Ha\ing shown the tmchangeable stability of the love and faTour of God towards his saints from the immntabLlity of his own nature and purposes, manifested by an induction of simdry particular in- stances from eminent places of Scripture, wherein both the one and the other are held out as the foundation of what we affirm, I pro- ceed to farther clear and demonstrate the same important truth from the first way of declaration whereby God hath assured them that it shall be to them according to the tenor of the proposition insisted on; and that is his covenaiit of grace. The principimn essendi of this truth, if I may so say, is in the decrees and purpDses of God ; the principhim cognoscendi, in his covenant, promise, and oath, which also add much to the real stability of it, the truth and feith- fulness of God in them being thereby pectdiarly engaged therein.
It is not in my purpose to handle the nature of the Ojvenant of grace, but only briefly to look into it, so far as it hath influence into the truth in hand The covenant of grace, then, as it inwraps the unchangeable love and favour of God towards those who are taken into the bond thereof, is that which heth under our present cona- deration. The other great branch of it (upon the account of the same faithfulness of God\ communicating permanency or persever- ance in itself unto the saints, securing their continuance with God, shall, the Lord assisting, more peculiarly be exp-lained when we ar- rive to the head of our discourse, rmless enough to that purpose maj fall in occasionally in the progress of this business.
For our present purpose, the prcKiucing and vindicating of one or two texts of Scripture, being unavoidably expresive towards the end aimed at. shall suffice.
The lirst of these is Gen. xvii. 7, " T will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their crenerations for an everlasring covenant, to be a God imto thee, and to thy seed after thee,"' This is that which God engageth himseh" unto in this covenant of grace, that he will for everiasting be a God to him and
206 . DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCK [CHAP.
liis faithful seed. Though the external administration of the cove- nant was given to Abraham and his carnal seed, yet the effectual dispensation of the grace of the covenant is peculiar to them only who are the children of the promise, the remnant of Abraham ac- cording to election, with all that in all nations were to be blessed in him and in his seed, Christ Jesus. Ishmael, though circumcised, was to be put out, and not to be heir with Isaac, nor to abide in the house for ever, as the son of the promise was, Gal. iv. 22, 23, 30. Now, the apostle tells you, look what blessings faithful Abraham re- ceived by virtue of this promise, the same do all believers receive: Chap. iii. 9, " They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham;" which he proves (in the words foregoing) from Gen. xii. 3, because all nations were to be blessed in him. What blessing, then, was it that was here made over to Abraham? All the blessings that from God are conveyed in and by his seed, Jesus Christ (in whom both he and we are blessed), are inwrapped therein. What they are the apostle tells you, Eph. i. 3 ; they are " all spiritual bless- ings." If perseverance, if the continuance of the love and favour of God towards us, be a spiritual blessing, both Abraham and all his seed, all faithful ones throughout the world, are blessed with it in Jesus Christ ; and if God's continuing to be a God to them for ever will enforce this blessing (being but the same thing in another ex- pression), it is here likewise asserted.
It is importunately excepted, " That though God undertake to be our God in an everlasting covenant, and upon that account to bless us with the whole blessing that is conveyed by the promised seed, yet if we abide not with him, if we forsake him, he will also cease to be our God, and cease to bless us with the blessing which on others in Jesus Christ he will bestow."
Ans. If there be a necessity to smite this evasion so often as we shall meet with it, it must be cut into a hundred pieces. For the present, I shall only observe two evils it is attended withal: — First, It takes no notice that God, who hath undertaken to be a God unto us, hath, witli the like truth, power, and faithfulness, undertaken that we shall abide to be his people. So is his love in his covenant expressed by its efficacy to this end and purpose, Deut xxx. 6, " The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Secondly, It denies the continu- ance of the love of God to us to the end to be any part of the bless- ings wherewith we are blessed in Jesus Christ; for if it be, it could no more be suspended on any condition in us than the glorification of believers that abide so to the end.