Use 3d. Of exhortation. To such as are out of covenant, labour to get intu cove- nant, and have God for your God. How glad would the old world have been of an ark ? How industrious should we be to get within the ark of the covenant ? Con- sider, 1, The misery of such as live and die out of covenant with God. (1.) Such have none to go to in an hour of distress. When conscience accuseth, when sickness approacheth, (which is but an harbingei to bespeak a lodging for death) then what will you do? Whither will you flee? Will you look to Christ for help ? He is a mediator only for such as are in cove- nant. O how will you be filled with hor- ror and despair ! and be as Saul, 1 Sara, xxviii. 15., " The Philistines make war a- gainst me, and the Lord is departed." (2.) Till you are in covenant with God, there is no mercy. Tlie mercy-seat was ])laced upon the ark, and the mercy-seat wa.s no larger than the ark, to shew, that the mer- cy of God reacheth no further than the covenant.
2. The excellency of the covenant of
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grace ; it is a better covenant than the covenant made with Adam. (1.) Because it is more friendly and propitious. Tliose services which would have been rejected in the first covenant, are accepted in the second. Here God accepts of the will for the deed, 2 Cor. viii. 12. ; here sii.cerity is crowned in the covenant of grace ; where- in we are weak, God will give strength, and wherein we come short, God will ac- cept of a surety. (2.) It is a better cove- nant, because it is surer, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5., " God hath ^ade with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." The first covenant was not sure, it stood upon a tottering foundation, works ; Adam had no sooner a stock of righteousness to trade with, but he broke ; but the cove- nant of grace is sure, it is confirmed with God's decree, and it rests upon two mighty pillars, the oatli of God, and the blood of God. (3.) It hath better privileges. The covenant of grace brings preferment. Our nature now is more ennobled, we ai'e rais- ed to higher glory than in innoccncy, we are advanced to sit upon Christ's throne. Rev. iii. 21. We are by virtue of the co- venant of grace, nearer to Christ than the angels : they are his friends, we his spouse. God is willing to be in covenant with you. Why doth God woo and beseech you by his ambassadors to be reconciled, if he were not willing to be in covenant ?
Obj. / would fain he in covenant with God, but I have been a great sinner, and I Jear God will not admit me into covenant.
Ans. If thou seest thy sins, and loathest thyself for them, yet God will take thee in- to covenant, Isa. xliii. 24., " Thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities; I, even I, am he that blotteth out tliy transgressions." As the sea covers great rocks, so God's co- venant-mercy covers great sins. Some of the Jews that crucified Christ, yet had their sins washed away in his blood.
Obj. But I am not worthy that ever God sliould admit me into covenant.
Ans. It never came into God's thoughts to make a new covenant ui)on terms of worthiness. If God should sliew mercy to none but such as are worthy, tlien must he shew mercy to none at all. But it is God's design in the new covenant to advance the
riches of grace, to love us freely, and, when we have no worthiness of our own, to ac- cept us through Christ's worthiness. There- fore let not un worthiness discourage you ; it is not unworthiness excludes any from the covenant, but unwillingness.
Quest, jriiat shall ice do that we may be in covenant icith God ?
Ans. 1. Seek to God by prayer. Exige a Domino miser icordium, Aug. " Lord, be my God in coven.int." The Lord hath made an express promise that, upon our prayer to him, the covenant should be ratified, he will be our God, and we shall be his people : Zee. xiii. 9., " They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them : I will say, ' it is my people ;' and they shall say, ' the Lord is my God.'" Only it must be an importunate prayer ; come as earnest suitors, resolve to take no denial.
A. 2. If you would be in covenant with God, break off the covenant with sin ; be- fore the marriajje-covenant there must be a divorce, 1 Sam. vii. 3 , " If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods ;" and they put away Ashtaroth, viz. their female gods. Will any king enter into covenant with that man who is in league with his enemies ?
A. 3. If you would enter into the bond of the covenant, get faith in the blood of the covenant. Christ's blood is the blood of a- tonement ; believe in this blood, and you are safely arked in God's mercy; Eph. ii, 13., " Ye are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Use Ath. Of comfort to such as can make out their covenant-interest in God. 1. You that are in covenant with God, all your sins are pardoned. Pardon is the crowning