The Gospel-Covenant, To the reader 2 – Dedication 2
❧ TO THE READER.
THe bleſſed God hath evermore delighted to reveale and communicate himſelfe by way of Covenant; he might have done good to man before his fall; as alſo ſince his fall, without binding himſelfe in the bond of Covenant. Noah, Abraham, and David, Jewes, Gentiles might have had the bleſſings intended, without any promiſe or Covenant, but the Lords heart is ſo full of love (eſpecially to his owne) that it cannot be contained ſo long within the bounds of ſecrecie, viz. from Gods eternall purpoſe to the actuall accompliſhment of good things intended, but it muſt aforehand overflow and breake out into the many ſtreames of a bleſſed Covenant, the Lord can never get neer enough to his people, and thinkes he can never get them neer enough unto himſelfe, and therefore unites and binds and faſtens them cloſe to himſelfe, and himſelfe unto them by the bonds of a Covenant. And therefore when wee breake our Covenant, and that will not hold us, he takes a faſter bond, and makes a ſure and everlaſting Covenant; according to grace, not according to workes, and that ſhall hold his people firme unto himſelfe, and hold himſelfe cloſe and faſt unto them, that he may never depart from us. Oh the depth of Gods grace herein, that when ſinfull man deſerves never to have the leaſt good word from him, that he ſhould open his whole heart and purpoſe to him, in a Covenant; that when he deſerves nothing elſe but ſeparation from God, and to be driven up and downe the world, as a vagabond, or as dryed leaves, fallen from our God, that yet the Almighty God cannot be content with it, but muſt make himſelfe to us, and us to himſelfe more ſure and neare then ever before! And is not this Covenant then (Chriſtian Reader) worth thy looking into and ſearching after? Surely never was there a time wherein the Lord calls his people to more ſerious ſearching into the nature of the Covenant, then in theſe dayes. For are there not ſome who cut off the entaile to children of thoſe in Covenant, and ſo leſſen & ſhorten the riches of grace in the Lords free Covenant, and that in the time of more grace under the Goſpel, then he was wont to diſpenſe under the Law? Are there not others who preach a new or rather another Goſpel or Covenant, viz That actuall remiſſion of ſins, and reconciliation with God (purchaſed indeed in Redemption by Chriſts death) is without, nay, before faith; the Condition (though wrought of God) of the Covenant of grace, expreſly oppoſed to the Law or Covenant of workes, Rom. 3.27. and ever required as the meanes (and therefore antecedent) to the attainment of thoſe ends in the conſtant miniſtry of the Apoſtles of Chriſt, Act. 2.38. & 10.43? Is it not time for the people of God now to pry into the ſecret of Gods Covenant (which he reveales to them that feare him, Pſal. 25.14.) when by clipping of it, and diſtinguiſhing about it, the beautifull countenance of it begins to be changed and transformed by thoſe Angels of new light which once it had, when it began to be publiſhed in the ſimplicity of it by the Apoſtles of Chriſt, 2 Cor. 11.3. Nay, is not the time come, wherein the Lord of hoſts ſeemes to have a quarrell againſt all the world, and eſpecially his Churches and people, whom he goes on to waſte by the ſharpeſt ſword that (almoſt) was ever drawne out? and is it not the dutie of all that have but the leaſt ſparke of holy feare and trembling, to aske and ſearch diligently, what ſhould be the reaſon of this ſore anger and hot diſpleaſure, before they and theirs be conſumed in the burning flames of it? Search the Scriptures, and there we ſhall find the cauſe, and ſee God himſelf laying his finger upon that which is the ſore, & the wound of ſuch times; for ſo it is ſaid, Iſa. 24.1. to 5. Behold, the Lord maketh the earth emptie and waſte, and turnes it upſide downe, and ſcattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof; and it ſhall be as with the people, ſo with the Prieſt; and the Land ſhall be utterly ſpoyled. Why? For the earth is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof; Why ſo? Becauſe they have tranſgreſſed the Lawes, changed the Ordinance, and broken the Everlaſting Covenant: and therefore when the Lord ſhall have waſted his Church, and hath made it as Adnah and Leboim, when heathen Nations ſhall aske, Wherefore hath the Lord done all this againſt this Land? what meaneth the heat of his great anger? The anſwer is made by the Lord himſelfe expreſly, Deut. 29.25. viz. Becauſe they have forſaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, &c. And no wonder, for they that reject the Covenant of grace, they breake the league of peace between God and themſelves; and hence if acts of hoſtilitie in deſolating Kingdomes, Churches, families, and perſons, break out from a long ſuffering God, they may eaſily ſee the cauſe; and that the cauſe and quarrell of God herein is juſt. As all good things are conveyed to Gods people, not barely by common providence, but by ſpeciall Covenant, Iſa. 63.8, 9. So all the evills they meet with in this world (if in them the face of Gods anger appeares) upon narrow ſearch will be found to ariſe from breach of Covenant more or leſſe. So that if it be the great Cauſe of all the publick calamities of the Church and people of God, and thoſe calamities are already begun, and Gods hand is ſtretched out ſtill; Was there then ever a more ſeaſonable time and houre to ſtudy the Covenant, and ſo ſee the ſin, repent of it, and at laſt to lay hold of Gods rich grace and bowels in it, leſt the Lord goe on and fulfill the word of his ſervants, & expoſe moſt pleaſant lands to the dolefull lamentation of a very little remnant, reſerved as a few coales in the aſhes, when all elſe is conſumed. As particular perſons when they