The Bowels of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlasting Covenant, Religious treatise · Part 1 · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. The proper nature of the Covenant.
THe proper nature of the Covenant of grace, in the abſolute conſideration thereof; this I ſhall lay down in this deſcription of it.
The Covenant of grace is a new compact or agreement, which The Covenant deſcribed.God made with ſinful man, out of his own meer mercy and grace, wherein he promiſeth that he will be our God, and that we ſhall be his people; and undertakes to give everlaſting life, and all that conduceth thereunto, unto all who believe in Chriſt.
There are divers things conſiderable in this deſcription, which I deſire And opened.to open.
1. This Covenant is a new compact and agreement betwixt God and man; There was another agreement before this; a Covenant of another nature, and upon other It is a new Covenant with man.termes and conſiderations, and for another end: But man ſtood not to that agreement, he did voluntarily tranſgreſſe it, and thereby deprived himſelf of all the benefits promiſed in that Covenant, and fell under that death and curſe, which God had threatened for the breach and tranſgreſſion of it: Now the new Covenant is (as it were) a plank after that ſhip-wrack; It is another Indenture for life: it is not the ſame agreement renewed, nor the former Leaſe or Bond renewed, but a new one, of another kind and nature, made with man in another condition and capacity, and upon another condition.
God (preſently) made a new Covenant, or agreement with fallen man, different from the former made with created righteous man. If he had not done ſo,If it had not been ſo, All man-kind had been loſt.
1. All man-kind had been eternally loſt: Sinful man could never have been recovered, never have been reſtored to life, but by a Covenant of grace; nothing but grace can recover the loſt ſinner. Rom. 3. 19. Every mouth muſt be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Ver. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law, there ſhall no fleſh be juſtified in his ſight, for by the Law is the knowledge of ſinne.
2. The Lord had loſt all the glory of his mercy, if he had left us to the ſentence God had loſt all the glory of his mercy.of the firſt Covenant. Indeed there his juſtice, and wrath, and ſeverity had been exceedingly magnified, but his mercy had not riſen and appeared at all unto us, had not God made this new Covenant with us, being become ſinners, and ſo fit objects of his mercy.
Now the intent of God was to exalt his mercy, and that man ſhould know the greatneſſe and exceeding riches of it; and therefore God was pleaſed to make a new treaty, this Covenant of grace.
3. There had been no news of a Chriſt, nor thought of him elſe. As Chriſt There had been no news of a Chriſt.is never effectually given unto any, but unto the loſt; ſo he was never made known untill the fall of man. And remember it, That as Chriſt was not, ſo he could not be revealed in a Covenant of works, whil'ſt life was held by that tenure. Chriſt is not to be found there, where life is claimed by a righteouſneſſe of our own; he is only to be found in a Covenant of grace, which gives life unto ſinners upon the righteouſneſſe of another. Rom. 3. 21. But now the righteouſneſſe of God without the law is manifeſted. Ver. 22. Even the righteouſneſſe of God, which is by faith of Jeſus Chriſt, unto all, and upon all that believe.
Theſe are the principal reaſons, why God made a new Agreement, another Covenant, a Covenant of grace with ſinful man; namely, becauſe he would not loſe all man-kind, nor leave them deſpairing; and, Becauſe he would exalt his own mercy, and likewiſe give his Son Jeſus Chriſt, and lay upon his ſhoulders, the Redemption and ſalvation of his people.
2. This Covenant is ſuch an agreement with ſinful man, as ſpringeth and riſeth …is Covenant ſpringeth from the mercy and grace of God.from the mercy and the grace of God; Hence you have theſe expreſſions; According to his mercy he ſaved us, Tit. 3. 6. By grace ye are ſaved, Eph. 2. 5. That in the ages to come, he might ſhew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindneſſe towards us through Chriſt, ver. 7. This Covenant may be conſidered Mercy and grace appears in this Covenant.ſeveral wayes, and in all of them, you may ſee the meer mercy and grace of God.
1. In respect of the conſtitution of it: Nothing out of God, and nothing in God but his meer mercy and his own grace, laid out and appointed this In the conſtitution of it.Covenant of grace with ſinners: Grace was the foundation of it.
2. In respect of admiſſion: It is the meer mercy and grace of God which In admiſſion to it.opens the door, and takes in the ſinner into this Covenant with himſelf. I will love them freely, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
3. In respect of diſpenſation. All the communications from it, and all the In the diſpenſation of it.impartings of the treaſures of it, are the flowings of mercy, and the overflowings of the grace of God.
But I am now only to ſpeak of the mercy and grace of God, as the foundation, Mercy is the foundation of it. For,the cauſa impulſiva; theſe alone are the moving cauſe, why God made this new Covenant. For,
1. There could be no cauſe or reaſon in us: we were become ſinners, we were There could be no cauſe or reaſon in us.become miſerable. Ezek. 16. 6. When I paſſed by thee, and ſaw thee polluted in thy blood, I ſaid unto thee when thou waſt in thy blood, Live: yea, I ſaid unto thee when thou waſt in thy blood, Live. Ver. 8. Now when I paſſed by thee, and looked upon thee, Behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedneſſe: yea, I ſware unto thee, and entred into Covenant with thee, and thou becameſt mine, ſaith the Lord. This was our condition, a ſinful, polluted, loathſome condition, when God ſet his love upon us, and entred into a Covenant with us.
2. There was ſufficient and pregnant cauſe on our part, why the Lord ſhould There was cauſe in us to the contrary.never have looked after us, or accepted of us any more. Jer. 3. 7. They ſay, If a man put away his wife, and ſhe go from him, and become another mans, ſhall he return unto her again? Surely, if a woman commit adultery, it is a meer act of favour, if her husband accepts of her again: We brake the Covenant of our God, and therefore the Lord might have given us a bill of divorce for that tranſgreſſion; but inſtead thereof to offer termes of life and love, oh, this was this very mercy, and this very grace!
3. Nay, more than this; when we had thus ſinned, and injured God, and Yet God gives us a better eſtate upon better termes.forfeited all, deſerving nothing but rejection and curſe, then for God to draw a Covenant which continued a better eſtate for us, and upon better termes for us; what is mercy? and what is grace, if this be not!