I will give you some instances of it: — Gen. xv. 1, 2. There God leads us to this I now mentioned. Abraham was in a perplexed con- dition; God comes to him in the 1st verse, and renews his covenant with him : " The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram : I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." He minds him of the covenant, and bids him not fear. What is the matter, that God comes to Abraham with this, " Fear not, Abram"? The next verse discovers it: "And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?" He was afraid that all the travail he had taken, in reference to the promise, would come to nothing; and he must leave it to Eliezer of Damascus. Now, God comes to give him relief, in minding him of his covenant.
Jacob also relieved his dying spirit with this, upon the foresight of great troubles in his blessing of Dan, Gen. xlix. 16-18, " Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel." He alludes to the name Dan, which signifies in Hebrew " to judge." When did Dan judge his people? Why, in Samson. This is matter of joy to Jacob. But what shall follow? " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder
THE BELIEVER'S SUPPORT UNDER DISTRESS. 415
in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." " He shall be a serpent and an adder," saith he ; that is, idolatry shall be set up in the tribe of Dan, and continue. The first idolatry that was set up in Israel (the work of the serpent), was in the tribe of Dan, Judges xviii. 80, when the Danites took away the graven image, etc., from Micah, and set it up, and made priests, until the day of the captivity of the land ; — not the captivity by the Assyrians, but the captivity by the Philistines, when they overcame them and took away the ark; for then were all those things destroyed at Dan. And afterwards Jeroboam comes and sets up the calf in the same place, and that continued to the last captivity. With what, now, doth Jacob relieve himself? " I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord:" he betakes himself to the covenant, and therewith relieves himself against all the trouble which he foresaw was coming upon his pos- terity in that tribe ; which, upon that account, when the other tribes were sealed in the Revelation, was left out, because idolatry first began and ended in Dan.
David expresseth the same course to the height, Ps. xxxi. 10—15. He describes a very sad condition upon all hands : " My life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance," etc. Here is sin, and reproach, and con- tempt, and persecution, and danger of his life, all at once fallen upon him. What doth the man do? Why, in the 14th and 15th verses he tells you, " But I trusted in thee, 0 Lord : ] said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand." He betakes himself to the cove- nant against all these troubles within doors and without doors, from sin, the world, wicked men, in reproach, contempt, persecution, that had almost slain him: he hath but this relief, — he goes to God and saith, " ' Thou art my God/ thou shalt undertake for me against all these. I am not in the hand of sin, nor in the hand of my enemies; but my times of suffering, my time of life and death, are in thy hands." He betakes himself unto God's covenant, and there he finds rest. I might multiply instances.
Take one more, wherein the doctrine is plainly held out, Hab iii. 17, 18, " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." " ' Though my house be not so -with God;' there is my family gone, the fruits of the earth gone, all is gone; — it is no matter," saith the believer, " 'Iwill rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation/ " Every word expresses the
41 6 THE EVERLASTING COVENANT,
covenant of God. By these instances it dotli appear that, in the most surprising trouble and disappointments, believers do, as David here doth, betake themselves unto God in covenant.
Why do they so ? I will give no reason for it but what lies in the words : —
First. They do it because of the Author of the covenant. They consider who it is that makes it with us : " Because He hath made with me an everlasting covenant," saith David. There is a great emphasis upon that HE; who is that? Why, it is the Rock of Israel, the God of Israel, — HE hath made it. " It is not a covenant that man hath made with me, nor an angel ; but it is a covenant that God hath made with me." And you may observe that God, whenever he would require our faith or obedience, doth signally preface his commands and promises with himself. You must know who it is that com- mands, and who it is that pi\>mises. So in the decalogue, the rule of commands, he prefaceth them with that, " I am the Lord thy God ; " which influences the minds of men unto obedience, and brings them under his authority. And when he made this covenant that David speaks of here, he doth it thus, Gen. xvii. 1, "I am God Al- mighty." This David regards here, when he saith, " He hath made with me this covenant." He; who? " God Almighty, God All-suffi- cient ; hither I retreat in all my wants and straits." Now, if we make a covenant one with another, we engage all that is in us to make good that covenant; we engage our power and ability, and reputa- tion and faithfulness. If I have a covenant with any of you, I would reckon upon this covenant just according unto the esteem I have of your persons, your abilities, reputation, faithfulness ; for when you engage in covenant, all you have is engaged. Now, God making this covenant, he engages accordhig to his power, goodness, faithful- ness; so that we have the reputation of God to secure us in the things of this covenant, — his all-sufficiency to assure us of the making good this covenant. So saith the soul, " I will retreat unto the covenant, because God hath made it, who is all-sufficient." This makes it a very honourable covenant, — it is a covenant made by God; and it makes it a very satisfactory covenant, — if all that is in God can give satisfaction unto the soul of a poor creature; and it makes it also a sure covenant, as we shall see afterwards.