The Bowels of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlasting Covenant, Religious treatise · Part 1 · Chapter 4 · Section 4
SECT. IV.
3. THE Infallible evidences by which we may know that God is our God The evidences that God is our God in in Covenant.in Covenant. I will preſent unto you ſeven Evidences for this, and I beſeech you to ponder them ſeriouſly: You may know that God is your God, and that you are his people in Covenant.
1. By anſwerable and reciprocal acts.
2. By incluſive and excluſive intereſts and properties.
3. By your choyce and peculiar enjoyments, or (at leaſt) your deſires of them.
4. By the ſubordination and conformity of your hearts unto his authority and will.
5. By your ſweet contentment and ſatisfaction in the manifeſtations of God in any part of his Covenant unto your ſouls.
6. By your dependance on God as your God in Covenant.
7. By your Covenant-care and carriage.
Firſt, You may know that God is your God, and that you are his people, by your The anſwerable and reciprocal acts betwixt God and us. On Gods part. His chooſing act.anſwerable and reciprocal acts between God and you.
There are four acts which God doth expreſſe when he becomes our God in Covenant.
1. There is his chooſing act; he makes choyce of us before any other to be his people. The Lord thy God hath choſen thee to be a ſpecial people unto himſelf, above all the people that are upon the face of the earth, Deut. 7. 6.
2. There is his loving act. When I paſſed by thee, and looked on thee, Behold His loving act.thy time was the time of love. And I ſware unto thee, and entred into Covenant with thee, and thou becameſt mine, Ezek. 16. 18.
3. There is his engaging act: He bindes himſelf to be our God, by Promiſe, His engaging act.and by Oath, Ezek. 16. I ſware unto thee.
4. There is his imparting act: He doth in this Covenant beſtow himſelf, and His imparting act.all that he hath, or can do, upon us. I am thine, and I will bleſſe thee, and do thee good. And all theſe acts are free, not compelled; and they are alſo fixed acts, never will he reverſe or alter them.
Anſwerable unto theſe acts of God, are the Acts in ſuch who are the people of On our part.God by Covenant: What God acts towards them, they do act by the inſtinct of his Spirit towards him. They do alſo,
1. Chooſe him before all other to be their God. You have choſen you the Lord to ſerve him, Joſh. 24. 22. Thou haſt avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, We chooſe him.Deut. 26. 27. As the wife owns the husband, this is the man on whom her heart is ſet, and none but him.
2. Love him; I love the Lord, ſaid David, Pſal. 116. 1. Thou ſhalt love the Love him.Lord thy God, Deut. 11. 1. We loved him becauſe he loved us first, 1 John 4. 19. Oh how dear is his preſence and his favour to them, how ſweet are their mutual communions?
3. Engage themſelves unto him: Many Nations ſhall be joyned to the Lord in Engage our ſelves to him.that day, and ſhall be my people, Zech. 2. 11. They yield themſelves unto the Lord, (or as it is in the original, they give the hand unto the Lord) 2 Chron. 30. 8. As the cuſtome is, when men make a Covenant or Agreement, they ſtrike hands, or take one another by the hand, arguing hereby their conſent and engagement, as the people in Ezra 10. 19. gave their hands that they would put away their wives. So in covenanting with God, we give out the hand unto him; (i. e.) we give up our ſelves unto him, and binde our ſelves unto him.
4. Impart themſelves, and all that they have, or can do unto him; their hearts Impart our ſelves to him.and lives, and gifts, and ſervices, that God may have all; and draw out your All, All your hearts, all your graces, all your parts and lives, and eſtates, Joſh. 24. 17. The Lord is our God. Ver. 24. The Lord our God will we ſerve. Rom. 14. 7. None of us liveth to himſelf. Verſe 8. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord, &c. Now is it thus with us? have we indeed choſen the Lord to be our God? and are we engaged unto him, and love him, and own him, and are become his, and none but his, and have we made over our ſelves, and all that we have unto him, and count nothing, no, not our lives too dear for him? The Lord hath paſſed by thouſands, and hath ſet his heart on you; and have you paſſed by all others, and ſet your hearts only on him? But are you ſure that you have not choſen ſome other Object with him, or before him? only the Lord God is choſen by you, and ſet up by you. No ſinful object, and no earthly object is ſet up: And are you ſo become his, as that you will be his for ever? you are bound to him, you cleave unto him; nothing ſhall part you and your God; no outward preferments, afflictions, and croſſes: do you count it your only happineſs to enjoy him, and your only unhappineſs to be deprived of him? do you ſay, None but God, none but God? as the Martyr ſaid, None but Christ. But are you ſo his, that he is the greateſt deſire, and the greateſt delight, and the greatly beloved of your ſouls? Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none on earth that I deſire beſides thee, Pſal. 73. 25. Nay, but may the Lord make uſe of you as his? If he ſhould ſay, I muſt uſe your wiſdome, or your power, or your authority, or your zeal, or your eſtate, or your lives, for the ſervice of my glory: Can you now anſwer, O Lord, I am thine, I am thy ſervant, all that I have is thine, and all that I can do is thine? thou ſhalt command my heart, my parts, my eſtate, my life, my All, &c.
