VI.] PARTICULAR PROMISES ILLUSTRATED. 275
Jews onl}'-, but also to tlie Gentiles; for so," saith he, " it is in Osee" (instancing in the passage we insist on), " I will call them my people which were not my people ; and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the chil- dren of the living God ; " — which he farther confirmeth by a testi- mony out of Isa. X. 22, 23, manifesting that it is but "a remnant" that is intended. Wherefore it is objected, —
2. " That the promise is conditional, and the performance of it and of the mercies mentioned in it suspended upon the repentance of that people, especially of their idolatry, to the true and pure worship of God, as appeareth, verses 14, 16, 17; which plainly showeth that it was made as well, nay, rather to those that were wicked and idolatrous amongst this people than unto others, as being held forth unto them chiefly for this end, to woo them away from their idols unto God."
Ans. I hope the people of God will more steadfastly abide by their interest in the sweetness, usefulness, and consolation of this promise, than to throw it away upon such slight and atheological flourishes; for, —
1. Is there any tittle, iota, or word, in the whole text, to intimate that this promise is conditional, and dependeth on the people's for- saking their idolatry? The 14th, 16th, and 17th verses are urged for proof thereof God, indeed, in these verses doth graciously promise that, from the riches of the same grace whence he freely saith that "he will betroth them to himself," he will convert them, and turn them away from their idolatry and all their sins; but that that should be required of them as a condition whereon God will enter into covenant with them, there is nothing in the whole context, from verse 14 and downwards, that intimateth it in the least or will en- dure to be wrested to any such sense, it holding out several distinct acts of the same free grace of his unto his people.
2. That this is a promise of entering into covenant with them cannot be denied. Now, that God should require their repentance as an antecedaneous, previous qualification to his receiving them into covenant, and yet in the covenant undertake to give them that repentance, as he doth in promising them to take away their hearts of stone and give them new hearts of flesh, is a direct contradiction, fit only for a part of that divinity which is in the whole an express contradiction to the word and mind of God.
3. Neither can it be supposed as a conditional promise, held out to them as a motive to work them from their idolatry, when, ante- cedently thereunto, God hath expressly promised to do that for them (verses 16, 17) with as high a hand and eflicacy of grace as can be well expressed.
276 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS* PERSEVERANCK [CHAP.
Wherefore, these being exceptions expressly against the scope of the whole, it is objected, —
3. " That it cannot be proved that this promise properly or directly intendeth the collation of spiritual or heavenly good things unto them, so as of temporal; yea, the situation of it betwixt tem2:)oral promises immediately both behind and before it persuadeth the contrary. Read the context from verse 8 to the end of the chapter."
A71S. The other forts being demolished, this last is very faintly de- fended,— " It cannot be proved that it doth so properly or directly." But if it doth intend spirituals properly and directly, though not so properly or directly, the case is clear. And that it doth properly intend spirituals, and but secondarily and indirectly temporals, as to sundry limitations, is most evident; for, —
1. The very conjugal expression of the love of God here used manifesteth it beyond all contradiction to be a promise of the cove- nant: " I will betroth thee unto me;" — " I will take thee unto me in wedlock covenant." What! in temporal mercies? is that the tenor of the covenant of God ? God forbid !
2. The foundations of these mercies, and the principles from whence they flow, are "loving-kindness," and "mercies," and "faithfulness" in God, which are fixed upon them and engaged unto them whom he thus taketh into covenant; and surely they are spiritual mercies.
S. The mercies mentioned are such as never had a literal accom- plishment to the Jews in temporals, nor can have ; and when things promised exceed all accomplishment as to the outward and temporal jiart, it is the spiritual that is principally and mainly intended. And such are these, verse 18, "I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and make them to lie down safely." How, I pray, was this fulfilled towards them, whilst they lived under the power of the Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires, to their utter desolation? And verse 23, he telleth them that he will "sow them unto himself in the earth, and have mercy upon them;" which, as I said before, Paul himself interpreteth and applieth to the spe- cial mercies of faith and justification in the blood of Christ. So that both the verses going before and those that follow after, to the con- sideration whereof we are sent, contain directly and properly spi- ritual mercies, though expressed in words and terms of things of a temporal importance.