persons Estate is after their Faith if ye will but take a view both of his Word and of his Works ye will find the truth of this it is evident that a man desires to know a thing by his inquiring after it Joseph when his Brethren came down into Egypt he inquired Is the old Man of whom you spake alive So Joab when he returned from the Battel David is very inquisitive is the young man Absalom safe Jacob was much on Joseph's spirit and Absalom was much on David's so in the Covenant of Grace ordinarily ye will find when he hath ado with any person he asks canst thou believe doest thou believe when he lays on the Cross it is to try their Faith 1 Pet. 1.7 That the tryal of your faith being much more precious than Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ if he delay an Answer to prayer it is to try Faith as he did with the Woman he called her a Dog as if she were not in his Commission but in the end he faith O Woman great is thy faith 2. It will be evident that this is the main thing in the Covenant in the Order of it that we should believe in regard of the great commendation given to it in the Covenant it 's remarkable Heb. 11. When the whole cloud of Witnesses that covenanted wiht God are brought in beginning at Abel and coming down to Abraham and David the thing especially commended in them is their faith no question they had patience and love but that which the Scripture cryes them most up for is especially their Faith this evidences that faith the greatest thing in the Covenant on our part not only is it the thing that Christ makes a special Inquiry after but it 's the thing of all the Qualifications thou hast that Christ especially commends 3. In regard of the honour put upon it in the work of justification we are justified by faith alone without the works of the Law this is a special honour put upon it it 's a question among Schollars why faith only and not love is imployed in the work of Justification they give this as the reason of it faith is the meetest for it if ye Inquire why the Eye sees and not the Hand Why the Hand works and not the Eye The reason is they are fittest to be Instruments in Seeing and Working so faith is fittest to be the Instrument of Justification for it 's a receiving Grace it 's called a receiving of Christ in the Scripture John 1.12 But as many as received them to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Now there is no Grace so fit to be honoured in Justication where God gives the pardon of sin as a receiving Grace A second Reason why Faith is imployed in the work of Justitication and not Love because Faith will not wrong Christs honour Rom. 3.27 We are told by the Apostle boasting is excluded by what Law by the law of works nay but by the law of Faith v. 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the law Faith excludes boasting and gives all the honour to Christ if Love or Patience were imployed in the work of Justification they would plead to more meritorious causes but Faith is the instrumental cause so no wonder Faith be made the principal condition of the Covenant of Grace in regard it is so fit to receive from Christ and it will not wrong Christ in his honour it will plead for merit in regard it is only to receive what Christ hath bestowed But 4. and lastly Faith it furnishes all other Graces work every other duty is influenced by Faith patience repentance prayer and love are influenced by faith for faith works by love every other Grace is actuated by faith so until we come to believe we cannot repent we cannot suffer we cannot pray all these things like a body without a Soul will be dead and lifeless things without this Grace of Faith Lay all these four together and ye will see that in the Order of the commanding part of the Covenant Believing hath the precedency of all other Graces and Duties so in the Order of the commanding part of the Covenant whatever other Duties God hath commanded he hath especially commanded Believing that is to be the first in order of our Obedience and to have the precedency of all other Graces which is necessary to be observed for many think that they can go about other duties before they believe and that in a way suitable to the Covenant but they are altogether mistaken for there is nothing acceptable to God without Faith Thirdly In the Order of the commanding part of the Covenant though Faith be first and principally requiried yet it 's not only required Papists calumniat ãâã when they say we preach and say that Faith is only required it is the only Instrument of Justification it is by Faith only that we are Justified but it 's no faith only that is the condition of the Covenant of Grace therefore in the order of the Covenant the obedience to the whole Law comes in after believing such as would observe the order of the Covenant must be obedient to all the commands of the Covenant it 's remarkable the obedience that the Covenant of Grace requires hath these three Properties 1. It must be new obedience that is to say obedience from a new heart and obediedce conform to the tenor of the new Covenant the obedience is new when the principle of it is Love it was of old fear but it hath a new principle when the end of it is the exalting of Christ it was of old the exalting of our selves 2. The obedience must be strict obedience I would recommend to you the excellent discourse that Master Allan hath wirtten in his Vinditiae pietatis proving that the holiness he says of a Christian is strict ay no less strict than that of the Covenant of works requires every Christian must be a Precisian and must labour to strive and wrestle and take the Kingdom by violence to watch against the least beginnings of sin and the least incroachments of it on Christ's Honour or else it 's no Obedience according to the Covenant 3ly It must be perpetual Obedience
in one he offends in all as James says no but we may be stronger in one thing and weaker in another but a wilfull passing by any duty in the Covenant and slighting of it is an evidence thou despises it 3. The strictness of the order of the Covenant betwixt the Commands and the Promises will appear in this that there is no obedience to the Command can be given without the Promise and there is no evidence of a right to the Promise without the Command they are so inseparably knit that a man could as soon pluck the Sun out of the Frimamen and stop the course of the Moon as to obey the Commands without the Promise not that I would have you to run away from the duty but go to the promise with it on the other hand they are so knit together that it 's high presumption for a man to lay claim to the Promises except he give obedience to the Command however some may flatter themselves as the distracted man at Athens who would go to the Harbor with Paper and Ink in his hand and call for all the Ships and take a List of all the Goods into them and come away rejoycing that they are all his there are many do so in the Covenant they take the Promises and count them theirs but there can be no comfortable evidence of a Title to the promise if we conscientiously obey not the Command the reason of it is in the order of the Covenant he that treated and drew the Covenant in all the contents of it so as there is no Title to the promising part without the commanding part and no obeying the commanding part without the promising part so ye see the Order of the Covenant in reference to the Promisee of the Covenant and the Commands of it and the connexion betwixt the Promises and the Commands I say no more of the absolute Order of the Covenant Before I compleat this Discourse of the Order of the Covenant I would consider the relative Order of it Order is a right situating of things in order to the end Now both the Commands and the Promises whether ye take them separatly or jointly in the Covenant are excellently ordered in reference to the ends of the Covenant To open this unto you I will shew you three ends for which the Covenant of Grace is made with Believers or with the Mediator in their name and ye will find both the Commands and the Promises excellently ordered in reference to all the three 1. The Covenant of Grace was made to exalt the Father 2. It was made to golrifie the Son 3. It was made to make the Salvation of the Elect sure and easie Now in reference to all these three Ends the Covenant is excellently ordered in all things I will speak a little to this in regard the special order of the Covenant lies in the wise ordering of the End for which it 's made First I will shew you how this Order of the Promises and Commands tends to the honour of the Father 1. This Order in the Covenant contributes to exalt the Father there are some that write on the Covenant they offer some excellent Reasons to prove that the Father hath gotten a great deal more Glory by the Covenant of Geace than he hath gotten by the Covenant of Works even though Adam had stood still in his Integrity I will only let you see this in two or three particulars 1. Consider the Glory of his Justice the Glory of his Justice is exceedingly advanced indeed he had a great deal of Glory of his Justice when he sent the Deludge and destroyed the old World and when he sent fire and brimstone and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah all men might see the Glory of his Justice in this but this was nothing to what Christ met with from the Father Awake O sword and smite the man that is my fellow Any that heard of the Deludge and of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah by fire would say that he is a just God that would not suffer sin to go unpunished but they that hear of this that he took pleasure to bruise his own Son and had a delight in the breaking of Him that when he stood a Sacrifice in the room of Sinners he would not forgive him one Farthing when he cryed upon the Cross with strong cries and tears being in an Agony and commanded the Sword to awake and smite the man that is my fellow he would not stay until his Sword was wet with his hearts Blood is there not great glory in his Justice All the torments of the damned for all eternity declare not his gloy so far as the sufferings of Jesus Christ 2. It exalts the Father not only in his Justice but in his Power all the things that ever he did to declare his Power the making the World out of nothing and giving so excellent an Order to it declares him an excellent God but the Power that appears in the Refurrection of Christ and the working of Faith which is the exceeding greatness of his Power outstripes that when he made the World he made it out of nothing but here he brings it out of its contraries he brings a heart of flesh out of a heart of stone but the raising of Christ from the Dead that had all that the Justice of God could do and all that Satan could do he rose and declared himself to be the Son of God with power 3. If ye take notice of his Wisdom he is the only wise God the things that we quarrel at we find that he did it in Wisdom he hath given great proofs of his Wisdom but in nothing more than what he hath given in the Covenant of Grace that his Son should come from his Bosom and be personally unite to mans nature and in that nature to suffer that man might not be condemned if he take his Mercy his Love and his Grace and the rest of his Attributes whatever appeared in the Covenant of Works are all nothing to the contrivement of the Covenant of Grace so the Order of the Covenant is so well suited to the end especially to his Fathers golry that in all the things that are done or would have been done from the beginning of the World to the end it never appeared so as by the Covenant of Grace the Father is exalted above all that ever the Angels could devise by this Covenant of Grace But these are but one of the Ends the glorifying of his Son and making the Salvation of the Elect sure and easie are the two great Ends of the Order of the Covenant SERMON XXVIII 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow THere are three special ends of the Covenant of Grace the exalting the Father the
the full the things contained in the Covenant shall satisfy them and that for all eternity so the Covenant cannot but be a perfect Covenant so lay the four together and ye will see it a perfect Covenant But the more clear handling of this will appear if I will particularly enquire into what respects it is a perfect Covenant It would take a long time to open this I will confine my self in handling this to four or five particulars and in these shall let you see in what respects it's a prefect Covenant 1. It 's a perfect Covenant in regard of excellency it 's perfectly excellent if the things contained in the Covenant had been many things like the gifts Abraham gave to Ketura his Concubine and her Children it would be far from being a perfect Covenant suppose it had been a liferent Bond or a lifes Tack of health or a little whiles flourishing in the world what a silly thing had it been in the point of excellency But the Covenant is perfect in this respect the greatest things God can give are contained in it he will give grace and glory and no good thing shall be wanting to them that live uprightly no he cannot offer greater things he offers in the Covenant all that he hath and to make us Ruler over all that he hath blessed shall that servant be whom his Lord when he cometh finds so doing verily he will make him ruler over all that he hath 2ly It 's a perfect Covenant in regard it holds out not only all these excellencies but it 's a Covenant of the most excellent things in their perfection in as far as they are communicable Divines distinguish two sorts of Attributes of God some communicable some incommunicable Infiniteness is incommunicable Eternity is incommunicable other Attributes of God are cammunicable his Wisdom his Holiness his Justice his Goodness All the Attributes of God communicable are made over to us in the Covenant he promiseth they shall be forth-coming to us and there are some Rays communicat to Believers like Beams proceeding from the Sun they come from God the Fountain of Wisdom and Holiness all the righteousness of Christ in so far as it is communicable and as we stand in need of is made over in the Covenant there is nothing in the Father or in the Son that is communicable but it 's made over in the Covenant since it is so that the most excellent things are promised in the Covenant and all the excellencies of the Father and of the Son in so far as they are communicable and we are capable of are made over in the Covenant it must then be a perfect Covenant in regard of excellency What is possible for you to imagine What is desireable What is the Father and his Son and all that 's in him in so far as we are capable of and are communicable is made over to us in the Covenant 3ly It 's a perfect Covenant in respect of duties there are two things that make up the whole duty of Man or of a Christian and ye will find there was never any thing so perfect in both regards as the Covenant is 1. The Covenant is perfect in regard of Mortification 2ly In regard of Vivification First It 's perfect in regard of Mortification the Heathens and all Hypocrites know nothing of this mystery of the Covenant the Covenant is perfect in regard of Mortification if ye view three things required in the work of Mortification ye will find them all called for in the Covenant 1. The Covenant requires that we should not only mortifie outward and scandalous lusts but also inward heart-lusts the Covenant calls for both the two all the Law-gives that ever gave Laws to the world their Laws strike not at heart-ills but the Covenant is thus perfect as the lusts of the heart the lust of the eye eyes full of Adultery even that the Covenant condemns and makes Adultery and so its perfect in regard it not only sneds off the Branches but it strikes at the root even or heart-lusts 2ly The Covenant it presses the mortification of lesser things even the things that we would think but a small evil the Covenant presses that we should watch against every iniquity and count nothing small that is committed against a great God 3ly The Covenant not only presses the mortification of heart-ills and the least ills but it presses the mortification of the most dear things and things most precious to us such as the right hand the right eye Mat. 5.29 If thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out c. better to go to Heaven with one eye than to go to Hell with two so argues Christ the smallest sin the least appearance of sin and the dearest of things though it were as dear as the right eye the right hand they must be mortified and must not that be a perfect Covenant that gives so perfect Laws Secondly Take a view of Vivification and of positive duties supradded to the work of Mortification and ye will find it perfect in regard of these especially if ye notice three things 1. The Covenant presses universal obedience to the Law not only the first Table of the Law but the second not only duties to God but to our neighbour the Covenant presses a believing of all that God says God spake all these words saying is the Preface to the Ten Commandments they are all the words of God if one of them had been spoken by the god of Ammon if a second had been spoken by the god of Israel we might have said this was spoken by the god of Ammon and is not to be obeyed but all the Commands are the Words of God and therefore all are to be obeyed 2ly The Covenant in the point of Vivification declares against slothiulness as well as scandals the Covenant says the Tree that bringeth not forth good fruit or the careless or barren Tree will be cast into the fire as well as the Tree that brings forth Accorns and that is an evidence of the perfection of the Covenant it 's well observed of Jonah a sleeping Jonah may ruine a Ship as well as a Pirat had there come an Enemy or a Pirat upon the Ship that Jonah sleeped in it could not contribute more to ruine it than his sleeping security and slothfulness will bring thee to Hell as well as the grossest scandals 3ly The Covenant calls for Grace as well as duty there is nothing acceptable duty to God but what hath grace at the bottom of it if we give our body to the fire and want charity if we pray never so much and pray not in faith it 's not acceptable there is no right work of Sanctification except the work consist of Grace as well as duties must not that be a perfect Covenant as to all the duties of Mortification and Vivification that requires such exact
Kingdom and Church as sometimes it doeth in Scripture or whether it be his particular family in which there was abounding Incest Murther and Adultery and many other things or whether it be the house of his body and the tabernacle of his body his person where there were many failings like wife the meaning of the phrase Although my house be not so with God though it be not legally qualified and be not so with God as either God or I would have it for ther emust be some such thing here yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant so that before I can come to speak of his house and the failings consistent with the Covenant and of the answering their failings in the Covenant there is one thing I cannot pass and will handle it this day it 's this comparing the Objection and the Priviledge together my house is sinful it 's not so with God yet notwithstanding it be so ha hath made with me an everlasting Covenant Doctrine The Observation shall be That the Covenant made with believers it 's a Covenant of Grace it 's absolutely of Grace that Lord makes the Covenant with them although their house be not so with God yet the Covenant is made with them and this intirely proves it a Covenant of Grace I will in the work of this day comparing the Covenant with David's house handle this to you that it 's a Covenant of Grace it 's an absolutely this to you that it 's a Covenant it 's a remarkable confirmation of this you have Ezek. 36.32 The Lord hath in the former Verses set down many promises ses in the Covenant such as I will sprinkle clean water upon you a new heart will I give you and I will put a new spirit within you I will take away the stony heart I will sprinkle clean water upon you and write my Laws in your heart and Verse 32. Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded for your own way O house of Israel Many precious promises hath he made in the Covenant yet for the rise of them be it known to you saith the Lord God not for your sakes do I this That I may follow this a little I confess it 's the great thing of our Soul it we were this day going to the grave that he should make a Covenant with you whose house is not so with God I will first prove this Covenant made with David and his seed to be absolutely and intirely a Covenant of Grace 2. I will inquire into the reasons why God will have this Covenant of Grace 3. I will clear a Question or two about it and lastly shall apply it Reas 1. First to prove it a Covenant of Grace that is a Covenant of free favour that 's made with them whose house is not so with God it 's a pathetick expression there is much more implyed than is exprest That the Covenant is a Covenant of meer grace and free favour will appear from these three remarkable truths 1. We have no accession in procuring it 2. The grounds and motives of it are only in God 3. It hath all the properties of grace and favour into it that could be expected to prove it a Covenant of Grace 1. It proves it a Covenant of free grace absolutely of free favour in regard we are altogether secluded from having any hand in procuring it It 's observed in Dispute with Papists there are four wavs by which we might be conceived to influence a thing from God and all these we are secluded from 1. By was of merit 2. By way of prive 3. By way of service 4. If there were suitableness in us to it several times there is beauty and comeliness where there is neither merit nor price nor service that will be alluring and procuring but all the four ways we are secluded from having any hand in it First There is no merit there are two things necessary to make up merit 1. The thing we give must be our own 2. It must be proportioned to the thing we receive the School-men cry down merit on these two grounds in strict Justice the thing we merit must be of something of our own we must have a proportion of the thing to what we receive and there is nothing of this in us in strict Justice Adam could not merit any thing that could have the name of merit it did refult from the Covenant and not from his obedience for it was neither his own nor proportioned to what he was to receive there could not be a proper commutative Justice betwixt God and Adam even though he had kept the Covenant of Works far less could we merit lapsed man could not merit under the Covenant of Grace 2. As we could give no merit we could give no price the reason of this is the outmost we could do was Sacrifices and Offerings all the Heathens could never go beyond this when they set their wits a-work to please their gods they took the best things they had to cast into the fire to their gods but what are Sacrifices and Offerings to him Psal 50.10 For every beast of the forrest is mine and the cattel upon a thousand hills Psal 51.16 For thou desirest not sacriace else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offerings Psal 16.2 My goodness extendeth not unto thee Micah 6.7 Shall I give my first born for my transgressim the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul What would all this signifie as a price to him 3. As we cannnot merit nor give a price so there is no service we can do there are servants that cannot buy nor merit yet there are some pieces of service by which they may bring an obligation upon their Master but there is no service we can do that can bring an obligation upon him Isaith 64.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags Luke 17.10 So likewise ye when ye have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Lastly suppose we have none of these three we might influence a thingfrom God by beauty and comeliness and suitableness to his inclination but neither can this be Read the sixteenth of Ezekiel and ye wil find what he found in Israel when he first entered in Covenant with her Thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born he compares Israel to a Child new born as for thy nativity in the day that thou wast born thy navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all nor swadled at all c. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirts over thee and covered thy
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
gave his Son 2. It was grace that he accepted his Son I confess the sacrfice he offered was of infinit value but the Law porvided that the person that sinned should die and he was not the person that sinned it 's a great wonder that he accepted from any other but from the person that sinned 3. The glorifying the Mediator for the satisfaction was a great act of grace Remember ye an Observation I had the last time we had the Communion on that Text Come to the Wedding all things are ready ye heard the difficult things were put by hand not only the decrees of Election but the satisfaction of Christ is put by hand neither could God nor Man nor Angels satisfie for us 1. God could not satisfie for he was not the person that sinned Angels could not do it upon the same ground and Man could not give a satisfaction of infinit value How should it be done then He must be both God and Man in one person what a difficult pass was this he must be God to overcome and Man to die and so ye see that Christ hath payed the Debt and purchased the Covenant and this derogats nothing from the grace of the Covenant but rather confirms it to be of grace SERMON XXXVIII 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made wiht me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvaand all my desire although he make it not to grow FRom that branch of the Verle Although my house be not so with God yet he bath made with me an everlasting Covenant I did infer that the Covenant made with David was a Covenant of meer grace altogether independent form any Merit from any Price or Service or Suitableness in him without resuming any thing that I have spoken before I come to the practical part of this there is one Objection I would clear and shall say no more of the doctrinal part Object Doeth not the Covenant of grace injoin the whole Law how can it them be called a Covenant of such intire grace nay more ye have heard there are things commanded in it that are not commanded in the Covenant of Works how can it then be a Covenant of meer grace and favour Answ For opening I desire ye may notice three or four particulars 1. Obedience to the Law is not the principal condition of the Covenant of grace believing and accepting of Christ is the principal command and condition of it nay justifying Faith however there be some in this generation would fain put in love in the definition of faith either designing a Socinian or Popish errour they know not that Faith is the principal condition and that as justifying though it cannot be separat from Works they go inseparably togegher yet in its nature and essence it doeth not include them 2. I add though the Covenant command the Law and enjoin it yet it does not enjoin it as a thing to be performed in our strength Adam was to obey it by the strength of inherent Grace but we are to obey it in the strength of assisting Grace there is a Thesaurer appointed Who is made of the Father our wisdom sanctification and redemption a very necessar Truth to be observed some when they go about duties they would wring them out of their own hearts and do them in their won strength that agrees not to the nature of the Covenant the way how we are to obey the Law is to abide in Christ and bring out strength out of him and the more we depend on him and the oftner we come to him we are the welcomer he readily gives more than we ask he will do as Naaman did with Gehasi as one observes well Gehasi running after Naaman he asks a Talent of him I pray thee says he be content take two we bake beside Meal and have a Thesaurer to bear our Purse and to defray our expense in every Inns and in every strait we come to 3ly Though the Covennat command the Law yet it will accept of the will for the deed and sincerity for perfection it was not so under the Covenant of Works where it was threatned He that offends in the least is guilty of all but in the Covenant of Grace though we be commanded to be perfect yet there will be acceptation of uprightness for perfection 4ly Obedience to the Law is indeed commanded but not to be our Righteousness it would have been Adams Righteousness had he stood under the Covenant of Works but this cannot be commanded in order to our Justification there is a Righteousness accepted and that is one of the reasons why the Lord in the Covenant of Grace accepts of less than under the Covenant of Works He first considers our lapsid estate then he doth with us as a man that hath a great Sun owing him by a Creditor he gets so much from the Cautioner that he is content to accept of less from the Principal all that God could expect was from Adams self his Bond admitted not of a Cautioner but under the Covenant of Grace there is less accepted at our hand that there is so much done by the Cautioner so it does not overturn the Truch of the Covenant that this Covenant is absolutely free and a full Act of free Grace though there be a commanding of the Law in it Without insisting more on the Doctrinal part I will come to the practical use of it 1. Is this Covenant a Covenant of so free Grace and Favour made with those whose house is not so with God Is it a Covenant thus of meer Grace The motives and grounds are not derived from us but from something in God himself it serves for several practical improvements Vse 1. First I would exhort you to take heed of making the wrong Use of it so as to abuse this Doctrine of free Grace two or three sorts of people come under the abuse of it 1. Such as take liberty to sin they abuse it to take Grace and make it a prop to sin is an abuse of Grace God forbid says Paul that we should sin that Grace may abound I like the Observation a Divine hath he says there cannot be a greater wrong done to an honest ingenuous man than to say he is an encourager to Drunkenness to Swearing to Adultery to Murder and to Lying what a reflection must it be on Christ to say that his Covenant is not of Grace 2ly All they that live in any known sin and are cherishing themselves with the Doctrine of Grace they abuse it it is a Covenant of Grace indeed but as ye heard It 's ordered in all things ye cannot plead the conditional Promises before ye make use of the absolute Promises 3ly Such as are pleading for pardon without repentance they are abusing this Dectrine of Grace and there cannot be a greater injury done to Christ he hath mediat and treated this Covenant and
