^ 5'he wotH''2°rfrj'il!' "^Vl"^' «°^«' ^«<^«""» amicitice, a covenant of friendship, couraeir ^^^SSeutrth:^wy^^' °^^°'' --P-""^o- t^-o^-^t, desire, d'is-
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 307
shall never cease, never be broken, nor never be altered. Now the covenant of grace is an everlasting covenant in a twofold respect.
First, Ex parte foederantis, in respect of God, who will never break covenant with his people ; but is their God, and will be their God, for ever and ever, Titus i. 2 ; Ps. xc. 2, and xlviii. 14, ' For this God i^ our God, for ever and ever; he will be our God even unto death;' ay, and after death too : for this is not to be taken exclusively ; oh no ! for ' he will never, never leave them, nor forsake them/ Heb. xiii. 5. There are five negatives in the Greek, to assure God's people that he will never forsake them. According to the Greek it may be ren- dered thus, ' I will not, not leave thee, neither will I not, not forsake thee.'i Leave us ! God may, to our thinking, leave us; but forsake us he will not. So Ps. Ixxxix. 34, ' My covenant will I not break' — Heb., I will not profane my covenant — ' nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth' — Heb.,i\\Q issue of my lips I will not alter. Though God's people should profane his statutes, ver. 31, yet God will not pro- fane his covenant ; though his people often break with him, yet he will never break with them ; though they may be inconstant, yet God will be constant to his covenant : Isa. liv. 10, ' For the mountains shall de- part, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.' Though huge mountains should re-' move, which is not probable, or though heaven and earth should meet, which is not likely, yet his covenant shall stand immovable ; and his mercy and kindness to his people shall be immutable. This new covenant of grace is like the new heavens and new earth, which will never wax old or vanish away, Isa. Ixvi. 22. But,
Secondly, The covenant of grace is called an everlasting covenant : Ex parte confcederatorum ; in respect of the people of God, who are brought into covenant, and shall continue in covenant for ever and ever, Mai. iii. 6 ; Hosea ii. 19 ; Gen. xvii. 7. You have both these expressed in that excellent scripture, Jer. xxxii. 40, ' I will make an everlasting covenant with them ' — Heb., I will cut out with them a covenant of perpetuity — ' that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but' — Heb., and — 'I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' Seriously dwell upon the place ; it shews that the covenant is everlasting on God's part, and also on our part.^ On God's part, ' I will never turn away from them to do them good ;' and on our part, ' they shall never depart from me.' How so ? 'I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' That they may continue constant with me, and not constrain me, by their apostasy, to break again with them : I will so deeply rivet a reverent dread of myself in their souls, as shall cause them to cling, and cleave, and keep close to me for ever. In the covenant of grace, God undertakes for both parts ; for his own, that he ' will be their God' — i.e., that all he is, and all he has, shall be employed for their external, internal, and eternal good ;
1 Five times in Scripture is this precious promise renewed : Josh. i. 5; Deut. xxxi. 8 ; 1 Kings viii. 57 ; Gen. xxviii. 15, that we may be still a-pressing of it till we have i^ressed all the sweetness out of it, Isa. Ixvi. 11.
. * God will never surcease to pursue and follow his covenant-people with favours and blessings incessantly.
308 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.