The Balm of the Covenant, Title page 1 – Dedication
THE Balm of the Covenant Applied to the BLEEDING WOUNDS OF Afflicted Saints.
First Composed for the Relief of a Pious and Worthy Family, Mourning over the Deaths of their Hopeful CHILDREN; and now made Publick for the Support of all Christians, Sorrowing on the same or any other Account.
To which is added, A Sermon Preached for the Funeral OF THAT Excellent and Religious Gentleman Iohn Vpton of Lupton Esq
By IOHN FLAVELL, Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon.
London: Printed for I. Harris, at the Harrow against the Church in the Poultrey. 1688.
To the Vertuous And much Honoured MADAM VRSVLA VPTON OF Lupton in Devon.
MADAM,
IF I find it an hard Task to write on such a doleful Subject, it cannot be imagined but your part must be abundantly harder, who feel over and over what is here written. Could I tell how to administer Counsels and Comforts to you, without exasperating your Sorrows, I would certainly take that way; but seeing the one (in this case) cannot be done without the other, 'tis our Duty to submit to the method Providence hath prescribed to us.
The design of the ensuing Discourse, is to evince the truth of what seems a very great Paradox to most men, namely, that the Afflictions of the Saints can do them no hurt, and that the Wisdom of Men and Angels cannot lay one circumstance of their condition (how uneasie soever it seems to be) better, or more to their advantage than God hath laid it. I attempt not by a flourish of Rhetorick to perswade you against the Demonstrations you can fetch from Sense and Feeling to the contrary, but to overthrow the false Reasonings of Flesh and Sense, by the allowed Rules of Scripture and sure Principles of Religion.
And methinks you, and every Christian, should gladly entertain that comfortable conclusion, when you shall find the foundation of it as strong, as the influences thereof are sweet and comfortable.
Certainly, Madam, the intent of the Redeemer's undertaking was not to purchase for his People Riches, Ease, and Pleasures on Earth; but to mortifie their Lusts, heal their Natures, and spiritualize their Affections, and thereby to fit them for the eternal fruition of God. Upon this supposition the truth of this conclusion (how strange soever it seems) is firmly built.
It was not without divine direction, that the subject of the ensuing Discourse was as pertinently, as seasonably, recommended to me by your dear Husband, in the day of your sorrows for your only Son. He took, I hope, his Portion of Comfort out of it before he died, and it is now left as a Spring of Comfort to you, who then mourned with him, and now for him.
Heavy Pressures call for strong Support, and fainting Seasons for rich Cordials. Your Burden is indeed heavy, yet I must say 'tis much our own fault they are so heavy as we feel them to be: for according to the measure of our delight in, and expectation from the Creature, is our sorrow & disappointment when we part from it. The highest Tydes are always followed with the lowest Ebbs. We find Temperance and Patience knit together in the same Precept, and Intemperance and Impatience as inseparably connected in our own Experience. It may be we did not suspect our selves of any sinful excess in the time of their enjoyment, but it now appears the Creature was gotten deeper into our hearts than we imagined by the pain we feel at parting: Did we not lean too hard upon it, there would not be such shakings as we feel when it is slipt from us.
But, Madam, 'tis high time to recal your thoughts and bound your sorrows, which the following Considerations would greatly assist you in.
1. What is the very ground and reason of our excessive sorrows for the …oss of earthly Comforts? …s it not this, that they are perishing and transitory? that is, that you find them to be as God made them. And can you expect that God should alter the Laws of Nature to please and humour us? It is as natural to our Relations to die, as it is to Flowers to wither, or the Moon to wane.
2. That there is no such necessary connection betwixt these things, and our comfort, that whenever God removes the one, he must needs remove the other with it. Christ and Comfort are indeed so united, but nothing beside him is or can be so. I hope you will shortly experience the truth of this Conclusion, by the Comforts God will give you in the absence of those Comforts you have lost. Can you not now have as free access to God as before? Yea, do not these very Afflictions send you oftener into his presence? And if God meet you in those duties (as in days of distress he uses to meet his People) then it will be evident to you that your Joy and Comfort lives, though your Husband and Children be laid in their Graves.
3. That the removin… of your earthly Comforts hinders not but that yo… may still pursue the grea… end and business of you… life, and carry on all you… designs for Heaven as successfully as ever. Indeed, Madam, had we been sent into this World to raise Estates, contract Relations, and then sit down in the midst of them, as our Portion, then our design had been utterly dasht and disappointed; but you know this is not your main end, or great business upon Earth, but to honour God by an holy fruitful life here, and make …eady for the full enjoyment of him hereafter. And what hinders, but you …ay as prosperously ma…age and carry on this …our design as ever? You …o not think the Travel…er is disabled for his Jour…ey, because he hath few…r clogs and hindrances …an before. I think few Christians find much fur…erance Heavenward by …eir multiplicity of En…agements or Enjoyments … this World. Your …res and fears about these …ings, will now lie in a …arrower compass than they did before, and there by you may have yo… thoughts more about yo… to attend the great co…cerns of Gods glory an… your own salvation.