breake their Covenant, the Lord therefore breaks out againſt them; So when whole Churches forſake their Covenant, the Lord therefore doth ſorely viſit them. Sins of ignorance the Lord Jeſus pities, Heb. 5.2. and many times winkes at; but ſins againſt light he cannot endure, 2 Pet. 2.21. Sins againſt light are great, but ſins againſt purpoſe and Covenant, nay Gods Covenant, are by many degrees worſe; for the ſoule of man ruſheth moſt violently and ſtrongly againſt God, when it breakes through all the light of the mind, and purpoſes of the will, that ſtand in his way to keep him from ſin; and is not this done by breach of Covenant? And therefore no wonder if the Lord makes his peoples chaine heavy by ſore affliction, untill they come to conſider & behold this ſin, and learne more feare (after they are bound to their good behaviour,) of breaking Covenant with God againe. It is true, the Covenant effectually made, can never be really broke, yet externally it may; But ſuppoſe Gods Churches were in greateſt peace, and had a bleſſed reſt from all their labours round about them; yet what is the childes portion, but his legacy left him written with the finger of God his Father, in the new Covenant, and the bloud of Jeſus Chriſt his redeemer, in his laſt Will and Teſtament? What is a Chriſtians comfort, and where doth it chiefly lie, but in this, That the Lord hath made with him an everlaſting Covenant, in all things ſtabliſhed and ſure? Which were the laſt breathings of the ſweet Singer of Iſrael, and the laſt bublings up of the joy of his heart, 2 Sam. 23.5. God the Fathers eternall purpoſes are ſealed ſecrets, not immediately ſeene, and the full and bleſſed accompliſhments of thoſe purpoſes are not yet experimentally felt; the Covenant is the midſt between both Gods purpoſes and performances, by which and in which we come to ſee the one, before the world began, and by a bleſſed Faith (which makes things abſent, preſent) to enjoy the other, which ſhall be our glory, when this world ſhall be burnt up, and all things in it ſhall have an end. For in Gods Covenant and promiſe we ſee with open face Gods ſecret purpoſe for time paſt. Gods purpoſes toward his people being as it were nothing elſe but promiſes concealed, and Gods promiſes in the Covenant being nothing elſe but his purpoſes revealed; as alſo in the ſame Covenant and promiſes we ſee performances for future, as if they were accompliſhments at preſent. Where then is a Chriſtians comfort, but in that Covenant wherein two Eternities (as it were) meet together, & whereby he may ſee accōpliſhments (made ſure to him) of eternall glory, ariſing from bleſſed purpoſes of eternall Grace? In a word, wherein he faſtens upon God, and hath him from everlaſting to everlaſting, comprehended at hand neare and obvious in his words of a gracious Covenant?
The Church of God is therefore bound to bleſſe God much for this food in ſeaſon, and for the holy judicious and learned labours of this aged, experienced, and precious ſervant of Chriſt Jeſus; who hath taken much paines to diſcover, and that not in words and allegories, but in the demonſtration and evidence of the Spirit, the great myſtery of godlines wrapt up in the Covenant; and hath now fully opened ſundry knotty queſtions concerning the ſame, which happily have not been brought ſo fully to light untill now; which cannot but be of ſingular and ſeaſonable uſe, to prevent Apoſtaſies from the ſimplicity of the Covenant and Goſpel of Chriſt. The Sermons were preached in the remote ends of the earth, and as it were ſet under a Buſhell, a Church more remote from the numerous ſociety of others of the Saints: if now therefore the light be ſet upon a hill, 'tis where it ſhould ſtand, & where Chriſt ſurely would have it put. The good Lord enlighten the minds of all thoſe who ſeek for the truth by this & ſuch like helps; and the Lord enlighten the whole world with his glory, even with the glory of his Covenant, grace & love, that his people hereby may be ſealed up daily unto all fulneſſe of aſſurance and peace, in theſe evill times.
Thomas Shepard.
❧ To the Church and Congregation at CONCORD in NEVV-ENGLAND.
BRethren, Beloved in our Lord Jeſus, you have here ſome part of my labour wherein I have travelled among you, which your frequent deſires have now brought forth unto light; but had not your forwardneſſe helped it forth, had been as the untimely fruit of a woman which never ſaw the Sunne. If it finde leſſe acceptance in the eyes of others, then you have ſuppoſed, I hope that having perſwaded to the publiſhing of it, you will be content to beare ſome part of the cenſure which ſhall paſſe upon it; This cenſorious age wherein the moſt compleat worke can ſcarce paſſe without the marke of a blacke coale, will hardly ſuffer ſuch a worke as my weaknes can produce, to eſcape without a ſharper cenſure. I looke not to eſcape in this kinde. But this advantage I have againſt any that ſhall oppoſe, that what hath been herein delivered, hath been by you received, with an unanimous approbation and conſent, as the truth of God. And knowing ſome among you to be of a long time trained up in the knowledge of the truth, having your mindes exerciſed, to diſcerne betwixt good and evill, able to judge of things that differ, if any ſhall oppoſe the things herein contained, they ſhall, in ſo doing, not oppoſe mee alone, but you all, who by your deſire of publiſhing it, have ſet to your ſeale, and given your approbation thereunto. Such as it is I commend it unto you, beſeeching God, that as you gave teſtimony unto it when it was delivered to you by lively voyce, ſo you may now, and for ever, ſhew forth the fruit of it in your continuall practiſe, to the furtherance of your eternall peace and conſolation in Chriſt.
Yours in Chriſt Jeſus, PETER BULKELEY.