II. It must be able to do so at all times.
III. It must be capable of a good personal security to us.
For if it only divert our troubles, (as creature-comforts use to do,) and do not remove the ground and cause of our trouble, it is but an anodyne, not a cnre or remedy. And if it can remove the very ground and cause of our troubles for a time, but not for ever, then it is but a temporary relief: our troubles may return again, and we left in as bad case as we were before. And if it be in itself, able to remove all the causes and m-ounds of our trouble, and that at all times, but not capable of a personal security to us, or our well esta- blished interest in it, all signifies nothing to our relief.
But open your eyes and behold, O ye afflicted saints, all these pro- perties of a complete relief meeting together in ihe covenant, as it is displayed in the text. Here is a covenant al le to remove all the grounds and causes of your trouble ; for it is ordered in cdl things ; or aptly disposed by the wisdom and contrivance of God, to answer every cause and ground of trouble and sorrow in our hearts. It is able to do this at all times ; as well in our day, as in David's or Abra-
d(y lilE BALM OF THE COVENANT.
ham's clay: for it is an everlasting covenant ; its virtue and efficacy i<» not decayed by time. And, lastly, is is capable of a good personal security or assurance to all God's afflicted people; for it is a, sure cove- nant. The concurrence of these three properties in the covenant makes it a complete relief^ and perfect remedy, to which nothing is ■wanting in the kind and nature of a remedy. These three glorious properties of the covenant are my proper province to open and con- firm, for your support and comfort in this day of trouble.
I. That the covenant of' grace is able to remove all the causes and grounds of' a believer s trouble^ be they never so great or many. This I doubt not will be convincingly evidenced and demonstrated by the following arguments, or undeniable reasons.
Argument I. Whatsoever disarms afflictions of the only sting ■whereby they wound us, must needs be a complete rehef and remedy to the afflicted soul.
But so doth the covenant of grace, it disarms afflictions of the only sting by which they wound us.
Therefore the covenant of grace must needs be a complete relief and remedy to the afflicted soul.
The sting of all afflictions is the guilt of sin; when God smites, conscience usually smites too : and this is it that causes all that pain and anguish in the afflicted. It is plainly so in the example of the ividow of Zarephath, 1 Kings xvii. 18. when her son, her only son^ and probably her only child, died, how did that stroke of God revive guilt in her conscience, and made the affliction piercing and intoler- able! asappearsbyher passionate expostulation with Elijah, whothen sojourned in her house : " What have I to do w ith thee, O man of " God ? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and " to slay my son ?'' q. d. AVhat injury have I done thee ? Didst thou come hither to observe my sins, and pray down this judgment upon my child for them .^ The death of her son revived her guilt, and so it generally doth, even in the most holy men.
When Job looked upon his wasted body under afflictions, every wrinkle he saw upon it, seemed to him like a witness rising up to testify against liim. " Thou hast filled me with wTinkles, which is " a witness against me ; and my leanness rising up in me, beareth " witness to my face,'' Job xvi. 8.
Affliction is like a hue and cry after sin in the ears of conscience, and this is the envenomed poisonous sting of affliction : pluck out this, and the afflicted man is presently eased, though the matter of the affliction still abide with him, and lie upon him. He is afflicted still, but not cast down by affliction ; the anguish and burden is gone, though the matter of trouble remain.
This is plain both in scripture^ and in experience. Suitable here- unto is that strange, but sweet expression, " The inhabitants shall not " say I am sick, the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their «' iniquities/' Isa. xxxiii. ^4. It is not to be imagined these people
APPLIED TO AFFLICTED SAIXTS. M
had found sucli a fortunate island, or happy climate^ where no disease could touch or invade their bodies ; no, sickness will find out the bodies of the best men, wherever they live ; wherever sin hath been, sickness and death will follow it. Heaven is the (3nly privileged place from these miseries : but the meaning is, though they be sick, they shall not feel the pains and burdens of sickness, " they shall not say " they are sick :'' x\nd why so ? because their iniquities are for* given ; plainly confirming what was before asserted, that the anguish of an affliction is gone as soon as ever the sting of guilt is pluckt out. And hence, pardoning of the soul, and healing of the body, are put together as conjugate mercies ; " Bless the Lord, O my soul, who " forgiveth all thine iniquities, and healeth all thy diseases," Psal. ciii. 1, 3. When the soul is at ease, the pains of the body are next to nothing : Sickness can cloud all natural joys, but not the joy of a pardon.
Nay, which is yet more ; pluck out but the sting of sin, and there is no horror in death, the king of terrors, and worst of all outward evils. See how the pardoned believer triumphs over it : " O death, '• where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of " death is sin," 1 Cor, xv. 55. They are words of defiance, as men use to deride and scorn a boasting, insulting enemy, when they see him cast upon his back, and his sword broken over his head. *
Where are your boasts and menaces now .^ O death, thou hast lost thy sting and terror together. Thus the pardoned believer, with an holy gallantry of spirit, derides and contemns his disarmed enemy death. So then it is manifest, that whatever plucks out the poison- ous sting of affliction, must needs be an effectual remedy and cure to the afflicted person.
But tliis the covenant of grace doth ; it reveals and applies gospel- remission to them that are within the blessed bond of it. '• This shall " be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; I will *' forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more," Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. f Behold here a gracious, full, and irrecoverable par- don ! I ivill forgive, or be propitiously merciful, as that word imports; pointing plainly to Christ our propitiation, our sins are forgiven us for his name's sake. And a pardon as full as it hfrec ; iniquity and bin, smaller and greater, are here forgiven ; for Gcxl, in the remission of his people's sins, having respect to the propitiating blood of Christ, he pardons all as well as some; that blood deserving and ])urchasing the most full and complete pardons for his people, 1 John i, 7. " The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin."