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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81214	The nature, solemnity, grounds, property, and benefits, of a sacred covenant. Together with the duties of those who enter into such a covenant. Delivered in a sermon at Westminster, at the publique convention, (ordered by the Honourable House of Commons) for the taking of the Covenant, by all such, of all degrees, as willingly presented themselves, upon Friday, Octob. 6. 1643. By Ioseph Caryl, preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1643 (1643)	Wing C782; Thomason E72_12; ESTC R14164	28,363	50

Abraham Gen. 12. and Gen. 13. but hee made no Covenant with him till Chap. 15. vers 18. In that day the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham And the worke of the Lord in that day with Abraham had not onely truth and mercy in it but state and majestie in it A Covenant day is a solemne day As the collection of many Stars makes a Constellation so the collection of many promises makes a Covenant Or as in the first of Genesis vers 10. The gathering together of the waters was by the Lord called Seas So wee may call the gathering together of promises or conditions a Covenant The Lord doth as it were r'ally all the promises of mercy made to us which lie scattered up and downe thorow the whole volume of the Scriptures and puts them together into a Covenant And we do as it were r'ally all the promises of duty which wee owe unto God and to one another and put them together in a Covenant Such a bundle of duty is tied up in this present Covenant what duty is there which we owe to God to his Churches or these Common-wealths whereof we make not promise either expresly or by consequence in the compasse of this Covenant And how great an obligation to duty doth this containe wherein there is an obligation to every duty Seeing then this Covenant being taken carries in it so great an obligation it calls for great preparation before we take it A sleightnesse of spirit in taking this Covenant must needs cause a sleightnesse of spirit in keeping it All solemne duties ought to have solemne preparations and this I thinke as solemne as any A Christian ought to set his heart as far as he can through the strength of Christ into a praying frame before he kneels downe to prayer And we ought to set our hearts in a promising frame before we stand up to make such mighty promises Take heed how ye heare is our Saviours admonition in the Gospel Surely then we had need take heed how we sweare Let a man examine himselfe saith the Apostle Paul and so let him eat of that bread and drinke of that cup let him come examin'd to the Sacrament so I may say Let a man examine himselfe before he lift up his hand or write downe his name let him come examin'd to the Covenant I shall briefly propose three heads of preparatory examination respecting our entrance into this Covenant First examine your hearts and your lives whether or no you are not preingaged in any Covenant contrary to the tenour and conditions of this Covenant If any such upon enquiry be found be sure you void it before you engage your selves in this A super-institution in this kinde is very dangerous Every man must looke to it that he takes this Covenant sede vacante or rather corde vacante with a heart emptied of all Covenants which are inconsistent with this For a man to covenant with Christ and his people for Reformation c. while he hath either taken a Covenant with others or made a Covenant in his owne breast against it is desperate wickednesse Or if upon a selfe-search you finde your selves cleare of any such ingagements yet search further Every man by nature is a Covenanter with Hell and with every sinne he is at Agreement be sure you revoke and cancell that Covenant before you subscribe this If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not heare me praying that is he will not regard my prayers saith David Psal 66. 18. And if we regard iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not heare us covenanting that is he will not regard our Covenant Woe bee unto those who make this league with God and his people while they resolve to continue their league with sin which is upon the matter a league with Satan God and Satan will never meet in one Covenant For what communion hath light with darknesse and what concord hath Christ with Belial Secondly before you enter into this Covenant with God consider of and repent for this speciall sinne your former breaches and failings in Gods Covenant We who were sometimes a far off Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise are made nigh by the blood of Jesus even so nigh as to be in Covenant with God Some who pretend to this priviledge will be found such as have counted the blood of the Covenant to be an unholy thing Heb. 10. 29. And where is the man that walketh so holily in this Covenant as becoms him and as it requires Labour therefore to have those breaches healed by a fresh sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon your consciences before you enter this Covenant If you put this new peece to an old garment the rent will be made worse If you put this new wine into old bottles the bottles will breake and all your expected comforts will run out and be lost If you should not feele and search your owne hearts without doubt the Lord will And if you be found as deceivers you will bring a curse upon your selves and not a blessing as Jacob spake in another case Gen. 27. 12. This is a Covenant of amity with God reconciliation must goe before friendship you can never make friendship till you have made peace nor settle love where hostility is unremoved Thirdly enquire diligently at your owne hearts whether they come up indeed to the tearmes of this Covenant You must bid high for the honour of a Covenanter for a part in this priviledge Which of you saith our Lord Christ to his hearers Luke 14. 28. intending to build a Tower sitteth not downe first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mocke him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish We are met this day to lay the foundation of one Tower and to pull up the foundation of another wee are pulling up the foundation of Babels Tower and we are laying a foundation for Sions Tower We have seene some who have heretofore done as much but they have done no more when they had laid a foundation for those noble works in taking a solemne Oath and Covenant they have never moved a hand after either to build or to pull downe unlesse it were quite crosse to their owne ingagements for the pulling downe of Sions Tower and the building of Babylone And what was the reason of this stand or contrary motion This surely was one they did not gage their own hearts before hand neither did they sit downe to count the cost of such an undertaking And therefore when they perceived the charge to arise so high they neither could finish nor would they endeavour it but left the worke before it lookt above the ground and are justly become a mock and a scorn and a reproach in Israel These they are the

though his Covenant about temporall things as all temporals must hath an end of termination yet it hath no end of corruption time will conclude it but time cannot violate it But as for his Covenant about eternall things that like eternity knowes not onely no end of corruption but none of termination Although my House saith gasping David be not so with God yet be 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 2 Sam. 23. 5. And what is it that makes the Covenant of God with man thus sure Sure not onely in it selfe but as the Apostle speakes to all the seed Rom 5. 16. Is it not this because it hath a strong foundation a double impregnable foundation First his owne free grace Secondly the blood of Cbrist which is therefore also called the blood of the Covenant Heb. 10. 29. Because of all this this All which hath an infinity in it The Lord God hath made with us a sure Covenant Now as the stability and everlastingnesse of Gods Covenant with his elect lies in the strength of the foundation His owne love and the blood of his Sonne So the stability and firmnesse of our Covenant with God lies in the strength of this foundation The securing of the Gospell and the asserting of Gospell-purity in worship and priviledges in Government the securing of our lives and the asserting of our common liberties When at any time ye can question and from the Oracles of truth be resolved that these are insufficient grounds of making a Covenant or that these are not ours ye may goe and un-assure the Covenant which ye make this day Let me therefore invite you in the words of the Prophet Application Ieremy chap. 50. 5. Come let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant that shall never be forgotten And doe not these looke like the daies wherein the Prophet cals to the doing of this In those daies and at that time saith the Lord vers 4. What time and what daies were those The beginning of the Chapter answers it The word that the Lord spake against Babylon c. declare ye among the Nations and publish and set up a Standard publish and conceale not say Babylon is taken Bel is confounded Merodach is broken in pieces her Idols are confounded her Images are broken in pieces For out of the North there commeth up a Nation against her which shall make her Land desolate c. Then followes in those daies and at that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come c. And they shall aske the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant that shall not be forgotten Are not these the daies and this the time I speake not of time to a day but of time and daies wherein the Lord speakes against Babylon and against the Land of the Chaldeans Wherein he saith declare among the Nations and publish and set up the Standard Are not these the daies and this the time when out of the North there commeth up a Nation against her As face answers face in the water so doe the events of these daies answer if not the Letter yet much of the mystery of this prophecy There seemes wanting onely the worke which this day is bringing forth and a few daies more I hope will bring unto perfection the joyning of our selves in a perpetuall Covenant never to be forgotten It is very observable how the Prophet as it were with one breath saith Babylon is taken vers 2. and come let us joyne our selves in Covenant vers 5. as if there were no more in it but this Take the Covenant and ye take Babylon Or as if the taking of a Covenant were the ready way the readiest way to take Babylon Surely at the report of the taking of this sure Covenant we in our prayer-visions as the Prophet Habakkuc in his c. 3. v. 7. may see the tents of Cushan in affliction and the curtaines of the Land of Midian tremble Or as Moses in his triumphant song Exod. 15. 14. The people shall heare and be afraid sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestina The Dukes of Edom shall be amazed the mighty men of Moab trembling shal take hold upon them the inhabitants of Canaan who are now the inhabitants of Babylon shall melt away The Towers of Babylon will quake and her seven hils will move The great mountaine before our Zerubbabels will become a plaine and we shall bring forth the head Stone of our Reformation with shouting crying grace grace unto it Zach. 4. 7. why may we not promise to our selves such glorious effects and not build these Castles in the ayre when we have laid so promising a foundation this sure Covenant and have made a perpetuall Covenant never to be forgotten Three things I shall propose which this Couenant will bring in as facilitating contributions to so great a worke First this Covenant will distinguish men and separate the precious from the vile In the twentieth Chapter of Ezekiel the Lord promiseth his people after this manner I will cause you to passe under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant vers 37. That phrase of causing to passe under the rod is an allusion to shepheards or the keepers of Cattell who when they would take speciall notice of their Sheepe or Cattell either in their number to tithe them or in their goodnesse to try them they brought them into a Fold or some other enclosed place where letting them passe out at a narrow doore one by one they held a rod over them to count or consider more distinctly of them This action was called a passing of them under the rod as Moses teacheth us Levit. 27. 32. And concerning the tithe of the heard or of the flocke even of whatsoever passeth under the rod the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. The learned Iunius Totum populum Israelis ita probabo recognoscam ut pastor gregem ad recipiendos in faedus in caulam meam bonos improbosque abdicandos Jun. in in Loc. expounds that Text in Ezekiel by this in Leviticus giving the sence thus as if the Lord had said I will prove and try the whole people of Israel as a shepeheard doth his flocke that I may take the good and sound into the Fold of my Covenant and cast out the wicked and unsound which interpretation is not onely favoured but fully approved in the words immediately following vers 38. I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant and I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgresse against me A Covenant is to a Nation as a Fan to the Floore which purges away the Chaffe and purifies the Wheate It is like the Furnace to the Mettall

had made a Covenant before the Lord he caused all that were present in Ierusalem and in Benjamin to stand to it How far he interposed his regall authority I stay nor to dispute But he caused them to stand to it that is openly to attest and to maintaine it Meethinkes the consideration of these things should reigne over the hearts of men and command in their spirits more then any Prince can over the tongues or bodies of men to cause them to stand to this Covenant Yee that have taken this Covenant unlesse yee stand to it yee will fall by it I shall shut up this point with that of the Apostle take unto you the whole Armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evill day and when yee have done all to stand Eph. 6. 13. Stand and withstand Are the watch-word of this Covenant or the impresse of every heart which hath or shall sincerely sweare unto it For the helping of you to stand to this Covenant I shall cast in a few advices about your walking in this Covenant or your carriage in it which if followed I dare say through the mercy of the most high your persons these Kingdomes and this cause shall not miscarry First walke in holinesse and uprightnesse When God renewed his Covenant with Abraham he makes this the preamble of it I am the Almighty God walke before me and be thou perfect And I will make my Covenant betweene me and thee Gen. 17. 1. 2. As this must be a Covenant of Salt in regard of faithfullnesse so there must be salt in this Covenant even the salt of holinesse and uprightnesse The Iewes were commanded in all their offerings to use salt and that is called the salt of the Covenant Levit. 2. 13. Every oblation of thy meate offering shalt thou season with Salt neither shalt thou suffer the Salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking c. What is meant by Salt on our parts is taught us by Christ himselfe Marke 9. 50. Have Salt in your selves and have peace one with another Which I take to be parallel in sence with that of the Apostle Heb. 12. 14. follow peace with all men and holinesse c. As Salt the shadow of holinesse was called for in all those Iewish services so holinesse the true substantiall Salt is called for in all ours As then it was charged Let not the Salt of the Covenant of thy God be lacking so now it is charged suffer not the Salt of thy Covenant with God and his people to be lacking Seeing we have made a Covenant of salt that is a sure Covenant let us remember to keepe salt in our Covenant Let us adde salt to salt our salt to the Lords Salt our salt of holinesse to his Salt of faithfulnesse and we shall not miscarry Secondly walke steddily or stedfastly in this Covenant Where the heart is upright and holy the feete will be steddy Unstedfastnesse is a sure argument of unsoundnesse as well as a fruit of it Their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant Psal 78. 37. As if he had sayd would you know the reason why this people were so unstedfast it was because they were so unsound Their heart was not right with him We often see the Diseases of mens hearts breaking forth at their lips and at their fingers ends in all they say or doe Then be hearty and be steddy God will be steddy to us why should not we resolve to be so to him And this Covenant will be stedfast and uniforme unto us why should not we resolve to be so to and in this Covenant The Covenant will not be our friend to day and our Enemy to morrow doe us good to day and hurt to morrow it will not be fruitfull this yeere and barren the next But it is our friend to doe us good to day and ever It is fruitfull and will be so for ever Wee neede not let it ly fallow we cannot take out the we need not let it ly fallow we cannot take out the heart of it though we should have occasion to plough it and sow it every yeere Much lesse will this Covenant be so unstedfast to its own principles as to yield us Wheate to day and cockle to morrow an Egge to day and to morrow a Scorpion now Bread and anon a stone now give us an embrace and anon a wound Now helpe on our peace and anonne embroyle us Now prosper our Reformation and anon oppose or hinder it strengthen us this yeere and weaken us the next No as it will never be barren so it will ever bring forth the same fruit and that good fruit and the more and the longer we use it the better fruit like the faithfull Wife Prov. 31. 12. It will doe us good and not evill all the dayes of its life It is therefore not only sinfull but most unsutable and un-ingenuous for us to be up and downe forward and backward likeing and disliking like that Double-minded man Jam. 1. 8. unstable in all our wayes respecting the duties of this Covenant Thirdly walke believingly live much in the exercise of Faith As we have no more good out of the Covenant of God then we have Faith in it so no more good out of our owne then in a due sence we have faith in it There is as much need of Faith to improve this Covenant as there is of faithfulnesse We live no more in the Sphear of a Covenant then we believe And we can make no living out of it but by believing All our earnings come in here also more by our Faith then by our workes Let not the heart of God be straitned and his hand shortned by our unbeliefe Where Christ marveyled at the unbelief of a people consider what a mervaile followed omnipotence was as one weeke he could doe no mighty workes among them for them Mar. 6. 5. 6. works lesse then mighty wil not reach our deliverances or procure our mercies The ancient worthies made more use of their Faith then to be saved and get to Heaven by it By Faith the walls of an opposing Jericho fell down Heb 11. 30. By Faith they subdued Exercurrunt Justitiam Beza Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse or exercised Justice stopped the mouthes of Lyons v. 33. By Faith they quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakenesse they were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to fight the Armies of the Aliens v. 34. We have Jericho's to reduce and Kingdomes to subdue under the Scepter and government of Jesus Christ we have Justice to execute and the mouthes of Lyons to stop we have a violent fire to quench A sharpe-edged Sword to escape popish alien-Armies to fight with and wee comparatively to these mighty workes are but weak How then shall we out of our weakenesse become strong strong enough to carry us thorough these mighty works strong enough