A77360:287
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 3: The New Covenant of Grace opened. SERMON III.
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.
3. As it is a free Covenant, in opposition to al• Conditions to be performed by us, so it is an everlasting Covenant, a Covenant of Salt that canno• be broken, which my Covenant they brake, saith God, speaking of the former Covenant; and saith he, in that place of Zech. I took my staff of Beauty, the Covenant, and brake it. God brake it, that is the former Covenant. But now this Covenant of Grace is an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure, an everlasting Covenant that cannot be broken. And thus you see what kind of Covenant it is; It is a Covenant of Grace, in opposition to all works and worth in us; — a Free Covenant in opposition to all Conditions to be performed by us: — and an everlasting Covenant: Lo, this is the Covenant that is stricken with the Children of Men.
4. But then fourthly, Who are the Subjects of this Covenant, and who are the persons that God doth strike or make this Covenant with?
First, This Covenant of Grace is not made or stricken with all the particular men in the world; A New Covenant will I make with the house of Israel, not with all the particular men in the world. If this New Covenant of Grace were made with all the particular men in the world, then all the particular men in the world should have the Law of God written in their hearts, and should all know God, and all have their sins pardoned, for so saith the Covenant, by an absolute promise which must be fulfilled.