and for ours, that we ' shall be his people' — i.e., that we shall believe, love, fear, repent, obey, serve him, and walk with him, as he requires, Jer. xxxii. 38 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27 ; and thus the covenant of grace becomes an ' everlasting covenant ; ' yea, such a covenant as hath the sure or unfailable mercies of David wrapped up in it. The covenant of grace is a new compact or agreement, which God hath made with sinful man, out of his mere mercy and grace, wherein he undertakes, both for himself and for fallen man, and wherein he engages himself to make fallen man everlastingly happy. In the covenant of grace there are two things considerable : first, the covenant that God makes for himself to us, which consists mainly of these branches : (1.) That he will be our God ; that is as if he said, You shall have as true an interest in all my attributes for your good, as they are mine for my own glory, Jer. xxxi. 38 ; Ps. cxliv. 15 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16-18. My grace, saith God, shall be yours to pardon you, and my power shall be yours to protect you, and my wisdom shall be yours to direct you, and my goodness shall be yom-s to relieve you, and my mercy shall be yours to supply you, and my glory shall be yours to crown you. This is a comprehensive promise, for God to be our God : it includes all, Deus mens et omnia, said Luther. (2.) That he 'will give us his Spirit.' Hence the Spirit is called ' the Holy Spirit of promise.' The giving of the Holy Ghost is the great promise which Christ, from the Father, hath made unto us. It is the Spirit that reveals the promises, that applies the promises, and that helps the soul to live upon the promises, and to draw marrow and fatness out of the promises. The great promise of the Old Testament was the promise of Christ, Gen. iii. 16, and the great promise of the New Testament is the promise of the Spirit, as you may see by the scriptures in the margin. 1 That in this last age of the world there may be a more clear and full discovery of Christ, of the great things of the gospel, of Antichrist, and of the glorious conquests that are in the last days to be made upon him, the giving of the Spirit is promised as the most excellent gift. (3.) That he ' will take away the heart of stone, and give a heart of flesh,' i.e., a soft and tender heart, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. (4.) That he ' will not turn away his face from us, from doing of us good ;' and that ' he will put his fear into our hearts,' Jer. xxxii. 40. (5.) That he ' will cleanse us from all our filthiness, and from all our idols,' Ezek. xxxvi. 25. (6.) That he ' will rejoice over us, to do us good,' Jer, xxxiii. 9, 10, and xxxii. 41. The second thing considerable in the covenant of grace is the covenant which God doth make for us to himself, which consists mainly in these things : (1.) That we * shall be his people.' (2.) That we ' shall fear him for ever.' (3.) That we ' shaU walk in his statutes, keep his judgments, and do them.' (4.) That we ' shall never depart from him.' (5.) That we ' shall persevere, and hold out to the end.' (6.) That we * shall grow, and flourish in grace.' (7.) A true right to the crea- tures. (8.) That all providences, changes, and conditions shall work for our good. (9.) Union and communion with Christ. (10.) That we shall have a kingdom, a crown, and glory at last. And what
^ Isa. xliv. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 33; Joel ii. 28; John xiv. 16, 20; Acts ii. 23; Luke ixiv. 49 ; John xv. 26, and xvi. 7.
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would we have more ? l By these short hints it is most evident that the covenant of grace is an entire covenant, an everlasting covenant, made by God both for himself and for us. 0 sirs ! this is the glory of the covenant of grace, that whatsoever God requires of us, that he stands engaged to give unto us. Whatever in the covenant of grace God requires on man's part, that he undertakes to perform for man. That this covenant of grace is an 'everlasting covenant' may be made further clear,
[1.] First, From GocUs denomination, who hath often styled it an ^everlasting covenant.' In the Old Testament he frequently calls it, in Heh., 0*7^ Jin^, Bereth Gnolam, a covenant of eternity. In the New Testament he calls it, in Greek, JiaO^Kr} atcovio<i, the eternal covenant, or the everlasting covenant. And those whom God has taken into covenant with himself, they have frequently acknowledged it to be an everlasting covenant, as is evident up and down the Scripture. The covenant of works was not everlasting, it was soon overthrown by Adam's sin ; but the covenant of grace is everlasting. The joy that is wrapped up in the covenant is an everlasting joy, Isa. xxxv. 10 ; and the righteousness that is wrapped up in the covenant is an ever- lasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24 ; and the life that is wrapped up in the covenant is an everlasting life, John iii. 16 ; and all the happiness, and glory, and salvation that is wrapped up in the covenant is ever- lasting, John xii. 2 ; Mat. xix. 29 ; 1 Pet. v. 4 ; Isa. xlv. 17. The covenant-relation that is betwixt God and his people is everlasting ; and the mediator of the covenant is everlasting — viz., * Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever,' Heb. xiii. 8. Though the covenant, in respect of our own personal entering into it, is made with us now in time, and hath a beginning ; yet for continuance it is everlasting and without end ; it shall remain for ever and ever. But,
[2.] Secondly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints stand, is sometimes styled a covenant of life : Mai. ii. 5, ' My covenant was with him of life and peace.' Life is restored, and life is promised, and life is settled by the covenant. There is no safe life, no comfortable life, no easy life, no happy life, no honourable life, no glorious life, for any sinner that is not under the bond of this covenant.^ All mankind had been eternally lost, and God had lost all the glory of his mercy for ever, had he not, of his own free grace and mercy, made a covenant of life with poor sinners. A man, in the covenant of grace, hath three degrees of life : the first in this life, when Christ lives in him ; the second, when his ' body returns to the earth, and his soul to God that gave it ; ' the third, at the end of the world, when body and soul re- united shall enjoy heaven.
[3.] Thirdly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints or faithful people of Christ stand, is sometimes styled a holy covenant. Daniel, describing the wickedness of Antiochus Epiphanes, saith, ' His
^ Jer. xxxii. 38, 40; Ezek. xxxvi. 27 ; Job xvii. 9 ; Prov. iv. 18 ; Ps. i. 3; Hosea xiv. 6-7 ; Zech. xii. 18; Mai. iv. 2; Jer. xxiv. 5; Eom. viii. 28; Luke xii. 32; Rev. ii. 10; Ps. Ixxxiv. 11 ; John x. 28. See the truth of this fully evidenced in twelve particulars, in my ' Box of Precious Ointment,' pp. 364-367. — [Vol. iii., p. 487, seq. — G.]