ordered it in all things it 's one of the great fruits of the deep of his Wisdom and to go to abuse it is a great wrong 4ly All ye that live careless ignorant secure and scandalous under the Gospel and are always pretending to Grace and a Covenant of Grace know that to all your other guilt readily this may be added as the capestone that ye turn the Grace of God into wantonness and fall asleep in your guilt on this pillow that this Covenant was free therefore whatever hath been said of Grace as free stand by all ye that are living in any known sin and golrying in Grace and makes no use of Christ for Repentance whatever encouragement I have in commission to thee that desires to feed on the Covenant it 's the Childs Bread therefore let the former stand by and the latter take your own allowance Vse 2. Is this Covenant of Grace It serves for Information and it informs of four or five remarkable things 1. Of the great condescendency of Gods Grace he had made a Covenant with Aaam. the perfectest meer man that ever was when God mad a Covenant with him he broke it in the estate of Innocency it was made with him was it not a wonder that ever he should have thought upon any other way with fallen man when perfect man could not keep it yet when after that Covenant was broken and after the Bond we had failed He immediatly thinks on another Covenant and that to run in the channel of Grace it 's remarkable man was lapsed and fallen readily any then would have made it a ground of contradiction which he turned up into an Argument of pity O! the condescendency of Grace O! the height the depth the breadth of his love ye should be admiring his love and sometime speaking of it one to another that after we had broken one Covenant he would immediatly think of making another and that founded on Grace that it might be sure it 's of Grace that it may be sure Will ye be exhorted to be more in the meditation of this Grace will ye speak often to one another when ye have occasion of the condescendency of his Grace why should all your discourses run in complaints of misery and difficulties and not more in commending this admirable Grace that manifested it self when we had broken that Covenant to enter in another and found it on Grace 2ly Is this Covenant a Covenant of Grace Then it informs of what is the ground on which stands our enjoying the priviledges of the Covenant I like well the Observation of a Divine he says it 's a necessar work for a Christian to sit down and confider whence is it that one hath effectual calling and another wants it What is the reason I have pardon and another will never get it And sometimes what is the reason that I am not in the lake and left not to be tormented for ever and ever Would thou know the reason it 's Grace and meer Grace how necessar is it for us when we take up the Covenant as a Covenant of Grace to be considering that all our Mercies privative and positive what we are keeped from and what we enjoy they come all from Grace For the Covenant is a Covenant of Grace Were we serious in pondering this it would put a luster on our mercies the smell of Grace would add a great deal of sweethess to them 2ly It would make us use them very humbly what mercy has thou Grant it be Prayer or the Spirit of Prayer thou holds it of Grace and allenarly of Grace it 's Grace and Grace only that hath put the difference betwixt thee and him it 's no wonder that of all Christians those Christians be the most humble for when they come to glory and hath on their Sundays Cloaths Grace Grace will be cryed to be the Capestone the Papists say if we merited not Heaven we would not be so glorious in Heaven says one to whom is the glory to be given The distinguishing Grace preventing Grace the many privative and positive Mercies will be the ground of our Song therefore take up a Catalogue both of what thou has and what thou hopes for and give the glory to Grace 3ly It informs upon what warrantable ground we may want for the Calling nay for the Glory even of the most wretched it 's true if our effectual calling were to be merited if our pardon were to be bought we might give over all hope but since they come by Grace the Glory is to be ascribed to Grace there are three things in this Grace that may warrantably make the soul hope I Grace stands upon no bygones the sin against the Holy Ghost excepted if thou were never so gross a sinner if thou come and accept the offer of Christ as he is held out in this Covenant he is content to pass all bygones 2ly This Grace stands not at the weakness of Parts nor the meanness of Qualificatious no Babes and Sucklings and things that are not Grace will prevent them and pass by them 3ly Grace stands not at the weakness of Faith even though it have some mixture of corruption I believe help my unbelied said the poor man so thou may warrantably go to God and pray for such a friend that is living and may be sees not the danger of his natural State and thou thinks he is so gone as that he is incurable thou knows not that thou hast to do with a good God who is the foundation of the Covenant of Grace readily ye will say what ground of hope There is a Covenant of Grace that is founded neither upon merit nor price nor service but allenarly Gods Grace These Uses of Information and several others I will not insist upon Vse 3. Is this Covenant so free and of Grace then it serves for Exhortation Be exhorted to improve it as a Covenant of Grace frequently Believers deal with themselves as if they were often under a Covenant of Works and hence it is their consolation is no way answerable to their allowance several times they are like Children beside a full breast the Child is lying and it 's lean and ill like all the members of the Body of it are decaying the reason is not because the Nurse hath not a full Breast but the Child wants the art of sucking Therefore I will here press on Believers these two things 1. I would exhort you to take up this Covenant as a Covenant of Grace 2ly I exhort you to improve it as a Covenant of Grace 1. Take it up as a Covenant of Grace and that ye may do this two things I will only recommend unto you 1. Consider God intended absolutely to alter the nature of the first Covenant when he made the second in the first Covenant God required perfect obedience he would not admit of a Cautioner nor of the least failing were we under the Covenant of Works there is not the
least failing nor the least idle word but we might sit down and conclude it will eternally cast me in hell for I am under a Covenant that binds me to damnation for the least tailing but the nature of the Covenant is altered and if ye would take up the Covenant of Grace aright labour to understand the difference betwixt the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works that thou may not go ay judging thy case as if the nature of the Covenant were not changed but as if thou were under thet Covenant which is impossible for thee to obey 2ly Not only understand the differences betwixt these two Covenants but exaine these four things that I have often mentioned the principle from which it flows and that is Love and Grace the prive that was given for it that is the Blood of his Son the great contents of it ye have often heard that it 's impossible for him to speak with reverence to promise greater things than he hath done in the Covenant he hath promised Himself and his Son and 4ly consider the end of it and that is for the Glory of his Grace the end of it is that ye may exalt his Grace and so if ye would take up the Covenant a right do not only state it in competition with the Covenant of Works but consider it in these four that are last mentioned In the second place I exhort thee to improve it as the Covenant of Grace I shall first shew you who are they that do not improve And 2ly Give some directions how to improve it as a Covenant of Grace There are three or four sorts of persons that do not improve it as a Covenant of Grace I. However we hold in disput on this head preparatory Works to be in Gods ordinary way antecedent and introductory to conversion yet we determine not the degrees of preparatory humiliation no there is some times the Lord opens the heart of a Lydia and we read nothing of his Low Work before some may reason my work is not of effectual calling why I had never the legal humiliation that some hath but what if he let out thy Byll with a Prin and take a Sword to others What if he carry on thy work of humiliation with thee in the progress of Sanctification What if thy Legal Terrours be before thee that some have had in the beginning of their work He is an absolute Lord that hath the oversight of this thou that will sit and question all thy foundation marks O! I was not humbled the preparatory works was not with me as with others however we maintain preparatory works against Antinomians that deny them utterly they say to what purpose are they We maintain a necessity of them in so far as the Lord bring the work of conversion after them as necessarily as the Threed must follow the Needle But 2ly They do not rightly improve this Covenant hat would make up a hatchpotch betwixt the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace readily there are some they would lay some stress on Mercy and Grace providing they had some works to mingle in with their Grace I formerly hinted at it it 's impossible to be under both Covenants and thou that would make up a hatchpoton of these Covenants in order to thy Justification thou art taking a way to mingle both together and they will never wall well 3ly They rightly improve not this Covenant of Grace that ordinarily reject the offers as either being too far above them or too far below them several Believers when they are called by the Gospel to come in to the Banqueting-house they would be at some merit or price of their own before they can treat with Jesus about their pardon and their peace these take not up the Covenant as a Covenant of Grace and are not improving it as such Therefore I will offer four Directions especially relating to four practical cases wherein Believers ought to improve the Covenant as a Covenant of Grace 1. When under the sense of unworthiness O! such a silly heart as I have and what can I do with it Shall I go to God with it Wilt thou take up the Covenant as a Covenant of Grace I have several times advised you to do with Christ as the Father did with him the Father in the Covenant of Redemption forgave him not one farthing he payed it to the utmost for he knew he was abundantly able therefore he took pleasure to bruise him therefore he required all that he had promised and on the terms promised so if he hath bidden thee come and get the change of an unworthy heart and told thee that unworthiness is an argument of pity do not sit down in the Lond of Famine as Jacob's Children were ready to do in the Land of Canaan even when Joseph hath the Command of all the Store in Egypt and if thou should go down with money in thy hand to buy victuals he will send thee home and the money in thy sacks mouth 2ly It 's an ordinary case when we come under challenges to say there is no hope for me in God what will ye say of Pardon hath he not promised Pardon But say they will he pardon the like of me Will he not pardon the like of thee He hath pardoned as great sinners What made him pardon David Abraham Manasseh Paul but Grace And that same Sun that shined in their days shines now in our days and that same Grace that was then is to the fore yet 3ly Improve it when thou goes to God with any Petition though it be some great thing may be thy heart is broken under the Desolations of the Church of God the grace of the Covenant may be a great encouragement to thee in that case though thou think O! such an undeserving thing as I am and what can Grace do but cast me off But thou may go considently to him if it be for thy self if for thy friend in distress if for the Church of God and though thou have no other argument thou may press the Grace of the Covenant Lastly improve this Grace in the judging of Fundamental Priviledges and in the building of thy hopes of eternal ones First Thy Adoption comes to be a Question what An I adopted to be a Son of God A poor thing But what could that hinder the Grace of the Covenant if Grace thought fit to call thee to that Priviledge These that are ready to think on such great things what is in my walk Shall I enjoy God for all eternity How can it be expected that I shall enjoy him But Grace is the great ground of all our hopes to be brief learn to take up this Covenant as a Covenant of Grace and to deal with himself according to it there are none of you but in a little while ye will be at the gates of death and this will be the great ground of your encouragement Vse 4. The last Use
is of Consolation I would from this have Believers encouraged there are three great encouragements ye have from it 1. If ye be in Christ his Grace is infinit all your provocations cannot exhaust it if ye be in Christ it 's like a man would take a Miln-stone and cast in the Sea the Sea will cover the Miln-stone as well as it will do a little peeble stone the greatest provocations will sink in this Grace as well as the small ones it 's true if thou take occasion and sleep secure on this cod of Grace it shall be an aggravation of thy former guilt but if thou be a penitent this Grace will cover it though it were great as if it were small therefore be encouraged all that take them to this Grace in its due Order the Grace of it is infinit 2ly Ordinarly it 's the nature of Grace the more miserable the Object be the more Grace is manifested and appears in that it did Terminat on that Object the more wretched the more Grace hath appeared in curing that wretchedness so that God designs to exalt his Grace in this Covenant and the more wretched and miserable the more will Grace appear Grace hath shined brighter and hath the more of Grace into it that it did Terminat on the like of Paul Mary Magdalen and a Manasseh 3ly Consider that one Act of his Grace is a pledge of another if the Lord hath begun to give thee preventing Grace in thy effectual calling know the nature of this Covenant and the Grace of it it will not stop there until this Crown glorifie thee if the Lord hath brought thee under this Covenant of Grace and if he hath begun to prevent thee and carry on a work of Grace in thee it will never stop until it close in perfecting Grace and have the Crown set upon thy head Let us bless the Lord that hath changed one Covenant and hath given us another wherein the greatest Testimonies of Grace that could be given are manifested take your selves to it and labour to improve it and get an interest in it secured and ye shall find the comfort of it through all Eternity SERMON XXXIX 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Have dwelt the most part of this Summer on this Verse and purposes to close it this day there are two Objections one taken from David's guilt My house is not so with God another taken from God's Providence Although he make it not to grow The first of these I have handled in several Sermons and told you what was meaned by David's House it was not right with God There are two Observations remains and both of them Native and very Important First There is this Doct. 1. That Challenges for guilt of our house are excellently answered in the Covenant the Application of the Covenant is the proper Salve for such Sores I intended to have handled this Truth at some length but when I consider that famous Mr. Dickson in his Therapeutica a Book he hath written for securing all Cases by Application of this Covenant hath handled this so fully that I resolve to forbear I recommend only that Book to you where ye will find many diseases the Soul is lyable to and they are all cured by Application of the Covenant it 's not this Truth then that I will insist on Doct. 2. There is another Observation lies in this Although my house be not so with God That though a Believer be challenged for guilt and the sins of his house yet he is not to cast at the Covenant The sense of guilt ought not to put a Christian to cast at the Covenant Though my house be not so with God yet David can assert his interest in the Covenant notwithstanding of all his guilt personal or publick or in his Family This is a native Truth and massie ye have a remarkable confirmation of it Nehemiah 9.32 throughout the Chapter he is confessing the sins of the Kings of the Princes of the Priests of the Prophets of his Fathers and of the People and yet in this verse he appeals to God as their God Now therefore O our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepeth Covenant and mercy let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us on our Kings on our Princes on our Priests and on our Prophets and on our Fathers and on all thy People since the time of the Kings of Assyria unto this day c. There a multitude of sins that are confessed by him throughout the Chapter and he looks on God as Mighty and Terrible and yet none of them dings him from the Covenant whatever be the smell of our guilt or of our Family yet we are not to cast at the Covenant I will in following this truth speak a little to these three things First I shall give you some grounds to prove that whatever be a persons guilt yet they are not to cast at the Covenant Secondly I shall clear some practical Cases about it and Thirdly shall apply it First I shall give you some grounds to prove that whatever be a sinners guilt he is not to cast at the Covenant though my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me a Covenant I will offer you these five remarkable grounds to prove it The first I take from God and there are three things in God relating to the Covenant that will prove the truth of this 1. For all our guilt God holds the Covenant firm guilt casts us not out of the Covenant it may cast us out of fellowship that will not cast us out of the Covenant Jer. 3.1 Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. And vers 14. Return backsliding children saith the Lord for I am married to you there the Covenant holds firm and since God holds the Covenant firm under guilt we may warrantably plead the Covenant even though we be guilty of many sins 2ly When people are guilty God makes them offer of the Covenant Isa 1.18 Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be made white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool Psal 68. Though ye have layen among the pots ye shall appear as doves c. And since God offers the Covenant when we are most guilty may not we warrantably rely on it 3ly God hath given experience in Scripture of his accomplishing his Covenant to them whose house were not so with God the great Instances we have in David in Solomon in Manasseh in Paul and Peter who are now walking in long white Robes in Glory they all prove that he holds fast and accomplishes his Covenant though their house be not so with
but readily Discouragements from the want of them then to be cheerful it looks like one that brings in their Consolation from the Covenant of God 2ly When one can nothwithstanding of guilt be comforted from the Covenant this proves a great evidence of ones making the Covenant their great encouragement many a time and no wonder Guilt is a humbling thing no wonder it fill the Soul with Terrors from God for he abhors it yet when one can notwithstanding of Guiltiness if the Temptation and the Challenge they meet with say thou hast broken this Command and a Second and a Third and there us not one of them if God pitch on it but God may condemn thee for go and tell the Tempter ye take the wrong Bond I am not under that Covenant I am under a better Covenant where the Debt is to be required of the Surety and my work is to go to him for pardon when Challenges and the smell of Guiltiness makes them not cast away their hope but tell the Tempter it 's not your Bond there is a Pardon to be gotten on the account of the Righteousness of another That is one Evidence that thou bringest in thy Encouragement from the Covenant according to the design of the Covenant when notwithstanding of the want of Sense from the Covenant thou sticks bââ it 3ly They rightly improve the Covenant for Encouragement that sometime take their guilt as an Argument to press on Goâ the accomplishment of the Promise the thing that chases onâ from him as Peter Depart from me for I am a sinful manâ yet he hangs by the Covenant and will make it an errand tâ run to him and an Argument to press it on him Psal 14 4 ãâã I said Lord be merciful to me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Nay more Psal 25. pardon mine iniquity and hiâ Argument is for it is very great What kind of reasoning iâ this Any would think of all the impertinent grounds to brinâ to God this were one but take right measures by the Covenantâ it 's no Antinomian principle Tho your iniquities were as scarleâ they shall be white as wool though thou hast played the harlot with many lovers It 's not we but the Mediator has put in thesâ things in the Covenant and payed the Price aboundantly above the value of them 4ly One comes to evidence theiâ Encouragement to come in from the Covenant when they make use of providence always with a reference to the Covenant all Providences are by them looked on always with a Reference to the Covenant Now there are Four Influencesâ that a Believer will find in Providences encourage men foâ if ye measure Providences by the Covenant 1. The Covenant is a key to open the Mystery of the Providence readily ye may come under a Lash or a stroke from God and be aâ that Rebecca was at If I be so why am I thus The Covenant will open the Providence ye will find that in Faithfulness hâ hath corrected you ye will find that ye could as easily want your meat as a Rod if he be faithful to his word 2dly Iâ Evidences the Wrath and Curse of the Providence to be removed one is laid low and another back by a Feaver or a Consumption but they have Dregs and all for they have no Interest in the Covenant But for thee who art interested in the Covenant the Cautioner as to thee in the Covenant has sucked out of all their Cups he that brings in his Consolation from the Covenant he first takes the Covenant as a Key to open the Providence and then he sees that all the Poyson and Gall that was in his neighbours Cup is sucked out by the Cautioner of the Covenant is a noble way to keep up hope under the darkest Providence was there any so darkned as Abraham was The Lord seems to be very kind to him he converses with him and he promises I will give thee Seed and in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed and the next day he bids him go to Mount Moriah and offer his Son Isaac the Seed of the Promise in a burnt offering unto the Lord would any body have thought who would take such a way one day to make a Promise and another day to cast it down he took it not as one casting away his Promise for he knew that he was faithful that had promised therefore he went and put his hand to the knife to kill him So when we take Providences and look on them with a respect to the Covenant we have a Key to open the Mystery of the Providence and if ye would have a sure Rule to try if ye be bringing in your consolation from the Promise and from the Covenant try how much ye can rely on the credit of a Promise against Providence sense challenges for Guilt and notwithstanding of them all to cleave to a Promise But 2ly They that would try if they bring in their encouragement from the Covenant they must also look to the Command these things would appear a plausible Doctrine and an Antinomian would imbrace them all to hear a Minister preaching that against sense and all the darkness of Providence there should âe adherence to the Covenant but there must be an eye to she commanding part and a Person is bringing in his encouragement from the Covenant that doth these three things from the commanding Part. 1. Every Command has a suitable Promise and ay when he has a call to obey the Command a Believer has also a call to run to the Promise wherever ye are âalled to pray if two or three were met together in Christs Name if ye were visiting a Sick Person or if ye were going âbout your own particular case to God If ye have a call to âhe Duty ye have likewise a call to the Promise which is necesâar to be observed and the neglect of it makes many heartless âuties when we labour to bring out of our own Gifts the qualiââcations of the Duty we bring forth the things that is not ââere been wherever ye can instruct that God puts such a âuty on you let it be to do or to suffer the same call from ââe Command calls for the Promising Part of the Covenant and âe is not rightly improving the Covenant for Consolation that ââns not to the Promise when he has a call to the Duty like a ââan rowing a Boat if ye roll with one Oar it will go continually about and make no progress but if ye roll with both the Oars it makes the Boat go even and makes swift progress so when we go to the Commanding Part without the Promising Part we roll but with one Oar. 2ly He uses the Commanding Part of the Covenant for his encouragement that is he is as tender of his Obedience as he is tender of his Comfort It is a Question some Divines move whether is Sanctification or Consolation must necessary All
determine that Sanctification is necessary for our being but Consolation is only necessar for our well being we may go to Heaven and have very little of comfort but we cannot go to Heaven without Sanctification and he is rightly laying the Foundation to have the Covenant his encouragement when he comes to his last Words that is minding the commanding Part and duties in the Covenant as well as the promising Part nay that is rather bound to the commanding Part than the promising Part for we may go to Heaven without consolation but we may go to the Pit if we want Sanctification 3ly He uses the commanding Part of the Covenant for his encouragement that minds the whole Commands oâ the Covenant and is not partial in the Commands of the Covenant he that is partial in the Commands of the Covenant doe as a man that goes into a Garden and he plucks a Flower here and another there and passes by the rest no we must have respect to all the Commands whether ye be Master or Servant Lands-lord or Tennent Buyer or Seller the Commands of the Covenant must regulat you in your Familles in the Mercats iâ your change-houses in your work and in your Shopes and in all the things that ye go about and he that would have the Covenant his encouragement must roll the command the Promise together and must be as tender of the command as oâ the Promise and must have a respect to all the commands anâ he that can make use of the Covenant in all these respects whether he have sense or not such a one when he comes to hiâ last words and must be quiting with all his Relations and aâ his Lands and Chartors he will have a special ground to sinâ Davids Nightingale song The Lord has made me an everlasting Covenant c. Vse 2. But there are other two Vses yet remaining the 1. ãâã this To encourage Believers to learn to make use of the covenant make more use of the covenant than ye do I know it's thâ ground of despondency and heartless worshipping of God either we believe not or we do not improve the Covenant and how many are there guilty of both when they come in straits and when there is a command from God or a Cross from Men they are ready to go like a Woman with her hands on her Loins they cannot sing that the Covenant is full and sure and free Question 1. I would excit thee O Christian with three Questions about it 1. I ask you is there any thing out of the covenant that ye would have in or is there any thing in that ye would have out No there is not one Syllable I like the Observation some has made of the Covenant if we had been altogether and had all our heads laid together there is not one Syllable out that should have been in and in that should have been out what is there what disease what condition of Life if thou were acquaint with the Covenant that thou would not find aboundantly satisfied within the Covenant So that we may say of it as that word Song 7.13 At our gates are all manner of pleasant things new and old which I have laid up for my well Beloved Some take that as relating to the Covenant are there not all maner of pleasant Fruits to be found in the Covenant but I ask thee what aileth thee is there any thing out of that thou would have in or in that thou would have out is there any case or difficulty but this Covenant will satisfie it why then is your countenance sad But 2ly Ye will say the Exception runs not against the fullness of the Covenant but against the freedom of it there are many conditions in the Covenant say ye but I tell you there is no condition in the Covenant but one even such as if a Man were going to marry a Woman and she should say I am poor and has no Tocher-good he will tell that shall not hinder the marriage but says she I am black but am fair says he and will make the fair through my comliness but sayes she I will not marry thee except thou be content to give me leave to be a whore the truth is the Covenant is so ordered in the point of freedom it 's not our blackness or poverty that hinders it they have no ground to except against the marriage but because the Bridegroom will not give them liberty to be a whore no he has drawn it in these terms that all bygones shall be bygones and fair play in times to come Thou hast played the whore with many lovers and see whom thou hast not layen with under every green tree on every high hill yet return unto me let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thought and he will aboundantly pardon But 3ly Ye will say your consolation is houghed without the sureness of the Covenant I will only say this God may indeed act contrair to the Covenant of nature and yet not be unfaithful he may make the iron to swim he may make the moon go back ten degrees and the Sun stand still he may make the Babylonish Fire not to burn the three Children that were cast into it but if he should alter one Article in the Covenant or not accomplish one Promise in the Covenant of Grace he behoved so deny Himself and his Son for he is become Surety in the Covenant and all power in Heaven and Earth is committed to him to execut the Articles of this Covenant for it 's a in a manner written with his Sons Blood and so why go ye with your hands on your Loins ye that have any Title or interest in the Covenant for it 's both Full Free and Sure SERMON III. 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Took from the scope of the Words the last day one Observation and handled it in two Sermons That the great Encouragement at Death was an Interest in well ordered and sure Covenant What was said of that I will not repeat now but I come particularly to make some entry on the Words and in the Work of this day I shall consider them in this mould and method and ye have in them these five things 1. Ye have the the nature of the thing which supports David when he was at his last Words it was a Covenant he is supported by a Covenant 2ly Ye have the Parties Transacting in this Covenant God and me God has made with me a Covenant 3ly Ye have the properties of this Covenant and they are Three it 's everlasting it 's ordered in all things and it 's sure Three remarkable Properties 4ly Ye have the Superstructure or that which Daâââ builds on this Covenant that has these Three
Properties a ãâã two things he builds on it First his Salvation Second ãâã satisfaction to all his desires And this is all my salvation and ãâã my desire The Lord hath made with me a Covenant and ãâã everlasting it 's ordered in all things and it 's sure anâ build on it all my Salvation and all my desire 5ly Ye haâ the Anticipation of two Objected against Gods entering in Covenant with David one upon God's part another on his part âânother on his part First for David's part he was a sinful Mââ guilty of Murther Adultery and Lying and many thinââ and he had Incest in his house would God make an everlasting Covenant with the like of him Another Objection might hââ been made God crost him and Providence looked not liââ such a Covenant To remove these Two Objections ye haâ Two Altho's in the verse There is one in the begining of tââ Verse another in the end Altho my house be not so with God ãâã altho he make it not to grow so these Two Altho's remove two grâââ difficulties that might be brought against the Consolation of tââ everlasting Covenant ye may see here a large Field and a Marrowie that I resolve to dwell on possibly longer than on any oâ Verse in the Bible and I beseech you not only pray for help ãâã carefully to observe what shall be said either of the Covenant or Personal Covenanting or of the Properties and Grounds ãâã Encouragement all my desire and all my salvation To begin with the First of these the nature of the thing which supports David at his last Words it 's a Covenant the word ãâã the Hebrew Berith though all agree to render it Covenant yââ there are many differences about the Root of it some deriviââ it from one word some from another it answers to the Greââ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we have translated in the Scripture-sense Testament the Covenant and Testament being one thing so the oââ and new Testament they are in effect on the nature of them thâ old and new Covenant but I resolve not to dwell on it in thâ general I will only take this Observation and so far as I can wââ through it follow it in the work of this day Doct. The Observation shall be this That the Consolation of ãâã Believer comes not from a Command nor from a naked Promise bââ it comes from the Covenant The Lord has made with me a Covenant it is not said the Lord commanded me a Covenant nor is it simply the Lord has promised me but the Lord haâ made with me a Covenant Before I come either to Confirm or Improve this Truth practically there are two or three general Considerations I must give ãâã to open and be a Key unto what âs to be spoken on this âââaâ it 's necessar ye know first what a Covenant is Heathens ââristians Lutherians Jesuits and and Protestants have ââitten large Tractats of the nature of a Covenant ât is necessary that I glance a little at the opening of four things ãâã all agree in to make up a Covenant and the four laid toââther make up the Definition of a Covenant 1. In a Covenant ââere must be distinct Parties a man may make a Promise or âââws his alone binding himself but he cannot make a Covenant alone a Covenant necessarly supposes distinct parties ââither find we in Sacred or Eccesiastick or prophane Historiââ mention of any thing that ever went under the name of ãâã Covenant but on supposed distinct Parties 2ly A Covenant supposes an agreement betwixt thir distinct parties the ââties treat and they agree on some Articles and Heads and ââth of them come under conditions it 's true there are Covenants of exact Justice and there are Covenants of Grace and ââcording to the nature of the Covenant so is the Agreement ââd the condition of the Covenant but there is nothing more ââcessary and essential to the making up of a Covenant than ââo Parties agreeing on such and such Conditions and Terms ãâã A Covenant supposes an Obligation on both Parties to the âânor of the Agreement and Condition for in effect there âânnot be a proper Covenant but it induces an Obligation and Bond suppose it be either a Despotick Covenant as they call ãâã or suppose it be a Covenant betwixt Master and Servant ãâã suppose it be a Covenant for Traffick or for Marriage suppose it be but a Covenant of Friendship yet it 's an Obligation ãâã both Parties on the Terms on which they have agreed and ââth of them become engadged to the Articles of the Agreement ãâã vertue of the Covenant 4ly Ye would notice that of all ââligations the Obligation of a Covenant is most sacred thereââre it is well observed by some the light of nature nay the ââry Scriptures themselves they cannot devise a more inâââlable ty than the ty of a Covenant the great reason is ââen among Heathens when they transacted Covenants they ââuld not only draw them in writ and seal them with lifting ãâã their hands but sometimes they would do it with drawing ââod of their Thumbs and sealing it with their blood the Light of Nature cannot devise a stronger ty than the ty ãâã Covenant when the Covenant is lawful in its materials no ãâã nor society of men can souse the ty of a Covenant the reasâââ because the ty of a Covenant binds the Conscience and ãâã accresces a Debt to God because of the invocation of his Naââââ and no man can remit that which is due to God it 's God ãâã that can remit a lawful Covenant so ye see what a Coveââââ is and laying all the four together ye may see what is scattââââ in many Books about the nature of a Covenant and I will ãâã you this Definition of a Covenant taking it as it is stated âââtwixt God and Man It is an Agreement betwixt God and Man ãâã certain Articles and conditions wherein the most sacred and imâââable tyes are interposed that possibly can be imagined both to biâââââ God's part and our part and Gods coming under a covenant ãâã man and mans coming under a covenant with God they come ãâã the most sacred ty that nature morality or grace can find out But I will add a second Consideration to this which is tââ That among all the Wonders that have come to pass in the Woâââ and since the Foundation of the Earth was laid and there ãâã many wonderful things come to pass proving the wisdom Powâââ Justice and Goodness of God yet hardly is there any thâââ more wonderful than Gods coming under a Covenant with Mâââ and the thing that makes it wonderful among many are thâââ two 1. As he was mans Creator and gave him a beeing out ãâã nothing he might have commanded all his Creatures whâââ ever he thought fit to command them to do without any Covenant he needed have done no more but told them if ye ãâã not what I Command you
