The FIRST you have Isa. lix. 21, "As for me, this is my cove- nant with them, saith the LoRD; My Spirit which is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." That which the Lord declares here to the church he calls " his covenant." Now, whereas in a covenant there are two things, — 1. What is stipulated on the part of him that makes the covenant; 2. What of them is required with whom it is made (which in themselves are distinct, though in the covenant of grace God hath promised that he will work in us what he requires of us), — that here mentioned is clearly an evidence of somewhat of the first kind, — of that goodness that God in the covenant doth promise to
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bestow. Though perhaps words of the future tense may sometimes have an imperative construction, where the import of the residue of the words enforces such a sense, yet because it may be so in some place therefore it is so in this place, and that therefore these words are not a promise that the Spirit shall not depart, but an injunction to take care that it do not depart, as Mr Goodwin will have it, is a weak inference ; and the close of the words will by no means be wrested to speak significantly to any such purpose, " Saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever," which plainly make the words promissory, and an engagement of God himself to them to whom they are spoken. So that the interpretation of these words, " This is my covenant with them," by Mr Goodwin, chap. xi. sect. 4, p. 227, — " That covenant of perpetual grace and mercy which I made with them requireth this of them, in order to the performance of it on my part, that they quench not my Spirit which I have put into them," — doth plainly invert the intendment of God in them, and substitute what is tacitly required as our duty into the room of what is expressly promised as his grace. Observe then, —
2. That as no promise of God given to believers is either apt of itself to ingenerate, or by them to be received under, such an ab- surd notion of being made good whatsoever their deportment be, it being the nature of all the promises of God to frame and mould them to whom they are given into all holiness and purity, 2 Cor. vii. 1, — and this in especial is a promise of the principal author and cause of all holiness, to be continued to them, and is impossible to be apprehended under any such foolish supposal, — so also that this promise is absolute, and not conditional, can neither be colourably gainsaid nor the contrary probably affirmed. So that the strength of Mr Goodwin's two next exceptions, — 1. " That this cannot be a pro- mise of perseverance unto true believers, whatsoever their deportment shall be;" and, 2. " That it must be conditional, which cannot," as he saith, " be reasonably gainsaid," — the first of them not looking towards our persuasion in this thing, and the latter being not in the least put upon the proof, is but very weakness; for what condition of this promise, I pray, can be imagined? God promises his Spirit of holiness, that sanctifieth us and worketh all holiness in us; and therewith the holy word of the gospel, which is also sanctifying, John xvii. 1 7; and that they shall abide with us for ever. It is the con- tinuance of the presence of God with us for our holiness that is here promised. On what condition shall this be supposed to depend? Is it in case we continue holy? Who seeth not the vanity of inter- serting any condition? " I will be with you by my Spirit and word for ever, to keep you holy, provided you continue holy ! "
3. It is a hard task, to seek to squeeze a condition out of those gracious words in the beginning of the verse, " As for me,'' which
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Junius renders de me autem, — words wherein God graciously re- veals himself as the sole author of this great blessing promised, it being a work of his own, which he accomplisheth upon the account of his free grace ; and therefore God signally placed that expres- sion in the entrance of the promise, that we may know whom to look unto for the fulfilling thereof And it is yet a farther corruption to say, " That 'As for me,' is as much as, 'For my part, I will deal boun- tifully with them, provided they do so and so, what I require from them,""' which is Mr Goodwin's interpretation of the words; for of this supposition there is not one word in the text as incumbent on them to whom this promise is made in contradistinction to what God here promiseth; yea, he promiseth them, at least in the root and principle, whatsoever is required of them. Let it be that " As for me/' is, "As for my part, I will do what here is promised," and there is an end of this debate.