4. But above all, yo… will certainly find yo… relief and consolation … lie in the everlasting C…venant of God. Then… it was that David fetc… his support under a mu… heavier Burden adn sma…ter Rod than yours: f… your Relations were su… as gave you comfort their lives, and left y… many grounds of hope their deaths; but his we… taken away in their sins. But though the grounds of his sorrow (blessed be God) are not yours, yet I hope the grounds of his comfort in the Text are fully yours.
I confess I have prepared these things in too much hast, and distraction of thoughts, which in this juncture was unavoidable; nor have I bestowed much of Art or Language upon them: and if I had, they would have been never the more effectual to your relief for that. But such as they are, I humbly present them to you, with my hearty Prayers, That God would make them a Soveraign Balm, by the blessing of his Spirit on them to your wounded Spirit, and to all other godly Families groaning under the like Stroaks of God with you, and remain,
MADAM, Tour most faithful Sympathizing Friend and Servant, Jo. Flavell.
THE Balm of the Covenant Applied to the BLEEDING WOUNDS OF Afflicted Saints.
TEXT.
2 Sam. 23. v. 5.
Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he 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.
THese are part of David's last words. The last words of dying Saints, but especially of dying Prophets, are ponderous, memorable, and extraordinarily remarkable; and such are these acknowledged to be, by all Expositors: 'tis a golden Sentence, a divine Oracle, fit to be the last words of every dying Saint, as well as of David.
They are called his last words, not simply, and absolutely, as though he breathed them forth with his last breath; (for he spake many things afterwards) but either they are the last he spake as a Prophet, by divine inspiration, or because he had them often in his mouth, to his last and dying day. They were his Epicedium, his sweet Swan like Song, in which his Soul found singular Refreshment, and strong Support, amidst the manifold A…ictions of his Life, and against the Fears of his approaching Death.
The whole Chapter is designed for a Coronis or honourable Close of the Life of David, and gives us an account both of the worthy Expressions that dropt from him, and of the renowned Worthies that were employed by him: but all the heroick Atchievements recorded to the honour of their Memories, in the following part of the Chapter, are trivial and inglorious things, compared with this one divine Sentence recorded in my Text; in which we have two things to consider, viz.
1. The Preface, which is exceeding solemn.
2. The Speech it self, which is exceeding weighty.
1. In the Preface, we have both the instrumental and principal efficient Cause of this divine Sentence, distinctly set down, ver. 1. and the Efficient, or Author of it, v. 2.
The Instrument or Organ of its conveyance to us, was David; described by his Descent or Lineage, the Son of Iesse; by his eminent Station, the man that was raised up on high, even to the top and culminating point of Civil and Spiritual Dignity and Honour, both as a King, and as a Prophet; by his Divine Unction, The anointed of the God of Iacob; and lastly, by the flowing sweetness of his Spirit, and stile in the divine Psalms that were penned by him, whence he here gets the Title of The sweet Psalmist of Israel, the pleasant one in the Psalms of Israel, as some read it.
The principal efficient Cause of this excellent passage, is here likewise noted, and all to commend it the more to our special observation and acceptance:w. 2. The spirit of God spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. This stamps my Text expresly with divine Authority. The Spirit of God spake by David; he was not the Author, but only the Scribe of it. Thus the ensuing Discourse is prefaced. Let us next see,
2. The Matter or Speech it self, wherein we shall find the Maxims, and general Rules of Government prescribed, and the Felicity of such a Government elegantly described.v. 3. He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. Princes being in Gods place, must exalt the Righteousness of God, in the government of men; and when they do so, they shall be as the Light of the Morning when the Sun riseth, even a morning without Clouds, &c. What Halycon days shall that happy People see, whose Lot is cast into such times and places! All this is typically spoken of David, and those pious Princes who succeeded him; but mystically and eminently points at Christ, who was to rise out of David's Seed, Rom. 1.3. and to sit upon his Throne, Acts 2.30. So that in this he was raised on high, to an Eminency of Glory and Dignity indeed; He was so in his ordinary natural Seed; a Royal Race, deriving it self from him, and sitting upon his Throne in a Lineal Succession, till the Babylonish Captivity, which was about four hundred and thirty years. And after that, the Iews had Governours of his Line, at least rightful Heirs to that Crown, till the promised Messiah came. But that which was the top of David's Honour, the most sparkling Jewel in his Crown, was this, that the Lord Iesus was to descend from him, according to the Flesh, in whom all the glorious Characters, before given, should not only be exactly answered, but abudantly exceeded. And thus you find the natural Line of the Messiah is drawn down by Matthew, from David to the Virgin Mary, Matth. 1. and his Legal Line by Luke, from David to Ioseph, his supposed Father, Luke 3.23.