of Dominion a man that makes a Promise he hath the thing he promises under his Command or else he promises foolishly 2ly A Promise It 's an Act of Condescendency he that is content to make a Promise condescends to the humor and desire of them to whom he makes it 3ly A Promise is an Act of Liberality but the main thing here a Promise is an Obligation it brings a ty on the Person that makes it Now the truth is the Covenant is all the Four in regard of God it 's an Act of his Dominion of his condescendency of his Liberality and it brings an Obligation on him but these are not the special Reasons why it come to be called a Promise the special Reasons are from the nature of the Covenant and the nature of the Covenant has two things in it that makes it properly to be called a Promise First The great things in it are Promises it was not so with the Covenant of Works the great things in it were Commands and therefore ye find it often called in the Bible a Law the Covenant of Works will be called the Law for the great design of it was to give commands but it is not so with the covenant of Grace it 's not Law and commands that is not the special design in it but it 's Grace and Promises 2ly It comes to be called a Promise in regard there is no Command in it all but there is a promise of strength to obey the Command ye see me sometime at Examining putting you to this there is no Duty in all the Covenant but there is a Promise relating to that Duty and if ye remember the Observation ye heard the last day at Examining a Christian has never a call to a Command but in that call he has a call to the Promise When we are commanded to obey to do or to suffer Christ never calls us to a Duty in the Covenant but he calls us likewise to a Promise of it whether it be to ârayer Repentance Believing Loving of Christ or Suffering for Him So that it comes to be no wonder that is to be called a Promise for in effect there is nothing required in all the Covenant but it 's promised Suppose there were a man that should bid another man come to his Shop and buy such a piece of Cloth and in the mean time should round in his Ear I will give thee Money to buy it even as much as the price of it will come to that is rather a giving than a selling we indeed buy in the Covenant of Grace but it 's without Money and without price and any thing that we part with for the Covenant it is but that which would undo us as if ye saw a Woman that has a Child that hath gotten a Knife in his hand and she is fear'd it undo the Child she will go and Treat with the Child I will give this Apple and this preasant thing and that providing thou wilt quite the knife she is afraid the Child cut his fingers with the knife or undo himself with it and the Child will not quite it without buying it the Gospel drives such a bargain as this for in the Covenant of Grace all that God does in the point of Command is only that we quite the knife that would cut our fingâers and He will give us all the Apples and pleasant things contained in the Covenant so it 's no wonder it be called Promise 3dly It 's called a Promise in regard of us there are two things in regard of us that makes it be called a Promise and the antinomians will have it called by no other name they deny it to be a proper Covenant they say it 's only a Promise but it 's in regard of us called a Promise on thir two accounts 1 Because we have contributed nothing to the procuring of the Covenant but it 's allanerly of Grace as if a man were sending to his nighbours house for something he has payed for he might send for it and readily crave it as a debt but when he sends for any thing promised he must not go exactly and observe all the passages of craving it he had no right to it but by a Promise many a time when God gives not his people that fulness of peace of joy of consolation that readily they would have they sit down and quarrel as readily the thing they would have were payed for but thy right to it was but by Promise And a giving thing should not be looked in the mouth 2ly It comes to be called a Promise in regard of us in respect the thing we do in the condition of the Covenant it 's no way proportioned to the thing promised there are great things promised and we have no Influence on it What would all our service do to influence this Promise I will take away the heart of stone What did we contribute when we first bargained with him did we not resist the Promise did we not say I will go after my lovers What warnings did we sit out before we brought our neck under his yoke All these prove that the Covenant is a Promise And from this Name of the Covenant I would have you notice three or four things before I go further Is the Covenant called a Promise Then 1. Mistake not the Covenant ye will hear presently it has another Name nor a Promise as if it were no way consistent with the Law Antinomians say so it 's a conditional Promise go not ye to take up the Covenant as if it were only a Promise and had no condition at all I deny not but there are absolute Promises in it I will speak of them afterward But 2ly Here the great encouragement that Believers have for their security they are under a Covenant the Name whereof is a Promise Suppose one of you were drowned in desertion and a second exceedingly weak and suppose a third were reproached and despicable yet if ye have from one that has both power and faithfulness a promise that is refreshing if one should ask a man that were in great debt how will ye win out of it I have a Promise says he ye have no pith nor power to pay your debt I have a promise from one tht is rich that can pay it here is the great encouragement that Believers have and they have no other thing to keep up their heart but only this I have a Promise 3ly I marke it for this end that I may put thee to the thing I was pressing the last day to take it up as a Covenant of Promises what am I says one my house is not so with God what an I says another I have a crossed life in this world But will any of these hinder him from making a Promise Thy Charter is not Merit thy Charter and mine is not Purchase but allanerly Promise and the only expectation we can have of wearing the Crown and walking in the
of Peace with himself so when any of his Friends stand in need of your help it 's not only an act of Charity or Compassion but the neglect of it is a breach of the Covenant ye are bound to it by the Covenant therefore if ye would uâderstand the nature of the Covenant it 's in the first place ãâã Covenant of Peace and War of Reconciliation of Friendship for the future of having common friend common enemie and to give help to his Friends on the account of the Covenant Secondly among Men Covenants are Covenants ãâã Traffique and Commerce together I believe in these four I will give you a glance of the tenor of the whole Covenant It 's ordinar for Nations because every Nation cannot supply it self fully but it stands in need of the Commoditiââ of other Nations therefore Princes will enter into a Covenant of Traffique and exchange Commodities with other by exporting or importing them Now the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Traffique and Commerce with Heaven and therefore ye have sometimes a Believer called a Merchant The wise Merchant goes and sells all that he hath and buyes the Field where the Pearl is And ye have Christ himself holden out in the Scripture under the formality of a Merchant Come buy Wine and Milk and Honey without Money and without price For clearing this formality of the Covenant as it 's a Covenant of Traffique I would have you to notice three or four things 1. That Man as he violats the covenant of Works he came under enmity against God and the Covenant of Peace was broken up so that by that Fall all Traffique with Heaven was broken up to this day the natural Man has no kind of Merchandising or Traffiquing with Jesus readily he may come to Ordinances and to the Mercat of the Gospel but he has no Traffique with Christ his Covenant admits of none there is neither buying nor selling betwixt Christ and him but the opening or this everlasting Covenant and getting an Interest in it opens a Traffique betwixt Christ and Believers and ye will find in the Covenant these three or four things relating to this Traffique First Ye will find the goods we traffique for holden out in the Covenant and they are of many kinds there is wine milk honey spices gold oyl fine linen eye-salve in effect there are fields and fields wherein the Pearls are the Covenant offers and opens a traffique a commerce a trade betwixt Christ and Believers and the things are Wine Milk Honey c. 2. Ye have the Covenant not only opening the things for which the traffique is about but ye have the price of them in the Covenant ye have a treaty about the price of the Commodities Isaiah 55. ye that have no money come and buy without money and without price this seems to be a contradiction to buy without money and without price How can that be the truth is our buying is a kind of giving on the merchants part I confess it 's a considerable Objection that some move How can it be said that these commodities are sold without money doeth not the wise merchant sell all and goes and buyes the field where the Pearl is can he be said to buy without money and without price that sells all and gives for the field But the truth is our all is not money but dross and dung and when we have done all we are but unprofitable servants and when we have sold all and bought the field we have neither given money nor gold for it 3. There is in this traffique on this formality under which the Covenant is taken up there is this Clause I say in the Articles of Traffique that the whole Stock on which we Trade is Christs and we come to Traffique with a nothing mans goods It's remarkable there are some he sends out and gives them but one Tablent to Traffique with others he sends out and gives them two to another he gives three to another he gives four but whether they be one three or four Talents they are all his all the things one which the Believer Traffiques according to the Terms of the Gospel covenant they are all his the glory and grace of it no wonder they should especially redound to him so that when we have done any thing or when we have gone and Traffiqued at a Communion and Traded in Prayer or when we have gone to a Sacrament or a Promise whatever the Traffique be it 's always Christs Stock on which we Trade The Talents are his and not ours the parts the gifts the graces the liberty in Prayer the enlargement of Heart in performing Duties they were all Christs the Talents were his and we were only Traffiquent with another mans goods so when we have most liberty and make the best Mercat we can the gain and glory should especially and principally redound to him 4. In a Covenant of Commerce and Traffique there uses to be gain designed and if it be not attained the Merchant thinks all that he hath done lost labour this is indeed in the Covenant of Grace as it 's Covenant of Traffique the person that has skill to follow the Trade is designing gain it 's true there are many bunglers and hypocrites that has no skill to follow the Trade but he that has skill to Trade his two Talents becomes four and his five comes to be ten it 's necessary for them that are under this Covenant of Traffique to be every year observing how their Stock grows whether it be increasing or going backward whether thou be more heavenly more Spiritual more Tender or whether thou hast more Communion with God for the Covenant is a Covenant of Merchandise for if we be standing still we are going back if we be at a stand with it and has no more this year than the last year thou has the same measure of Duties the same measure of Grace the same measure of Knowledge and of Words thou his no skill oâ the Trade if thou be not thriving and gaining at it so ye see it's first a Covenant of Peace and War next it 's a Covenant of Traffique labour to make use of the Covenant not only for Peace but for Friendship with him in the Contrivement and drawing of the Covenant he designed a Traffique and Trade betwixt him and thee and designed gain in it examine therefore how it thrives with you Thirdly This Covenant as it 's a Covenant that uses to pass betwixt Princes and Subject betwixt Masters and Servants it 's called a Despotick Covenant under this formality it 's necessar to be taken up also as a Covenant betwixt Superior and Inferior now that it is such a Covenant it 's evident in regard frequently it 's called a Command as Psal 111.9 He has commanded his covenant for ever That ye may take it up under this formality I would have you notice three or four things that occurs in this Covenant all
God and peremptorly press Him for removing these nay readily He is faithful and true in removing of them 1. Several times He will remove the curse and sting of the Cross all the Elect meet with that The covenant has promised and rather threatens the Cross but withal it 's added it shall come like a Bee it may come bumming and making a noise but it wants the sting and one needs not be afraid of a Bee that wants a sting the covenant has promised that in reference to the Cross the curse and sting are both removed 2ly The covenant has promised the proportioning of the Cross to our shoulders it 's indeed a special promise to that purpose He will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able to bear He knows that which would be balast to one Vessel would drown another therefore He calls a Christian to suffer according as they have gotten Grace every one is not for the service that others are for readily if He give Effectual Calling Pardon Communion with Himself and Peace one to ten thousand if that person go to the grave without some signal Cross so the Covenant secures these two it secures against the Curse and Sting of the Cross and against a disproportioned Cross to our strength 3ly The Covenant secures of help under the Cross it bears them up it 's a wonder to see how that part of the Covenant has been accomplished when I come to the ordering of the Covenant I will have occasion to speak of it these that have sometime in their life been sinking under fears so that the least noise of leafes on the Tree in the night time and even their own shadow on the wall would have feared them in the time of Persecution have chearfully suffered themselves to be cast to the lions and in the fire The great reason is the Covenant engaged for strength under the Cross and the Lord has promised if he call David to go against a Goliah He shall deal with him as Saul did with David he shall get on the King's Armour to fight with 4ly He has secured this by the Covenant that the Cross shall be the way to the Crown I deny not but there may be some in Glory but certainly they will be rare who have not come through Afflictions and Tribulations and if they be in Glory they shall be among the least of the Kingdom of God the Captain came through Afflictions and why not the Soldiers The Scripture speaks generally These are they that have come through great tribulation it 's the Testimony given to the generality of them in some period of their life or other they have had some signal Tribulation and the Scripture tells us If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him So the covenant secures against all these against the Curse and Sting of the Cross against a disproportioned Cross to our strength and strength under it and the way to the Crown Secondly Consider that sometimes the Cross is as necessary as a manifestation may be however indeed we would be ay at carving out our own cordials and like children would have our handfull and our sense and our eye filled yet the Cross may be as necessary as the great priviledges of the Covenant therefore ye find sometimes the Cross made a Promise as Hosea 2.6 I will hedge up my way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths And ver 7. And she shall follow after her lovers and shall not overtake them and she shall seek them and shall not find them and the result is then shall ye say I will go and return to my first Husband for then it was better with me than now Many a time David sung this Song in the Psalms especially Psal 119. It is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word Therefore it is not inconsistent with the Grace of the Covenant that there be imperfect Sanctification and the Cross in it Quest 5. The last Difficulty that I would remove is that it 's a Covenant of pure and perfect Grace Might it not remove our fears though it keep us under imperfect holiness and the Cross However the Covenant had not carried us up above affliction would it not have been a Covenant of perfect Grace if it had done this alms deed to secure the Elect against their fears especially since they are not only fears of sin but fears of Hell and servile and despondent fears Answ for answer to this I will offer you these three things 1. The Covenant hath done as much against fears as was necessary to it for the Covenant hath declared servile fear to be sin and hath expresly forbidden them it 's spoken of the reprobat they shall be in fear where no fear is The Covenant often quarrels for them Why are ye fearful O ye of little faith So the Covenant condemns these servile fears and quarrels for them as a plague inflicted on the reprobat 2. Take notice that a multitude of these fears they ordinarly come on Believers when they are furthest out of sight of the Covenant they forget the Covenant the great ground of these fears is from their reading the Covenant of Works when they should read the Covenant of Grace it 's not from the Covenant of Grace that they have these fears for the answer of these fears is from the Covenant the great ground why Believers are swallowed up with these fears is because they understand not the Doctrine of the Covenant or if they understand it they forget it 3. To say no more ye shall know that the Covenant holds out Promises even against these fears thou may possibly have a plaister lying beside thee for a sore and if ye lay it not on it cannot cure There may be fears on thee and there lies in the Bible in the room thou lies in a plaister of the Covenant that would remeed and cure these fears but thou lays it not to therefore the pain continues several times it 's the not applying the Covenant and not the want of the Covenant that makes the pain continue Our Countrey-man Mr. Dickson hath written a Book Therapeutica the Title of it is The curing of all diseases by the application of the Covenant Vse For use of the Doctrine the consideration of the Covenant as a Covenant of Grace I confess it 's the greatest encouragement if we were going to ly down in the Grave that I could imagine therefore hearken a little to the improving of it and I would direct the improving of the Covenant of Grace to three sorts of persons 1. There are some Beginners that have never to this day known what a personal Covenant with God was and readily they may be at this O! I hear of so great things in the Covenant there is wine milk honey eye-salve gold fine linen spices
the Well all that we can do adds nothing to his Essential Glory now it 's strange that he should make such a Covenant and that all the advantage should redound to us and not to him except what is Declarative 2. The damned Angels they had many grounds to have pleaded a Covenant with him rather than we they were more noble Creatures and whatever was their sin it is generally thought to be pride though it be difficult for us to determine for they aspired to be as God so we are guilty of the same sin the Serpent tempted Eve to eat the Apple and be like God and so we were guilty of the same sin the Angels were guilty of Now that he should make a Covenant with thee and not with them is strange 3. The foundation of this Covenant and there was no other possibility of making it in the strain it runs on it was to be laid in the Blood of his Son O! how many ways would man have taken to have shifted the bargain if the bargain could have stood no other way but on the Blood of their Children yea though the advantage was all to be ours and we were as ill deserving as the Devils and that he saw there could not be such a bargain driven for our pardon our peace and our Heaven but it behoved to be laid on the Blood of his Son yet he drew the Covenant contrived it as it is this day O! ye should pray that ye may be able to comprehend the height the length the breadth and depth of such a Covenant SERMON X. 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow WE were neither the Contrivers nor the Treaters of the Covenant of Grace the Lord made it The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant I shall say no more of his making of it since it is so evident that neither Men nor Angels had no hand in it and since it savours of infinit Wisdom we may very rationally ascribe it to the Lord The word Jehovah is one of the greatest Names he hath which fitly comes in here when David is to speak of the Covenant The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant To say no more then of his being the Author Contriver and Orderer of the Covenant I come to speak of the Parties that enter in this Covenant The Lord hath made with me In the handling of this I shall consider the persons first something more generally and then I shall consider them more particularly and personally readily I will dwell some Sermons on this branch of the Verse First The general consideration of this I will not dwell on it I have spoken several things when I entred on the Verse of the Lords condescendency to make a Covenant with the Elect only I would have you notice four things about it 1. The Name Lord it is here not to be taken Personally but Essentially as including all the three Persons of the Trinity so that in effect in making the everlasting Covenant all the Persons in the Trinity became our Covenanted Parties each of them have their distinct Work in fulfilling the Covenant the Father hath his Work the Son hath his and the Spirit hath his work and the truth is when we Covenant with God so far as we can reach there ought to be a distinct eye had to each Person of the Trinity who though they be One in Essence yet there are three distinct Persons M. Durham in his Treatise on the Revelation makes a question which I will not determine Whether in Prayer a Christian be obliged to eye distinctly every Person of the Trinity But sure I am in Covenanting with God since we find distinct actings ascribed to the Father Son and Spirit in the Covenant there is great need to eye the several Blessed Persons of the Blessed Trinity the Name Jehovah is common to them all so that in effect David's party with whom he Covenanted when this everlasting Covenant was made it was not the Father or the Son Personally considered but all the Persons of the Blessed Trinity each of them in the Covenant as they have their distinct works and operations in bringing the Elect to Glory so they all become Debtors to their own Faithfulness for accomplishing the things of the Covenant which they made with David 2. Take notice that this taking up of God essentially the Lord or Jehovah there is implyed as ordinarly the Name is used by the word Jah as Psal 68.4 Extol him that rides on the Heavens by his name Jah which is a Compend of the name Jehovah and is retained in our English Translation the taking him up under this name Jehovah holds him out as not only Faithful and True to his Promise in the Covenant but as abundantly able to accomplish his Promise in the Covenant It 's very pleasant to consider the Parties that made the Covenant all the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity holden out under the Name Jehovah thou that hangs by the Promise in the Covenant why goest thou with thy hands on thy loins constantly moving discouraging Questions and saying One day or another I shall fall by the hand of Saul Is not the Party Covenanting Jehovah Is he not known to thee by the name Jehovah He was not so known by the Tribes of Israel It 's remarkable in the beginning of the Belief the first Article of it I believe in God the Father Almighty He is not like a Father If his child ask bread of him he will give him a stone for he is a Father that will not beguile you but many Fathers are not willing nor able though they be willing but he is both able and willing to help he is Almighty It 's a remarkable beginning of the Commands I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage I am the Lord God I am Jehovah the taking him up thus as Jehovah is a necessary consideration David made many Covenants with Princes that were about him and he made many Covenants with his Subjects but he never made one like this the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant But 2. The taking of him up under this name the Lord and considering this Covenant in the general it is indeed astonishing that he should have made a Covenant with men take but a view of these three or four things and ye will find that the Lord and me to come under a Covenant together is exceeding strange First Consider that he is the God that gave Man who was lately nothing a Beeing O! they are words of wonder that he comforts his Church in a sad case with by the Prophet Isaiah Thy Maker is thy Husband Ye heard it was a mystery in the Covenant
Maries Son yet Maries Maker It is no less a mystery a Husband and yet our Maker to make us and then to marry us is it not wonderful And that is imported in The Lord hath made with me 2. If ye consider that by vertue of his creating he had a Right of Dominion he needed no more but Command and Threaten for he being our Maker and Preserver he needed no more he had a right to Command and Threaten he needed say no more but do not eat of the tree for is the day thou eats thou shalt die as he did with the first Adam but that he should lay by his Dominion and come as we were equals and treat a Covenant nay when it was treated the Person that represented us was his equal he was the Man that was his Fellow and thought it to robbery to be equal with God Philip. 2. Now that he should treat a Covenant with us as Abraham did with Abimelech how strange was this since the Parties were not equal 3. Had it been a Covenant of Works he had treated it had suited some way to a Command and Threatning but to treat such a Covenant the Lord Jehovah with us is wonderful Who of us would take a Dog or a Worm and Indenture with it to give it our own Bed and in a manner prefer it to our own Children The truth is he seemed to do this when that we might be healed he laid the stripes on him he was made a curse that we might be made righteous he was made sin that we might be holy But Lastly This Covenant was made with lapsed Man he could not promise to himself from us the thing he could promise from Adam for however Adam was under a possibility of falling yet that was all it seemed very improbable that so light a Temptation would make him break the Covenant that he had made with God but the imaginations of our hearts are evil continually it is since he made that Covenant frequently the complaint is I am pressed under with their iniquities as a cart is pressed under with sheaves And I am broken with their whorish heart So consider his being our Master and consider the Dominion he had on that account and consider that the Covenant is made with lapsed Man and that it is a Covenant of Grace it is in effect one of the greatest wonders in the Bible The Lord hath made with me c. O! learn to admire the condescendency of Grace it is a wonder that we are not oftner telling it to others and that we spend not more time when we meet in discoursing of it but this general I will not insist upon I will consider this transaction of the Covenant personally more particularly it 's remarkable David doeth not say he made with the Elect whereof I am one or he made with the Church whereof I am a member but the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant he takes it and applyes it personally to himself I had long time a design to speak to this Head of personal Covenanting with God I judge it one of the great duties of the Gospel and that which will contribute as much to lay a restraint on sin and to excite to duties as any mean that a Christian can follow therefore I intend to dwell some Sermons on it I shall make some entry on it now and shall take this Proposition to be handled Doctrine 1. That though the Covenant of Grace be generally made with the Mediator and with the Elect yet every believer should make it personally they should be at the Lord made with me It 's remarkable when God first entred in this everlasting Covenant he indeed published it generally to all the seed of the Woman that is to all the Elect who were comprehended under the Mediator who was the seed of the Woman and not of the Man yet afterward ye find it is personally made with Abraham Psal 105. it 's sworn to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac with an oath and afterward it 's particularly confirmed to Jacob and here it 's renewed to David it 's indeed a general Covenant made with the Mediator for all his Members yet often ye find God treating it with Abraham and again it is not enough it be made with Abraham but he must treat it with Isaac and confirm it with an Oath and over again he must treat it with Jacob importing he must not only make it with the Fathers but with their Children there are many that he hath made a Covenant with their Father and Mother but they are not in it themselves they can say the Lord hath made an everlasting Covenant but they cannot say the Lord hath made it with me therefore the Lord will manage this Covenant first with Abraham and afterward he will treat it personally with Isaac and confirm it with an Oath and renew it again with Jacob. But to follow this Head of Personal Covenanting with God I would have you notice this Caution in the beginning of it Caution That the Covenant of Grace is but one Covenant the same Covenant for substance that God made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob We must not think there are as many distinct Covenants as there are distinct persons that enters in that Covenant there is but one Sun and every one may have enough of light from that one Sun and a Ray of that Sun comes in at his own Window if he cast open a Broad of his Window though it be the common Sun that serves all the Kingdoms of the earth So it 's the same general Covenant made with the Mediator every particular person is to open his Window-broad and let in a suitable Ray of that Covenant to his case and particularly and personally apply it to himself We are not to think as Arminians say that God hath made a general Covenant with all the Elect but for particular persons he hath left a blank to be filled up when they believe and repent they say this same of Redemption they make general acts of Grace to be conditionally accomplished especially if they believe the Lord when he indented the everlasting Covenant he set down not only Abraham Isaac and Jacob's name but thy name if thou wilt consent Nay what do I say if thou consent he filled up thy name being an Elect and engaged to effectuat thy consent so we are not to think that there are as many Covenants as there are distinct persons it 's one general Covenant like as it is one Sun that affords light to all the World yet every Believer and Elect is personally to Indent for himself and to apply the Covenant and to apply the promises on the Fathers part but he hath bound himself to the duties of the Covenant on his part And in the general this personal Covenanting takes in three things I confess the third of them is not a proper act of Covenanting yet it is necessary to the making of it up 1
