•^ Misprinted ' Monton.' A full account of Morton is to be found in Godwin dc PrcESulibus,' (ed. : Kichardson, p. 130.) He was John Morton, then Bishop of Ely, but afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury : and the above saying was probably uttered while the bishop was under Buckingham's wardship at Brecon, by command of Richard III. See Foss'a 'Judges of England,' v. 59. — G. * Cicero : de Amicitia. — G.
* It is the saying of Euripides, ' That a faithful friend is better than a calm sea to a weather-beaten mariner.' [Orestes 717 chorus, ed. Porson ; cf. also two passages of the Andromache, 748, 749, and in 891.— G.]
266 ' THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
four things which God minds most and loves most are, (1.) His honour. (2.) His worship. (3.) His people. (4.) His truth. Surely their souls must needs be of a very sad complexion who can read the great truths that are here opened and a])plied, and not (1.) dearly love them, (2.) highly prize them, (3.) cordially bless God for them, (4.) seriously ponder and meditate upon them, (5.) and not fre- quently and diligently study them, and make a gracious and daily improvement of them.
The covenant of grace, and the covenant of redemption, are a rich armoury, out of which you may furnish yourselves with all sorts of spiritual weapons, wherewith 3'ou may encounter Satan's tempta- tions, wiles, devices, methods, depths, stratagems. Nothing of Satan's can stand before the covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption, well understood and well aj)plied, Eph.' vi. 11 ; 2 Cor. ii. 11 ; Rev. ii. 24.
In the covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption that is passed betwixt God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, i you will find many rich and rare cordials, which have a strong tendency to preserve all gracious souls from desponding and fainting: (I.) in times of afflictions ; (2.) in times of temptations ; (3.) in times of desertion ; (4.) in times of sufferings for Christ's sake and the gos- pel's sake ; (5.) in times of opposition ; (6.) and at the time of death and dissolution. There are no comforts nor cordials that can reach the souls of Christians in their deep distresses, but such as flow from these two covenants. The more it concerns nil such Christians to study these two covenants, and to be well acquainted with them, that so they may the more readily have recourse to such cordials as their present estate and condition calls for.
In these two covenants you will find much matter which has a strong tendency (1.) to inflame your love to God and Christ, and all in the covenant of grace ; (2.) to strengthen your faith ; (3.) to raise your hopes ; (4.) to cheer your souls ; (5.) to quiet and satisfy your consciences ; (6.) to engage you to a close and holy walking with God ; (7.) to provoke you to triumph in free grace, and in the Lord Jesus Christ ; (8.) to sit loose from this world.2 The riches and treasures that are wrapt up in both these covenants are so great, so sure, so durable, and so suitable to all believers, as may well deaden their hearts to all the riches and glories of this lower world, Rev. xii. 1.
In these two covenants every sincere Christian will find (1.) a spe- cial salve for every spiritual sore ; (2.) a special remedy against every spiritual malady ; (3.) a special plaster against every spiritual wound ; (4.) a spiritual magazine to supply all their spiritual wants ; and (5.) a spiritual shelter under every spiritual storm. In these two covenants you will find food to nourish you, a staff to support you, a guide to lead you, a fire to warm you, and springs of life to cheer and refresh you.
In this covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption, you may clearly see the wisdom, counsel, love, and transactions between the Father and the Son sparkling and shining, there being nothing under
' 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Isa. liv. 9, 10 ; Jer. xxxii. 38-41 ; Zech. ix. 11 ; Heb. xiii. 20. ' Ps. cxvi. 1-9, 16, and iii. ; 2 Sam. xxiii 5 ; Ps. ciii. 17, 18, and cxi. 5, 9, 17 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14; Gal. vi. 14.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 267
heaven that contributes more to the peace, ; jmfort, assurance, settle- ment, and satisfaction of sincere Christians than such a sight, i The main reason why so many gracious souls are so full of fears, doubts, darkness, and disputes about their internal and eternal estates, is because they have no more clear and full understanding of these two covenants ; and if such Christians would but more seriously buckle to the study of those two covenants, as they are opened and applied in the following treatise, their fears and doubts, &c., would quickly vanish ; and they would have their triumphant* songs : their mourning would soon be turned into rejoicing, and their complaints into halle- lujahs. Neither do I know anything in all this world that would contribute more to seriousness, spiritualness, heavenliness, humbleness, holiness, and fruitfulness, than a right understanding of these two cove- nants, and a divine improvement of them. There are many choice Christians who have always either tears in their eyes, complaints in their mouths, or sighs in their breasts ; and oh that these, above all all others, would make these two covenants their daily companions ! Let these few hints^ suffice concerning the following treatise.
Now, Sir John, I shall crave leave to put you and your lady a little in mind of your deceased and glorified father. 3 ' He is a true friend,' saith the Smyrnean poet of old, ' who continueth the memory of his deceased friend.' ^ When a friend of Austin's died, he professed ho was put into a great strait, whether he himself should be willing to live or willing to die : he was unwilling to live, because one half of himself was dead ; yet he was not willing to die, because his friend did partly live in him, though he was dead. Let you and I make the application as we see cause : your glorified father s name and memory remains to this day as fresh and fragrant as the Rose of Sharon — ■ Cant. ii. 1 — among all those that fear the Lord, and had the happi- ness of inward acquaintance with him. ' The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot,' Pro v. x. 7. In the original it is, ' The memory of the just njlll'? ^''^ benedictionem, shall be for a blessing ;' the very remembering of them shall bring a bless- ing to such as do remember them. ^ The moralists say of fame, or of a man's good name —
Omnia si perdas famam servare memento, Quh semcl amissa postea nullus eris;®
i.e, Whatsoever commodity you lose, be sure yet to preserve that jewel of a good name. 7 This jewel, among others, your honoured father