Secondly, We should seek unto God in covenant, for strength to support us under our surprisals and distresses. When Abraham was going to battle, he took with him Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, who were the men of his covenant, Gen. xiv. 13. When our souls are engaged in battle with our sins, oppositions, and fears, let us take with us the men of our covenant; I mean, take God with us, — seek strength from the covenant : it is the way to support under soul- surprisals.
Thirdly and lastly, We must resolve, finally, to take up our rest in the covenant of God, and not in other things. In Isa. xxx. 15, God brings it to this, " Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel ; In returning and rest shall ye be saved ; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." God, when he proposes the covenant unto us, doth it that we should take up our rest and confidence alone in that. " But ye would not, but said, We will flee upon horses; there- fore shall ye flee." If we have other reserves, the covenant will never be a stable reserve unto us.
SERMON II.1
ON THE EVERLASTING COVENANT.
" Although my house be not so with God," etc. — 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
I DO remember I have spoken in this place formerly from these words ; and delivered somewhat concerning the covenant of God, so far as the exposition of the words did lead me.
I shall now add only one consideration, which is taken from the introduction of David's retreat unto, and assertion of, the everlasting
1 This sermon was preached January 1, 1670.
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covenant in this place; and that is in these words, " Although my house be not so with God."
David took a prospect now, in his latter days, of all the distresses and calamities that should assuredly come upon his family ; and, it may be, he had regard unto those great and dreadful breaches that had before been made upon it, in the sins and judgments that ensued upon some of his children. This was enough to work in him a con- sternation of spirit and trouble of mind; and, in the view and prospect of it, he repairs for his relief unto the covenant of God : "Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." What I would observe from it is this : —
Under present distresses and the saddest prospect of future troubles, it is the duty, and wisdom, and privilege of believers, to betake them- selves for relief and support unto the covenant of God. Nothing can befall them, no case happen, for which there is no relief provided ; and it is the greatest and best relief that can be provided, for any case whatsoever.
Having laid down this assertion, the substance of what I shall do at present is but to confirm it with some Scripture instances, and the practice of believers in former ages.
We have one instance in Gen. xxviii. 3, 4: — Isaac was sending away his son Jacob unto Padan-aram, to take him a wife ; and he might easily know, and did, no doubt, what troubles, and distresses, and dangers, would befall Jacob in that great undertaking. And one would somewhat wonder why so great a man as Isaac was should send away his son with no better provision than Jacob was sent away with. He gives this account of it, — " I had nothing but my staff." " With my staff/' saith he, " I went over Jordan." But it seems that tem- poral blessings being then a great token and evidence of God's cove- nant mercies, he would have Jacob work for himself, that he might have experience 'of God's blessing him in what he did. He should try God by his own experience. And what provision doth he give him, besides his staff, for this great undertaking? It is this, verses 3, 4, " God Almighty bless thee, and give thee the blessing of Abra- ham." Why does he say, " God Almighty"? Because that was the name whereby God revealed himself to Abraham when he entered into covenant with him, in Gen. xvii. 1, "I am the Almighty God." Isaac calls his son Jacob to renew his covenant interest with God, and to betake himself unto the blessing of the covenant, against that long and hazardous journey he was to go, — against the hard, false, op- pressive, deceitful dealing he was to meet with, — against the dangers he was to encounter. He gives him the covenant for his security. And Jacob was not wanting to take the same course himself, Gen.
422 THE EVERLASTING COVENANT,
xxxii. 9, and so onward. He was in as great a distress, and under as just a fear, as ever man was in this world, or could be in; and so lie expresses his fear unto God, verse 11, "Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau : for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children." He feared the universal destruction of himself and family, and so the failing of the promise he had received, and which he had pursued through so many difficulties and dangers. What course now doth Jacob take? Why, he appeals to the covenant, verse 9, " 0 God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac;" which was the plea whereby they did plead the covenant that God entered solemnly into with them. Two things, it is evident, Jacob pleaded in this very great distress : — one was the covenant that God made with Abra- ham; that is, the covenant of grace: for so he doth, verse 9. He refers unto what blessing Isaac gave him when he went away ; — " God Almighty bless thee, and give thee the blessing of Abraham." And, secondly, he appeals unto that particular covenant engagement which he himself had made unto God; for in chap, xxviii. 13, God comes unto him, and renews his covenant : " And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac;" and thereupon Jacob renews his covenant in particular with God, verse 20, " If God will be with me, and keep me in this way, then shall the LORD be my God." These two things cloth Jacob in his great distress, — he minds the covenant in general, and the particular covenant engagement God had brought him into ; for so he pleads, " Thou saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee." Where did he say so? He said so in chap. xxxi. 13. When Jacob made his covenant with God, he pleaded these two things, in the greatest distress that could befall him in this world.