Now though the illustrious Marks and Characters of such a righteous, serene, and happy Government, did not fully agree to his day, nor would do so in the Reigns of his ordinary natural Successors, his day was not without many Clouds both of Sin and Trouble; yet such a blessed day he foresaw and rejoyced in, when Christ, the extraordinary Seed of David, should arise and set up his Kingdom in the World, and with the expectation hereof, he greatly chears and encourages himself: Although my house be not so with God, yet hath be made with me an everlasting Covenant, &c. In which words four things are eminendy remarkable.
1. Here is a sad Concession of Domestick Evils.
2. A singular Relief from Gods Covenant with him.
3. The glorious Properties of this Covenant display'd.
4. The high esteem and dear regard his house had unto it.
1. Here is David's sad and mournful Concession of the Evils of his House, both Moral, and Penal. Although my house be not so with God, (i. e.) neither so holy, nor so happy, as this description of a righteous and flourishing Government imports; alas, it answers not to it: for though he was eminent for Godliness himself, and had solemnly dedicated his House to God,Psal. 30. as soon as it was built, yea, though he piously resolved to walk in the midst of it with a perfect heart, and not to suffer an immoral person within his Walls; yet great miscarriages were found even in David's House,Psal. 101.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and Person, which God chastized him for, by a thick succession of sharp and sore Afflictions. Tamar was defiled by her Brother Amnon, 2 Sam. 13.23. Amnon was barbarously murthered thereupon, by the advice of Absalom, 2 Sam. 13.28. Absalom unnaturally rebels against his Father David, and drives him out of the Royal City, and perishes in that Rebellion, 2 Sam. 15.1. Then Adonijah, another Darling-Son, grasps at the Crown setled by David upon Salomon, and perishes for that his Usurpation, 1 King. 2.25. O what an heap of Mischiefs and Calamities did this good man live to see within his own Walls! besides the many forreign Troubles that came from other hands. How many flourishing Branches did God …op off from him, and that in their sins too? so that his day was a day of Clouds, even from the morning unto the evening of it; Psal. 132.1. Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions. Well might he say, His house was not so with God. But what then, doth he faint and despond under these manifold Calamities? Doth he refuse to be comforted, because his Children are gone, and all things involved in trouble? No, but you find,
2. He relieves himself by the Covenant God had made with him: Yet hath he made with me a Covenant. Plus est quam haec domus mea ante deum. Jon.He looks to Christ, there is more in the Covenant than this my House before God, as the Chaldee turns it. This little word yet, wraps up a great and soveraign Cordial in it. Though Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah be gone, and gone with many smarting aggravations too; yet hath he made with me a Covenant, yet I have this Sheet-Anchor left to secure me. Gods Covenant with me, in relation to Christ, this under-props and shores up my heart.
This Covenant was, without controversie, a Gospel-Covenant. It was David's Gospel: for all his salvation and all his desire were in it; which could never be, except Christ had been in it, who is the salvation of all the ends of the Earth, and the desire of all Nations.
'Tis true, it was a more obscure and imperfect Edition of the Covenant of Faith, yet clearer than those that were made before it; it came not up to the fulness and clearness of the discoveries made by Ieremy and Ezekiel: but yet in this Covenant with David, God revealed more of Christ, than had been ever revealed before; for the Light of Christ, like that of the Morning, increased still more and more, till it came to a perfect day. It is worthy our observation, how God made a gradual discovery of Christ, from Adam, down along to New Testament-times. It was reveal'd to Adam, that he should be the Seed of the Woman, but not of what Nation, till Abraham's time; nor of what Tribe, till Iacob; nor of what Sex and Family, till David; nor that he should be born of a Virgin, till Isaiah; nor in what Town, till Micah. The first Revelation of this Covenant with David, 2 Sam. 7.12, 13, 14.was by Nathan the Prophet; afterwards enlarged and confirmed, Psal. 89. By it he knew much of Christ, and wrote much of him. He spake of his Person, Psal. 45.6.11. Psal. 8.4, 5, 6. of his Offices, both Prophetical, Psal. 40.8, 9, 10. Priestly, Psal. 110.4. and Kingly, Psal. 2.6. of his Incarnation, Psal. 8.5. of his Death on the Cross, Psal. 22.16, 17. of his Burial, Psal. 16.8, 9, 10. Resurrection, Psal. 2.7. and triumphant Ascension, Psal. 68.18. there was sum of the Gospel discovered, though in dark and typical terms and forms of Expression; but if out of this Covenant, as obscure as its Revelation was, David fetcht such strong Support and Consolation, amidst such an heap of Troubles, then the Argument is good, à fortiori: What Support and Comfort may not we draw thence, who live under the most full and perfect display of it, in all its Riches and Glory? Enough hath been said to prove it a Gospel-Covenant; but if any doubt should remain of that, it will be fully removed, by considering,
