VI.] PARTICULAR PROMISES ILLUSTRATED. 269
saith he (that is, " I have entered into a covenant to that end/' which was wont to be confirmed with an oath, and God being absolutely faithful in his covenant is said to swear thereunto, though there be no express mention of any such oath), "that the world should no more be so drowned as then it was. Now," saith God, "see my fiaithfulness herein; it hath never been drowned since, nor ever shall be. With equal faithfulness have I engaged, even in covenant, that that kind- ness which I mentioned to thee shall always be continued, ' so that I will not be wroth to rebuke thee;' that is, so as utterly to cast thee off, as the world was when it was drowned." But some may say, "Before the flood the earth was filled with violence and sin ; and should it be so again, would it not bring another flood upon it? Hath he said he will not drown it, notwithstanding any interposal of sin, wicked- ness, or rebellion whatsoever?" "Yea," saith he, "such is my cove- nant. I took notice in my first engagement therein, that the ' ima- gination of man's heart would be evil from his youth,' Gen. viii. 21, and yet I entered into that solemn covenant. So that this exemption of the world from a universal deluge is not an appendix to the obe- dience of the world, which hath been, upon some accounts, more wicked since than before (as in the crucifying of Christ, the Lord of glory, and in rejecting of him being preached unto them), but it solely leaneth upon my faithfulness in keeping covenant, and my truth in the accomplishment of the oath that I have solemnly entered into. So is my kindness to you. I have made express provision for your sins and failings therein ; such I will preserve you from as are inconsistent with my kindness to you, and such will I pardon as you are overtaken withal." When you see a universal deluge covering the face of the earth (that is, God unfaithful to his oath and cove- nant), then, and not till then, suppose that his kindness can be turned from believers.
Something is excepted against this testimony, chap. xi. sect. 4, p. 227, but of so little importance that it is scarce worth while to turn aside to the consideration of it. The sum is, " That this place speaketh only of God's faithfulness in his covenant; but that this should be the tenor of the covenant, that they who once truly be- lieve should by God infallibly, and by a strong hand, against all interposals of sin, wickedness, or rebellion, be preserved in such a faith, is not, by any word, syllable, or iota, intimated."
Ans. This is that which is repeated " usque ad nauseam;" and were it not for variety of expressions, wherewith some men do abound, to adorn it, it would appear extremely beggarly and overworn. But a sorry shift (as they say) is better than none, or doubtless in this place it had not been made use of; for, —
1. This testimony is not called forth to speak immediately to the continuance of believers in their faith, but to the continuance and
270 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
unchangeableness of the love of God to them, and consequently only to their preservation in faith upon that account.
2. It is not only assumed at a cheap and very low rate or price, but clearly gratis supposed, that believers may make such " interposals of sin, wickedness, and rebellion," in their walking with God, as should be inconsistent with the continuance of his favour and kindness to them, according to the tenor of the covenant of grace. His kindness and favour being to us extrinsical, our sins are not oj^posed unto them really and directly, as though they might effectually infringe an act of the will of God, but only meritoriously. Now, when God saith that he will continue his kindness to us for ever notwithstand- ing the demerit of sin, as is plainly intimated in that allusion to the waters of Noah, for any one to say that they may fall into such sins and rebellions as that he cannot but turn his kindness from them, is a bold attempt for the violation of his goodness and faithfulness, and a plain begging of the thing in question. Certainly it is not a pious labour, to thrust with violence such supposals into the promises of God as will stop those breasts from giving out any consolation, when no place or room for them doth at all appear, there being not one word, syllable, iota, or tittle, of any such supposals in them.
8. The exposition and gloss that is given of these words, — namely, " That upon condition of their faithfulness and obedience, which, notwithstanding any thing in this or any other promise, they may turn away from, he will engage himself to be a God to tlieni," — is such as no saint of God, without the help of Satan and his own unbelief, could affix to the place.
4. Neither will that at all assist which is affirmed, namel}^, " That in all covenants, — and his promise holdeth out a covenant, — there must be a condition on both sides:" for, we willingly gi'ant that in his covenant of grace God doth promise something to us, and requireth something of us, and that these two have mutual de- pendence one upon another ; but we also affirm that in the very covenant itself God hath graciously promised to Avork effectually in us those things which he requireth of us, and that herein it mainly diffcreth from the covenant of works, which he hath abo- lished. But such a covenant as wherein God should promise to be a God unto us upon a condition by us and in our own strength to be fulfilled, and on the same account continued in unto the end, we acknowledge not, nor can, whilst our hearts have any sense of the love of the Father, the blood of the Son, or the grace of the Holy Spirit, the fountains thereof Notwithstanding, then, any thing that hath been drawn forth in opposition to it, faith may triumph, from the love of God in Christ, held out in this promise, in the full assurance of an everlasting acceptance with him ; for God, also, willing yet more abimdantly to give in consolation in this place