exhort you to be much in fear filial fear Ps 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant the ready way to be acquaint with the Covenant is to be a Christian much in fear why does not he say the secret of the Lord is with them that love him that rejoyce in him or that believe in him the person that is fearing him is driven to the Covenant 3. If ye would understand your priviledge and understand the Covenant be more a student of the Covenant consider the grounds ye heard laid down he hath laid himself out to the utmost he hath never holden in making Promises until he hath made that Promise He will make him ruler over all that he hath He hath ay gone on in making one Promise upon the back of another until he make over all that he hath and make the person Ruler over all that he hath and what would ye desire more or imagine more He put in Promises of peace Promises of pardon promises of Adoption and of Effectual Calling and of taking away the heart of stone and never stopped at Promises making till he come to make him Ruler over all that he hath and if ye were studying this ye might understand your priviledge and I am perswaded all the disquietings ye might come under flows from the not understanding the Covenant therefore understand your priviledge That I may close this point I will speak a word to two or three Cases 1. It speaks a word to those that seek their contentment in other things than the Covenant some seek contentment in their lusts some in the company of the wicked some in their riches some in their honour but ye are all seeking hot Water under cold Ice ye will not find it there Incline your ear and hear and I will make a Covenant with you why spend ye your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not And I will tell you where ye will find it there is a well ordered and everlasting Covenant and that is the only thing that will afford true contentment ye will find there perfect pleasure Bread Milk Wine Honey Gold ye will find Cities and Kingdoms and ye will find all these in the Covenant in the Kernel and not in the Shell seek not your contentment in other things for the things that may give you content the day may be your grief the morn they may be a sting in your Conscience the morn and like fire in your bosom Incline your ear and hear why spend ye your money for that whick is not bread The Lord hath a quarrel with the people that hear not as with the people of old my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the funtain of living waters and hewed out to themselves cisterns broken cisterns that cvna hold no water 2. It speaks to these that think believers the greatest fools and Phanatick in the world why They taken them to you Covenant ye know not what ye say it 's a perfect Covenant it hath perfect promises and made upon the easiest terms it hath perfect Seals the Lord cannot add a greater Seal to than he hath added and think ye that Phanaticism No all of you that are following the world and making a Covenant with the East-wind ye know not what ye are depriving your self of no it 's no Phanaticism it 's the solidest the surest and the most ratioal way that ever a man took hmself to take yourself to this Covenant why It 's a perfect Covenant it 's impossible to add to it or take any thing from it 3. Imention those that have taken themselves to it and exhorts you to be encouraged and here for their encouragement I will say two things 1. I exhort you that have taken your self to it as a perfect Covenant to which if ye were racking your wit ye could add nothing I exhort you to be encouraged under your imperfect priviledges ye neigher get in the wilderness the meat the reputation the strenath the fellowship with God that others get ye could bear the better with all other things if he made it up whatever imperfection be in the priviledge ye have a perfect Covenant therefore go through the world as the young Heir not yet come to his Inheritance and that hath not much to spend yet he hath an excellent Charter and excellent Bonds So whatever imperfection be in your priviledge ye have a perfect Covenant be exhorted to rejoyce upon the account of the Covenant it 's a wonder to see David spend the hundred and nineteenth Psalm and never a word of Christ in it all except in one Verse but in every Verse he mentions the Law and Covenant of God I will rise at midnight and praise thee because of thy goodness I will sing of thy loving kindness therefore rejoyce in the Covenant for it is perfect and any that make their Religionly in complaints all that ye say to God is complaints and all that ye say to your neithbours is complaints take a rebuke in the Name of God for whatever ground of complaint ye have ye ought to rejoyce in the Covenant for it is perfect and there is nothing can be added to it nor taken from it 2. I would have you who have the marks I have often given you of an interest in the Covenant to bring forth the Covenant and not only make it a song to God but offer it to your Consciences when your challenges grow if we were laying strss upon the Covenant and taking it up as a perfect Covenant we might have a better life of it than we have but ingorance of the Covenant makes that the half of his allowance is not enjoyed SERMON XXXVII 2 Samuel 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow HAving spoken to the nature and properties or the Coveant and resolving not to dwell much longer on this Text I come to the latter thing that I suppose is to be handled in it there are two Objections that might be made against Davids consolation from the Covenant one taken from his own guilt and the guilt of his house although my house be not so with God another taken from Gods providence and hsi dispensations to him although he make it not to grow so we shall handle the beginning and the close of the Verse gotether as best agreeing to the method that I proposed and did cast the words into The first Objection I will begin this day which is the smell of his guilt and the guilt of his house though my house be not so with God c. It 's made a great Question and there are diverse opoinions about what is meant by Davids house whether it take in the state of the
