A09990:473
The new covenantThe nevv covenant
The new covenant, or the saints portion A treatise unfolding the all-sufficiency of God, and mans uprightness, and the covenant of grace. delivered in fourteen sermons upon Gen. 17. 1. 2. Whereunto are adjoined four sermons upon Eccles. 9.1. 2. 11. 12. By the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ John Preston. Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.The nevv covenant, or the saints portion A treatise vnfolding the all-sufficiencie of God, and mans uprightnes, and the covenant of grace. delivered in fourteene sermons vpon Gen. 17. 1. 2. Wherevnto are adioyned foure sermons vpon Eccles. 9.1. 2. 11. 12. By the late faithfull and worthie minister of Iesus Christ Iohn Preston. Dr. in Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiestie, maister of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by I. Dawson for Nicolas Bourne, 1629
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Now this use we will make of it:1 First, we may consider hence the great goodness of GOD, that he is willing to enter into Covenant with mortal men. My beloved, it is a thing that is not sufficiently considered of us, how great a mercy it is, that the glorious GOD of Heaven ⟨p. 85⟩and Earth should be willing to enter into Covenant, that he should be willing to indent with us, as it were, that he should be willing to make himself a debtor to us. If we consider it, it is an exceeding great mercy, when we think• thus with our selves, he is in heave•, and we are on earth; he the glorious GOD, w•e dust and ashes; he the Creator, and we but creatures; and yet he is willing to enter into Covenant, which implies kind of equality▪ between us; as when Jonathan and David made a Covenant, though there was a difference, the one was a Kings son, yet, notwithstanding▪ when the Covenant of friendship was made, there did arise a kind of equality between them; so it is between the LORD and us, when he is once willing to enter into Covenant with us. Beloved, this should teach us to magnify the mercy of God, and to be ready to say, as David did, What am I, or what is my Fathers House, that I should be raised hitherto, that I should enter into Covenant with the great GOD, that he should come to a Compact and agreement with me, that he should tie himself, and bind himself to become […] You know, […] ⟨p. 86⟩small thing to enter into Covenant with GOD, to be in Covenant with the King of Kings: we commonly reckon it a great advantage to have alliance▪ to be in confederation with strong Princes. You see what a Covenant there was between Jehoshaphat and Acha•, see how Jehoshaphat expresseth himself, Truly, saith he▪ there is a League between us, (What then?) therefore my horses are thy horses, and my people are thy people; and so it is between God and us when there is a Covenant between us, then his strength is our strength, and his Armies are our Armies, we have interest, in all; there is an offensive and a defensive League; and when we seek to him, and put him in mind of it, he can not deny us. The people of Rome had other parts and Nations, that were allies with them, and if they were to fight, at any time, the Romans were bound in honour to defend them, and to assist them, and they did it, with as much diligence, as they defended their own City of Rome.