But then you ought to consider, what the import, and meaning was of that your Covenant, wherein you accepted God in Christ to be the God of your Son; and dedicated him to God through Christ to be his. Was it not absolute, and without limitation? that God should be a God to him entirely, and without reserve? and that he should be his, absolutely, and be disposed of by him, at his Pleasure? Otherwise, there was a repugnancy, and contradiction, in the very terms of your Covenant. To be a God to him! Is not, God, the name of a Being incapable of limitation? Doth it not signify infinite unlimited Power, and Goodness? To be a God to any one, therefore, under restriction, is to be a God to him, and no God. And so to ⟨p. 10⟩Covenant with God, can neither have sincerity in it, nor good sense. He can be under no restraint, in the exercises of his Power, and Goodness towards any, to whom he vouchsafes to be their God in Covenant; but what he is pleased to lay upon himself; which must be from his own Wisdom and good Pleasure, to which in covenanting we refer our selves; with particular Faith, in reference to what he hath expressly promised; and with general, that all shall be well, where his Promise is not express. But from our selves, nothing can be prescribed to him. He must be our all, or nothing; in point of Enjoyment as our Sovereign, all-comprehending Good; in point of Government, as our Sovereign all-disposing Lord. So we take him, in Covenanting with him, for our selves, and ours. For he so propounds, and offers ⟨p. 11⟩himself, to us; If we accept, and take him accordingly, there is a Covenant between him and us, otherwise we refuse him; and there is no Covenant. When he promises, as to his part, he promises his all; to be God all-sufficient to us; to be ours in all his Fullness, according to our measure, and capacity: we are not straitened in him, but in our selves. He undertakes to be to us, and do for us, all that it belongs to him, as a God to be, and do.1 To give us Grace and Glory, about which, there can be no dispute, or doubt, they are always, and immutably good. And to withhold from us no good thing, Here, are comprehended, with the former, inferior good things, about which, because they are but mutably, and not always good, there may be a doubt, whether, now and in present Circumstances, they will be good for us, or no.
But then you ought to consider, what the import, and meaning was of that your Covenant, wherein you accepted God in Christ to be the God of your Son; and dedicated him to God through Christ to be his. Was it not absolute, and without limitation? that God should be a God to him entirely, and without reserve? and that he should be his, absolutely, and be dispos'd of by him, at his Pleasure? Otherwise, there was a repugnancy, and contradiction, in the very terms of your Covenant. To be a God to him! Is not, God, the name of a Being incapable of limitation? Doth it not signify infinite unlimited Power, and Goodness? To be a God to any one, therefore, under restriction, is to be a God to him, and no God. And so to ⟨p. 10⟩Covenant with God, can neither have sincerity in it, nor good sense. He can be under no restraint, in the exercises of his Power, and Goodness towards any, to whom he vouchsafes to be their God in Covenant; but what he is pleased to lay upon himself; which must be from his own Wisdom and good Pleasure, to which in covenanting we refer our selves; with particular Faith, in reference to what he hath expresly promis'd; and with general, that all shall be well, where his Promise is not express. But from our selves, nothing can be prescribed to him. He must be our all, or nothing; in point of Enjoyment as our Sovereign, all-comprehending Good; in point of Government, as our Sovereign all-disposing Lord. So we take him, in Covenanting with him, for our selves, and ours. For he so propounds, and offers ⟨p. 11⟩himself, to us; If we accept, and take him accordingly, there is a Covenant between him and us, otherwise we refuse him; and there is no Covenant. When he promises, as to his part, he promises his all; to be God all-sufficient to us; to be ours in all his Fulness, according to our measure, and capacity: we are not straitned in him, but in our selves. He undertakes to be to us, and do for us, all that it belongs to him, as a God to be, and do.1 To give us Grace and Glory, about which, there can be no dispute, or doubt, they are always, and immutably good. And to withhold from us no good thing, Here, are comprehended, with the former, inferiour good things, about which, because they are but mutably, and not always good, there may be a doubt, whether, now and in present Circumstances, they will be good for us, or no.
- 1Psal. 84.11.
