The Bowels of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlasting Covenant, Religious treatise · Part 1 · Chapter 4 · Section 2 – Section 3
SECT. II
1. THE Characters of ſuch a people, who as yet have not the Lord to be their Characters of a people not in Covenant.God in Covenant. I ſhall preſent unto you four of them, viz univerſal abſence. 2. Special diſagreement. 3. A contrary league. 4. Poſitive unbelief.
1. Univerſal abſence of all thoſe covenant-tokens which God alwayes beſtows on them with whom he is a God in Covenant: God is never a God in Covenant Univerſal abſence.to any, but ſome new and excellent qualities are derived from God; even the excellencies expreſſed in his Covenant are imprinted in all with whom God is a God in Covenant. God is a God of the living, and not of the dead: If God be your God, you are a changed people, another kinde of people than in times paſt you were. You have new hearts and a new ſpirit: And an heart is given unto you to know the Lord, and to love the Lord, and to fear the Lord your God, as he promiſeth to all with whom he is a God in Covenant: And therefore if no Covenant grace is to be found in a mans heart, if no change, if no knowledge, if no love of God, no fear of God, this man cannot ſay God is my God; he cannot ſay God hath covenanted with me to be my God. Hence it is that the Apoſtle ſpeaking of the Epheſians, as under their natural, ſinful condition, being dead in ſins and treſpaſſes, and walking according to the courſe of the world, and having their converſation in the luſts of the fleſh, Epheſ. 2. 1, 2, 3. he ſaith of them, that at that time they were without Chriſt, and without the Covenant, and without God in the world, ver. 12.
Object. It is true, that Renewing Grace is not an Antecedent in the Covenant.
Sol. Yet it is true, that it is a Conſequent of the Covenant; It is not a Cauſe why God is our God, yet it is an Immediate effect of this when God is our God: God doth not ſay, If you bring a changed and renewed heart, then I will be your God; but yet, when God ſaith in Covenant, I will be your God, he ſaith alſo I will give you a new heart, &c.
2. Special Di…agreement. In all Covenants drawn up betwixt perſon and Special diſagreement.perſon, there muſt be a mutual agreement, or elſe it is not a Covenant, neither is it binding, neither is there, or can there be a propriety. If a man offer himſelf upon ſuch and ſuch termes to be a husband unto a woman, it ſhe diſagree, if ſhe cannot like the perſon, or his termes, here is no Covenant betwixt them; ſhe cannot ſay This man is my husband; ſo if the Lord offers himſelf to be our God, but he and we differ upon termes propoſed, he propoſeth ſuch termes as we cannot like, and will not yield unto; now it is evident that he is not our God in Covenant, nor can we ſay This God is our God. God ſaith, I am content to be your God; but then you muſt be content to be holy, Levit. 11. 44. I am the Lord your God, ye ſhall therefore ſanctifie your ſelves, and you ſhall be holy, for I am holy. Now if a perſon replies, but I will not be holy, of all things whatſoever I cannot abide holineſſe, I hate it, and I ſcorne it, and I will never yield unto it; this perſon hath not God to be his God in Covenant, for he utterly diſagrees, he cannot endure a holy God, and he will not be holy as God is holy. Againe, God ſaith, you would have me to be the Lord your God in Covenant; If ſo, then you muſt obey the voyce of the Lord your God, and do what he commands, Deut. 27. 10. If you will have me for your God, I muſt rule you, and guide you, and preſcribe unto you, what to do, and what to avoid; but if a perſon replies, I will not have God to rule me, and to order me, I will do what I think good, and will live as I liſt; I profeſſe to thee, God is none of thy God; thou refuſeſt him, and doeſt not come up to his Covenant propoſals. What a ſilly thing is it, for any of you, to own God for your God, whilſt you utterly diſagree with him in his propoſals, eſpecially in thoſe which muſt neceſſarily conſtitute you to be his people? viz. ſanctity and ſubjection.A contrary League.