2. You may know whether the Lord be your God, and you be his people, By our mutual intereſts and properties.By your mutual intereſts, and proprieties incluſively, and excluſively; God hath an intereſt in you, and you have an intereſt in God: he hath a propriety in you, and you have a propriety in him; in all that he hath you have an intereſt, and in all that you have he hath an intereſt; what he is, he is for you; and what you are, you are for him; he is only for you, and you are only for him: None hath that intereſt in you as God hath, if indeed he be your God; Nay, you have not ſuch an intereſt in your ſelves, as God hath in you; you are not your own, you are wholly his, if indeed he be your God, and you be his people; No Sinne can ſay, You are mine; and no Creature can ſay, You are mine; only God can ſay, You are mine; As in the Covenant of Marriage, none but the Husband can ſay, This woman is mine; So if God be our God in Covenant, none can ſay, You are mine, but God only. Levit. 20. 26. You ſhall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have ſever'd you from other people, that you ſhould be mine. Ezek. 16. 8. I entered into Covenant with thee, and thou becameſt mine. Cant. 2. 16. My beloved is mine, and I am his. O ſirs! theſe two words (mine and thine) make up the Covenant; Nay, if I may be rightly underſtood, this one word (mine) makes up the Covenant, when you ſumme up all, it is in this, God is mine, he is my God, he is my Lord, he is my Father, he is my friend, he is my mercy, he is my wiſdome, he is my counſel, he is my rock, he is my help, he is my comfort, he is my hope, he is my ſalvation, he is my portion, he is my life, he is my happineſs. Domine ubi ſunt omnia mea, tuſcis, ſaid Paulinus; And when God looks on any perſon in Covenant with him, he can ſay, This perſon is mine, he is my child and my friend, and my ſervant; I have all his heart, and all his love, and all his hope, and all his truſt, and all his delight, and all his deſire, and all his fear, and all his ſervice, &c.
3. You may know whether God be your God, By your choice and pecul'ar By your choice and peculiar enjoyments.enjoyments; or (at leaſt) by your deſire of them; your Covenant enjoyments; your deſire to enjoy Covenant-mercies and bleſſings; if God be your God in Covenant? you do enjoy him, and ſuch things from him as no othe people in the earth do enjoy; what peculiar things do we enjoy, I will tell you.
1. You enjoy that loving-kindeſſe, and favour as none elſe do enjoy: Remember The loving kindneſs of God.me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people, Pſal. 106. 4.
2. You enjoy that pardoning mercy as none elſe do enjoy; Thou haſt forgiven Pardoning mercy.the iniquity of thy people, thou haſt covered all their ſinne, Pſal. 85. 2.
3. You enjoy that power of renewing grace which none elſe do enjoy; That Power of renewing grace.cleanſing from ſinne, Jer. 33. 8. That ſubduing of ſinne, Micah 7. 19. That freedome from ſin; Sin ſhall not have dominion over you, for you are under grace, Rom. 6. 14. That newneſs of heart, Ezek. 36. 26.
4. You enjoy that peace and comfort which none others do enjoy; He will Peace and comfort.ſpeak peace unto his people, Pſal. 85. 8. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, ſaith your God, Iſa. 40. 1. Sing and rejoyce, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midſt of thee, ſaith the Lord, Zach. 2. 10.
Object. Oh, But we have handly found any of theſe Covenant enjoyments.
Sol. I anſwer, every one to whom God is a God in Covenant.