A person in making this Covenant is either saying or subscribing as Isaiah's word is One shall say and another subscribe himself to be the Lords whatever be the way of it sometime one will do it with saying sometime one will do it by subscribing or sometime one will do it with lifting up their hand to God that the solemnity may be the greater in their indenturing in this personal Covenant with God the tenor of what they do is I accept this Christ on these terms he offers me Wine Milk Honey without money and without price he offers me fine Gold I accept of the offer and I give my consent I will either write it down or give it under my hand I will say it or I will do it by lifting up of my hand to the Lord. 2. The person that thus personally Covenants or that is about to draw the general Covenant of Grace to his case subscribes to the duties of the Covenant particularly to give himself to the Lord One shall say and another subscribe with his hand I am the Lords It 's remarkable since God in the Covenant gives himself to us he will accept of nothing from us but our selves again when we subscribe to give our selves to the Lord we subscribe to this Lord dispose of me as thou wilt cross me or humble me as thou wilt for I give it under my hand that I am thy disposing it 's true we bind to all the duties of the Covenant likewise I deny not but a person may find their temptations miscarry them in reference to some sins some are led away with ill company and made to swear some are tempted to drunkenness I deny not but they may either Covenant with God or particularly bind against that wherein their greatest temptations and weaknesses lyes if persons find themselves negligent in Prayer of that the least wag of their neighbour coming will call them from their duty to God though they are in the Covenant to bind to all the duries of the Covenant yet we are particularly to bind where our temptations are greatest and where our weakness is greatest Personal Covenanting with God ought to run most on that Head which may prove an excellent restraint to the soul and an excellent hinderance to the corruption which the heart is drawn to with any light temptation so this personal Covenanting with God when we can say the Lord hath made with me a Covenant though the Lord hath made the Covenant in general with Christ and all the Elect and though he hath visibly appeared to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and afterward though he hath not so visibly appeared to David yet he hath his own way of communication and we enter in a personal Covenant with him when we go and either with our voice or with our hand subscribe it on Paper or with lifting up the hand solemnly when we are in a spiritual frame in Prayer and we do this when we accept of the offer of the Covenant and of the Mediator on the terms of the Covenant and binds our selves to the duties of the Covenant especially such as we are most negligent of and soonest led away from There lyes the way of personal covenanting with God especially if ye add as a Capestone 3. When the soul engages to these two that it cast an eye to the Treasurer unto whom the Father hath committed the bearing of the Purse The Truth is our covenanting with him is like Deliab's binding Sampson with cords so long as she cuts not his locks his strengthremains but when his locks are cut he is weak When we can an eye to the Treasurer in our covenanting we are strong but when we eye him not we are weak It 's supposed Adam when he was perfect stood not above five hours and what can lapsed man do Therefore the Covenant takes in the accepting of the offer and binding to the duties but both to be done through the Mediator and if this be neglected it is not right covenanting And I believe it lyes at the root of much of our covenanting and many lave challenges in their covenanting with God that they have not eyed the Mediator and gone to the Fountain and Treasurer out of which their strength both for accepting and binding must come Quest But ye will say I have opened in this Covenant personal and particular covenanting but what if God make not a Covenant with me or if I make a Covenant with him how shall I know if he makes a Covenant with me Ans For Answer to this I shall only say these two things 1. God in making personal Covenants with men had very different ways of communication of himself when he made the Covenant with Abraham he spake with him face to face he did so to Isaac and Jacob but he did not so to David but he sends a Prophet to him it were unreasonable he should do so to every body there were many Worthies under the Old Testament that could say the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant and God did not come down and speak face to face with them and confer with them and say this is my promise it were I say unreasonable he should do so to us for though the Covenant be not so sensible as it was to Abraham Isaac and Jacob it may come to thee as it did to David So that we are not to expect he will take the same way with every one that he brings under the bond of the Covenant I will close this Sermon with exhorting you to study this personal covenanting with God I indeed take it up for the great duty of the Gospel I confefs it 's the great neglect of the generation that we live in the generation coming may be more in the practice of it that Masters of Families will not take their Wives Children and Servants and enter in a Family-Covenant with them and when they are in corners would enter in a personal Covenant with him I will only close this discourse of it with naming three or four things that I judge to be great hinderances in the way of Christians personal covenanting with God 1. It is a great hinderance our mistaking the end of the Law the Law is a School-Master to lend to Christ and there are many if they come under a Law-word they perswarded that they should dwell on it they cannot be perswaded that this drives at personal covenanting with him ye will hear afterward if ever there be a time of entering in a personal Covenant with God of accepting the Covenant of the terms offered it 's when we are under a work of the Law now many Christians mistake quite the end of the Law they think their tears and humiliations and Law-works they are to dwell on them and they know not that the Laws is a School-Master to lead them to Christ the end of these fears is to terrifie you to seek a shelter in the everlasting Covenant 2. It hinders
many to enter in this Covenant personally they are exceedingly afraid that their guilt be greater if they break I consfess it 's justly to be feared but that same Argument should hinder thee from being Baptized and from going to the Sacrament of the Supper wherein thou renews a Covenant with him the same Argument that hinders thee from covenanting with God hinders thee from these two but would ye think it a good arguing if a man were like to drown in a Well and one let down a Rope to him and bid him take hold of the Rope and it will bring him up if he should argue I dare not take hold of the Rope for fear when I near up the Rope break and my fall be the greater But I say unless thou enter in a personal Covenant with God and accept of the Covenant of Grace and apply it to thy case thou art arguing as the man in the Well that will not take hold of the Rope for fear when I am near up ãâã get the worse fall 3. It hinders some from covenanting with God they would have some Arles in their hand before they trust him saith one I would Covenant with him personally if he would give me a fill of Sense and would take me to the Banqueting-house and cast his Banner over me and give me that soul-delight that he gives to some but they do not remember it 's a reflection on him not to trust him without something in hand Take heed to this Covenant and hang upon his promise and if thou should never be able to sing the Lord hath filled my hand with sende all my life thou has a nobler song to sing The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant 4. It hinders some from making a personal Covenant they are afraid to lay bonds and tyes on them and take away their mirth O! it were a mercy if some of our profane young ones that are filling the Town with profanity and their Parents taking no notice of them the most part of them begging the one half of the day and profaning the Name of God the other if they could be brought thus to Covenant with God But many think that a great tye and a burden that they should be more in speaking of Christ when they were in company and may be thou can be in many companies and never a word of him or thou can mock at Prayer and Godlienss and may be it not challenge thee but thou art afraid that personal covenanting bring a burden on thee I will Answer all these when I go thorow the point I will say this of it thou must either accept personally of the Covenant on the terms that it 's offered and engage personally to the terms on which it 's made or then thou shalt never have any benefit by it O? what a mercy were it if when we come under some strait some sickness or when we get any loosing of heart at a Communion nay when we come under desertion the renewing of a Covenant may be the way to an out-gate It 's remarkable when Christ was hanging on the Cross and the great cloud of his Fathers wrath hanging over his head in a manner he renews the Covenant with him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me If thou fall in any gross sin go and renew the Covenant if he command some signal stroke to attend thee renew the Covenant The great Objection is it 's a sore matter to be ay binding and ay breaking and this is thy case readily I confess it 's a dreadful case to be ay binding and ay breaking yet notwithstanding of all thy breaches if thou wilt yet go and say and subscribe with thy hand to be the Lords and to be more to his praise if thou be a neglecter of Christian fellowship that thou shall speir it out speir where thou shall get some to pray with and put in that in the personal Covenant if thou be negligent in Prayer to lift up thy hand to be so no more all former breaks will be all past if thou can say with full purpose of heart the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant SERMON XI 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow HAving spoken of the nature of David's security I came the last Sabbath to speak of the Parties transacting in this Covenant The Lord and me I proposed four things to be noticed First The Author of the Covenant Secondly the Parties with whom the Covenant is made and told you that that the word Jehovah is to be taken essentially as including all the Persons of the Trinity who are all Partiesin the Covenant and each of them has their particular work in the accomplishing of the Covenant But passing what was spoken I come to that which I proposed to dwell on this day the particular Application of the Covenant individually and personally to David It 's no the Lord hath made with Abraham nor with the Elect but The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant That which I shall dwell on this day shall be this Proposition which natively arises from this Scripture Doctrine That however the Covenant externally and visibly be made with the whole visible Church and really with the Mediator and through him with all the Elect yet every Believer ought personally and particularly to Indenture in this Covenant and apply it It is true the Covenant is offered to be Transacted with all the Members of the visible Church and really with all the Elect yet every Believer who would secure his interest in the contents and clauses of the Covenant is to indenture personally and particularly apply the Covenant to himself as if it were made with them This Truth hath a great deal of opposition in the world Arminians and Antinomians who though they unite not in many things they unite in opposition of this Truth they deny personal and particular Covenanting with God the generality of Atheists and profane mockers look on it as a fancy personally to Covenant with God and the most part of hypocrites in the visible Church satisfie themselves with their Transactions in Baptism and some external kind of Transacting at the Sacrament of the Supper but personally and really to indenture with God on the Terms of the Covenant they utterly neglect therefore to follow this Truth since it comes so directly in my way I will insist on these three things in following this head 1. I shall labour to prove by some reasons that it is not only a warrantable but a most necessary Duty for Christians to make personal and particular Covenants with God 2. I shall open wherein this personal and particular Covenanting with him doeth consist And 3. shall apply it First That it is not only warrantable but necessary
made are necessary to be eyed and readily we make but a very superficial bargain that will make a fashion of accepting the offer and slight the Terms on which it 's made but he principal act in Covenanting is to credit deliberatly seriously and effectually the Grace that makes the offer of Christ in the Gospel and to rely and cast our selves absolutely over on him I deny not but we are to give our selves to the Lord and resign our selves to be disposed of by him and to be engaged to Duties according to our station but this is not the princinal part the principal part is to go to him and say This day Lord I accept of Christ I accept of this Righteousness that he hath purchased I will rely on it and cast my soul and hope of my salvation it But I will not insist in teaching you a form of words that may be used in accepting of the offer but as this accepting is a difficult thing there being no principle in man for it but all against it so the great condition in personal Covenanting is this act of accepting The other thing required in making up this personal Covenant with God it 's engaging to the Terms on which the offer is made we cannot go personally to Covenant with God but first we sust accept of the offer and then indenture to the Terms There are two or there things here I thought to have spoken a little unto 1. To hold out to you that ye may be the better directed in it something of the Terms on which the offer is made of their reasonableness and their excellency 2. That though it be not the principal act in personal Covenanting it 's indispensably necessary and in effect there can be no personal Covenant except we indenture to the Terms and accept of the offer on the Terms SERMON XII 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my hose be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow HOW excellent soever the Covenant of Grace be and excellent it is yet the Lord hath left a liberty in the visible Church for every man to come and put in his name into it Ho every one and whosoever will let him come and take the waters of life freely Without a curious inquiry into the many things pre-required or subsequent unto it I resolved the Answer in two Heads First The accepting of the offer of the Covenant 2. The indenturing to the Terms of the Covenant the accepting of the offer is the first and principal part though the Covenant require other Duties yet they are not the proper conditions of the Covenant and for less the first and prineipal condition I shall say no more of that Branch of the act of Covenanting the accepting of the offere The other thing wherein it consists is the submitting and indenturing for the Terms on which the offer is made and here there are two things that I would do 1. I shall inquire a little in helping to this act of persomal Covenanting with God into what the Terms are 2. What encouragement the Soul hath to indenture for these Terms notwithstanding of their number and greatness First What these Terms are Antinomians will not admit of any conditions in the Covenant I will net deny but if ye examine that word Condition properly but they may have something to say but that there are Terms on which the offer is made and which in the Souls Covenanting with God must be indentured for is beyond all controversie what these Terms are is then worthy of inquiry to run through them at large would take a large time I will only mention two things 1. In personal Covenanting with God there is something we must give 2ly There is someting we must do and we must indenture for both what we are to give and what we are to do First There are somethings we must give and what is this what have we to give Had we the cattel on a thousand mountains and give we them what would they signifie to Him Shall we give the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul no we are to give Him our self indeed the indenturing on our part is mainly lying in this to make an absolute resignation of our selves to Him as the Macedonians Paul bare them this testimony and he thought it not strange that they were charitable for they had given themselves to the Lord the Lord in the Covenant He gives Himself and it 's the least we can do to give our selves back again it 's a marriage Covenant and it is not enough for the bride that she give suit and presence but that she give her self to her husband It 's reported in the life of Socrates That one day whenhe was at Athens several of his Schollars brought presents to him some rich presents some smaller there was one poor Schollar that had nothing to give but said he I will give him myself and Socrates esteemed of that Gift more than of all that had been offered to him It 's not only our duty but our priviledge sometime a Beliver may go with that argument in his mouth when he hath any compt to make to God I am thine save thou me so when we make a personal covenant with Him as we accept of the offer of Himself of His Son His Peace His Pardon the Land of Canaan so we engage to resign our selves to Him and to give our selves to Him which imports two things into it 1. We give our selves to be disposed of as to our work 2ly We give our selves to be disposed of as to our station in performing that work First We give our selves to be disposed of as to our work though it be a marriage Covenant yet it partakes of a Covenant betwixt King and Subjects Master and Servant it 's a Despotick Covenant every Servant is not called to the same work some of His commands as some observe well they both please HIm and us they will please our flesh He bids us eat and drink and cloath our selves they are commands of the Covenant and they please both Him and us but there are many other commands they please Him as to take up the Cross to deny our selves they please Him but they are often unpleasant to us He may call one to preach and another to suffer In the personal Covenant with Him we resign and give over our selves to be disposed of as to our work 2ly We give over our selves to be disposed of as to our station every vessel in the house is not of gold there are some of silver and some of clay and he that indentures in this personal Covenant providing he be a vessel for the master use it 's all one wheither he be gold silver or clay the presonal Covenant makes a gift of our selves to the Lord with an
will have the consent of all in perfecting this work of personal Covenanting the case is with them as with some generous spirits who in suit of Marriage except they get the Womans heart and consent all other things that they cân offer will be of on value and will not induce them to Marry Wisdoms demand is my Son give me thy heart it 's not give me thy hand or give me thy tongue or ear but my Son give me thy heart it 's not my Son divide thy heart give me a piece of it but my Son give me thy heart it 's the whole heart that must be given him in personal Covenanting with him and when he he hath gotten the whole heart he hath not gotten a thing of much worth unless he take a way when he hath gotten it to clothe it with the righteousness of his Son and to Persume it and yet for as feckless as it is he will have it in personal Covenanting with him to concur 3ly It may be very necessary and useful semetines to express outwardly our accepting of his offer and Indenturing to these terms on which the offer is made it 's true the special obligation and that which is especially required is the firm purpose of heart the content of the heart and he will not take words if he marry except he know well he get the Brides heart there may be externals subservient to the great end of personal Covenanting with him as sometimes to go and to say to God Lord I accept of this Christ and Indenture on these terms I will give my self to thee and will watch especially against the things I have been neglective in and guilty of sometime we may do it by lifting up of the hand our hearts are such cheats as we cannot lay too mahy tyes on them sometimes believers have done it by subscribing to the Lord they have drawn up the sjpecial things of it on Gods part and the special duâies they have engaged unto on Gods part and they have written them down and spread them before the Lord and them subseribed them which if they find of any use when they have examined their way they have run to the engagement they made to the Lord and they find if performing such duties yielding to such temptations be agreeable to the Covenant they made with God therefore form the fear of the wrath of the Covenant they have been made to mourn for Covenant breaking with him Now when things are thus performed when with eonsent of the whole man they are content either to say or to subseribe or to swear to God that they take his offer they hold him at his offer they take hold of the offer as it 's offered and will not alter the terms but accepts of it on the very terms that it is made this is the Act of personal covenanting with God as I conceive But before I proceed to the Application there is one great difficulty necessary to be cleared ye would remember both the grounds I brought in the forenoon to prove the necessity and the Ecplication of that wherein the formal act of personal covenanting consists Quest The question necessary to be cleared is whether is this personal Covenanting with God the duty of all within the visible Church Is there not a mixed mult tude of elect and reprobat and is not the Church like a Drag-net wherein good and bad Fishes are and can this personal covenanting and accepting the offer and Indenturing to the terms be the duty of the reprobate and bad Fishes in the Net This is the tossing of a great Arminian Question If I should dilate in the Latitude it would carry me before such a popular Auditory Ans For Answer to the Question I will only say this this Act of personal covenanting is the duty of all within the visible Church and none is to go and exempt himself from it but indeed especially it is the duty of the Elect. There are Two Parts of this Answer that I would labour to confirm to you from some Reasons 1. That it is the duty of all within the visible Church thus Personally to covenant with God shall appear from these things 1. All to whom the offer of the covenant is made are bound to the accepting of the offer now whatever be in the purpose of God the Promulgation and Proclamation of the covenant and the offer of it is made to all within the visible Church and who shall question where there is an offer made that it is presumption to accept of it Many stand at it as if it were presumption I suppose one were coming by a house and if the Master of the house should look out at a window and see him and intreat him to come and dine with him and eat and drink with him would ye think it presumption especially if he should add Allurements and Promises and tell you that he hath killed his Fatlings and mingled his wine and if he should not prevail with all these if he should look our at the windom and cry if ye will not come in I swear I will come down and kill you the Father hath done so in this Covenant he hath given Intreaties and Allurments and Promises and sworn if ye accept not of his offer he will damn you eternally in hell 2ly All whom the command of Believing reaches and who are concerned in it are bound Personally to Covenant with God but all in the visible church are commanded to believe and the great Root of the Sentence that will pass against them will be even the Reprobat their not believing 3ly If all were not bound thus Personally to Covenant with God what can be the meaning of the many Regreates and Lamentations in the Gospel for many Reprobat ones for their not Indenturing with him to sit down over Jerusalem and weep to upbraid Chorazin and Bethsaida if they had not been bound thus Personally to Covenant with Him So it s the duty of all within the visible church all of them ly under an Obligation to make a Covenant with him by Sacrifice on no less hazard than what they are worth for ever and ever But this is the duty of all but especially the Elect the reasons why it is the Elects duty I will not dwell on them at this time but will shew you that though it be constantly the duty of the Elect tobe making and keeping Covenant with God yet there are some special times wherein especially they are called to it and all I shall say in this Sermon shall be to shew you Four or Five remarkable Junctures of Cases wehrein the Lord calls his Elect to enter in or to renew a Covenant âirst At their first effectual calling when He hath made a law work to make way for a Gospel Work when He hath sent His Spirit to convince of Sin and of Judgment the Spirit hath a Couumission also to convince of Righteousness then especially they are
these things First We are to be express in the things we are to do it 's true we are not to make new duties nor to put in terms that are not in the Covenant already yet there are three particulars wherein a person Covenanting with God ought to study to be very express First There are the great things in the Covenant that we should believe mourn for sin and pray these things are indispensibly required in the Covenant therefore when we enter in a personal Covenant with God and would be explicite and express about it we are expresly to mention the great Articles of the Covenant on our part whatever we bind our selves to do If we bind our selves in the Covenant to build the Church and give our goods to the poor and our bodies to the fire except these great Articles of the Covenant be performed it 's not a Gospel-Covenant therefore we ought to be express in binding our selves to these great things indispensibly required by God in the Covenant 2ly in a time of tryal a Christian should be express in binding himself in a personal Covenant to the owning of these truths and interest that come to be a case of confession it 's an easie thing to owne uncontroverted truths but these things that in our generation come to be a case of confession these interests and people that are most born down we are particularly to Indenture in a personal Covenant with God especially for the owning of these Interests though we are to have respect to all his commands yet especially to these that make against the errors of the time It 's remarkable ye find the most part of the Prophets writings runing against Idolatry and the most part of Christs Sermons runing against hypocrisie the great reason of this Is in Isaiah's and Jeremiah's time Israel was prone to Idolatry and in Christ's time they were overwhelmed with Hypocrisie 3ly A Christian ought especially to bind himself to these duties at which his careless heart is most sloathful and against these corruptions he is most prone to every man is weakest at something as Samson had his particular wherein his strength lay so every man hath something wherein his weakness lyes and when we personally Covenant with God we ought to be express in it if one be negligent in Prayer a wanderer in hearing if one have a gading light heart in conversing with God they are not only to purpose and resolve but to cast over the cord of a Covenant on that levity of spirit so when we Covenant personally and particularly with God in these three above all other things the soul ought to be express and particular into it But secondly we ought to be express and particular in the conditions on which we bind to these things otherways after our Covenanting with God which affords a great deal of peace and sweetness to the soul and many of late have gone sweetly down to the grave when they have brought out their old personal Covenanting with God and renewed them and we ought to be express in the conditions especially in these three 1. It 's a promise of the covenant that God shall give strength for performing our part of the covenant he hath often promised this The feeble among you shall be as David and David as the Angel of God they shall renew their strength and mount up as an Eagle they shall walk and not to be weary run and not faint now when we bind to the great duties of the Covenant to the owning the truths and interests of the Gospel we are to put in that condition wherein it 's promised that he will do these duties viz. that all our strength must flow from him as a River and that on these terms and conditions we bind providing he give strength this is the way to make our part of the Covenant both pleasant and easie when we can go to Christ as our Treasurer to bring our strength from him to do what we have Covenanted 2ly We are to put in this condition expresly that he will accept of the will and endeavour in place of perfection if we were to make a Covenant of Works as Adam did we were obliged to bind that we should be perfect in love and perfect in faith but in the Covenant of Grace we are to bind according to the terming of the Covenant of Grace the grace of the Covenant hath trade the proposals of it run in this Channel he it is alone that works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure and he will accept of the will in place of perfection 3ly We are to Indenture in this Covenant on these terms that all our failings shall be covered with the righteousness of a Cautioner when we have any challenge for guiltiness being in Covenant with him our only recourse like Manoah's Wife the second time that the Angel came to her she was not accustomed to speak to Angels stay till I call my Husband the Covenant holds him out as the only fit person to deal with Serpents whose heads he bruised So we are to be express in our Covenanting that our failings shall be covered with the righteousnes of a Cautioner so ye see this personal Covenanting with God is not so dreadful and scarring a thing as many take it up to be but it is easie and pleasant if it be gone about according to the method of the Gospel The second property of this Covenanting with God shall be this that as it ought to be gone about expresly explicitly and distinctly so it ought to be gone about according to the method of the Gospel no person goes about it rightly that doth not keep in it the method of the Gospel Quest Ye will readily ask What is it to keep a Gospel-method in Covenanting with Christ Ans For clearing of this I desire you may take notice of these three things that make up this Gospel method in a souls personal Covenanting with God 1 The Gospel-method is kept when the Law makes way for the Gospel I do not deny but one may enter in a personal Covenant with God that hath not had the Law work to such a hight as others have had we read of some in the Gospel that were cut to the heart before they were brought to believe so here are some of them we read of there is no more but the Lord opened their heart as the Lord opened the heart of Lydia there is no such acount of their Law-work as of others yet this ordinary Gospel-method of the Laws making way for the Gospel was typified by the stinging of the fiery Serpents before they could look for healing on the brasen Serpent and readily they will never make a sincere personal Covenant with God that have not had the challenges and threatnings of the Law like an Ax laid to the root of the Tree It 's ordinary for any when they take up a profession and readily sewes a new profession