what hath he under taken for us I will have occasion to speak of this afterward but I will tell you two things he hath undertaken Answ 1 To get our consent to the Covenant all that the Father hath given me shall come unto me that is to say they shall imbrace the Covenant indeed this was a great undertaking and that he may be true to that trust he sends his Word to reveal the Covenant his Rod to presse it his Spirit to perswade to imbrace it 2. He has undertaken to pay all our faillings otherwayes the Father could not deal with us for we are Dyvors and Adam when he was perfect the Father knew in the state of innocency what it was to trust man without a Cautioner so he undertakes to the Father that we shall give our consent and for any failling or transgression he shall be comptable for it and it shall be on his score And lastly he is the Substance of the Covenant he is the marrow the very marh of the Covenant therefore all the promises of the Covenant are nothing else but the execution of his three Offices all the promises of pardon and of peace are the execution of his Priestly Office all the promises of teaching and guiding are the execution of the promises of his Prophetical Office all the promises of ruling defending and subduing our enemies are the execution of his Kingly Office So all the promises of the Covenant are but Christ representing himself as King Priest and Prophet of his Church So to take from Christ and ascribe to the Covenant would be very injurious to God for he is the Purchaser the Mediator the Surety and Substance of it Secondly to Answer the Question the doing of this is no injury to Christ to say that when we are at our last words the great encouragement is the Covenant no more than to abscribe to the Rayes of Sun or the pype or conduit that convoyes the water from the fountains that we are warmed with the Rayes of the Sun or that we are Quenched by the Water that comes from the pype for this derogats nothing either from the Sun nor from the Spring so this derogats nothing from Christ to say that our great encouragement at death comes from the Covenant for Christ is the Spring and the Covenant is the Conduit that convoyes the water from the spring and Christ is the Sun and the Covenant is but the Rayes that comes from the Sun both its heat and its Rayes comes from this Sun and this is necessary in two cases 1. To shew that sometimes in desertion when he hides or withdraws or frowns all the Promises and all the Ministers nay if Angels should Preach they will not prove conducible for an outgate or for scattering terrors the reason is the pype cannot communicat water without the Spring and the Rayes cannot communicat heat without the Sun it 's remarkable 2 Kings 4. when the Shunamites child died the Prophet Elisha sent his servant and his staff but the child remained dead untill the Prophet came himself so the Covenant and all the Promises abstracting from Christ if they were in the mouth of Angels cannot be an encouragement untill he come himself conferences and discourses bringing reasons convincing reasons from the Covenant from the freedom from the fullness of it will not bring one from desertion untill he come himself On the other hand It 's necessary to rebuke them that catch a Promise of the Covenant and will feed upon it and say they will come to Glory and God his made a Covenant with them and God has made Promise to them and yet has no interest in Christ it 's even as ye saw a man coming through a Garden and he claughts a Branch of an Apple-tree and he goes and layes it in his Chest and expects he will have Fruit of it in the Spring But the Branch cannot bring forth Fruit except it abide in the Root so what we say of encouragement among our last Words from the Covenant it derogats notthing from Christ more than a man should glory of such an Apple-tree I plucked Apples it derogats nothing from the Tree for abstract the Branch from the Root it will bear neither leaves nor Apple so the poynt holds true that the only encouragement when we are going to die is from the everlasting Covenant Vse 1. For Application First Is this the great encouragement when will be at our last words and we will be there ere it be long an interest in the Covenant it serves to reprove those who are seeking their encouragament else-where some take their encouragement in Life and Death from the World Soul take thee rest thou has enough laid up for many years as one observes well he might al 's well laid down a Promise for his body to feed on as to lay down enough for his Soul to feed on some has common convictions some has moraâ— qualifications and possibly some go a little higher but alâ— these seek their water our of gutters and come not to thâ— right Barrel for the wine the great encouragement is thâ— Covenant and an interest in it Question Before I go any further in this Vse I will clear thâ— practical Question how shall a Person know and by what Ruleâ— shall they try if they make their great encouragement to be the Covenant of God Answer For opening this a little I desire you may take notice that the Covenant takes in two things Promises and Duties now if we would try if the Covenant will be our great encouragement or if we make it our great encouragement we must first cast an eye to the Promise and â—â—en to the Dutie 1. Then for the Promises the design of â—â—em being to exalt Grace and Christ a Person may examine â—â—d find if they bring in their greatest Consolation from the â—ovenant in these Three or Four Cases First When they are cheerful not so much on the account â—f the possession of promised Mercies as on the right to the Mercie there are many indeed if they get sense and if they â—et the accomplishment of any Promise they presently are â—eady to be much cheered against Death and Terrors ay but â—emove that they can lay no weight on the Covenant it self â—t's indeed a desireable thing to have our hand full and the â—ensible accomplishment of promised Mercies but when Persons â—ant that Possession and they lay no weight on the Covenant â—t self and on a right to it that is to bring in your consolation from your Enjoyment rather than from the Covenant â—t's remarkable Song 2. The Bride is in a deserted case and what hath she to keep up her heart under all desertions in that Chapter My Beloved is mine and I am his Her right to the Covenant and Interest in it even when there is a cloud betwixt him and her makes her sing and in that she is encouraged So that when we have no enjoyment to crack of
