The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace

6. So my mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my Covenant shall stand fast with him. •9. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his Throne as the days of Heaven. If the Covenant be made with him who hath an eternal seed, then sure, principally with Christ: Without whom (saith Calvin, who otherwise much loves to follow the letter of the word) this Prophecy hath no effect, for eternity is only in Christ, not in David.¹

6. So my mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my Covenant shall stand fast with him. •9. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his Throne as the days of Heaven. If the Covenant be made with him who hath an eternall seed, then sure, principally with Christ: Without whom (saith Calvine, who otherwise much loves to follow the letter of the word) this Prophecie hath no effect, for eternity is only in Christ, not in David.¹

1. 1Calv. Come. in locum. Undo sequitur non posse constare vaticimi hujus effectum, donec ad Christum ventum fuerit in quo solo demum reperietur vera Aeternitas.Calv. Com. in locum. Vnd• sequitur non posse constare vaticimi hujus effectum, donec ad Christum ventum fuerit in quo solo demum reperietur vera Aeternitas.

Ver. 30. If his children forsake my Law, &c. a pre-occupation, if an eternal seed be promised to Christ, then although Christ and his Children sin, no matter, the hazard is not great? He Answers, the danger is not to be despised; I will visit the sons, of Solomon and others, 2 Sam. 7.14. with the rod of men: 15. But my mercy (of the Covenant of Redemption, and of Reconciliation) I will not take from him, as I took it from Saul. This is not spoken of Christ, for he cannot sin, but of Christs seed, his spiritual seed, and the business is so contrived, as the seed of Christ and his children shall not sin unpunished: but yet there is a difference between the sins of the reprobate Saul, and such like, and of the spiritual seed of Christ. So he takes his mercy, Covenant-mercy (but offered conditionally) utterly away from reprobates when they sin, but takes not away Covenant-mercy from the seed of Christ: And the reason is, from the nature of the Covenant, v. 34. My Covenant I will not break &c. If then the elect and chosen of Christ should fall away, God should break and alter his Covenant: but impossible is the latter. Hence, 1. the questioning of the stability of our state, being once internally in Covenant with God, is a reproaching of God and to make him a liar. v. 35. Once have I sworn (saith he) by my Holiness, that I will not lie unto David. Though (1.) we seem to reproach our selves in questioning our state, being once in Christ, yet the truth is,