3. A contrary League. When the people would make a Covenant that God ſhould be their God, and him they would ſerve, mark how it is expreſſed, Joſh. 24. 23, 25. Now therefore put away the strange gods that ar… amongſt you, and encline your heart to the Lord God of Iſrael. Intimating that God woul never be their God, if they would not put away their idols: If a mans heart be in league and Covenant with any ſinne, it cannot be in Covenant with God. Did God ever ſay, I will be a God to any man who loves his ſinnes, and will not part with them! I tell you the Lord abhorres that man, and threatens all his curſes againſt him, and will wound and deſtroy him that ſtill goes on in his treſpaſſes. And therefore if any amongſt you ſets his heart on ſinne, if he ſaith I love this ſinne, and I will not forſake it, (I will not forſake my pride, I will not forſake my lying, and I will not forſake my ſlandering, I will not forſake my drunkenneſſe, or my uncleanneſſe, &c.) by this he may know that God is none of his God in Covenant, nor is he any of the people in Covenant with God. Thou art in a contrary Covenant, in a Covenant wherein God will never agree with thee, Pſal. 50. 16. Ʋnto the wicked God ſaith, What haſt thou to do to declare my Statutes, or that thou ſhouldeſt take my Covenant into thy mouth, ſeeing thou hateſt inſtruction, and caſteſt my words behinde thee. There are two Covenants, unto which if a man cleaves, God is not in Covenant with him; one is the Covenant of good works, for juſtification and life: This is inconſiſtent with an intereſt in the Covenant of grace. The other is the Covenant with bad works: In this thou put'ſt off God, and rejecteſt him, and God puts off thee, and rejects thee: And thou mayeſt know that thou art in Covenant with ſinne, if thou haſt a ſtrong affection to it, and doeſt habitually yield a willing ſubjection to it.
4. Poſitive unbelief. When the ſinner refuſeth Chriſt, will not come to him, Poſitive unbelief.not conſent to take and receive him for King, Prieſt, and Prophet; Ye will not com… to me that …e might have life, John 5. 4. We will not have this man to reigne over us, Luke 19. 14. Chriſt offers himſelf, and calls, and entreats, and promiſeth, but they will not hearken; now, he that will not have Chriſt to be his Chriſt, cannot have God to be his God; For as much as God becomes our God and our Father only in Chriſt. By Chriſt only we are brought near unto him, and enjoy him as our God in Covenant.
SECT. III.
2. THE extreme miſery and infelicity of ſuch perſons who have not God The miſery of ſuch who have not God for their God.to be their God in Covenant. The miſery is ſo great, and ſo ſad, that I know not well how to expreſſe it to you.
1. You are wholly and utterly excluded from all good and happineſſe. You They are utterly excluded from all good.have nothing to do with happineſſe, nor with any thing conducing to it. There is a merciful, loving, gracious, bleſſed God; but thou haſt no portion in this God. There is a precious Chriſt, a mighty Redeemer, and only Saviour; but thou haſt no propriety in this Chriſt: There are great and precious promiſes, there are tender compaſſions in God; there are admirable undertakings for all good, for ſoul and body: But what are all theſe to him who is not in Covenant, who hath not God for his God? A man reads a Leaſe of lands, and goods, and houſes; theſe are ſomething to the heirs; but what are they to an enemy, or to a ſtranger? A perſon is very great and mighty, &c. but what is this to the woman who will not marry him? Ah, how ſad is this, God hath love, and not for me; hath mercy, but not for me; is happineſſe, but is not ſo to me! Well did one cry out Quid eſt Deus, niſi meus, what is God if he be not my God! If he be not merciful to me, and good to me, and bleſſedneſſe to me.They have none to go unto in any diſtreſſe.
2. You have none to go unto in any diſtreſſe and want. In the times of your diſtreſſe whither will you flie, or to whom can you go? Wants are upon your bodies, and there is no creature to help you; anguiſh is upon your conſcience, and there is no creature to quiet you: Danger is near your ſouls, and there is no creature to ſave you; whither will you go, in life for bleſſing, or in death for life? All good is treaſured up in the Covenant, and conveyed to them that have God for their God; you muſt firſt have a propriety in God himſelf, before you can have a right unto, or a propriety in the good things that are to be had by God. O but he is no God to thee, he is none of thine, nor hath he engaged himſelf to thee for any good whatſoever.
3. You are altogether expoſed unto all evil. If God be not your God, aſsuredly They are altogether expoſed to all evil.then he is your Judge: If he be not your friend, then he is your enemy: If you be not under his love, you are then under his wrath: If his promiſes are not for you, his threatnings are againſt you: If he be not your loving God in Covenant, he is your wrathful God out of Covenant: If he be not your pardoning God in Covenant, he is your condemning God out of Covenant: If you have reaſon to expect mercy from him, becauſe he is your God, you have as much reaſon to expect judgement from him becauſe he is your God. I will tell you what God is, and will be to you, if he be not your God in Covenant; He is a juſt God, who will render unto you according to your works; He is a holy God, who will loath you, and abhorre and reject you: He is a faithful God, who will certai…ly execute the fiereneſſe of his wrath, and all the evil which he hath threatned in his Word againſt you, and you ſhall never eſcape that judgement; it ſhall certainly befal you, and abide on you to all eternity.
4. Againſt all this, you have no remedy, no hope. All the hope of a ſinner Againſt this they have no remedy.is in a Mediatour; but Chriſt is the Mediatour of the Covenant; There is no Mediatour to be found in any Covenant but this of Grace, and this you have no part in, God is not your God.