A47489:125
The everlasting covenant, a sweet cordial for a drooping soul, or, The excellent nature…
The everlasting covenant, a sweet cordial for a drooping soul, or, The excellent nature of the covenant of grace opened in a sermon preached January the 29th, at the funeral of Mr. Henry Forty, late pastor of a Church of Christ, at Abingdon, in the county of Berks, who departed this life Jan. 25th 1692/3 and was interred at Southwark ... : to which is added, An elegy on the death of the said minister / by Benjamin Keach ...The everlasting covenant, a sweet cordial for a drooping soul, or, The excellent nature of the covenant of grace opened in a sermon preached January the 29th, at the funeral of Mr. Henry Forty, late pastor of a Church of Christ, at Abingdon, in the county of Berks, who departed this life Jan. 25th 1692/3 and was interr'd at Southwark ... : to which is added, An elegy on the death of the said minister / by Benjamine Keach ...
London: printed for H. Barnard, 1693
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
1. The Glory of God the Father shines forth in the Covenant of Grace; for the Father is holden forth as the Primary, and efficient Cause, (in his Wisdom, Grace and Love) of our Salvation, and of all those Blessings of Peace and Reconciliation we have therein: All things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 5.18, 19. God was in Christ, reconciling the World to himself. Tho' the whole Trinity are concerned in our Salvation, yet (as our Protestant Writers observe) each Person acts a distinct Part in it, the Father chose and substituted Christ to do this glorious Work, and accepted him in our stead, as our Surety and Saviour; God the Father prepared him a Body, a Body hast thou prepared me, Heb. 10.5. he sent him also into the World, (as our Saviour asserts) many times in the Gospel Recorded by St. John, the Father anointed him with the Holy Spirit above his fellows, to undertake for us in this Covenant, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to Preach the Gospel to the poor, &c. Luk. 4.18. the Father calls him his Servant, whom he upheld and strengthened in doing that great Work, and he is said to be raised up from the Dead by the Power or Glory of the Father: the Father is indeed represented as the injured Person, he had therefore the only Right to offer and fix on such Terms which the Purity of his Holy Nature, and ⟨p. 25⟩Honour of his Sovereign Majesty, required as rightful Judge and Governor; had not the Father chosen, accepted and approved of him for doing of this great Work, his undertakings could not have availed us to the Salvation of our Souls; besides the Glory of God the Father must not be eclipsed, while we exalt the eternal Son in our Redemption: all the Benefit therefore we receive by the Blood and Merits of Christ, are ascribed to the free Grace of God the Father, after that the Kindness and Love of God our Saviour appeared, Tit. 3.4. the Father chose us in Christ, as well as gave him for us, and commanded him to lay down his Life to redeem us.