my salvation c. Haying cleared the words to you I will take two Observations and shall be but briefon the first that I may come to the second Observ 1. That Believers have in their straits and especially at their death the hope of salvation for their encouragement Observe 2. That all the ground of their hope is that God hath inade with them an everlasting Covenant c. It 's founded on the Covenant of Greace and on their personal and proper interest in it these two ly natively in the words and hearken to them if ye would have some of the greatest things of greatest concernment cleared unto you Doct. For the first That believers have the hope of salvation as an encouragement in their greatest affliction but especially at death David is at his last words as the beginning of the Chapter tells us this many proofs ye have in Scripture of this as Gen. 49.18 Jacob is making his Testament and tells his Children what will befall them and what I Legacy he leaves them and in the midst of it he puts in something for himself Lord saith he I have waited for thy salvation he takes this portion to himself and encourages himself with it it were needless to prove this that blievers have in their straits and at death the hope of salvation to encourage them with the Martyrs have washen their hands in the flames and counted them Beds of Roses because of the hope of salvation some of the Martvrs have told their neighbours let us walk a while in the fire and in the twinkling of an eye we will be at our Fathers house When they were weeping over Master Ridley in his house do not weep for me saith he for I shall have a sharp Dinner but I shall have a good Supper Quest 1. Before I apply it I would inquire a little in the Doctrinal part how it is or when it is that the hope of salvation proves so great an encouragement in straits and at death to Believers Whence is it that it proves so supporting Answ For opening this to you a little ye would notice these four or five remarkable things First the back that bears affliction is patience now the hope of salvation strengthens patience 1 Thess 1.3 The Apostle joyns these three together Your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father I deny not but there is in affliction a twofold patience there is as some call it a desperate patience men force themselves to be patient for many are at there is no hope for me in God we will walk after the imagination of our own hearts and there is a stupid and ignorant patience like the patience Nabal had in his drunkenness O so couragiously as he speaks to David's Messenger 1 Sam. 25.10 Who is David or who is the son of Jesse There be many Servants now a days that break from their Masters Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be And vers 37. when Abigail his Wife had told him after he had been drunk what was David's purpose his heart grew stupid or his heart died within him Many have such patience that wears off when the stupidity wears off but none of these are the pathence of hope so long as hope lasts patience lasts and it 's easie to go through affliction and hope put betwixt the Lord and it 2. It 's an encouragement in regard it not only helps its patience but it influences joy we rejoyce in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh experience and experience patience and patience hope and hope maketh not ashamed It 's observed by some Divines that there are two Graces that hath a special influence on a Believers joy Faith and Hope 1 Pet. 1.18 After ye believed ye rejoyced with joy unspeakable and full of glory The reason why these two Graces influences a Believers joy is Faith assures what Christ hath done and Hope assures what he will do now lay these two together the assurance of what Christ hath done and will do is it any wonder that there be a great deal of chearfulness in tribulation Faith hath anfluence on our joy and so upon our hope and he that goes through the valley of the shadow of death and the heart filled with chearfulness and joy is it any wonder that he be encouraged and be not damped with affliction 2. This hope of salvation is a great encouragement in regard it fills the heart with an earnest longing after salvation suppose it be in the case of death none longs more for Heaven than those that have assurance of it It 's a remarkable word ye have Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body for we are saved by hope Mark here they that have received the first fruits of the Spirit should be longing now we groan why groan we We long for glory the forecasts they have gotten of glory are appetizing and makes them long yea groan for it The persons that have no rational hope of glory are indifferent about it when the Lord trysts with affliction that threatens death he that hath the hope of glory knows he is near the thing that he hath been groaning for no wonder it prove a special encouragement in regard it 's an answer of the groaning that they that have had the first fruits of the Spirit have been groaning for 4. This hope of salvation cannot but be a special encouragement in affliction and at denth because this hope of salvation influences contempt of the world there is nothing will make the world more despicable in ones eyes than the lively hope of Heaven it 's rremarkable that is spoken of Abraham Heb. 11. 9. By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange land and what moved him to sojourn in this land v. 10. For he looked for a city that had foundations whose builder and maker was God Could not Abraham be content with Canaan it was a pleasant land a land that flowed with milk and honey But the thing that made him look upon this land as a thing not much to be prised he looked for a city that had foundations whose builder and maker was God the hope he had of Heaven made him think little of Canaan Ordinarily an earthly man hath nothing if ye take the world from him to counter-ballance the loss of it with but take Canaan from Abraham it will not much trouble him for he looked for a City c. And this is a great encouragement under any tribulation when we can get an heart to contemn the world for it is that Pitch that sticks to our fingers that makes either