A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

There is nothing that thou wantest, but what belongs to God to give thee, in one of these three great relations. And sooner shall the day be turned into night, and the frame of nature be dissolved, then God will violate his Covenant of Grace. Jer. 33. 20, 21. [Thus saith the Lord, If you can break my Covenant of the day, and my Covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season: then may also my Covenant be broken, &c.] Isa. 54. 4. 5, &c. [Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed, &c. For thy Maker is thy Husband: (the Lord of Hosts is his name) and thy Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called: For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when when thou wast refused, saith thy God: For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee: In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting ⟨p. 376⟩kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth: So have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.] And though yet we have our troublesome imperfections, it belongeth to our God, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, to make us perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, that to him may be the glory for ever, Heb. 13. 20, 21. It is his work [to comfort all that mourn; to appoint to them that mourn in Zion, and to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified—They shall be named The Priests of the Lord; men shall call them The ministers of our God—Everlasting joy shall be unto them—For the Lord will direct their work in truth, and make an everlasting Covenant with them—All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed whom the Lord hath blessed: Therefore should we greatly rejoice in the Lord;