1. Either hath expreſly found every one of them.
2. Or his great deſires, and longings of heart are after theſe Covenant enjoyments; O a reconciled God, a loving God, a pardoning God, a ſanctifying God, a Peace-ſpeaking God, &c. above all things elſe whatſoever, theſe are moſt eminently, and moſt earneſtly, and moſt conſtantly to be found in the hearts deſire of that perſon who indeed hath God to be his God; Let the conſcience ſpeak, and bear witneſſe whether this be not ſo. All you who have God to be your God, and who are his people this day; Now tell me you who heare this Sermon, and perhaps think that God is your God, what are your enjoyments, your portions, your poſſeſſions; what Covenant-gift, or work is to be found in your ſouls; And what are the great things after which you ſo pant, and ſigh? Is it the favour of God, is it the mercy of God, is it renewing, and ſubduing grace? I have nothing untill I have theſe, and I cannot be ſatisfied untill I have theſe. O Lord, be my God; O Lord forgive iniquity, remember me graciouſly, love me freely, heal my ſoul, &c.
4. You may know that God is your God, and that you are his people by your By the conformity of your wills to Gods Will.ſubordination, and by your conformity of your wills to Gods Will; Beloved, the Covenant betwixt God and us, takes in theſe two things.
1. Subordination. For it is an agreement betwixt a Superiour and an Inferiour; betwixt the great God who is the Lord of all, and poor miſerable man, who is inferiour to him, and is to ſubject himſelf to his God, as to his Lord and Soveraign, to be ruled by him, and guided by him.
2. Conformity of will; for it is a Covenant of love, in which both parties have as it were but one heart, and one mind, and one will between them; and ſo in this Covenant [if we have God for our God; and if we be his people] what God likes, that do we like; and what our God loves, that do we love; and what our God hates, that do we hate; and what our God wills, that do we will; and what God would have done, that would we have done. This Covenant is an agreement, and mutual conſent in all things; It will not permit us to give limits to God, becauſe he is our ſoveraign Lord; Nor will it admit contrarieties and contradictions 'twixt God and us; And therefore in this Covenant, God writes his law in our hearts; i. e. he puts into our hearts ſuch ſpiritual principles, as makes our will delightfully conformable unto his Will.
Alas! if there be an oppoſition 'twixt our hearts and God, a contradiction in our minds and wills unto his mind and Will, this enmity plainly teſtifies, that he is not our God, and that we are none of his people; if you be at that point, that your judgement, and your will, and your luſts ſhall rule, and ſway, and govern, and command, and that God muſt ſtoop and yield to your thoughts, and to your pleaſures, and to your wills, &c. But by this it appears that he is your God, and that you are his people, if God doth rule, and you do obey; if he commands, and you do hearken; if his mind rules your judgement, if his Will rules your will, if his love rules your love, if his Law rules your lives; O Lord, what thou loveſt I love, what thou commandeſt I approve; good is the Word of the Lord, the Commandment is holy and juſt, and good.
5. You may know whether God be your God in Covenant, by the ſweet By our ſweet contentment in the manifeſtations of God to us.contentment, and ſatisfaction, in the manifeſtations of your God in any part or branch of his Covenant into your ſouls. If the Lord at any time be pleaſed to anſwer the deſires of your ſouls in Covenant-love, or in Covenant-mercy, or in Covenant-grace, or in Covenant-ſtrength, or in Covenant-peace; O what a heavenly ſatisfaction is this! But a glimpſe of the favour of your God; but a taſte of the mercy of your God; never ſo little of grace or peace which is an Ambaſſage, a Letter, a Token from God, that he is your God; this is ſuch a life to you, it is ſuch a rejoycing, it is ſuch a cordial, it is ſuch a ſweet day to your ſoules; It is a thouſand times more than to hear news, that the higheſt of earthly preferments is yours, or that the largeſt of earthly poſſeſſions are yours; Covenant-manifeſtations are moſt precious unto all who are in Covenant. Pſal. 35. 3. Say unto my ſoul, thou art my ſalvation.
6. You may know that God is your God, and that you are his people, by your dependance on God as your God in Covenant; you will go to him, and By our dependance on God as our God in Covenant.reſt on him in all your occaſions; I will cry unto God moſt high, unto God▪ that performeth all things for me, Pſal. 57. 2. Thou art my God, early will I ſeek thee, Pſal. 63. 1. So, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will ſave us, Iſa. 25. 9. I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my ſalvation; my God will hear me, Micah 7. 7, &c. You will go to him and none elſe; to your al-ſufficient God, to your Sunne, and to your ſhield; Remember thy Covenant, O my God, which thou haſt made, and ſave me, &c. You may know that God is your God, by your care, and your carriage in walking with him, and before him, according to the Covenant; I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect, Gen. 17. 1. You are a choice and peculiar people, and you will lead choice and peculiar lives.