to an old heart like a new Cloath sewed to an old Garment they will presently enter in a Covenant with God but it uses not to be sicker and lasting unless the Law hath made way for the Gospel O but they will come sweetly and accept his righteousness and bind with him upon any terms that have been sitting in prison and hath had the sentence of death in themselves and that hath lyen in the Irons and as it were been hanging over the Pit it will be but a frothy kind of work the soul will perform when there hath been no Law-work nor Legal humiliation before 2. In this personal Covenanting this method is to be kept that the absolute promises are to be eyed in order to our performing the conditional promises when we personally Covenant with God we have to do with a Covenant of promises but the promises takes in duties and in order to the performing the condition we must keep the Gospel method in the Covenant Lord I bind my self in this Covenant to accept of thy Son and to believe in him and to take him for my Husband but in order to this ye must look on the absolute promises there is a Spirit of Faith promised there is one holden out to be the Author and Finisher of Faith and we never Covenant in a Gospel method when we eye not the absolute promises in order to the performing of the condition of the conditional promises as for example a person binds himself deliberatly I am negligent in Prayer I bind my self against negligence to be more diligent I am a person wandering in hearing I bind my self in this Covenant against it they have still an eye to some absolute promise where things are promised an eye to some absolute promise 3. Ye shall take notice that every man before he enter in a personal Covenant with God he is in Covenant with death and hell Remarkable is that word Isai 28. comparing the 15th and 18th verses Because ye have said we have made a Covenant with death and with hell are we at an agreement Vers 18. And your Covenant with death shall be disanulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand and the overflowing scourge shall overtake you Every natural man is under a Covenant with death and hell now when ever we come under a personal Covenant with God that Covenant must be broken The Covenant is like a Marriage Covenant betwixt Hosea and the Woman of Fornications he is comanded to marry a Wife an Adulteress saith he to her thou shalt no more play the Harlot thou shalt be for me and not for another so will I also be for thee then we keep a Gospel method in a personal Covenant with God when the work of the Law drives the Soul to the Gospel and when we eye the absolute promises in order to the performing the condition of the conditional promises and when we break the Covenant with death and hell like a Woman that is Married she gives up with all the rest of her Wooers because she is married to another so in this personal Covenanting with God there must be a bidding Adieu to all the rest of the Suiters and we must break Covenant with death and hell and lusts for we are now married and become another Mans Wife and readily the thing that was but Fornication before will be Adultery now Thirdly And lastly This personal Covenanting with God ought to be compleat it ought not to have limitations and reservations but it ought to be compleat and entire Quest Readily ye will ask How is this personal Covenant with God compleat and in what respect is it so Answ I might instance many reservations that any would make when they come to indenture in a personal Covenant with God but I shall rather chuse to shew you three things wherein this act of personal Covenanting with God becomes intire and compleat 1. When we give our selves wholly to Christ when we give and Covenant our All to him 2. When we are content in a Covenant to take Christ for All. And 3. When we are content in the Covenant to take all Christ as he is offered to us these three makes a compleat Covenanting with him and in a personal Covenant when the Soul proceeds not dissemblingly but sincerely it 's content to make it compleat in all the three First When we are content to Covenant to give our selves all wholly to him our life our liberty we are content to be disposed of as ye were hearing as to our lot in the world yea as to our service some he calls to one piece of service some to another some he calls to do others he calls to suffer and when the Soul is content wholly to give it self and its concernment up to him that he may take their life if he please their liberty if he please and whether he calls for doing or suffering according as he calls we Covenant to obey him Many Covenant with him and they have reservations of some one thing or another but when we indeed Covenant as Christians we are to give up our selves wholly to him 2. We are to take him for all Ps 73.25 He that hath made this personal Covenant sings it over to him Whom have in heaven but thee and on the earth whom I desire besides thee He hath taken him for his all he is satisfaction to all his desires if there were nothing left him but God as the man said there is nothing left me but God and then he chideth himself and but God and what would I have more When we are content to take Christ for all for wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption and satisfaction to all desires then the Covenant is compleat 3. When we are content to take all Christ as he is offered not only the merit of his death but the authority of his laws as a King we are content to be subject to the workings of the Spirit to the influences for consclation to convictions to lay our selves open to receive these influences and impressions of the Spirit the Covenant is compleat when all the three are performed Thus I have run through the Doctrinal part of this Head of personal Covenanting and have laboured to open it up as fully as I could in the nature of it and grounds and properties of it I will only break in on the practical part at this time and make way for following it in the afternoon Vse 1. First Is it a Duty personally to Covenant with God and particularly to be able to say The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant Then first it serves for Information and it informs of five or six particulars 1. Is it a Duty thus personally to Covenant with God then certainly it must be a great sin to neglect it the neglecting of this personal Covenanting and indenturing with God must be a very great guiltiness by the Law of contraries if the one be a duty the
Covenanting with God it 's this they are like a Woman that is already married marrying another Husband They have made a covenant with death and with hell are they at an agreemet as ye heard cited from Isaiah 28. It 's true That is making lies their refuge as it 's called in that same place yet they cannot break that Covenant they cannot break the Covenant they have made with their Lusts sometimes they are inclining to break it they are oftentimes like a sleepy Servant in a house the Master calls him he will cry coming and immediatly falls a sleep again several times they will break that Covenant with their Lusts but that is but like the morning Dew or an early Cloud like Ephraims goodness it soon goes away they cry coming and then falls a sleep Now the great impediment of the generality that hinders them from personal Covenanting there is a Covenant driven and roved and subscribed and Sealed with Death and Hell and Lusts and they cannot break this Covenant they cannot shake it off Lastly It impeds the greatest part the generality their entering in this personal Covenant with Christ fear of difficulties if they shall Indenture with him they must resolve with the Cross they know indeed there is much good gotten with him but there is evil also there are Reproaches and Crosses as some of the Heathens professed to the Primitive Christians that they could imbrace the Gospel but they could not burn for it but as we have said where there is a Question about the duty we are to leave the Events to him that hath commanded the Duty for he hath commanded no duty but he foresaw the Events and will regulat them and yet ordinarily we cannot trust him with Events These things makes among many that may be brought that the generality of natural men and the generality of them that are living in the visible Church they rest on the Covenant of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord but to take them to consider their misery they are under by continuing in their natural estate and what intanglements from the World lyes in their way and what a difficulty it is to break the Covenant with Death and Hell and that they should leave Events to the Lord they cannot look through them therefore they go on in the house of their pilgrimage from twenty years old to thirty and from thirty to sixty and like sheep they are laid in the Grave and Death hath Dominion over them these are the impediments that the generality have lying in the way of personal Covenanting with God In the second place There are some that go an higher length beyond these that I have spoken to it may be they come under some implicit Covenant with God that dare never venture on an express formal stated Covenant with him either to subscribe with his hand or to lift it up as some that make personal Covenants will do or to open the mouth by some solemn engagement to him they dare not come this length and there are three or four things use to ly in their way and I would gladly cast up the Gaâes and remove the stumbling blocks that ly in their way 1. Sometimes before we can trust God we would have surer pledges from him than his Word It 's a difficult thing to live the life of Faith and very often his People would have some sense and experience before they can personally Covenant with God like Thomas he would not believe until he saw the print of the nails and yet he came at length to do it Thou art my God and my Lord says he this was a great injury done to him but he had to do with one that could soon forgive injuries it was a great wrong not to believe the Resurrection of Christ he had been often told of it before and yet I will not believe untill I see the print of the nails and put my hand in the holes of his side and readily many of his People before they Indenture and Covenant with him they would have some sensible Proofs and Experience of his Covenant I will not believe while I see the print of the nails before I can say my Lord and my God this was a great injury but he hath magnified his Word above all his Name and yet oftentimes when we think of personal Covenanting we cannot credit the Word of him who cannot lie This several times keeps back his People from personal Covenanting they can tell O! such a Covenant such a sure one and such Promises as are in it and made by a God that cannot lie O say they I see not the print of the nails the hole in the side and therefore they refuse personally to Covenant until they get such a measure of Sense It 's just that they go mourning over the want of it 2. Sometimes his People refuse thus to Covenant personally with him because they mistake the Work of the Law and the Conviction of the Spirit accompanying the Law frequently if the Law like a Sword put in the Spirits hand begin to wound they presently think there is no more for them but to dwell on sorrow or like Jacob if they should live to gray hairs they should go down to the Grave with sorrow for ordinarily the Spirit and the Law wound together and it 's strange to see the thing that Christ intends to drive to personal Covenanting with him should be the thing that should hinder us from it The great end why the Spirit takes the Law and convinces and challenges it 's no to drive us from the Covenant the great end of the Law is to be a School-master to lead us to Christ it was evil Logick in Peter to say Depart from me for I am a sinful man it was far more suitable to have said come to me for I am a sinful man this readily hinders many from coming to Christ and personally to Covenant with him they think it suits best with them to cherish the Challenges of the Spirit and Convictions of the Law and to dwell on them if it were to go to the Grave with no other Religion than what that hath produced altogether mistaking the design of the Spirit which is in all these Convictions and Work of the Law to drive us to a personal Covenant with him But 3. A third impediment that lyes in the way of this personal Covenanting it 's this many a time these who would go about it they account the things in the Covenant so far above them that they cannot offer to claim at them what say they God to be their God and Glory to be theirs himself to be theirs and to be made Ruler over all that he hath oftentimes this keeps many of his People from personal Covenanting with him they are like some weak eye that is dasled with looking upon the Sun the Sun is so bright the things offered in the Covenant are so great that in a manner they
put out their eyes As I hinted at already indeed it had been presumption in us to have required them but it is none to obey them when they are commanded it had been great presumption in Peter to have come to Christ and said Lard wash my feet but it was a great sin in Peter when Christ girded himself with a Towel and came to wash his feet for him to say thou shalt never wash my feet Christ takes him sharply up for it If I wash thee not says he thou hast neither part nor portion in me Frequently we look on the things of the Covenant as so great and so far above us that we cannot personally Covenant with him whereas it 's above thy Fathers House and all thy Kin to require them but since thou art commanded and threatned with Hell except thou personally Covenant there cannot be any presumption in it 4. A great many who would incline to this personal Covenant are hindred by this great impediment discouraging Temptations many of which I could name but I will only say this now since it is this use of Exhortation that I am on I would exhort you to go about this work of personal Covenanting all ye that are in nature and are hindred with this that ye would have more from Christ nor his bare Word or the Covenant or ye that are mistaken with the Law or any of you that think the Covenant above you or that are hindred with discouraging temptations I exhort you to go home and make this personal Covenant and I shall only say these three or four Words about it 1. I would exhort thee to take some time for considering and conferring with thy self I delight to read the Books of some that write of personal Covenanting to read of their Soliloquies to sit down and consider it 's not long since I came into the World and it will not be long before I be out of it and wherefore came I into the World Are these Scriptures the Word of God If they be I must either hearken unto them or else be damned if I be in a Covenant of works I am under a Covenant that admits of no Cautioner no Repentance and if there be the least fail it will bring me to Hell but here I see another Covenant of Grace but if I enter in this Covenant I must be holy or then I will be eternally damned and there is a Spirit of Faith and Prayer and Repentance will be given me now will ye take time and confer these things with your own heart 2. I exhort you in order to the putting of this in practice Christian to carry it on by prayer when ye go about it ye may warrantably say to God Lord I am pressed from yonder Pulpit to make this Ingagement and Indenture and I am told the method that I must keep must be to wait on thy strength to wait on the absolute Promises therefore go to him and pray for strength and the accomplishmet of the Promise and it will be a sweet evidence that thou wilt get it if thou get liberty to seek it by Prayer Psal 10.17 He hath prepared my heart to seek him and he hath caused his ear to hear the case is with thee as with a Man that hath a Petition to give to a Prince if the Man sit down to write it and the Prince bid him put in this and that in it it is an evidence that he will grant it 3. I exhort thee even to use some solemnity in entring this Covenant either by writing it down or subscribing it with the hand or lifting up the hand or some solemn uttering the words that the next day when anything bids thee break thy Covenant that is dear to thee as nothing could be dearer to thee than Jephthah's Daughter was to him say as he said O! my danghter thou art a trouble unto me what is the matter I have opened my mouth to the Lord and how can I go back SERMON XVII 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow THE last day I spoke to an use of Information and proved that this personal and particular Covenant was a duty and the neglect of it was a sin and that our duty was our priviledge and that it was no presumption to enter in this Covenant without further re-capituation I shall proceed to the second Use Vse 2. If personal Covenanting with God be a duty as is proven and cleared then it serves for Exhortation to stir up all of you thus personally to Covenant with God it 's not only a duty but as I have proven it it 's the great duty of the Gospel all other duties without this are unacceptable we can neither lay claim to Christ nor to the priviledges of the Covenant until we thus personally and particularly Indenture with him Before I press this Use that I may in the Afternoon more perswasively follow it on you that ye would thus personally and particularly Covenant with God I will in this Sermon insist two things 1. I will remove some Objections or Impediments that ly in the way of the Souls personal Covenanting with God 2. I will open some advantages that will follow on the doing of it the truth is in so necessary a duty we are to do as some that Write the Jewish Histories tell us that the Magistrats throughout all the Land they were obliged to have the high ways plain and Bridges over the Waters and the stones removed out of the high way that led to the City of Refuge that he that fled from the avenger of blood might have no stop in his way I would do this in handling this duty of personal Covenanting and among many I shall pitch on four or five impediments that ly in the way and prove obstructions notwithstanding all the Sermons that ye have heard on it First It may be said Shall I thus personally and particularly Covenant to accept of Christ and Indenture and vow and swear to the terms of the Covenant since I know not if I be an Elect Election is a fundamental priviledge and if that be wanting all that we do in this is but like a house without a foundation one might as well go and Sow another mans Land and build a House on another mans Ground that hath no Bond nor Charter nor Seasin nor any other Right to it as a Reprobat can go and plead the priviledges of the Elect and I know not if I be an Elect and therefore shall I go make a personal and particular Covenant with God This is indeed a very natural Objection but I would desire you to consider these three or four things that will contribute to remove it 1. Know that Election is not the ground or the clearing about the ground of our
in the Covenant and when Duty is our greatest honour what an unreasonable exception were this to stand at personal covenanting 3ly Take notice that the Duties ye bind to in this personal covenanting with God ay the longer ye perform them they will be the more easie and pleasant it 's remarkable David a man exercised with performing Duties I had more joy in thy testimonies than in all riches if some men had been commanded to compare Riches and the Testimonies they would have been far from giving Davids Testimony but he would meditat on his laws day and night he will rise at midnight and praise him he will water his couch with tears his sore will run in the night when others were sleeping he was about the Tract of his Duty and he came to this at length I had more joy in thee than in all riches the greatest part of them that quarrel and find no pleasure in Duty are they that are not exercised with performing Duties so we need not stand at personal Covenanting on this score that there are many Duties required for not only do we bake beside meal and have strength for performing Duties but ay the longer we perform them they are the sweeter and easier 4ly Though we bind to the Terms and Duties of the Covenant yet he with whom we bind will accept of uprightness in place of perfection he will take the Will for the Deed many a time hath he done so with his people I have given you several Reasons why he doth so for he gets the full payment from Christ if ye will accept Christ and his Righteousness he will do with you as with a man coming to a Register to get up a Bond he desires that the Bond may be given him and that he may have it freely in regard the Cautioner hath payed the full Sum when we go to Covenant with him we may plead he will accept of our Sincerity in place of Perfection the reason is the Cautioner hath payed the full Sum. The last and great Objection against this personal covenanting is readily some may say I cannot Covenant nor Indenture with Him for I suspect if I do it I shall do it Hypocritically and I have been hearing it must be a Cordial ferious work and if I go and make a personal Covenant Hypocritically with him he will break out on me with his wrath it were better leaving it undone than to do it Hypocritically do I not hear Sincerity indispensibly required to it and he will pass by many things before he pass by Hypocrifie and if I go and make a formal heartless and not an upright Covenant with Him it were better leaving it undone I confess what it is they give the Hypocrite in this I have determined in an Argument before that all within the visible Church are obliged personally to Covenant with Him they being bound to believe and accept of the Gospel as it is offered yet in this case it 's difficult what to say for since it is indispensibly required and to go draw a personal Covenant and subscribe it and attest God and lift up the hand and yet do it Hypocritically is it not better to leave it undone Therefore I shall answer this in doing these three things 1. By shewing you that there are some who will very boldly and confidently Covenant with God and in effect they are doing nothing but playing the Hypocrite in it and dissembling they may bring many things to prove that they are not Hypocrites in it and I would encounter two or three of them 1. Say some I am no Hypocrite for I abhor Hypocrisie I cannot endure it in another and can I be guilty of the thing that I abhor Judah was very severe against Tamar his daughter in Law when he heard she was with Child bring her forth says he and burn her David was very severe against the man that took his neighbours Lamb when he had an hundred sheep of his own verily he shall die yet both of them were guilty of the Sin that they condemned Divines observe there may be several motives that may make many condemn Sin in others that they approve in themselves In the 2d place some will say I am bold in affliction The sinners in Zion are afraid and fear takes hold of the Hypocrite but I am not so I am bold in affliction this will not prove it either for there is a Roman courage a natural courage that may be far from the Truth of Grace ye have evidence of several in Scripture and History who hath been so but says some I am much in secret Duty I pray I read the Scriptures but Hypocrisie is like the Egyptian Frogs and Caterpillars it will even be in our Bed-chambers he that studies to pacifie his Conscience and keep it quiet will be much in secret duty on that principle thou may say I love not Drunkenness nor Swearing nor whoring I love not the Scandals my heart is inclined to and therefore I am not an Hypocrite but our Lusts are like the Sea they ebb and flow the Sea loses not it's power of flowing when it 's ebbing there may be something restraining lust that yet hath not killed it thou may taste of the powers of the life to come and yet be an Hypocrite so some may Covenant with God Hypocritically and on shallow grounds conclude themselves no Hypocrite Secondly Some stand at Covenanting with Him for fear of Hypocrisie they are too lightly brought to conclude themselves Hypocrites and there are Two or Three things makes Believers to do so 1. Sayes some if God saw me not to be an Hypocrite He would not tosse me and continue the Rod so long nor hide himself from me under the Rod as he doth this was the Argument that Job's Friends brought to prove him an Hypocrite that God had continued the Rod with him but this is no ground to prove thee an Hypocrite at all thou could easily answer this in the case of another and by the way it 's remarkable to see how one Christian will easily louse another Christians Doubts that when the same Doubts occures in their own case they will be overwhelmed with them thou knows affliction and Sincerity may go together and though affliction ly long on and thou ly long in the furnace it may say that thou has much Dross but thou art no Hypocrite The Lord will do sometimes with his People in Afflictions as Physicians do with their Patients He will sometimes give them Purges and sometimes gives them Cordials when thou art under the Cross it s the time of thy Purging but afterwards comes thy Cordial Others say they are Hypocrites for they say they are under decays Grace grows and decayes again and must they not be Hypocrites that are so But every decay of Grace will not prove thee a Hypocrite an Apple-tree may continue to be a Tree though it have neither Apple nor Leaf on it the best of Christians
have their Summer and Winter Decayes and Growings So there may be great mistakes about Hypocrisie and Sincerity some have observed it well ordinarly Satan who is a liar and a deceiver tempts ordinarily to things contrary to Truth he will perswade the Hypocrite that he is sincere and on the contrair he wil perswade the sincere Christian that he is a Hypocrite therefore if thou stand at personal Covenanting with God on that Score that thou art a Hypocrite and cannot Covenant with Him know that there is nothing more ordinary than mistakes about Hypocrisie and Sincerity many concluding themselves sincere that God will send to Hell and many concluding themselves Hypocrites that are sincere But secondly to make this matter clear and plain it concerns thee to try in thy covenanting with God whether thou be sincere and upright and I will offer thee three Marks whereby to try it 1. Sincerity where it is it aims at perfection it may be known by it's aims the same word in the Hebrew that signifies Perfect signifies Sincere and ye will find them often convertible in Scripture not only because God accepts of Sincerity for Perfection but Sincerity can never be satisfied until it be perfect therefore ye find the most part of the exercises of the upright run on this they cannot get Love enough Faith enough Repentance enough for Sincerity will ay be complaining until it be perfect it 's resembled by a Divine to a young Heir that is never content though he have meat and cloth in the house until he get the whole Inheritance for the Mark of Sincerity is that it 's ay complaining and humbled because it 's not perfect 2ly Sincerity is discerned by something in the nature of it it takes in the Gospel qualifications it hath love to Christ as the principle it hath the glory of Christ as it's motive and end Sincere it 's sine cera without Wax it has love to Christ as the principal Motive and the glory of Christ as the End of it that it drives at and where these two concur in our Covenanting with God we may rationally conclude that it 's not hypocritically done if we find the love of Christ and the glory of Christ as the two Butts set up the one from which the Arrow comes the other to which the Arrow drives and if there be an aiming at perfection that though we cannot say we perfectly love Christ and believe in Him yet Sincerity will ay be complaining until it come to Perfection if thou find these two Characters of Sincerity thou may conclude thy Covenanting is not Formal and Hypocritical but that it 's done in Uprightness and Sincerity 3ly I will say this for removing this Doubt suppose after all that is said thou art unclear about Covenanting with Him for fear thou do it Hypocritically yet that ought not to hinder thee from personal Covenanting and there are two Reasons for confirming this For 1 All that live under the Gospel they are bound to accept of the Covenant and that on the Terms offered now Suppose thou find not Sincerity in thy covenanting yet it takes not off the Obligation of the Command the Command binds thee if thou be under the offer of the Gospel personally to Covenant under the hazard of the eternal wrath of God whether thou be a Hypocrite or Sincere therefore thou art not to dispute thy case so much as to understand the Command 2ly Take notice That there is in many their Indenturing with Christ that at the first have many Selfish and Hypocritical-like ends that after they have covenanted with him have become sincere the case is as with a woman that at the first marries a man because he is rich but afterward she would not be divorced from him if he were begging several times it comes to pass that at our first Indenturing with him it will be some selfish end that the Soul may drive at but afterward the Soul would not quite him and renounce him and give him over though they had nothing but his Cross so ye would not stand at that I am not upright and sincere as becomes one that would Covenant with God thou may have some selfish ends at the first but like the woman that marries the man because he is rich thou wouldst not now be divorced from him but loves him for himself The second thing I proposed in following this exhortation was to show you some Advantages that the Soul will have by this personal covenanting with him I have hinted at some before and before I give you the Marks of right personal covenanting I will tell you the Advantages that are in personal covenanting with him and I will say these three or four particulars to you 1. All the good we are to expect from God must come in to us through Jesus Christ without Him we could expect nothing from Him but wrath and hell for we have broken the Covenant of works and he is infinitely Just he punishes Sin by a necessity of nature But add to this 2ly That all the things we can expect from Jesus Christ they must come in to us by the Covenant what is the ground that one has no benefit by Christ he is to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence and they will be broken on him And another they will get peace and pardon by him It comes in by the Covenant they are concerned in the covenant of Redemption they are concerned in the covenant of Grace so that as we can have no benefit by the Father but by the Son so we can have no benefit by the Son except we be concerned in the Covenant 3ly We can expect no good from the covenant except we be particularly and personally concerned in the covenant what would it signifie for David to say The Lord hath made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob a Covenant if he be not able to say the Lord hath made with me a Covenant So laying these three together First Being particularly concerned in the covenant all that is in God and all that is in Christ and all that is in the Covenant becomes ours O! what a cooling is there in these three I like the Observation that one has on that Word that David often uses by vertue of this Covenant O my God thou art my God says he this Word my God takes in more than all the Philosophers in the World could draw out of it if he had not explained it himself I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Christ brings it in to prove the Resurrection for says he I am not the God of the dead but of the living but there is something in that Word my God that no Logick can reach all the Philosophers on earth could not have proven the Resurrection out of that if he had not done it it 's a strange consequence Abraham and Isaac and Jacob willl rise therefore
