B02840:381
The unsearchable riches of Christ, and of grace and glory in and through [sic]…The unsearchable riches of Christ, and of grace and glory in and thorow [sic]…
The unsearchable riches of Christ, and of grace and glory in and through [sic] him. Diligently searched into, clearly unfolded, and comfortably holden forth, in fourteen rich gospel sermons preached on several texts, at communions, in Glasgow. / By the late pious & powerful gospel-preacher in that city, Mr. James Durham.The unsearchable riches of Christ, and of grace and glory in and thorow [sic] him. Diligently searched into, clearly unfolded, and comfortably holden forth, in fourteen rich gospel sermons preached on several texts, at communions, in Glasgow. / By the late pious & powerful gospel-preacher in that city, Mr. James Durham.
Glasgow: printed by Robert Sanders, 1685
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.
Now would ye know, wherein this Seriousness in keeping and Performing Covenant consists. Ye may ⟨p. 279⟩take it in these Characters. The man that is Serious in performing his engagement, 1. His heart is taken up with it, and there is an ardent longing to be answerable to the Covenant that he is entered into with God; His greatest wish in all the world is, as to be in it, so to be faithful in keeping it; therefore saith the Psalmist, Psal. 119.5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes; and this is given as a mark of the Blessed man who is undefiled in the way: and saith he vers. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy Commandments; which is a reason of the former, and a confirmation of it; he designs to be short in his obedience to no command, and he does not allow himself in his short-coming even as to degree, but is constant in pursuing his design always even unto the end. 2. Seriousness in performing appeareth, by kindly acknowledging the impression of the weightiness of the eye and obligation that the Covenant lays on Persons; it someway affects and burdens them, so that they walk not so lightly as others do under the obligation & debt of the Covenant; though it be a friendly debt, and also a Privilege: Their burden is not, that they are under the obligation, but how to get it performed, thus saith the Psalmist, Psa. 56.12. Thy vows are upon me, O God: they take on vows to God, and keep them on, and walk, as being under them: this is a main thing to be looked to in keeping Covenant. 3. This seriousness in performing, appears in the fear that persons have of going wrong and Mis-carrying; they are afraid to break to God: neither are any so suspicious of them, as they are of themselves, knowing by sad experience, that their hearts are deceitful above all things: and this is a very native evidence, considering what we heard of our fickleness, which cannot be without the impression of fear. ⟨p. 280⟩4. It appears in a Holy carefulness and diligence to prevent that which they fear: lest at any time they let a buckle slip (to speak so) and lest that which they feared come on them, their fear puts them to diligence to prevent the thing feared: