absolute resignation of our lot of our station and service in the wilderness if they be not a glazen window in the house they are content providing they be a nail in the wall if they be not an eye they are content providing they be a toe if it be for the good of the body It 's true we are no great gift when we have made a gift of our selves yet it 's that He calls for and in personal Covenanting with Him that we indenture for like the Macedonians we give our selves to the Lord to be disposed by the Lord if He think prosperity or adversity for us we are content if He think a suffering lot or a peaceable lot for us we are content or whether we be in a high place or a low place it 's all one for it 's a clause in the indenture we are to be at His disposing Secondly In the Covenant we not only look to what we are to give but what we are to do it 's true all the Duties of the Covenant ought to be done in our Covenanting with Him we are not to make exception of any of them a Believer may personally Covenant with God that does not distinctly take up all the Terms on which the Covenant runs yet they do not make exception of any of the Terms but esteems all his commands concerning every thing to be right some of them are greater some of them are smaller even in our indenturing in the Covenant of Grace we are not to walk by the principles that others walk by O say they the Truths relating to exteranl Worship and Church Government they are but small things the great duty is to accept of the Righteousnes offered in the Covenant they will personally Covenant with God for these absolutely incispensible and necessar things but they think they need not take in these lesser things into the Covenant But like a man clipping gold he will stoop down and left the least clipping Why it's gold in our indenturing we are not to make exception of any of the Terms Why the Terms are His and there are two reasons for this 1. In the great Duty of the Covenant the Father's design is the exaltation of His Son it was one of the proofs I brought to prove Him the Maker of the Covenant it looked like the design of it that He designed to cry up His Son therefore the great violation of the Covenant lyes unbelief and in not accepting of the Son which would be noticed by all who will go mourning for other thins and will be cherishing their unbelief There cannot be a greater affront put upon God than what is put upon Him in His Son in regard He is at the outmost of His offers to speak with reverence he cannot make a greater offer than of his Son now an eye ought to be had to this great Duty especially But 2ly These things wehrein our infirmity is greatest or that we are soonest worested by Temptation in Covenanting to Terms in our Coveranting which God a special respect ought to be had to these as Samson had something wherein his great strength lay in other things he was like another man so every one of us hath something wherein our weakness lies now in our Covenanting with God if one be a neglecter of Family Duty or if one be easily drawn away from God after evil company if one be in a passion and provocked to prophane and blaspheme the holy and precious Name of God if one be superficial in secret Prayer observe wherein the infirmity lies and where the temptation does most easily worst them to have an eye in the persponal Covenant with God to these things it 's observed by some when they write of the covenant when the Spirit is about to challenge for neglect of these things there will nothing sooner come in ones heart than the covenant they made like a knock of an hammer it will drive in the Challenge and roove the Nail to the head therefore a special eye ought to be had for these infirmities incident to us wherein temptations uses to assault us most So I hope laying these things together I have proved wherein personal covenanting with God lies it lyes in accepting the Son the Father hath offered Him and all that he hath and when the Soul accepts of this offer and relyes with an act of recumbency on the faithfulness of Him that made it and subscribes to the Terms both to give themselves to the Lord back again and to indenture to the Terms and Duties required and particular indenturing agaist the infirmities we are easily beset with and that Temptation easily worsts them in herein lies as I conceive tha Act of personal Covenanting with God especially if ye add to it in The 3d place the manner how this acceptation and this engagement is to be performed and gone about and here I shall notice to you three or four things 1. Take notice that in accepting this offer and in Indenturing to these terms in a personal Covenant with God the action ought to be very deliberat and advised it ought not to be as one says as a man loving a woman at the first view he sees her beautiful and comely and presently it goes in his heart he will marry her not considering that she may have much debt and an evil humor and many infirities following her so many in their personal Covenanting with Christ they presently fall in love with Glory they fall in love with the Land of Canaan and they see the Mediator beautiful and lovely but they do not consider the crosses the reproaches the temptations the difficulties that will accompany Covenanting with him It 's remarkable in Scripture it 's called the deed of the wife Merchant that goes and sells all that he may buy the Field where the Pearl is this is not the act of a fool it 's not an hasty act no he goes and considers the Field and finds it 's the Field where the Fearl is and he goes and sells all that he may but it so the sould that Indentures with God on this score must consider it 's a business may cost him all that he hath he must consider whether the Pearl will compense the selling of all that he hath There are many it may be truly said of them they are pound fools and peny wife all the little wit they have in the Wilderness is only like Children it 's how to build Houses and run after Flies and busk Babies but their deliberation runs not about this It 's strange to see many rational in may things and so far from reason in their Religion the most thing wherein they play the fool is there but this Act of personal Covenanting is a deliberat Act it 's an Act of the wife Merchant who considers whether the Field and the Pearl will pay the cost 2ly This Act is to be an Act of the whole Soul the understanding will and affections the Lord
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 pitiâ—â— 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 siâ—â—ing 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 also give thee and I will renew a right spirit within theeâ— There is no command but there is a Promise suâ—table 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
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
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 〈◊〉 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
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
fire burns or as a weighty things moves downward It 's remarkable the Scripture tells He cannot behold iniquity nor suffer it to go unpunished now to make with Rebels and swear a covenant to accept of men perfect holiness to accept of the Will for the Deed to pardon iniquity to cast their sins in the bottom of the sea to tell them in the covenant the iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for and not be found How stands this with Justice Doth not Grace prevail over Justice Answ For Answer to this know that this covenant of Grace is made on all these Terms that I spoke of it the forenoon without the least violation of Justice and two things will evedience the truth of this 1. Christ the Mediator of â—he covenant before He could accomplish and order a covenant of Grace He treated a covenant of Redemption I think indeed that is a proper covenant though generally forraign and domestick Divines have not adverted to it yet many of late have seen all the essentials of a covenant in it in the Son before the covenant of Grace was in all the particulars of it Transacted He Transacted a Covenant of Redemption with the Father wherein He undertook to satisfie Justice and the Covenant of Grace runs in so free a current and channel on the account of the Mediator's indenturing the Covenant of Redemption 2ly It 's no wrong to Justice to accept of a Cautioner there was Mercy in the midst of it there was Grace in the Fathers accepting a satisfaction from the Son The School-men speak of the Fathers uniting the God-head with the Manhood and so glorifying the humane Nature and the accepting of a Satisfaction from the Humane Nature was an Act of Grace yet such an Act of Grace as Justice was satisfied fully by a person that had not committed thee deed Zaâ—eucus emitted a Law that whosoever committed Adultery â—n his Kingdom both their eyes should be put out and when the Heir of his own Kingdom committed Adultery he appointed one of his eyes to be put out and one of his own because he thought that the person that sinned should suffer but this was neither perfect sufferings nor perfect satisfaction and Justice but here Justice is aboundantly satisfied though the person sinning was not the person sufferer to be brief the Covenant of Grace being a result of the Covenant of Redemption wherein the Mediator undertook the paying of the sinners Debt it 's abundantly satisfying to Justice and Mercy and Justice kiss one another for Mercy has gotten full scope and Justice has gotten full satisfaction Quest 3. The third question I will move against this Truth that it 's a Covenant of Grace some may say there might have been more Grace in it than there is there might have been Promises of perfect holiness now in all the Bible we have no Promise of perfect Sanctification and which makes this the more difficult we are commanded to endeavour perfection and yet we have no promise of perfection in all the Scripture we cannot go to God in Faith and pray to make us perfect in this life for we can Pray for nothing in Faith whereof we want a Promise so that it would seem it 's not of such perfect Grace as I have been saying for there is not in all the Bible a promise of perfection Answer For the clearing of this I will offer you these three things 1. It 's the nature of sincerity to aim at perfection it stands as it were on its Tip-toes and stretches its arms to it its true they are but childrens arms and are but weak and cannot reach far off yet there is never sincerity but there is an aim at perfection therefore ye shall find the true godly the most part of their exercises run not on the want of Grace but on the weakness insufficiency and the Imperfection of Grace The great reason is sincerity will be constantly complaining untill it be perfect until it reach the resurrection of the dead therefore there comes in the heart that is upright ay some complaints alas I cannot get grief proportioned to sin I cannot get love to God alas I cannot grieve enough for sin it 's called perfection in Scripture because it aims as perfection and will ay be complaining until it be perfect 2ly Know this that though in all the Covenant there is not a promise of perfection nor perfect Sanctification noâ— not one until we come to Glory and untill the woman clothed with the Sun have the Moon under his feet there the Crown will be set on and love and delight will be perfected the great reason is because perfection here would neither suit our duty nor our case no were there perfection of holiness here it would overturn the whole frame of the Covenant which is that we shall go to Christ for pardon for healing for making up of wants Perfection would be inconsistent with all these beside to be perfect here would neither suit with time nor place take the finest Gold or the best Jewels and lay them in a reikie house readily they would get the smel of the reik It 's remarkable ever Paul was it danger to be puffed up with abundance of Revelations therefore it 's no wonder for as great as the Promises are that perfection be not promised for the Jewel would be in a reikie house and we would be puffed up with abundance of Revelations so it 's no way inconsistent with the covenant its being a covenant of Grace that the roving Patient hath not from the Physician all that he crys for the Physiciain gives what is suitable and agreeable to the nature of his case so the covenant is of perfect Grace because it contains promises of perfection and so much Grace as was necessar for our case Quest 4. The fourth Difficulty I would move against this the covenant its being a covenant of Grace Doth it not contain the Cross and are there not a multitude of clauses in it bearing afflictions and crosses And indeed some have observed the threatning part of Afflictions in the covenant it often holds as true as the promising part of Peace and pardon which may be a very great scruple sometimes in one that has taken them to the covenant and has resolved not to follow the guise of the world they will credit the Promises and take them to the covenant and in the mean time the only part of the covenant that is most verified is that part which contains the Cross the Promises of supping with him and bringing them into the banqueting house they know little of that But as for that part of the covenant they know He hath been a true and faithful witness and true to His word now the question is looks this like the covenant of Grace Ans For answer to this I desire ye may take notice of three things first Take notice what the covenant removes in reference to the Cross and we may go to
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 〈◊〉 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 on◠of these days ye may meet with Depart from me I know you not therefore take the tide so long as the Mercat last◠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
some that have written that he will be better at the great day than his word I will not go to contradict them I know no Scripture that will contradict them but I know no ground for Faith to expect any thing from him but according to his word we can lippen for no more nor Faith can warrantably expect for no more than what he hath promised So all Grace the Conduit and Channel through which it runs to us is the Covenant so he that hath made a personal Covenant with God hath in effect laid the pipe to the mouth through which the water that comes out of the Fountain is convoyed all the Graces of the Spirit are promised I know no Grace but it is promised in the Covenant by God he that hath made a Covenant with God however Christ be the Fountain of Grace the Covenant is the Conduit and Spout through which they all run to thee and thou that makes a personal Covenant with God layes thy mouth to the pipe and waits until the Fountain of Grace spring Grace to thee thou art in a fair way to get a new heart and the pardon of the Sins of thy youth to get love to God and patience and delight in God for thou art entered in a Covenant that carries all these things from God the Fountain of Grace Secondly By the Covenant we come to Answer all Challenges and Objections there are Three great Things that keeps Believers humble and make them go mourning so long as they are out of Heaven Temptations Afflictions and Desertions added to their Corruptions that makes the wilderness to them to be full of Briers and Thorns and he that enters in a personal Covenant with God beside that he hath his mouth laid to the Conduit of Grace he hath in the Covenant an Answer to all these Three Objections and I would fain know what any of you that have not entered in a personal Covenant with God doth with your Temptations Crosses and Disertions it 's very evident all these Three are Answered in the Covenant if the Believer meet with Temptations the Covenant will tell him The God of peace shall tread Sathan under thy seet shortly and though thy iniquities were like scarlet he shall make them white as wool If we meet with Affliction the Covenant will tell thee Whom I love I chasten and rebuke and I know that in faithfulness I have afflicted thee If we meet with desertion the Covenant will tell thee For a little moment I have forsaken thee but with everlacting kindness will I gather thee and she that hath been forsaken shall be as if she had not been forsaken I cannot tell how refreshful it is to hear some Christians answering all their Objections with Scripture they that take them to the Covenant and answer their Challenges in the Covenant and bear off their Temptations Afflictions and Desertions with something in the Covenant they take the Gospel Balm and it 's like their wounds will be healed when others will apply something that will gangren and canker them and make them turn to Error The Covenant is the only solid Answers to all Challenges whether they come from Temptations or from the Cross or some Desertion from God there is no kindly plaister can be applyed to any of these wounds but allenarly the Covenant now he that enters in a person Covenant with God as he hath laid his mouth to the Pipe through with the golden oyl run out of the Fountain so he hath a very cordial Gospel Balm for all discouragments whether they come from Temptations Crosses or Desertions Thirdly Take the Covenant as a Charter for the Church of God and in reference to this I would have you notice Three or Four Things 1. In the Covenant we find not only the particular cases of Believers their pardon their taking away the heart of stone but there are greater things promised to the Church that are not yet accomplished the Millenaries an antient Sect as antient as the Apostles time when they read through these prophesies they thought that Christ would come and receive them personally on earth a thousand years and the fifty Monarchy men have run in so many fancies about them but there are great things prophesied concerning the Church that are not yet accomplished That all the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord and Jerusalem shall again be inhabited and holiness shall be written on horses bells The meaning of the place is that the people shall be mostly taken up about holiness and denyed to their vanities the generation is coming that will see these dayes these great things that are in the Covenant and the truth is these things are far greater than our particular our pardon and our peace is nothing to the case of the Church of God 2ly I would have you notice that he that enters in a personal Covenant with God as I have often told you he is to take in the case of the Church of God as well as his own particular he is to take in that he will mind the case of the Church and say Lord I will believe all the promises concerning the Church I will accept these promises and I will rely on the faithfulness of him that made them and though I be laid in the Grave I expect that there is a generation coming that will see all these things I deny not but we should look to our Mother Church whereof we are Members but withall we ought to take in the case of the whole Church in our personal Covenanting with God since the Covenant runs so much on the case of the Church it is a strange Covenant that he will make that will seclude the case of the Church of God and since he hath made so much mention of it in the Everlasting Covenant what kind of Covenant is that thou wilt make that will seclude the case of the Church of God So we are to take in this Lord I will be an enemy to the Error and Profanity of the time I will neither be led away with the giddiness nor the drunkkenness nor profanity of the time the Covenant is for Truth and Godliness and therefore thou can Covenant against delusion and prosanity and here a great advantage he hath that enters in a personal Covenant with God in backsliding times when the wicked are counted happy and they that work unrighteousness are set up and when there is such a current of profanity and as Zacharias sayes The best are as briers and thorns when there are few young ones brought in to Christ and when they who are brought in we know not what they may turn to for many turns away to Error he that hath entered in a personal Covenant with God he is secure for though he see not these days yet as Abraham saw Christ's days a far off ye may see them afar off O! but it 's comfortable to remember that there will a generation come when
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
Advantages that the clearness of an Interest in the Covenant draws after it 1. When our interest in the Covenant is clear our personal Interest it 's easie to believe all the Promises of the Covenant it 's observed by some Practique Divines there are two things that makes us doubt of the Promises sometimes we doubt of Gods power and sometimes we doubt of his willingness it 's indeed a rare thing to see a Christians Faith stick at God power a Phiâ—istine may acknowledge these are the great Gods that divided the Red-sea now when we are clear of an interest in the Covenant we can no more doubt of his willingness more than a man will doubt that his neighbour will give him an Apple who hath given him the Apple-tree or that God is willing to give the World light since he hath given them a Sun and a Moon no he is able to believe all the Promises of Pardon of Perseverance of through bearing in affliction they are all easily credited when we believer he hath made a Covenant with us since Faith sticks not at his power it hath no ground to stick at his willingness whenthe whole Covenant is made with us 2ly Another Advantage by being cleared of our interest in the Covenant that readily by it we are stirred up to love Christ our love to Christ takes fire at Christ love to us we can never love him except he love us our love to him is but like a plack candle kindled at a Torch our love comes to be cleared by his love to us now there is nothing clears up his love more to us than to be cleared about our interest in the Covenant an interest in the everlasting Covenant contributes very much for the clearing of his love to us it reveals his love to us and thereby it kindles our love to him so that beside that he easily believes the Promises if our interest in the Covenant be cleared we are helped to love Christ and to have our plack candle kindled at the Torch of his love to us revelaed in the Covenant 3ly The clearing an interest in the Covenant is a great remedy against servile fears there is a kind of Hell in these fears there is not only a guiltiness in them but a torment accompanying them ye that know what it is to be keepd in bondage under fears know that there is no Fever no Prison no disquieting Dispensation outwardly that can come near the letting in the Waters to the Soul as a flood of servile fears will do now to be cleared about an interest in the covenant that God hath made it with me contributes exceedingly to scatter all these servile fears there lyes the remedy of these fears the application of the covenant like a Plaister laid to a Sore sometimes Believers will take other ways to cure their fears but they bring their Water out of Gutters and there is no right Balm that can be applyed to them but the covenant so if we come to plead an interest in the covenant not only kindles it our love to Christ and scatters our fears But 4ly These that have an interest in the covenant cleared are excellently furnished for all Duties of active Obedience whatever God calls a person to do they still go to a Promise if they be to repent if they be to pray if to believe if to sing or meditat whatever the Duty be an interest to the covenant is an excellent support a person that will go on in his own strength in performing Duties goes to bring forth the thing that is not there ben it 's impossible to wring it out of thy own heart So the way to be helped in all duties is to know an interest in the Covenant 5ly Know there is nothing contributes so much to patient suffeing as to be cleared of an interest in the Covenant it 's remarkable Rom. 5. When the Apostle is giving the reason why Christians they joy in Tribulation and are not ashamed they are justified by Faith Being justified by faith we have peace with God Mark there an interest in the Covenant contributes to their patient suffering it were almost impossible for a Christian to bear what we find them put to Hebr. 11. throughout if it were not on the account of the Covenant they hazard on the Faithfulness of God and the credit of his Promises therefore they rejoyce in Tribulation and wash their hands in the Flames and the great thing hath made them do it is their being cleared the God hath made a Covenant with them Lastly An Interest and to be clear about it that God hath made the Covenant with us is necessar in regard the neglecting of Assurance is a kind of contempt of the Covenant the person that neglects Assurance about it is a despiser of it there are some things we undervalue as if a man let a prine fall out of his slieve he is not anxious that ever he get it again but if he let a Jewel or a precious Stone fall he values that how careful and restless is he to be cleared and to get it again If we careless of our Assurance we undervalue the Covenant we look on it as a man having a Prin fallen out of his slieve so that ye see the grounds of a necessity of an Interest in the Covenant thereby we get love to Christ the faith of all the Promises it contributes to stop and scatter servile fears it 's an excellent help to Obedience and it influences cheer fulness under the Cross and the neglect of it evidences that we contemn the Covenant From all these grounds ye see that a Believer should be assured that the Lord hath made a Covenant with him The second thing I proposed That this Assurance is attainable here we have the Papists and Arminians great adversaries to us they call us all Enthusiasts and they say we pretend to a possibility of Assurance of an Interest in the Covenant they do not deny but the Apostles and Pen men of the Scriptures had this Assurance but they say because David and Paul had it will it therefore follow that every Christian should have it no every Christian ought to have it and is oblidged to study it and that it is attainable I will make it appear on these Four or Five remarkable grounds 1. If God hath made it a duty to endavour Assurance of an Interest in the Covenant then it may be attainable no body will deny this and that God hath made it a duty ye will find it Heb. 6.11 And we desire that every one of your do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of tem who through faith and patience inherit the Promises Mark here Three things 1. What the Apostle Exhorts to he Exhorts to Asurance and the full Assurance of Hope 2ly Whom he Exhorts it 's not the Schoollars only or the eminent Christians but every one
I will first consider the Order of it Abstractly and let you see that all the Promises are rightly Ordered Secondly that all the Commands are rightly Ordered 2. I will consider it with a reference to the End There are two great Ends in the Covenant the Exalting of Christ and the bringing the Elect to Glory and here I will let you see that both the Promises and Commands are excellently Ordered in reference to Christs Honour and Believers peace and their Heaven 2. I intend to let you see of what Importance it is for a Christian in his way to Glory to observe the Order of the Covenant for it 's a deep contrivance of Grace there cannot be a greater Delusion for a person to say I have gotten peace and pardon and neither the promise of peace nor pardon hath come in according to the Order of the Covenant if it hath come in not according to this Order it 's but a peace that Satan or thy own heart hath given thee SERMON XXVI 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 other Meditations that David had when he was a dying concerning the Covenant he remembred the Order of it had it been a Covenant that had not been everlasting and sure or had he fed on it without observing the Order of it it would not have afforded peace but among other things he put in this Ordered in all things and sure the Lord hath made a Covenant with me ordered in all things and sure I proposed two Observations from this First that such as would have peace and sweetness from the Covenant they must observe the Order of it take a single part of the Covenant without its Harmony and Order it might have been a God to Security but it could not afford peace I entered upon the second Observation that God had appointed an excellent Order in the Covenant I will not Criticise on the various descriptions of Order what it is we have many Disputs with the Patrons of Ceremonies that say that we have no Order about the Definition of Order some define it bo be a convenient placing of means and midses that relate unto an end one after another but I will not insist in enquiring into the nature of it I proposed to enquire First into the absolute Order of the Covenant Secondly into the relative Order the Order of it in reference to the two great Ends. in exalting of Christ and the saving of the Elect. In the absolute Order I proposed 1. To speak of the Order of the Promises and then of the Order of the Commands 1. To the Order of the Promises a Truth very necessar to be observed by all those who have the Promises for their Charter and that have all their Hope founded in them many have written long Discourses of the Order of the Promises which now I will not dwell on I shall reduce all that I shall say that is necessary for you to observe in your Practice in reference to the Order of the Promises to these three Heads 1. I would have you consider the Order of the Matter of the Promise 2. The Order observed in the timeing of this Matter 3. The Order observed in the Dispensing of the Promise the Spirit of God hath appointed an excellent Order in the Promises in reference to all these three and Christians would observe this Order First there is an Order observed in the matter of the Promises 1. There are some Promises absolute and some conditional God hath made some Promises if we were never so wicked if never so drowned in nature if never so carnal and sold under sin yet the Promises take us in there are other promises he hath made that we must be Gracious Believers Mourners before we can hope for the accomplishment of them it could not be expected in reason I will take away the heart of stone providing the he have it not but he could say I will give you a heart of flesh if ye have it not So there are some promises absolute and some conditional they but tempt God if they go to him with a conditional Promise and want the Condition but they may go to Him with an absolute Promise a Truth very necessar to be observed we may go to him in prayer for pardon for peace and communion and press him with his promises peremptorly while in the mean time he might overturn the Order of his Covenant if he grant it that he cannot do for the Covenant is the result of his eternal Decree and it 's ordered by Christ and is infinitly for our advantge and for thee and me to overturn that Order were great presumption we may go to him and say Lord give me Repentance give me Faith and take away the heart of stone for they are absolutely promised but we cannot go to him for peace pardon and communion and glory so peremptorly except we have the condition So the order is necessary to be observed some are absolute and we may absolutely plead them and some are Conditional and may only be pleaded when have the condition which is necessary to be observed when some complains Lord I have no joy and comes away wanting it no thou art a fool thou has not gotten pardon and how can thou have peace and joy 2. Another thing to be observed in the matter of it there are some things he hath promised presently and some things are only promised for the future there are several things promised for the present I will take away the heart of stone and will be as the dew for influences of holiness but the perfection of holiness is only promised for the future So if we go to God and press him with perfect Mortification pertect Love perfect Holiness that is in the Covenant but it 's not promised now but it is to be expected afterward so if we observe the method of the Covenant we must observe what is to be given now and what is to be given in Heaven for the one we must exercise Faith and for the other we must exercise Hope So if you shall go and press him with the promise of perfect delight perfect peace perfect joy if he give thee the hope of it he answers thy prayer for the promises of the Covenant bears the one to be perfected now and the other to be perfected hereafter 3. In the matter of the promise observe there are some things promised absolutely and there are some things promised but there is a reserve in Gods heart as for example there is Adoption Effectual Calling Sanctification if thou be a Believer there is pardon and a Heaven there are also temporal things promised such as health deliverance in trouble now in the matter of the Promise God is a Supream Lord he hath reserved
nakedness so the Covenant of Grace running in this strain we must be altogether free from having any accession to it there is none of us but we may say although my house be not so with GOd when he enters in Covenant with us For further clearing of this it will appear in these three or four Particulars 1. Take a view of the persons he takes in Covenant with him when first he meets with them they are sometimes simpler than other and sometime baser than others it 's not many Wife not many Noble but God hath chosen the foolish things to confound the wife several times when he begins first to take them into Covenant they are in regard of outward priviledges inferior to others was not Esau Jacob's Brother and the elder Brother they had the same Father and the same Mother and any thing that might be a difference Esau had it yet Jacoh have I loved and Esau have I hated the persons he takes in Covenant evidence it to be a Covenant of Grace and free favour sometime they are the simplest sometime the lowest sometime among the grossest of sinners what was Paul what was Mary Magdalen 2. It evidences the Covenant to be of meer Grace in regard of us in that the Lord keeps different ways with them he takes in Covenant after he takes them in and yet he does them no wrong there are some he will call at the third hour some at the sixth hour some at the tenth some at the eleventh he will give as much to them he calls at the tenth Hour as to them he calls at the third he will give as much Glory and as much Honour and when he hath done that he can tell Friend I have done thee no wrong I may do with my own what I will there may be one called in at the gates of Death that may have as much nay a greater gale of sweetness than the old standing Christians ever had it 's remarkable the good Thief on the Cross never man exceeded him in a gale of sweetness yet he searce had it one hour he had it out of Christ's own mouth this night thou shalt be with me in Paradise scarce any exceeded him in a flush of love he tells the ill Thief we are justly here says he but this man what hath he done and yet he came in at the eleventh hour So it evidences it 's of Grace absolutely in regard he will call what person he will in and dispense to them as he pleases when they come in tho they come in at the eleventh hour yet he will give them possibly a Feast that they that come in at the third hour get not 3. It evidences it in regard of us to be of Grace in that the dispensations of the Covenant they are not only communicat to what person and in what measure he pleases but in the third place their Dispensations are limited by no Law either as to Time or Place or Duration or Continuance under the Covenant of grace we cannot telll when we will have communion with God nor how long we will keep it it will sometimes come before we be aware and it will go before we be aware the Design of it is to prove that the dispensations of the Covenant of grace depends on the Will and good Pleasure of him that gave them of take a Believer at his fullest the Covenant is the enjoyment of it is proven to be of Grace in regard the thing given we can have no hand in it and it goes and readily he is no finful cause of it so these are clear evidences that the Covenant is of meer Grace This be the first ground on which I go to prove the Covenant to be of Grace The second is that on Gods part all he does proves it to be of Grace might he not have said that which is filthy let it be filty still that which is dying let it die after Man had fallen but he took another way The Grounds on which the-Covenant stands and the foundations Divines make are three and all the three are to be found in him the first is his Love the second is his Christ the third his Mercy these three are the foundations on which the Covenant stands and they all prove it to be of free Grace 1. There is his Love it 's so much the sweether that love is at the bottom of it if the Father give a Jewel to his Son but if he give it with a frown or a token of anger it would not be so much as if he had given him a Farthing with all the Testimonies of his Heart-love but here we have a Jewed and we have it with no frown it 's remarkable Deut. 7.7 The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because ye were moe in number than any people verse 8. But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn to your fathers Now heard ye ever such a because as this I have loved you because I have loved you What Logick would this appear to Aristotle would they not call it an Identick but this holds well in the point of the Covenant I have loved you because I have loved you so that there is the first rise of the Covenant it 's love and if ye say what was the rise of the Love was it Beauty was it Service Merit or Price no it was Love I have loved you because I loved you 2. The great foundation of the Covenant is his Christ therefore the Covenant is called the sure mercies of David now David was dead long before Isaiah's time It shall come to pass says he in the latter days that David my servant shal be their King David was dead but there were two Davids and like the second Temple the glory of the latter Temple was greater than the first now the sure mercies of David are the sure mercies of the Covenant which are called so because they are sounded on Christ whose Type David was and he a Branch sprung out of the root of Jesse 3. The Covenant is founded on his Mercy that ye may distinguish from his love Mercy supposes misery the proper object of Mercy is misery we may rather call the ground of the Covenant Pity I had pity on them for my own names sake it 's not love that inclines some to be favourable to them that are in misery but pity the same was at the root of the Covenant he saw many to be created and born and knew they would eternally ruine and out of pity he entered into this Covenant For further clearing and confirming of this point that the Covenant is absolutely of Grace and free Favour I would have you take a view of the Blessings of the Covenant the conditions of the Conenant and thirdly of the end and design of the Covenant and all these three will evidence it to be a Covenant of Grace 1. Take a view of