the dead will rise now he that is particularly applying the covenant hath no less made over to Him than I will be thy God 2ly A second advantage is that a Believer may go and plead the Promises of the covenant the mercy of God indeed is a sweet argument but the Promises are a Debt to him we may go and as it were lay his hand-writ before him as some Antients that went to pray in a particular place they would lay the Bible before them and point out such a Promise and tell him what he had bound himself to in how many cases is it advantagious to have the Promise to plead when they have covenanted with him ãâã Suppose thou go to God and plead for Bread thou has a Family and thou has Children and all the toil and shift thou can make cannot serve to get them Bread the Promise is He remembred his Covenant and gave them Bread suppose in another case thou go to Him for Pardon thou art exceeding guilty it 's a strange way that they that have made a Covenant with him will take in pleading for Pardon Psal 25. Pardon mine iniquity for it is very great the Covenant will admit of the pardon of iniquity They that have accepted the Covenant and Indentured with him sincerely on the Terms of the Covenant may go and seek pardon for their iniquities are very great for it 's like the Covenant 3ly A third advantage in time of desertion suppose he be hiding himself and thou cannot tell where he is nor whether he is gone the Covenant will influence his return She that was termed forsaken shall be so no more I have forsaken thee for a little moment but with everlasting mercy will I gather thee is not Zion married to him are not his walls continually before him and the mother may forget her sucking child but he cannot forget him what case is there that we can go to him in prayer but constantly the Argument is taken from the Covenant and thou that has sincerely Indentured with him thou may go as warrantably and plead the Promise as he can command thee to thy Duty though he be a Soveraign Lord and thou a bit of clay yet since the Covenant hath made thee a Debtor to thy Duty the same Covenant hath made him a Debtor to his Promise for as thou art bound to the one he is graciously bound to the other no that thou art to suspend thy Duty until he perform the Promise but thou may press the Promise as much on him as he may press thy Duty 3ly Thou may lay the Covenant for an excellent ground to cast in the Anchor of Hope without the Covenant we might renounce our Hope I know not what ground of hope we have abstracting from the Covenant we need not nor Hope never gets a surer Anchor than the Covenant and what an excellent too-look hath Hope when one hath accepted the Covenant to have all that God hath to give and all the purchase of Christ and all that is contained in the Covenant may not thou take up thy hope to the top of Mount ãâã and let it see the promised Land that flows with Milk and Honey and let it see the City with the twelve Ports and twelve Foundations and say all these are mine What an excellent help is it in all straits of the time when the time is that many will think that Popery will rise and thou may be put to deny Christ or then to suffer for him To be brief this personal covenanting with God hath so many advantages in it that it 's difficult to tell them all but take these three God makes over himself and all that he hath his Son and all thou has the Covenant to plead with him as he hath the Law to plead with thee if he charge thee with the Law and command what thou in the Covenant has Indentured to obey then turn back the Promise on him where he hath engaged to fulfil what thou hast Covenanted and if thou hast sincerely Indentured with him in the Covenant thou may take a view of the twelve Ports and the City with the twelve Foundations and say my Father and my Fathers House and all is mine If any ask what is the ground of this Ye have taken hold of the Covenant and imbraced Christ he hath made over himself in his Fulness and the Righteousness of his Son to thee if thou wilt take hold of his Covenant therefore go home if thou hast the work of sincere Covenanting with him thou may go home and take up for time and eternity all things of absolute necessity and at length may sing all is mine and if any ask what is thy Charter and Right There it is I have accepted him and entered in a Covenant with him and who can question my Right to these SERMON XIX 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow AFter I had removed many Objections against this personal Covenanting I came to press it with the advantages that would follow on entering in a personal Covenant with God I will not follow this a little for it is very conducible and useful in the pressing of it the gain will be great all ye that love gain follow this way of personal covenanting with God all ye that would be Rich and Great and secure in both enter in this personal covenant with God that I may the better press this I would open to you some few Advantages that the Soul hath that hath made a personal Covenant with God First I shall give you two generals then four or five special and particular advantages that ye will have by it First the two Generals shall be these 1. By being in Covenant personally and particularly with God all that is in God will be yours Micah said of his Idol Ye have taken away my gods and what have I more If ye have God what would ye have more It 's very remarkable I will be thy God Gen. 17. was the sum of the whole Covenant So 1 Cor. 6 16. I will dwell among them and walk among them and I will be their God This is the thing that these that are in Covenant with him have they have God and all that is in God to be theirs but because this General will not sufficiently open this Priviledge I would have you to notice these three or four things that are in God that if ye be particularly in Covenant with him will be yours First All his Attributes will be yours his Power his Mercy nay his Holiness and Justice will be yours he will be just to forgive as John calls him his Omnipotency his Goodness his Truth and all his Attributes will be yours and they will be yours in the same way that they are Christs
thou art laid in thy Grave that will have holiness written on the horses bells and that all will be taught of God from the meanest to the greatest and there shall be one fold and one shepherd and the vail will be taken down betwixt them 3ly He that enters in a personal Covenant with God he hath this encouragment the Covenant takes in the healing of Divisions among his people it 's remarkable it 's often promised it 's true it 's long in fulfilling I will give them one way and one heart and they shall be as one stick in my hand the time of the fulfilling of the Promises is not yet come no almost as many heads as many opinions in a time of liberty it would be difficult for a beginner how to fix there are such varieties of Opinions no wonder the protane multitude Skuriner at all profession but he that hath made a personal Covenant with God he knows the Covenant carries this in the bosom of it They shall be as one stick in my hand these days are coming though we wait on now in the personal Covenant he that hath Indentured with God and given him the hand however ye may see that there are scarce three parts of nynteen parts of the World Christians and among these three parts but few Protestants ye he that enters in a personal Covenant with God hath this that he may go and sing All the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God and when these dayes are come they will be like one stick in his hand and they will have one heart one mind and one way and we may rejoyce as Abraham did to see Christ's day far off now he that enters in a personal Covenant with God considers the Covenant as the Conduit of all Grace and the immediat answer to all Challenges and a Charter for the Church of God when the earth will be full of the knowledge of God and when they will be like one stick in his hand and when they will have one heart and one way and will not be saying here is Christ and there is Christ for that is now accomplished in our time there is one saying Here is Christ and there is Christ and one knows not where to set down their steps there is such variety of Opinions and a multitude of Divisions Lastly Take up the Covenant as the Charter of the inheritance and ye will see what advantage he hath that hath made a particular Covenant with God all the glory to come is his O! but the Cvenant speaks excellently of the Inheritance take the twenty one and twenty two Chapters of the Book of the Revelation and read them over what a stately City is there what stately Foundation what Porches and what Trees that bears twelve manner of Fruits every moneth and the Leaves of them are for the dealing of the Notions He that hath entered seriously in Covenant with God according to the qualifications I spoke of before the Covenant carries him with a Legal Right to all that City let it have never such Foundations and Porches all the Porches Trees and Foundations in it are all his Nay the Tree that is in the midst of Paradise that bears the twelve manner of Fruit is his Now see what a priviledge it is to enter in a personal Covenant with God Now take all up these Advantages I have laid this before you if not to perswade you yet to make you inexcusable and to help to bring your Blood upon your own head if ye enter not in a personal Covenant But Thirdly After I have removed the Impediments and shewed the Advantages there is a third thing in following this Vse of Exhortation it shal be in exhorting you to enter this personal Covenant consider a little the persons that are admitted to personal Covenanting with God and generally practique Divines do it that write of the Covenant the persons that are admitted may be a great motive to press this Use of Exhortation if he had stood at Kings Princes the great Ones of the Earth the Wise the Learned the Holy and Righteous and these that are exact according to the Coneant of Works but ye would notice four or five things in the persons that are called personally to Covenant with God and I take up this as the great incitment to press this personal Covenanting in you 1. That no former guiltiness may hinder you from entering in this personal Covenant nay I say more the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot hinder for if a person could consent to accept of Christ it would not be that sin against the Holy Ghost therefore it 's remarkable they have entered in a personal Covenant with him that have been the greatest of Sinners they have had seven Devils like Mary Magdalen there have been some blasphemers like Paul some that have killed the Prophets and stoned them some that were Persecutors like Manasseh as those that are mentioned in the Hebrews that were sawn asunder of whom it was reported that he did saw Isaiah asunder with a timber Saw yet when he was in Bonds in Babylon he repented and found mercy That is one thing in regard of the persons 2ly In entering in this personal Covenant he stands not at how mean a birth and parentage persons be it 's remarkable Abraham with whom he first made a Covenant a Syrian to thy Father and thy Mother an Amorite Moses he had his Name Moses that is drawn out because he was drawn out among the Flags he was in a manner a Funling he is found lying among the Flags by Pharaohs Daughter no he stands not at that but can enter in a Covenant with a Moses though he be drawn out 3ly He stands not at the weakness of Parts let one be never so simple He stands not at that the twelve Apostles are called oft the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our Translation for respect to them hath iâ unlearned Men when they perceived them to be unlearned men in the Original they were but poor fisher men but that stood not in the way of it 4ly He stands not at the weakness of Faith if he come to make a personal Covenant he neither stands at former guiltiness nor the meanness of birth if thou were even a Lazarus laid full of Boils at Dives gate nor at the meannest of Parts nay nor at the weakness of Faith And Lastly He stands not at the mixture of Faith with corruption though thou can say Lord I believe help thou my unbelief he is like a man that if one should ask him Is it day he cannot tell whether it be day or night he cannot tell whether his Faith be Faith or Unbelief Now in entering in a personal Covenant with God God will stand at none of these Lay all these together and I hope I may close this use of Exhortation exhorting you all to take this gate of it enter in a personal Covenant with God and say and subscribe it
more 1. I have long longed to handle this Head of personal covenanting ye have now heard fourteen Sermons on it the Stones of these Walls and the Timber of this House God himself and his holy Angels shall be witnesses against you if ye do not personally Covenant with him for in so far as I know the mind of God has been delivered truly to you and all of you your selves shall be witnesses against other if ye fall not on this work of personal covenanting with God I know nothing would conbribute more to make you serious Christians then the practice of it and if ye have not done it go and do it subscribe your Name life up your hand to God if ye delay it and expects some better time remember a Fever a Flux or a Scrubie will stop the flux of your glass and if you delay until death either Roving or Stupidity shall carry you to to the Grave Therefore let one go and say I am the Lords and another subscribe and call himself by the name of Israel 2ly if ye will go and do it all by-gones shall be bygones and all former Transgressions shall be past nay if ye were never so poor never so simple never so Ignorant if ye were of never so mean a Birth of never such mean Parts if ye had never so weak a Father if ye had never such a mixture of Corruption with it if ye will but say I am the Lords and from this time forth will Covenant to take him as he is offered in the Gospel and do the Duties that the Covenant requires the Bargain is made and it 's subscribing it 's an everlasting Covenant and as ye have made an everlasting Covenant ye shall have an everlasting Name so long as God is God and this Covenant shall bring you to the place where ye shall be made a Pillar in the Temple of God and ye know a Pillar lasts as long as the house stands SERMON XXI 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my desire although be make it not to grow THE third particular in this part of the verse remains which is the assurance that David had that he was personally Covenanted with God he can affirm it and set it down in the Bible and make it a part of the Canon of the Scripture The Lord has made with me an everlasting Covenant so that this being the third thing I shall take this third Note and therewith close this second Branch of the verse and the Note is this Doctrine That not only does God take Believers in a personal Covenant with Him but they may be clear assured and able to affirm it that God has made a Covenant with them This assurance David hath here and the Spirit of God doth so agree with his assertion that it 's made a part of the Cannon a part of the Bible that God made with him an everlasting Covenant So this is the Truth that I will handle this day that one may be assured and very clear they may be able confidently to assert that God has made a Covenant with them This being a thing of great Importance I will follow it in this Method 1. I will open to you that Assurance of a personal Interest to the Covenant is very necessary 2ly I will shew you that this Assurance is not only attainable but it 's not so difficult as ordinarily it 's apprehended to be 3ly I will open to you some of the Ways and Methods that the Spirit keeps in bringing Believers to be Assured that God hath made a Covenant with them And Lastly I shall apply it For the First That this Assurance that we particularly are in Covenant with God is of great necessity that we may be able to say The Lord hath made with me a Covenant For clearing a little the necessity of it I will premise two Distinctions First Take notice that there is a Three-fold Assurance that the Scripture mentions First There is an Assurance of knowledge Colose 2.2 That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ 2ly There is an Assurance of Faith Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water 3ly There is an Assurance of hope Heb. 6.11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end v. 12. That ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises There ye have a Three-fold Assurance there is an Assurance of Knowledge that is the first proposition of the practical Syllogisme by it I come to be assured of the Mystery of Godliness that it 's a Truth There is an Assurance of Faith whereby I am assured of my Interest in that Mystery there is an Assurance of Hope whereby I am assured that God will make out all that is contained in that Mystery now we take in all the Three when we speak of Assurance in the Covenant there must be first Assurance of Knowledge that God hath made a Covenant and on what Terms he hath made in 2ly There is Assurance of Faith that I am in that Covenant 3ly There is Assurance of Hope that all the contents of that Covenant shall in due time be accomplished when I say that it 's necessary a Believer be assured I take in all the Three But 2ly Take notice that there is a twofold necessity when we say this assurance is necessary that God hath made a Covenant with us First There is something necessary for the being of a Christian 2ly There is somewhat necessary for the well-being of a Christian now we say not assurance that we are in the Covenant is necessar for the being of a Christian no one may be in Covenant with God and far from being assured of it several times Questions about their Interest may be more necessar than Assurance for them several times the Thief Scandalous and presumptuous sins will take away their Assurance and some times the moth slothfulness will take it away it were a hard Doctrine and dreadful to say Assurance is necessary for the being of a Christian only this Assurance we say is necessary for the well-being of a Christian they cannot live so comfortably in Christ if they were not assured that the Covenant is made with them so ye may understand what is meaned by this when we say Assurance is necessary for the well-being of a Christian to be assured that he is in the Covenant To confirm this I will offer you five or six things that will let you see the
confusion for Christ would never have established a Parity among his Apostles if he had thought it confusion To be brief God is the God of Order and both in the Government of the World and of the Church he hath appointed an Order and hath said Mark them that walk disorderly and they who are overturners of Scriptural Order they become enemies to the God of Order who hath not appointed his Church to be like a Babel or a mass of confusion but He hath appointed Order and all things to be done decently in it 2ly Take notice of this that especially he hath appointed an Order in the Covenant to make no order in the Covenant and observe none is to make Christ the Minister of Sin take for Instance there are some Promises in the Covenant I will blot out your iniquities though they were as scarlet I will make them white as wool they shall be forgotten and shall be no more remembered and I will cast them behind my back and such like now if one should take these Promises and not observe the order of the Covenant they make Christ the Minister of Sin there cannot be a greater afront put upon him than to think that he hath done any thing to encourage Sin no honest man will take it well to say to him thou art an encourager of the wicked take some Promises of the Covenant and let him go to them and say I have gotten a Promise but they observe not the Order of the Covenant Shall we sin that grace may abound says Paul God forbid Now he that will take a promise of pardon and feed on it and rely on it and not observe the Order of the Covenant he makes Christ the Minister of Sin and Grace the occasion and encourager of it 3ly There can be no true peace except ye observe the Order of the Covenant in regard the Spirit who is the Author of peace makes it according to the method of the Covenant it 's true Sathan and our own hearts will influence a kind of peace but ordinarily they violat the Order of the Covenant their peace comes not in according to the method of the covenant when the Spirit gives peace he is the Spirit of Promise when he comes and comforts He shall take of mine saith he and shew it you that is he shall take of my Peace and my Righteousness and give it to you the Spirit in influencing Peace keeps the Order of the Covenant where ever there is peace and the Order of the Covenant not keeped it is suspected to be either a Peace of our own making or a Peace that the strong man that keeps the House gives for when the strong man keeps the House all is at peace therefore there can be no true peace from the Spirit except we observe the Order of the Covenant which the Spirit of Promise keeps so this is an unquestion able Truth Christ would be the Minister of Sin and Grace would be the occasion of Sin and there would be no true peace and God would not be the God of Order but of confusion except we observe the Order of the Covenant Vse 1. I would apply this a little for two Uses and so go forward The first Use is to reprove them that lay claim to peace from the Covenant but observe not the Order of the Covenant I have gotten a Promise that he will blot out my iniquity and what needs me to fear But that Peace is not from the Spirit when it comes not in according to the Order of the Covenant take a single Promise and no more in the Covenant and thou shall make God the God of confusion and not of Order and Christ the Minister of sin and the Spirit to speak peace not according to the Order of the Covenant who ever they be that will build on a particular Promise and not observe the Order of the Covenant can have no sure Peace from it who are they then that will plead the Covenant and not observe the Order of the Covenant I will evidence this to you in five or six particulars 1. When one pleads a Promise in the Covenant and hath no good nor well grounded Interest in the Covenant that is against the Order of the Covenant the Covenant must first be ours and then we may plead the Promises of it we come to plead the Farm of a Field that is not ours and that we have not payed for when we plead the Promises in the Covenant and hath no Interest in the Mediator of the Covenant we plead the Juncture when we have not married the man before we can have a right to the Apple we must have a right to the Apple-tree I will be thy God before I give thee peace or give thee pardon This is the great substance and marrow of the Covenant they that cannot say that God is their God and yet will take a promise of pardon and of peace they over-turn the Order of the Covenant readily many come and plead the Promises and God may meet them with what hast thou to do to take my Covenant in thy mouth Is the Covenant thine Is the Mediator thine Thou but breaks thy Neighbours Orchard to go and take a Promise and not in the Order of the Covenant thou but steals it and runs away with it like a man that will break his Neighbours Orchard and take away the Apples that grows on his Neighbours Tree the Mediator is not thine the Tree where the Apples grow is not thine thou may take promises but thou over-turns the Order of the Covenant if thou take a Promise and not marry the Promise-maker 3ly They over-turn the Order of the Covenant who plead the Promises of the Covenant but they forget the Commands of it the Covenant is made up of Promises and Commands the Commands are indeed fewer they are indeed not so exactly prest as in the Covenant of Works now he that will plead a Promise and go to it as his own and tell his Neighbour I have gotten a Promise and in the mean time slights the Command he overturns the Order of the Covenant if ever peace come in by a Promise it must come in by a way suiting the Order of the Covenant 3ly They over-turn the Order of the Covenant that plead the conditional promises of the Covenant and have never prest the absolute Promises the conditional promises are promises of peace and joy and pardon and communion with God indeed but as ye shall hear the absolute promises I will take away the heart of stone and give thee a heart of flesh must be accomplished before the promise of pardon the Lord hath promised pardon but he hath promised it only to the penitent he that prays for pardon and hath not repented he tempts God and God must overturn the Order of the Covenant if he give pardon before Repentance the absolute Promises must be fulfilled before the conditional and he that will say I have
gotten peace and pardon or fellowship and communion with God and yet hath never been effectually called never knew what Faith and Repentance was or the taking away a heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh was what ever Promises he talk of he hath overturned the Order of the Covenant the first and absolute Promises must be fulfilled before the conditional So who ever says give me peace pardon and communion the day in the Church and yet hath never had the accomplishment of the absolute Promises he tempts God to overturn the Order of the Covenant 4ly They overturn the Order of the Covenant that would plead some Promises of the Covenant and neglect others the Order of the Covenant is to whom one Promise is fulfilled all Promises though not in the same degree are also to be fulfilled there are several will plead Lord forgive me my sin give me pardon but the promises of Sanctification the promises of Influences for Holiness in the Life and Conversation the Promises of cleansing they plead not these They that go ordinarly to Christ for Justification and forget Him for Wisdom and Sanctification they indeed seek the Promises but they would have him overturn the Order of the Covenant and the Lord is peremptory in keeping the Order of the Covenant and he will not break it for if he brake it he would overturn the whole contrivance of Grace which we do when we plead the Promises and forget the Commands 5ly They overturn the Order of the Covenant who though they mind the Duties of the Covenant yet they mind not all the commanded Duties in the Covenant there is some Idol they would spare that readily the Covenant binds him most against it 's true when we enter in a personal Covenant with God we bind against every Corruption but especially our Idols yet it 's strange that the thing that we incline especially to spare is that which we are most bound to wrestle against if it be Pride Carnality Earthly-mindedness Sensuality Lasciviousness that which in a personal Covenant we are most bound to wrestle against is the thing we are most prone to spare and he that does so overturns the Order of the Covenant the thing that thou does when thou art entered in a personal Covenant with God if thou spare thy Idols if God spare thee he will overturn the Order of the Covenant 6ly and lastly They overturn the Order of the Covenant who would have in the beginning and when they lay the foundation of a Work the thing that God hath promised them at the putting on of the Capestone I have known several precious to God that have concluded a work of Effectual Calling not to be real Why Say they I have not that peace and that joy in Believing that I ought to have but thou may believe twenty years before thou have joy in Believing There is peace in Believing but not in the first laying of the Foundation of the Work nor is there joy in Believing ay when we would be at it no we overturn the Order of the Covenant if we do this and the Truth is as ye shall hear the great reason why we have so little sweetness from the Covenant we observe not the Order and Method of the Covenant we might have a great deal of sweetness from the Promises that we want and we might draw out of these Breasts of Consolation refreshing Milk if we knew the Order of the Covenant Vse 2. I will close this Observation with saying three things about it 1. I exhort thee to get an Interest in the Covenant and then to plead it Marry the man and then plead the Contract I prophesie to you all that are not effectually called and all that are not united to Christ in the Covenant all that I have said or that I am to say from the Covenant or all that ye can plead from it shall never be to your advantage there are great and precious Promises in the Covenant I will blot out your iniquities and remember them no more I will cast them behind my back and cast them in the bottom of the Sea none of them all are to you if ye nave not married the Man 2. Consider if ye would follow the Covenant orderly consider seriously what a ridiculous thing it were if a Sinner should go to that Promise though your iniquities were red like crimson I will make them like wool though they were as scarlet I will make them white as snow If ye should not observe the Order of the Covenant and not observe what is required before ye get that fin pardoned might not all Whoremongers and Adulterers and Murderers and Blasphemers and Sabbath-breakers come and say O here is a Promise I will blot out your Iniquities and will remember them no more and sprinkle clean water upon you if they should not observe the Order of the Covenant and by the way take good heed how ye bring in a promise if ye keep not the Order of the promise ye have no right to the promise Antinomians tell us we may preach to Sinners reeking in sin and bid them believe immediatly after the act of committing the Sin and tell them though your Iniquities were as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow they observe not the Order of the Covenant 3. I would have you in Order to this that ye may observe the Order of the Covenant know how the Covenant is ordered what is the Order and Method in which God hath casten the Covenant since we can never get Benefit from the Covenant except we observe the Order of it If we plead one Promise and forget as necessary an one if we plead pardon and have not repented if we plead peace and are not effectually called it 's true there are promises of peace and pardon but they are not pleaded according to the Order of the Covenant and this leads me to the second Observation Doct. That in order to the Glory of God and the Peace and Salvation of Believers God hath appointed an Order in the Covenant to be observed and we must observe it He hath appointed an Order and an excellent Method in it for it proceeds from the God of Order and it 's treated by the Mediator of the Covenant the right Order of the Covenant is one of the sweetest Encouragements that Believers have and I will let you see that of all the Ingredients in the Covenant affording Consolation the Order of the Covenant is one of the sweetest To break then in upon it there are two things I must premise and shall only name to make way to the rest 1. Take notice that a Covenant may be said to be Ordered two ways 1. When all the parts of it are rightly Disposed and Ordered 2. When all the parts of it are rightly Ordered and Disposed with a reference to the end the first is called an Abstract Order the second a Relative Order in handling this Order of the Covenant