3. The eximious Properties and Characters of the Covenant, as we find them placed in the Text; and they are three, viz.
(1.) Everlasting.
(2.) Ordered in all things, and
(3.) Sure.
foreign.(1.) It is an Everlasting Covenant, or a perpetual Covenant, a Covenant of Eternity; not in the most …trict, proper, and absolute sence: for that is the incommunicable property of God himself, who neither hath beginning, nor end; but the meaning is, that the Benefits and Mercies of the Covenant are durable and endless to the People of God: for Christ being the principal Matter and Substance of the Covenant, there must be in it everlasting Righteousness, as it is called, Dan. 9.24. everlasting Kindness, Isai. 54.8. everlasting Forgiveness, Ier. 31.34. and in consequence to all these, everlasting Consolation, Isai. 51.11. In all which, the riches and bounty of Free Grace shine forth in their greatest glory and splendor.
(2.) It is a Covenant order'd in all things, foreign ordinavit, disposuit, aptavit.or orderly prepared, disposed, and set, as the word imports. Every thing being here disposed and placed in the most comely order, both persons and things here keep their proper place: God the Father keeps the place of the most wise Contriver and bountiful Donor of the invaluable Mercies of the Covenant; and Christ keeps the proper place both of the Purchaser and Surety of the Covenant, and all the Mercies in it; and Believers keep their place, as the unworthy Receivers of all the gratuitous Mercies and rich Benefits thereof, and the most obliged Creatures in all the World to Free Grace, saying, Although my house, yea, although my heart and my life be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting Covenant. And as Persons, so Things, all things in this Covenant stand in the most exquisite order, and exact correspondence to each other. O 'tis a ravishing sight to behold the habitude and respect of the Mercies in the Covenant, to the sins and wants of all that are in it! Here are found full and suitable supplies to the wants of all Gods People. Here you may see Pardon in the Covenant, for guilt in the Soul; Ioy in the Covenant, for sorrow in the Heart; Strength in the Covenant, for all defects and weaknesses in the Creature; Stability in the Covenant, for mutability in the Creature. Never did the Wisdom of God shine forth more in any contrivance in the World, (except that of Christ, the Surety and principal Matter of the Covenant) than it doth in the orderly dispose of all things in their beautiful order, and comely proportions in this Covenant of Grace.
(3.) It is a sure Covenant, foreign custodivit ser…avit.or a Covenant safely laid up and kept, as the word imports; and upon this account the Mercies of it are called, The sure mercies of David, Isai. 55.3. And so, Psal. 89.28. speaking of this very Covenant, God saith, My Covenant shall stand fast with him, there shall be no vacillancy, no shaking in this Covenant: and ver. 34. My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Every thing is as its foundation is. Now, Gods Covenant being founded in his unchangeable counsel and purpose, wherein there can be no lubricity, and Christ being the Surety of it, it must needs b… as the Text calls it, a sure Cov…nant, wherein the faithfulness o… God is as illustriously display'd, … his Bounty and Wisdom are in th… two former properties of it. An… such a Covenant as this so eve…lasting, aptly disposed, and sure must needs deserve that preciou… Respect and high Esteem from e…very believing soul, which Davi… here doth pay it in.
4. The singular and high valua…tion he had of it, when he saith This is all my salvation, and all my desire, foreignor as some translate, all my delight, or pleasure; (i. e.) here I find all repaired with an infinite overplus, that I have lost in the Creature: Here is life in death fulness in wants, security in dan…gers, peace in troubles. It is al… my salvation, for it leaves nothing in hazard that is essential to my happiness; and all my desire, for i… repairs whatever I have lost, or can lose: it is so full and compleat a Covenant, that it leaves nothing to be desired out of it. O it is a full Fountain! Here I repose my weary soul with full satisfaction, and feed my hungry desires with sweetest delights; so that my very soul is at rest and ease, in the bosome of this blessed Covenant. Thus you have the parts and sence of the Text. The Notes from it are three.