The promise as here mentioned hath a double use: —
1. It is held out as an inducement to obedience to that whole
people; in reference whereunto he telleth them that "if they did
wickedly, they should be destroyed, both they and their king," 1 Sam,
xii. 25. In the dreadful threatenings that God dcnounccth against
' Gen. xvii. 1 ; Jcr. xxxii. 38, 39.
VI.] PARTICULAR PROMISES ILLUSTRATED. 253
wicked and impenitent ones, lie hath an end to accomphsh in refer- ence to his saints, unto his own, even to make them know his terror, and to be acquainted with the abomination of sin. And in his promises, intended directly to them, he hath designs to accomplish upon the most wicked and ungodly, even to discover his approba- tion of that which is good, that they may be left inexcusable.
2. It was a testimony of his good-will unto his secret ones, his remnant, his residue, his brand out of the fire, unto his people called according to his eternal purpose, in the midst of his people by exter- nal profession, and of his presence with them, under the accomplish- ment of the threatening mentioned upon the generality of that nation. He did not forsake them when the people in general and their king were destroyed. Whatever outward dispensation he bringeth upon the whole, the love and grace of the promise shall certainly be reserved for them ; as, Isa. iv. 2-4, the " remnant," the " escaping of Israel," those that were " written unto life," shall obtain, when the rest are destroyed or hardened.
So Ps. Ixxxix. 30-37, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my com- mandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindne.ss will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah."
A sujDposal is made of such ways and walkings in the spiritual seed and offspring of the Lord Christ (which in the psalm is typed out by David), that the Lord will be as it were compelled to deal sharply with them for their iniquities and transgressions: yet his " loving-kindness," that shall abide with Christ in reference to the preservation of his seed ; his " faithfulness," that shall not fail ; his covenant and his oath shall be made good to the uttermost.
It is supposed (which is the wor.st that can be supposed) that in some degree, at least for some season, they may forsake the law, not keep the commandments, and profane the statutes of God (which continues the burden of poor believers to this day); yet the worst that the Lord threatens them with on this account, when they might have expected that he Avould have utterly cast off such unthankful, unfruitful backsliders, poor creatures, is but this, " I will visit them with a rod, and with stripes." They shall have whatever comes within the compass of correction or affliction; rod and stripes sliall be on them, and that whether outward correction or inward desertion. But will the Lord proceed no farther? will he not for ever cast them
254 DOCTRINE OF TUE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
off, and ease himself of such a provoking generation? " No/' saith the Lord; " there he five things in the way, upon whose account I cannot so deal with them/' All regard the same persons, as is evident from the antithesis that is in the discourse.
1. There is my loving-kindness, saith God, which is eternal and unchangeable; for " I love them with an everlasting love," Jer. xxxi. 3. This I cannot utterly take away. Though it may be hid and eclipsed as to the appearance and influences of it, yet utterly it shall not be taken away as to the reality of it. Though I chasten and correct them, yet my loving-kindness shall be continued to them. And then, saith he, —
2. There is my faithfulness, which I have engaged to them ; which, whatever they do (that is, that I will suffer them to do, or that they may do upon supposition of the grace of the covenant,^ wherewith they are supplied), though they behave themselves very foolishly and frowardly, yet that I must take care of, — that must not fail. 2 Tim. ii. 13, "He abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself." And this faith- fulness, saith God, I have engaged in three things: —
(1.) In my covenant that I have made with them to be their God, and wherein I have promised that they shall be my people ; wherein also I have made plentiful provision of mercy and grace for all their failings. And this must not be broken; my faithfulness is in it, and it must abide. My covenant of peace that I make with them is an everlasting covenant ; it is " an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 26 ; it is a covenant of peace, an everlasting covenant.