a latitude to himself that he will either give health or sickness he will either give deliverance or not give deliverance what signifies the Promise then Yes very much for he doeth not prove untrue to his promise even in temporal things but better than his promise if a man should promise to his neigbour an hundred weight of Lead if he give him an hundred weight of Gold ye would not say that that man had broken his promise but was better than his promise if he give a sanctified improvement of the promise the promise is not broken but the Promiseâ maker is better than his promise So we may go to him and peremptorly say Lord take away this ill heart and if he taken it away we may say Lord give me pardon give me peace joy and assurance but we cannot say Lord give me health and prosperity the reason is in the order of the Covenant there is a liberty of exchange left to the Lord in temporal things that he may give the thing or a better thing but he hath not left a liberty of exchange in spiritual and eternal things for to speak with reverence he would not be true to his promise then if one would come and say Lord give me peace if he answer not but give him health he would not be so good as his promise 4. In the order of the matter of the promise take notice there are some things promised that God hath promised in the Covenant but he hath not promised to give with these things the discovery of them he may give the thing and he may hide it when it is given he may be true to his promise and accomplish the thing promised and yet the person be like the man that sought his Hat when it was on his Head it is one thing to give the thing promised and another thing to give the discovery of it there may be some saying fails his word evermore hath he forgotten to be gracious but our eyes may be darkned and we cannot see the accomplishment of the promise some may say O! he hath not made out his promise to me for I have not that peace that joy that assurance these influences that he promised but thou may have these and the promises may be accomplished and thou not see them So in the order of the promises in reference to the matter of them we are to take notice of all these four 5. Take notice that the promises in the matter of them are so ordered that like work-men about one work one of them works to anothers hand one promise makes way for the accomplishment of another as for example the promise of influences I will be as dew to Israel makes way for that promise and he shall grow as the Lillie and cast forth his roots as Lebanon Hos 14.5 Every one of the promises especially the sirst promises makes way for the second so if God give repentance the person may certainly argue that he will get pardon if he give faith he will certainly get communion with Jesus if he take away the heart of stone he will sprinkle them with clean water if he call them he will certainly justifie them and if he justifie them he will glorifie them for whom he calls them he justifies and whom he justifies them he also glorifies But 2. Another thing to be remarked in reference to the order of the promises and that is the order of the timing of them O but he was wife that drew this Covenant and had excellent skill of ordering all the Articles of it There are four things remarkable in the order of the timing of the promises of the Covenant 1. There are some promises Divines call Legal promises there are other promises they call Evangelick promises the Legal promises go before the Evangelick Joh. 16. When the Spirit shall come he convinces first of sin that is a Legal work and then he convinces of righteousness that is an Evangelick work this order of the Covenant of promises relating to a law-Law-work they go before the promises relating to a Gospel-work in the ordinary way of his working he kills that he may make alive he hath torn that he may heal hesmites that he may bind up Hos 6. These who are observing the order of the Covenant and the promises of it must expect them in this method that the Spirit shall first convince of sin and then of righteousness some are convinced of righteousness and they talkk of Christ and his righteousness before they be convinced of Christ and his righteousness before they be convinced of sin but they are overturning the order of the Covenant 2. There is this remarkable in the order of the timing of the promises the promises that relate to a gracious frame a person can never come to be in a gracious frame before he be in a gracious estate no that is impossible a natural man and one that never had a Law-work can never come to a gracious frame an hypocrite may have flashes and things that may put on the clothes of a gracious frame but in the order of the covenant we must first be in a gracious estate before we be in a gracious frame all the Communion-days and all the rods that a natural man comes under and all the expressions of love to Christ that he hath makes not up a spiritual frame Why he is not in a spiritual state and the order of the Covenant must be overturned if this be 3. The Lord hath this in the order of the timing of the proises that there are some promises he will begin early to accomplish to a Christian and readily will keep them under these promises the most part of their life whereas it will not be these promises that he will keep other Christians under as for example there are some promises of conviction of challenges of discovering of iniquity he may bring one under these promises and effectually call them and all their life-time keep them under them whereas many have these promises accomplished and lives but short while under them the reasons are in the order of the Covenant God hath reserved a liberty to himself the Mediator hath promised to make out all the promises to the Elect but he hath reserved a liberty he will keep one feeding on one promise all their life and will change them to others the reason is he reserves a liberty to himself in dispensing all the promises so one may be brought in early and changed and effectually called and all their life-time may be kept under the drop of Conviction whereas others boy I he may let out with a Pin and bring thee easily to the promises of consolation why In the order of the Covenant though he hath secured the main to every Elect yet the order fo the promise is that he should have a latitude in it as Lord which is not loosed by the obligation of the Covenant 4. There is this order to be
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-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
down and then dress it this is very necessary to be distinguished for often at the beginning of the accomplishment of a promise we are at I am undone and at the end we are at I had been undone if I had wanted it what ever contrariety appearin he providence in dispensing promises yet it 's but the half of his work stay until the end and ye shall see the end of the Lord he began harshly with Abraham and with David and with better than David with Christ himself but it ended in this he set him down at his own right hand and bade all the Angels worship him Any of you that he is accomplishing a promise unto he is killing that he may make alive he is tearing and wounding that he may heal he is smiting that he may bind up however ye may go sometimes weeping bearing your precious seed yet it will end in rejoycing bearing your precious sheaves 2. I would have you distinguished betwixt his dispensing of a promise and your sense of it readily your sense may be directly contrary to the nature o the thing O but Sense is an ill judge in the matters of Faith I deny not but Sense will strengthen and confirm Faith but when it is strengthned in opposition to Faith it is a great impediment to Faith I will not believe except I see saith Thomas it was his Sense that was a great impediment to his Faith so we are to distinguish betwixt the matter of the work of his dispensing and our sense of the work like the vulgar people we will be of one judgment one day and another judgment another day one day we will cry Crucifie crucifie him and another day cry Hosanna Hosanna one day we think there is nothing more real and another day we think there is nothing but delusion and shall we lay weight on this But learn to distinguishâ betwixt his dispensing of the promise and your sense of it But 2. ye would notice this if ye would see the excellent order both of making and contriving of the Covenant that it 's a Christians duty ay to bring the providence to the promise and not the promise to the providence we are not to say O in this dispensation he is not true to his promise but we are to bring the providence and the lot we are under to the promise so Abraham staggered not at the promise but judged him faithful that had promised there is one thing that puts the capestone on the order of the promises and a lustre on the Cove an t that it is so full of so great and precious promises in reference to the Church of God it 's true God hath concealed the time and the way how he will accomplish these promises but believe it and go home and rejoyce in the hope of it that all the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God Popery Judaism and Quakerism will all fall to the ground the time will come when Holiness shall be written on Horses Bells when Wars and rumors of Wars shall cease and men shall beat their swords into plough-shares and the Lamb shall ly down with the Wolf and not be afraid and there shall be no more War seen in all the nount of God ye may say there is no ground for this but the Mediator hath ordered the Covenant and hath put in it not only the blessing of Peace and pardon and Repentance relating to the like of thee and me but he hath put in it the Order of the promises relating to his Kingdom tho there be no appearances of it but all things against it yet all that are against are but barking against a wall for shall he cry and shall it not be heard shall he speak and shall it not be done No all the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God therefore ye that have your heart broken with something of the desolation of the house of God ye may see those days afar off with Abraham and rejoyce and who can tell but the Confusions of Europe this day be the accomplishment of these Promises the time is coming and is hastening and will be accomplished in due time and all the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as the Seas are full of Water and when ye go to him for your pardon go to him and protest that ye will not be satisfied except he will fulfill all his promises to his Church SERMON XXVII 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow THE second property of the Covenant of Grace that it is rightly ordered I entered on God who is the God of Order hath appointed an excellent order in his Covenant and it 's necessary for a Believers consolation to take notice of it in handling of it I proposed to speak to three things the Order of the promises of the Covenant the Order of the Commands the Order of both the Promises and Commands with reference to an end I have spoken to the Order of the promises I come now in the second place to speak to the Order of the Commands of the Covenant and ye will find it of great necessity for one who would profit by the Covenant first observe the Order of it there is indeed an excellent Order among the duties of the Covenant I cannot run through them all that practick Divines have written about I will reduce what I will say of the Order of the Commands to four heads 1. The Covenant hath Ordered Graces and Duties to be knit together to make up Obedience to the Covenant it 's not Grace only that fulfill our part of the Covenant nor is it Duties only but is is Graces and Duties knit together we are commanded in the Covenant to pray but to pray in the Spirit we are commanded to mourn for Sin but we are commanded also to believe and repent we are commanded to suffer when called to it but if we give our body to the fire and want charity it profiteth nothing the commanding part of the Covenant takes in both Grace and Duties if a man perform never so many Duties and want Grace he fulfills not his part of the Covenant Obedience and Duties without Grace are like a Carcase without a Soul or a Shell without a Kernel and in effect they signifie nothing as to our part of the Covenant there are some they think they have the truth of Grace and are negligent in Duties there are others they multiply Duties but they make no conscience of the Grace that shojld accompany the Duties thou has no kind of order in the Covenant the Lord hath knit the two gogether otherways there is no suitable frame to the Covenant at all 2. The Covenant in the preceptive and commanding part of it the first and principal Grace
For if the righteous man fall from his righteousness all the righteousness that he hath done shall be forgotten So the Order of the Covenant runs that there shall be Graces and Duties making up our part of the Covenant and among these Graces and Duties Faith must have the precedency Fourthly The Order of the commanding part of the Covenant requires first and principally mortification and then vivification ye will find in the promising part of the Covenant there are first promises Ezekiel 36. I will sprinkle clean water upon them and I will cause them to walk in my statutes these that set to duties without Mortification of Lusts observe not the order of the Covenant those that never knew what a work of Mortification of inward Lusts meant but performs Duties at random they may perform Duties but not according to the tenor of the Covenant they cannot have peace from the Covenant that observe not the order of it now in the preceptive part of the Covenant though he command all the parts of vivication yet he commands to begin at Mortification to cut off the old man of Sin To cut off the right hand to pluck out the right eye that is to say to mortifie any Lust that will be as painful to part with as our right eye or our right hand if one sew a new profession to an old heart like new wine put into old bottles or piece of new cloath to an old garment it 's never suitable to the Covenant so we see the Order of the commands of the Covenant there must be Graces and Duties joyned together the principal Grace in the Covenant is Faith and where a person neglects that he failw in the principal tenor of the Covenant Before I come to speak of the realtive Order of the Covenant as it relates to the end I would have you take notice that not only is there an order in the Promises and Commands of the Covenant but the Promises and Commands are excellently forted together they are sweetly joyned take notice of the union betwixt the two and I will speak to a twofold union betwixt them 1. Take notice how sweetly they are unite 2. How strictly they are unite First Take notice how sweetly they ar unite for clearing of this Take notice of three things 1. The Promises are sweet to the Commands I find some Divines cast it up they say for every Command in the Covenant there are at least two Promises I confess there are some Commands we may get ten Promises relating to them but take them at the lowest there is no Command in the Covenant but there are two Promises for it ye need not go to think where will I get a Promise suited to this Duty ye see that the Promises and the Commands are most sweetly unite together the Promises is a Bond on God to give strength for the Commands and readily ye will get two Bonds in the Covenant for every particular Command 2. Take notice how sweetly they are unite in this that as the Promise influences obedience to the Command so the Command influences and evidences an interest in the Promise the way how to get strength to obey the Command is to go to the Promise and the way to know if the promise be ours is to try our obedience to the Command so like two bearing a Barrow they work to one anothers hand 3. The two joyned sweetly together contribute to keep the heart in an equal frame the Promise holds out the Reward and the Command holds out the service if we had only a Promise we would presume and if we had only a command we would despair and the two laid together they sweetly not only influence one another for our obedience but the two joyned together keeps them in an equal ballance the promise keeps from despair and the Command from presumption So nothing could be sweetlier joyned together than the promise and the command in the Covenant we would not want any of them if we could be so foolish as to wish the Covenant ordered only of promises it had been no way our interest it had rather made against us than for us had we gotten our desire it had been among the rest of the roavings of our Spirit it 's really our interest that we should be servants and to know our interest by our obedience so hath he ordered the Covenant well that hath twisted the two sweetly togegher in a way suitable to our heart and his Fathers honour Secondly Observe how strictly they are unite together observe this in three or four things and they are to be noticed by all who would observe the Covenant 1. Take notice that if we have a title to the Promise we are necessarily bound to the Command to think that we will accept the promise and lay by the Command as to overturn the order of the Covenant they are so knit together that as a Woman in Marriage in her accepting of the Man she is bound in obedience to him so when whe accept of the promise or take it according to the tenor of the Covenant we presently in that same very act of acceptance are become bound to the Command it implyes a contradiction to say we have gotten a Promise when we cast at a Command when we accept of the promising part we engage to the preceptive part the reason is in the order of the Covenant they cannot be separat they are so strongly knit together that he that accepts of the Promises of the Covenant he binds himself to the Commanding part of the Covenant on ghe other hand if we engage to the commanding part we have a strong Title to the promising part the promising part if the Covenant the greatest and most special Promises of it if there be conscience made of the commands of it he hath a Title to all the promises of it the reason is the order of the Covenant hath joyned the two together so strictly that if we engage with the Commands we have a right to the Promises 2. This strictness of the Union betwixt the two in the Covenant which is excellently contrived in the order of it appears in this that the commanding and promising part of the Covenant are in all their parts and pendicles inseparably joyned together if we have a right to one Promise we have a right to all we cannot obey one command in the Covenant and cast at another for that overturns the order and strict connexion betwixt the parts of the Covenant I deny not but one Promise may be sweeter that another and we may be better at one duty than at another we may get more liberty in one duty than another but to accept one promise and cast at another to accept one duty and cast at another overturns the order of the Covenant and whoever pretends to the Covenant and thinks he hath a sweetness from it and casts at one duty in the Covenant and not at another He that offends
is neither so easie nor so lastie nor cannot abide a storm for they take Promises but not according to the order of the Covenant 5ly And lastly not to observe the order of the Covenant brings the soul readily under the threatning of God and in the end under the curse of the Covenant it 's a great assertion of a great Divine says he he that steals a Promise that he hath not a real Right to hath a real Right to the Threatning so where the order of the Covenant is not observed the peace that we pretend to have from a stollen Promise it turns to grief and to a real Threatning and in the end to the Curse These Motives press you to observe the order of the Covenant I believe there are many that have been looking to the Promises that have not observed this but ye cannot plead the Promises but according to the order of the Covenant Quest. It may be inquired here what should a Christian do that he may have a claim to the Covenant in the order of it Ans For opening this to you and it 's the great thing that I design in this branch of the order of the Covenant I will offer you some few Directious that ye may come to know a Promise according to the order of the Covenant 1. I would have you to go home and among other things lay this before God that ye have entirely submitted to the order of the Covenant if ye have not adverted to it before if ye have thought it enough if ye have gotten a Promise in Jeremiah and in Ezekiel and ye presently lay down your head on that cod and sung the requiem and peace to your self go now and tell him that ye submit to the Order of the Covenant and that ye could not make it better if ye had been at the making of it it 's better ordered than ye could order it For he was Christ the power and wisdom of God that did it and tell him ye will take no promise again except it come in by the order of the Covenant make this one of the Articles of your Indenturing with him that ye shall not rashly take a promise unless ye know the Tree to whom it belongs 2ly If ye would have peace coming in according to the Tenor of the Covenant labour to have an interest in the Covenant and then plead the Promises of the Covenant your interest in the Covenant is made up by your interest in Christ he is the Bride-groom and the Covenant is the Contract your Interest in him is known by your effectual calling I have pitied some ignorant careless persons that tell they have gotten a Promise but what is their Right to the Covenant of Promises Will ever one get a Promise that hath no Interest in the Covenant They may steal a Promise and take an Apple off the Apple tree that is not theirs and lay their head on that God and sleep on it but it 's stollen and they have the curse for stealing the Apple and breaking the Orchard Labour then to have an Interest in the Covenant that ye may say The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ye may ask the mark of one that hath an Interest in the Covenant if ye married the man in effectual calling after long wooing of you by the Law and ye have given your heart to him and he hath given love to you so that ye may say I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine but to plead the Promise and have no right to the Covenant and not to marry the man is to steal a Promise off a Tree that ye have no right to 3ly If thou would have a mercy coming in by the order of the Covenant Observe if the Spirit that accomplishes the Promises of the Covenant hath made out the absolute and fundamental promises in the Covenant before the conditional he first begins with the Promise of Repentance and then he comes to Pardon and then he comes to the promise of Peace founded on Pardon thou that has a Promise that thou thinks hath come in by the order of the Covenant the Spirit hath keeped the order of giving thee it if the Spirit hath given thee it he first takes away the heart of stone and then he sprinkles clean water and then he gives the Spirit of Repentance and then he will give thee to believe and then give thee pardon thou must come in this way or then thou comes not in by the order of the Covenant So if thou would have thy mercies coming in by the order of the Covenant Observe if the fundamental promises and promises of the first Graces have been accomplished to thee other ways in the rest of the promises the Spirit must overturn the order of the Covenant if thou thinks he hath given thee peace but not in this order and method thou may cry peace and make a blaze but it will go out in the dark of the night so if ye would know if ye have gotten a promise in the order of the Covenant observe these Rules 4ly If thou would be at a promise in the order of the Covenant take this rule observe whether thou keeps the order of the Commands of the Covenant the order of the Commands in the Covenant is first believe and then pray first believe and then hear first believe and then rejoyce believing is the great condition of our part of the Covenant because he saw believing so glorious to him and to his Father that it would not rob him of his honour nor wrong Christ of his glory it will not do as readily our love would do love would plead a kind of Works but believing pleads only to be an Instrument of Justification see that thou rightly observe the Commands according to the order in the Covenant that is to say when thou goes to vent thy heart to God in a corner thou hast first believed and then thou hast prayed when thou goest to the Church to hear a word thou has first acted Faith and then thou hast heard if this method be not keeped thou observes not the order of the Covenant So if ye would know if the Promise ye have gotten hath come in to you according to the order of the Covenant observe if ye keep the order of the Covenant in your obedience ye first believe and that makes you take up the Bible and read and to desire spiritual conference and use Christian fellowship we must first believe and then obey otherways it will not be according to the order of the Covenant we must ask in Faith and what is not of Faith is son 5ly And lastly if ye would try if the Promise ye have gotten comes in by the order of the Covenat I exhort thee to have a holy jealousie and suspiciousness that ye may have been in a mistake about that Promise take a view of the Covenant ye may say that we preach doubtings with the Papists
I will offer you reasons of two sorts to prove that it is sure and the laying of them together will make it appear a very rational truth I shall first give you some negative Reasons and secondly some positive Reasons which being laid together will evince that it is guarded fortified and sure Reas 1. Negative For the first the Negative Reasons that will contribute to prove it sure I shall reduce them to three heads or rather there are three things that use to make a Covenant or Bargain unsure and all the three are removed from this Covenant of Grace 1. Either there must be something makes it unsure on Gods part or 2. There must be something on our part or 3. There is something makes it unsure in the nature and form of a Covenant These three ordinarily in Bargains makes them unsure and none of the three can concur to make this Covenant unsure examine all the three and ye will find is one of the best secured Bargains that ever was made to any First There can be nothing on Gods part there are three things on mens part that make a Covenant or Bargain unsure and none of them all concur in God 1. Often men makes Bargains and they forget them it 's remarkable Pharaohs chief Butler when Joseph had interpretred his dream promised that he would remember him but when he was advanced to his Dutlership again he forgot him Gen. 40.23 But this cannot be incident to God in making this Covenant Psal 111.5 He will ever be mindful of his Covenant And Heb. 6.10 For God is not unrighteous to forget you work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his Name c. Now forgetfulness in him would be unrighteousness 2ly Severals break their Covenants not only through forgetfulness but through weakness and impotency they are not able to fulfill them and therefore they break them now this cannot be in God we believe and it is the first Article of our Greed and we may believe all the rest the better that it is there We believe in God the Father Almighty He that measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and metted out the Heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the moutains in scales and the hills in a bullance in not he able to fulfill his Covenant There is no promise in all the Bible but he is able to fulfill it 3ly Severals break their Bargains through unrighteousness the rew them again there are some make vows to God and they seek out all the evasions in the world they can get to satisfie their Conscience that they may be loosed from those vows they do as Lycurgus said some do with their Oaths and their Vows as Children use to do with French Kyles they are at a great deal of pains to get them set up and in right order and when they are all set up they presently roll a Boul among them to throw them down again but this cannot be in God there 's no Attribute in him prejudged by his unrighteousness his mercy his justice his glory is more advanced by this Covenant than the Covenant of Works so he cannot do with his Covenant as we do with ours readily they that do so with their Bargains and Covenants they are like a Horse kept within a Hedge they are peaceable but when they break ovee the Hedge they range over the Countrey so do men with their Covenants so long as they are kept within the Hedge of the Covenant they seek not so much after their lusts but when they have broken over ihe Hedge they get liberty to follow their lusts so there can be no failing of the Covenant upon Gods part 2ly It cannot be unsure on our part it is true here would appear the greatest weakness but it is abundantly secured on our part Remember ye not what ye heard when I was speaking of the Covenants being everlasting That a Believer cannot fall out of a Covenanted estate unless God break unto him Now it cannot be unsure in regard there are four of five kinds of Promises in the Covenant that makes it sure on our part First There are Promises of the first graces the want of an heart of flesh the want of clean water sprinkled on us cannot make the Covenant unsure on our part because all these are promised 2ly On our part it 's true we have grace but it cannot act and one may think that will make the Covenant unsure but there are promises of influence in the Covenant Hos 14.5 I will be as the dew unto Israel he shall grow as the Lillie and shoot forth is roots as Lebanon 3ly That might make the Covenant unsure on our part we may break and fall away but there are promises of perseverance in the Covenant remarkable it that promise Jer. 32.48 And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me It 's made an everlasting Covenant because not only God will not turn away from them to do them good but he will put his fear in their heart that they shall not depart from him 4ly It may make the Covenant seem unsure on our part that we are guilty and will not that make him break No guiltiness on our part will not break the Covenant for there are promises of repentance and promises of a righteousness of faith to cover our guiltiness if once we be really in Covenant with him he must break to us before we can come out of a covenanted estate with him Must it not stand then on very sure terms when there is nothing either upon Gods part or our part that can break this Covenant and make it unsure But thirdly The Covenant may be unsure because of the nature or form of a Covenant and in this covenant none of these two can concur to make it unsure and First there is nothing in the nature of it can make it unsure in Disputs with some who have laboured to loose the tyes of National Covenants there are three things hath been objected against them it 's true all of them groundlesly objected against them but that they be Objections against this Covenant of Grace ye will find them far from having any foundation 1. They tell us a Covenant is not sure when it is contrair to former lawful Oaths no question a Covenant about indifferent things contrair to former lawful Oaths cannot be lawful and the Instance they bring is the tye of the Covenant was contrair to lawful Oaths and therefore cannot be binding but this cannot be pretended to in the Covenant of Grace in the least shadow of it 2ly They say the Tye of a Covenant cannot be binding when the matter comes to be impossible the thing we promised when it was lawful becomes sinful when it is impossible yet the
sure 1. He hath sealed it with the death of his Son the death of the Testator maketh the Testament of force Heb. 9.16 Where a Testament is here must also he of necessity the death of the Testator for a Testament is of farce after men are dead otherwise it is of no force at all while the Testator liveth 2ly He hath Sealed it with the Witness of his Spirit every Believer is sealed by the Spirit Eph 1.13 In whom also after ye have believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise it is an excellent confirmation of all the Promises of the Covenant when he gives the Spirit 3ly He hath confirmed it by his Oath Heb. 6.17 Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counset confirmed it by an oath Verse 18. That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation 4ly He hath confirmed it by the Seals of the Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper which should make you when ye hear of the occasion of the Sacrament of the Supper to run to it there are many very indifferent about it yet in other places they run to the occasion in multitudes All these four Seals laid together prove this Covenant to be sure for whom he loves he loves to the end Lay all these grounds together and these four Seals superadded and ye will see that there is not the least ground left to doubt of the certainty of it for both as to the negative and positive Reasons it hath all things that can sicker a Covenant To make way to some Questions about this sureness of the Covenant I will give you these two things superadded to all the former Grounds to prove it sure 1. The Covenant of Grace is surer than the Covenant of Nature now the Covenant of Nature is very sure the Mountains stand firm and the Sea keeps its ebbing and flowing the Sun keeps his course and the Moon keeps her course and loses not an hour and the Stars keep their course so that a man may prognosticat all the Eclipses to the end of the World the reason is the Covenant of Nature is so sure and the Order given to them is so sure as there may be a sure Prognostication given of all the changes to the end of the World yet they are not so sure as the Covenant of Grace he may alter the Covenant of Nature and not be unfaithful he may make the Fire not burn he may make the Sun stand still he may make the Iron swim he may make the Hills skip like Lambs he may divide Jordan and may alter many things in the Covenant of Nature and not be unfaithful but if he alter one Article in the Covenant of Grace if he glorifie not one that is Redeemed and pardon not one that is a Penitent he would be unfaithful he would deny himself for God may alter and overturn things in nature but he cannot alter one Clause of the Covenant of Grace without a reflection on his faithfulness 2ly This Covenant of Grace is no less sure than the Covenant of Redemption that was made betwixt the Father and the Mediator for in effect it is a Stream of that Ocean there are many of our Divines that continue still to make the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Redemption one Covenant Mr. Dickson hath distinguished them and as appears very rationally they having distinct Articles and distinct Parties but whether they be distinct Covenants or Equal they are equal in the point of certainty they are not surer than other So that if Christ might break one Article of the Covenant of Grace he might break one Article of the Covenant of Redemption SERMON XXX 2 Samuel 23. Verse 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things nad sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow IT is one sweet Property of the Covenant of Grace that it is sure I laboured to prove this in the Forenoon and before I apply this Doctrine there are two practical Questions I will but briefly touch Quest. The first is this is not the Covenant unsure in some things Particularly is it not unsure as to the date and time of the accomplishment of the Promises Who can tell when he will bring in the Jews or when the fulness of the Gentiles will come or when he will give deliverance to his Church or when he will return to a Believer whom he hath deserted Do we not find the Promises generally sine die there is no day nor term put in the Promises Who would take a Bond and count it a sure Bond that had no term nor day set down in it And doth not this render the Covenant unsure Now for clearing of this Question I desire ye may take notice of these three things 1. It 's true the Promises have not a day set down they that will sit down and tell within such and such a time such and such things will come to pass they are adding to the Covenant their own Inventions yet we have in the Covenant several things relating to the term and day that are sufficient and ye will find four things relating to the Term and Day 1. Ye find the Vision is for a set time there is a determinat time with God Psal 102.13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come So we know and may comfort ourselves in this that there is a set time of the accomplishment of the Promises with God Habakkuk 2.2 and 3. vers And the Lord answered and said write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it for the vision is not yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry 2. We have this relating to the Term that it will be a short time it 's among the last Letters that we received from the Mediator of the Covenant Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be He is making all the haste he can he will not tarry nay he will come quickly and that is more than he will not tarry 3ly We have this in the Covenant that that time will be a seasonable time when he comes with the accomplishment of the Promise It will be a seasonable time 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 2 Cor. 6.2 For he saith In a time acceptable I have heard thee c. That is a seasonable time now what would we have more Is there any uncertainty in the Promises though they be sine die or
again O! how will we loath the things we ardently loved but both remain here the things contained in the Covenant are sure and our appetite after them will eternally grow what an excellent bargain must they make they who are every day feeling Death gaining ground on them what an excellent bargain do they make that have an interest in this Covenant That word Psal 73. at the close It is good for me to draw near to God why draw near v. 26. my heart and my flesh faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Now what can we say for ever to Ye cannot say my Husband my Wife my Estate my health are for ever but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever May it not be cryed in the ears of many to whom I have been preaching this quarter of a year Why spend ye your money for that which is not bread incline your ear and hear and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David All ye that busk a flower that will wither in your hand will ye be invited to get an interest in this Covenant and it will stand by you and be sure when all other things will bid adieu to you produce your Tack of Time and of your enjoyments if ye can But there are some nothing will prevail with them no not though an Angel should come down from Heaven and preach to them they will only give it a hearing like one hearing a lovely Song or hearing one playing on a well tuned Instrument of Musick but it would get no impression the heart As many as were ordained to life believed 2ly Is it so sure Then see the obligation ye have to the Mediator of the Covenant that as he ordered it well in all things in all the Articles and Clauses of it so he resolved on securities for it that to speak it truly were more than necessar it 's remarkable in the Covenant God hath given Securities that were more than necessar to secure it they were rather suited to our unbelief for whom he treated the Covenant than to the necessity of the thing he knew he had to do with unbelieving hearts that would be constantly doubting and seeking security of this and that and I appeal to any of you when ye have gotten all these Confirmations and Seals spoken of would ye not sometimes seek a Sign to confirm it further or then ye will not believe But the Mediator in treating the Covenant hath driven the nail and rooved it so fast that there were no possibility to draw it again O! this obligation we have to him ought to make us take with the reelings of all other things the better that he makes one Fatherless another a Widow and another sick when we find our lot all reeling in the World we ought to take it well since he hath treated the Covenant well and sure How well may ye bear with all the reelings and changes in your Lot and variety of Dispensations ye are trysted with ye are trysted with one case this year and another the next year but all should be welcomed since the Covenant is secure 3ly Is the Covenant thus made sure then see from it what weight may be laid on the Promises and the Articles of it sometimes his People will be with the Promises as men walking upon Ice that will crack and fall in and drown them some prophane Rantars dare not hazard upon the Covenant and the Promises of it they count them all Fanaticisme and count them all Fanaticks that take themsevles to the Covenant and the Promises of it and even Believers are at What is become of his Promises doth his word fail for evermore O! but his Testimonies are sure they are Secured and Ratified by more than was necessar to secure the thing there are many things added because of our unbelief Christ thought we would scarcely trust him therefore he would have them Sealed with his own Blood Vse 2. Secondly for Use is the Covenant sure It serves for Exhortation and it exhorts to these two things 1. Is the Covenant thus sure Then Christian labour to make it sure to thee it is one thing to be sure in it self and another thing to be sure to me Divines distinguish betwixt certitudo mentis certitudo entis the certainty of the thing and the certainty of the mind about that thing now if it besure in it self make it sure to thee if it be not so thou maâ go under much anxiety and disquietness of Spirit anâ that thou may do this I offer thee three Rules to walk by I know there are many think themselves sure but your wââ that ye have woven is but a Spiders web the least sweeâ of a Besom or even a Flie going upon it will pull it aâ down Then 1. Make your Interest in Christ sure thââ Woman that marries the Man makes all the Articles of the Contract sure now the Covenant is the Contract and ãâã that marries not the Man cannot claim a right to the Contract make your Interest in Christ sure and ye make all the Articles of the Contract sure ye that know not that Chriââ is in you and are not labouring to secure an Interest in hiâ by all the Characters given of him If any man be in Christ he ãâã a new creature ye can have no claim to the Covenant ãâã the Promises of it no no they cannot claim a right to thâ Apple that have not a right to the Apple-tree they maâ break the Yard and steal an Apple but they have not legâ right to the Apple-tree I have often since I began thââ Doctrine with the Sword of the Lord laboured to looââ the Fingers of them that glesps to Promises and take theââ not in the order of the Covenant 2ly If ye would make sure your Interest in the Covenant and make it sure to yoââ I would exhort you to take the Covenant the promising paââ of it in its full latitude and freedom remember ye noâ when we were speaking of the order of the Covenant ãâã told you that a Believer should quit Christ of nothing oâ his Bond the Father when he dealt with him forgaââ him not one farthing he required of him fully according ãâã the tenor of the Covenant of Works for he knew he could well pay it there are promises of pardon of Repentance ãâã Influences of a gifted Righteousness c. He is able to acquit himself of the whole Bond the thing that makes it unsure to us we take not up the promissary part of the Covenant in its full latitude and puts him not to it in all the Articles of it and Clauses of it to make them out what ever thy case be that makes the doubt of thy Interest to the Covenant there is not a case thou can be in but there is ãâã promise for it I have gotten something of the Seed of God in
now heard many Sermons upon it wherein all the things that I judge necessary to be spoken to and many moe yet to be spoken to have been handled I would have you make use of all the helps ye can get from the Covenant and be often sorting the Promises as Apothecaries use to do with Herbs laying them in Eundles together that when ye have to do with such a Promise ye may know where to get it and after ye have considered the Covenant in all the Articles of it add to it these are all sure 2ly The generality of Ranters and these that come under temptations from Satan they question not but that the Covenant is great the Promises exceeding great and precious but all the matter is if they be sure this is the thing that makes ungodly men lay their souls at the Stake for a while of their lusts they resolve to take a time of it and the ground of it is the Covenant is not sure but be taking a view of all the particulars ye have gotten laid down before you this day and be perswaded there is no greater certainty that the Sun will go down the night and rise the morn and the Mooâ will keep her course that the fire is hot yea there is noâ greater certainty ye have heard with your ears and seen with your eyes than this Covenant is in all the Articles of itâ therefore answer all your temptations with this that are tempting you to call the Covenant Phanaticism and call theââ Phanaticks that take themselves to it but take this Covenant and view it in all the Articles of it and ye will find iâ sure and then ye shall be made to sing the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure SERMON XXXI 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow I Have spoken to three Branches of this verse First the nature of Davids security with which he encourages himself at death it is a Covenant Secondly the Parties Indenturing in this Covenant the Lord and me the Lord hath made with me Thirdly the properties of this Covenant whereof very remarkable are mentioned by him it 's everlasting it 's ordered in all things and it 's sure I will not resume any thing that hath been spoken to but I come to the fourth Branch of this Verse which contains the superstructure and that which David âuilds on this Covenant so qualified and there are two great things he builds on it First All his hopes of Salvation Secondly Satisfaction to all his desires this is all my salvation and all my desire now meâs desires are vast it is not easie to find that one thing that will satisfie all our desires but saith he this is all my aesire or that satisfies all my desires I desire no more since he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure But I will take the first of them to be the Subject of some few Sermons this is all my salvation the word in the Hebrew Col-segni it 's rendered by Montanus cuncta salus mea these words are not in the Hebrew but supplyed by Interpreters as being implyed in iâ it 's a pathetick expression all my salvation but these words are put in to make up the sense Before I can reach what I design there are two Textual doubts necessary to be cleared 1. What is meant by salvation 2. How this Covenant can be called all his salvation For the first What is meant by salvation The word salvation hath several senses in Scripture it 's sometimes put for the Doctrine of the Gospel so ye find it Heb. 2.3 4. speaking of the word of the Gospel delivered by Christ How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him That is the Doctrine of the Gospel ordinarily it 's put in Scripture as ye will find it Heb. 1. last Verse Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation that is of Heaven The other difficulty is greater how can the Covenant be called all his salvation or all his Heaven Are there not rivers of pleasures at his right hand and who would be content to take the Covenant for all their Heaven For Answer to this take notice that there is a figurative speech in this the object is taken as including the act relating to its object some read it is all the conduit or channel through which my salâation runs but the current of Interpreters take it thus this is all my hope of salvation as in the following words this is all my desire the act of the soul is taken that is this is sufficient to all my desires so here the object is taken as including the act this is all my salvation that is to say this is all my hope of salvation That ye may be perswaded of this the more thak notice 1. That salvation is sometimes taken in this sense in Scripture as Luke 19.9 This day is salvation come to the house that is this day is the hope or assuracne of salvation come to thy house says Christ to Zacheus when he called him down from the Tree 2. Ye shall find one even David in personal Covenanting with God who uttered these words expressing very confidently his hope of salvation Psal 16.2 O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord c. Which generally is understood of personal Covenanting but verse 9. For this my flesh shall rest in hope there ye have him building the hope of salvation on this Covenant his flesh shall rest in hope on the account of his entring in a personal Covenant with God this is all my hope or assurance of salvation But there rermains a third difficulty how can this be called all his hope of salvation Is not Christ and mercy amongst the grounds of his hope of salvation Shall I rob Christ to clothe the Covenant with the honour due to him But the Covenant is as the Case and Christ as the Jewel for all the excellency of the Covenant comes from Christ this as ye shall hear excludes the Covenant of Works and it 's one of the places some bring against Just fication by Works but this Covenant neither excludes Christ nor mercy no they are like the blood that run through all the Veins of the Covenant so this is all my salvation the meaning is this is all my hope of salvation If any shall ask what ground have I to hope that I will come to glory This is all my hope of salvation that God hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all
the person that hath a Covenant-relation to God they have in that relation satisfaction to all their desires Withoutinsisting further in clearing the words I will take one Observation and readily follow it in three or four Sermons for it is a great truth and as important a truth as any that hath yet occurred in this Verse and the Observation shall be this Doctrine That the Covenant is satisfaction to all our desires if God hath made with me an everlasting Covenant it 's that which may satisfie all my desires it 's true it will not satisfie our irregular and unwarrantable desires it will not satisfie covetous and lascivious desires I remember I read of a man who came to a Philosopher O saith he he is a happy man that hath all his desires the Philosopher answered he is a happy man but a far happier man that desires nothing but what he ought to desire so if we desire nothing but what we ought to desire the Covenant will satisfie all our desires This shall be the Theme that I resolve to follow a little that an interest in the everlasting Covenant is satisfaction to all our lawful desires It will be a great work to convince you of this but I hope to make it appear from very rational grounds and so let you see that the torment we have in our life it 's not from want of grounds of satisfaction to our desires but from the irregularity of our desires we go in our desires beyond what we ought That the Covenant affords ground of satisfaction to all our desires before I prove it I must give you this Caution as introductory to it Satisfaction of desires consists in two things 1. The object that satisfies must be adequat and full it must be as comprehensive as the desires are large other ways it cannot satisfie it is very observable that School-men teach that in glory if there were one desire unsatisfied it would be a degree of misery he that hath an appetite and hath his desire unsatisfied is in so far miserable and if there were one desire and one thing in our appetite not satisfied it would be a degree of misery so what is satisfying to desires must be adequat and fully proportioned to the desire 2. As it must be a full so it must be suitable satisfaction as some describe it it consists in a suitableness of the object to the faculty so that if ye ask what is that which satisfies the desires of the soul It 's a full object and an object suitable to all the faculties in the soul so when we say the Covenant satisfies all our desires there are two things wemust instruct to you that the Covenant is full and comprehensive of all the good we can desire and that these good things are suitable to our desire these two I will labour to make out in this Sermon that I may prove that the Covenant is satisfaction to all our desires I shall first prove it to be full and adequat and then prove it to be suitable and consequently prove it full satisfaction to all our desires First That the Covenant is full abundantly adequat and comprehensive of all the things we can warrantable desire for clearing of this I will offer you first some general proofs of it and secondly some particular and special proofs of it First I will offer you some general proofs of it and by way of Introduction to them I will give you this in the entry That God in the Covenant resolved to lay himself out to the outmost Mat. 22. the Gospel-offers in the Covenant are like to a certain King that made a Marriage-feast at the Marriage of his only Son a King making a Feast and making a Marriage-feast at the Marriage of his only Son thou may be sure he would lay himself out to the outmost at that Feast so the Lord hath laid himself out to the outmost in the Covenant This being generally premised it may make you expect that it will not be difficult to prove that the Covenant contains satisfaction to all our desires And I will offer you these four general proofs of it 1. The Covenant contains all the excellencies that are to be found in the Creatures ordinarily our desires they are regulat by our senses like Eva we see the Apple and we have an appetite after it according as we see our appetite and our desires are regulat by hearing and seeing there is nothing excellent that ever we heard of or saw but it 's contained in the Covenant take a view of the Covenant and ye will find in it the promises of a Kingdom nay more of Bread Wine Milk Honey Myrrhe Spices ye will find also in the Covenant promises of Fountains Gardens Beds of Roses ye will find Gold Linen Eye-salve there are some Divines have taken pains in some of their Books to gather all the similitudes together and they evidence that there is nothing excellent in the Creature but it 's promised in the Covenant if a man have a desire after Gold and fine Gold if he have a desire after Linen and fine Linen after Bread Wine Spices Beauty ye will find one who is white and ruddy hath promised all these in the Covenant what ever it be that a man hath an appetite after ye will find it in the Covenant and since the Covenant contains all these things that are excellent among the Creatures is it any wonder that it satisfie all desires all pleasure profit honour or whatever the appetite can be carried after is promised in the Covenant and which is remarkable Gold Bread Wine fine Linen c. they are but shadows that are to be found among the Creatures the substance is only to be found in the Covenant It 's called fine Gold to distinguish it from Gold in the earth it 's called fine Linen for all other Linens are but black in comparison of this it 's called Eye-salve for Salves may be Salves to our finger when it is cut but it 's much to make up Eye-salve all excellencies in the Creature are only to be found in the Creature in the Shell and are to be found in the Covenant in the Kernel 2. All that is in glory and all that is in Heaven are contained in the Covenant The Prophet tells us Isaiah 64.4 Since the beginning of the would men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him It is a strange description given of Heaven in Scripture Rev. 21.10 It 's called a City and a great City and vers 12. The wall of it hath twelve gates and vers 14. It hath twelve foundations and vers 19. The foundations of the wall of the City are garnished with precious stones and vers 21. The streets of the City are of pure gold and vers 22. and 23. There is no Temple there and there is no need of the
little to the Application and Practical part of the Point in regard it 's a thing of great Importance I resolve to fall from this Branch of the Verse and therefore will apply it supposing that I have proven it abundantly Vse 1. And I will apply it in three or four Vses First Is the Covenant satisfaction to all our desires Then it informs of three or four things 1. It informs of what an excellent thing the Covenant must be Riches may satisfie the Covetous and Honour may satisfie the Ambitious and uncleanness and Whoredom may satisfie the Lascivious but what a thing is there that will satisfie all desires that is allanerly to be found in God and in the Covenant ye that would have the thing in one Jewel that the generality of men are seeking in many pieces of Copper Coin get an interest in the Covenant and it will satisfie all your desires O! but it must be an excellent Jewel that will pay off all your Debt 2. It informs what is the reason that Believers have such a deal of quietness even in the worst of cases let them be in Prison let them be in a Fever in Reproach or in Poverty yet they have a great deal of sweet quietness I will tell you they have all their desires satisfied in the Covenant they desire no more and a man that hath all his desires in what condition soever he be he is quiet the great ground of our disquieting is we want something we desire but a Believer that can say he hath made with me a Covenant he hath Bread Apparel Wine Milk Gold Fountains Kingdoms Cities and he hath them all in the Covenant therefore no wonder if men labour to take their quietness from them if devils labour to take their quietness from them yet they have still a great deal of quietness for they have all their desires and they are all contained in the Covenant 3. It informs of a third thing of what is the reason of all the exercise of Conscience and disquietings that Believers have would ye know what it is there is one thing that is all their desires which is their security in the Covenant now no wonder when they are crost in that which is all their desire to see them hanging down their head and the seeble knees smiting one another for when they are crost in their interest in the Covenant they are not crost in a trifflle but in that which is all their desire so ye may see the reason of their peace and their trouble one thing have they desired of the Lord as it is Psal 27. And as one thing goes ill or well accordingly have they peace or not 4. Is the Covenant all their desire it informs of what a different nature the Spirit of Believers and the Spirit of the Ungodly are there are many they never care for the Covenant many say who will give us Corn and Wine and many hunt after their lusts it 's a wonder to see the great odds betwixt the desire of Believers and ungodly men even as great odds as betwixt East and West all their desires are satisfied if they can say God hath made with me an Covenant wherein he hath made over himself and his Son and all that he hath hardly will there a Cross come that will ly heavy on no wonder for they have all their desires and a man cannot count himself crost that hath all his desires Vse 2. Secondly for Use is the Covenant all the desires of the Believer Then I would exhort you to make it all your desire O! we are plagued sometimes with Lascivious Earthly and Frothy Desires how excellently did the Philosopher Socrates answer the man that came to him and said O! says he he is a happy man that hath all his desires but says he he is a happier man that desires nothing but what he may lawfully desire labour to get your desires regular according to the Covenant that these may be nothing in your desires but what is contained in the Covenant I would press this with several Motives and Considerations O! but the person is come to a noble Lot in his way to Glory that hath his desires regulat according to the Covenant whether they be desires for the Church of God or for themselves Readily ye may ask How shall we get our desires regulat according to the Covenant I will offer you two remarkable helps and two Motives to get you desires regulat according to the Covenant First then for helps to get your desires regulat according to the Covenant take these four things 1. I would exhort you to study the Covenant it will be an excellent help to get your desires regulat according to the Covenant if ye be acquaint with it the Covenant should be the glass ye should be looking into and bringing your desires to it and the Covenant like a face in the glass should resemble one another believe it Christian who minds to come to Heaven there is nothing thou needs either for thy being or thy well-being but it 's contained in the Covenant therefore be a student of it and be well acquaint with it it holds forth the things of Time and things of Eternity all the excellencies of God all that is communicable to Creatures are in the Covenant therefore if thou would have thy desires regulat according to the Covenant be a student of the Covenant A second Direction is consider seriously there is nothing thou can desire in Faith except it be a promised mercy and contained in the Covenant we have a great Question with the Patrons of Liturgie the English service Book some Divines write against it say they there are many Prayers in it for things not promised and we can only pray in Faith for what is promised we can warrantably pray for nothing but a promised mercy for Faith is always founded on the Promise so it is objected if the prayer go beyond it's Object it 's a prayer of the Service-Book and I believe some pray in passion against their neighbour and they pray for themselves ignorantly as their Opinion leads them but if it be not a prayer within the Covenant it will do no good for Faith is a believing in the Promise and if thou prays not in Faith thou prays in sin so this may be a pressing consideration that our prayers will never be heard though it be presented with as many Tears as there are Waters in the Ocean if it be not according to the Covenant A 3d. Direction endeavour a work of Mortification in thy desires unless thy desires be mortified they will go beyond the bounds of the Covenant therefore in Effectual Calling there is especially intended by the Spirit of God the Mortification of our desires we are not to desire as Christ said to the Mother of Zebedees Children Ye desire says he ye know not what she desired one of her Sons to sit upon his right hand and the other on his
obedience as ye see required in it 4ly It 's perfect in respect it 's a compleat answer to all our necessities there is nothing our necessity can call for but it 's contained in the Covenant the truth of this will appear if ye take notice of two things 1. There is no want a Believer can be lyable to but readily ye will get two Promises in the Covenant relating to it some have taken the pains to cast them up and in their Treatises made appear that there is no want a Christian can come under but in the Covenant there will be at least two Promises for one want if ye go through particularly is it a heart of stone ye complain of Is it an unclean heart Is it weakness of Grace Is it the strength of corruption Be what it will ye shall readily find two Promises for what ever want a Christian can come under 2ly The Covenant holds out Christ in all his three Offices it 's certain Christ being appointed of the Father a Physician a Mediator a Propitiation he must be suited to all our wants now Christ in his fulness is holden out in the Covenant so the Covenant in all the Promises of it is nothing but the execution of his threefold Office as King Priest and Prophet in the Church hence I rationally infer it 's a perfect Covenant for if there be a fulness in Christ in whom a Believer is compleat and that fulness be communicat and dispensed according to the tenor of the Covenant then it must be a perfect Covenant for there is no want there is no strait there is no case that can be perplexing but at least ye shall find two promises if not sometimes six relating to it Lastly to prove it a perfect Covenant that must be a perfect Covenant the blessings whereof are to be eternal indeed if they ended if there were but a Liferent-tack of them suppose he should give us a Tack of peace and of pardon and all that God hath suppose he should have made over all that he hath in the Covenant and only given us seventy years Tack oâ them as he hath given us of our life and the date of our time though it had been perfect in excellency yet it had not beet perfect in duration but this makes it perfed in all things and well ordered that as the excellency of it stands in this that all that is in God and all the righteousness of his Son is made over to us so it is to endure for all eternity Now lay these four together and ye will see that the truth of this is unquestionable that among many excellent characters and propetties of the Covenant this is a special one that it is perfect Before I apply this Doctrine there are three Objections one of them made by Quakers another by Papists and a third by Episcopal men and Patrons of Ceremonies and all the three I will remove Object 1. First it may be Objected this Covenant is not perfect why There are many things revealed by a voice within us say the Quakers not contained in the Scriptures that cannot be a perfect Covenant that contains not all things necessar for Salvation and this Covenant contains not all things necessar for Salvation why The Spirit reveals this and that to me when there is no nearness to him and this is necessar and therefore the Covenant cannot be perfect and indeed Quakers who are multiplying and against whom Ministers should give warning they are twining up their Disputs to this head for if they gain this that the Spirit reveals new Truths not contained in the Bible they gain all their desire what ever is born in on a man they call it the work of the Spirit now what can be Replyed to this Ans For Answer to this and to guard against this Doctrine of theirs ye would take notice of three or four things about it 1. The proper work of the Spirit of Truth is not to reveal new Truths but to open the eyes to the Truths already revealed when the Spirit the Comforter comes he will guide you in all Truth and bring all things to your remembrance the work of the Spirit of Truth is to bring all things already revealed to our remembrance The Spirit when he comes he shall take of mine and shew it you John 14.16 That is He shall take my Covenant and my Righteousness and shall shew it to you so the work of the Spirit of Truth is to bring things to our remembrance that Christ hath already revealed when they are put to it they cannot in all the Bible shew the least Promise that the Spirit will reveal new Truths but will bring things already revealed to our remembrance 2ly Take notice that this Principle contain one of the greatest reflections on the Scripture if there were no more to make it odious to you than this it is enough for it says the word of God is not perfect the Spirit says it is perfect and closes the Bible with it If any shall add to the prophesies of this Book God shall add to him all the plagues contained in this Book if there were no more to make it abominat and odious by all sober Christians this reflection that it contains on the perfect rule of manners the Scriptures and Covenant of God it is enough and who will maintain a necessity of Revelation of new Truths must maintain that the things already revealed were not perfect and consequently reflect on God who hath given man a rule but not a perfect rule 3ly The evil of this will appear in regard it were the way to destroy and to turn not only mankind but the Church of God into confusion by what rule shall one discern the thing born in upon us to be from the Spirit They say they are to judge the Spirit by the thing born in upon us and not to judge the thing born in on us by the Spirit Therefore in Germany it was so born in on a man to that hight as to kill his own Wife and one another to blaspheme God and one another to commit Incest and shall we judge such blasphemies against God and such horrid Acts of Murder and Incest wheâ born in on a person to be from the Spirit That would destroy both the Church of God and all humane Society Anâ Lastly it fathers on the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of Truth all the horrid Inventions and Imaginations of mans own hearâ what a dreadful thing is this that the corrupt heart invenâ and imagines and then fathers it on the Spirit of God anâ speaks lyes in his Name So if there were no more to make you tremble at this Principle of Quakers and make you ãâã believe the Covenant a perfect Covenant it 's more than enough Now for all this Principle of Quakers and the Objections theâ make the Covenant is perfect and all things to be believeâ and to be done are contained in it and they