[3.] Thirdly, God is often said to remember his covenant:^ Gen. ix. 15, ' I will remember my covenant, which is between you and me ;' Exod. vi. 5, ' I have remembered my covenant ; ' Lev. xxvi. 42, ' I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember ; ' Ezek. xvi. 60, * I will remember my covenant with thee, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.' Now how can God be said to remember his covenant with his people, if there were no covenant betwixt God and them ? But,
[4.] Fourthly, Tlie temporal and spiritual deliverances that you have by the covenant do clearly evidence that there is a covenant betwixt God and you: Zech. ix. 11, 'As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein there was no water. '4 These words include both temporal and spiritual deliverances. So that now, if there be not a covenant betwixt God and you, what deliverances can you expect, seeing they all flow in upon the creature by virtue of the covenant, and according to the covenant ? By the blood of the covenant believers are delivered from the infernal pit, where there is not so much water as might cool Dives his tongue, Luke xvi. 24, 25 ; and by the blood of the covenant they are delivered from those deaths and dangers that do surround them, 2 Cor. i. 8-10. When sincere Christians fall into desperate distresses and most deadly dangers, yet they are prisoners of hope, and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant. This does sufficiently evince a covenant betwixt God and liis people. But,
[5.] Fifthly, God has threatened severely to avenge and punish the quaiTcl of his covenant : Lev. xxvi. 25, ' And I wall bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant;' or which shall avenge the vengeance of the covenant, &c. Consult the scriptures in the margin. ^ Breach of covenant betwixt God and man, breaks
1 Eom. iv. 15, 16 ; Gal. iii. 16, 17 ; 2 Cor. i. 20; Cant. v. 16 ; Col. i. 19, and ii. 3 ; Isa. iliv. 3 ; Joel ii. 28 ; Acts ii. 16, 17 ; Gal. iii. 2.
* Jer. xiv. 21; Luke i. 72 ; Ps. xxv. 6.
' Ponder upon these scriptures, Ps. cv. 8, cvi. 45, and cxi. 5.
* Gen. ix. 11; Isa. liv. 91; Ps. cxi. 9; Isa. lix. 21.
« Deut. xxix. 20, 21, 24, 25, and xxxi. 20, 21 ; Josh. vii. 11, 12, 15, and xxiii. 15; 16 Judges ii. 20 ; 2 Kings xviii. 9-12.
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the peace, and breeds a quarrel betwixt them ; in which he will take vengeance of man's revolt, except there be repentance on man's side, and pardoning grace on his. For breach of covenant, Jerusalem is long since laid waste, and the seven golden candlesticks broken in pieces ; and many others, this day, lie a-bleeding in the nations who have made no more of breaking covenant with the great God than if therein they had to do with poor mortals, with dust and ashes like themselves. Now how can there be such a sin as breach of covenant, for which God will be avenged, if there were no covenant betwixt God and his people ? But,
[6.] Sixthly, The seals of the covenant are given to God's people. Now to those to whom the seals of the covenant are given, with them is the covenant made ; for the seals of the covenant, and the covenant, go to the same persons: but the seals of the covenant are given to believers. 'Abraham receives the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith,' Kom. iv. 11, ergo, the covenant is made with believers. Circumcision is a sign, in regard of the thing signified, and a seal, in regard of the covenant made betwixt God and man. Seal is a borrowed word, taken from kings and princes, who add their broad seal, or privy-seal, to ratify and confirm the leagues, edicts, grants, covenants, charters, that are made with their subjects or con- federates. God had made a covenant with Abraham, and by circum- cision signs and seals up that covenant.! But,
[7.] Seventhly, The people of God are said sometimes to keep covenant with God : Ps. xxv. 10, ' All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.' Mercies flowing in upon us, through the covenant, are of all mercies the most soul-satisfying, soul-refreshing, soul-cheering mercies ; yea, they are the very cream of mercy. Oh, how well is it with that saint that can look upon every mercy as a present sent him from heaven by virtue of the covenant ! Oh, this sweetens every drop, and sip, and crust, and crumb of mercy that a Christian enjoys, that all flows in upon him through the covenant ! The promise last cited is a very sweet, choice, precious promise, a promise more worth than all the riches of the Indies. Mark, ' all the paths of the Lord' to his people, they are not only ' mercy,' but they are ' mercy and truth;' that is, they are sure mercies that stream in upon them, through the covenant. Solomon's dinner of green herbs, Pro v. xv. 17 ; Daniel's pulse, Dan. i. 12 ; barley loaves and a few fishes, John vi. 9 ; swimming in upon a Christian, through the new covenant, are far better, greater and sweeter mercies, than all those great things are that flow in upon the great men of the world, through that general providence that feeds the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field : Ps. xliv. 17, ' Yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy cove- nant;' that is, we have kept covenant with thee, by endeavouring to the uttermost of our power to keep off from the breach of thy covenant, and to live up to the duties of thy covenant, suitable to that of the prophet Micah, ' We will walk in the name of the Lord our God for
^ In reason, the covenant and the seals must go together. Were it not a fond and foolish thing in any man to make a covenant with one, and to give the seals to another ? In equity and justice, the covenant and the seals must go to the same persons.
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