A59035:185
The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth…
The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation : also the treasures of grace, blessings, comforts, promises and privileges that are comprised in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with believers / by that faithful and reverend divine, Mr Obadiah Sedgwick ... ; perfected and intended for the press, therefore corrected and lately revised by himself, and published by his own manuscript ...The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the everlasting covenant wherein is set forth the nature, conditions and excellencies of it, and how a sinner should do to enter into it, and the danger of refusing this covenant-relation : also the treasures of grace, blessings, comforts, promises and priviledges that are comprized in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with believers / by that faithful and reverend divine, Mr Obadiah Sedgwick ... ; perfected and intended for the press, therefore corrected and lately revised by himself, and published by his own manuscript ...
London: printed by Edward Mottershed for Adoniram Byfield, 1661
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.
4. If you consider all other gifts in comparison with this gift, I will be your God. The gifts which God bestows upon his people, are very many, and very rich, yet none of them is comparable unto this gift of himself in Covenant. None of his earthly and temporal gifts; these are lower than his spiritual and eternal gifts: they are far short of them, and therefore far short of God. The least spiritual gift transcends all earthly and temporal gifts. And none of his spiritual gifts, I say none of these is to be matched or compared with himself. Grace is not such a gift as the God of grace: Mercy is not such a gift as the God of mercy: Peace is not such a gift as the God of peace: Nor holiness, as is the God of holiness: Nor happiness, as is the God of happiness: No, nor Christ himself; for the end of giving of Christ is to bring us unto God, to the enjoyment of him; and surely the end for which any thing is given, is above the means for which it is given.
4. If you consider all other gifts in comparison with this gift, I will be your God. The gifts which God bestows upon his people, are very many, and very rich, yet none of them is comparable unto this gift of himself in Covenant. None of his earthly and temporal gifts; these are lower than his spiritual and eternal gifts: they are farre short of them, and therefore farre short of God. The least spiritual gift transcends all earthly and temporal gifts. And none of his spiritual gifts, I say none of these is to be matched or compared with himself. Grace is not such a gift as the God of grace: Mercy is not such a gift as the God of mercy: Peace is not such a gift as the God of peace: Nor holinesse, as is the God of holinesse: Nor happinesse, as is the God of happinesse: No, nor Christ himself; for the end of giving of Christ is to bring us unto God, to the enjoyment of him; and surely the end for which any thing is given, is above the means for which it is given.
5. If you consider the fullness of this, That God gives himself unto us to be our God. It is the uppermost, and it is the utmost of all Donations: As there is nothing better, so there is nothing more to be given. God cannot give you a greater, nor a better, nor any more good, when he hath given unto you himself. It is as much as you must, and as much as you can expect and desire; you cannot