Returning unto God the great concernment of a covenant people. Or A sermon preached…

Object. 6. This Covenant is either of Grace or of works: if of works, we dare not meddle with it: if of Grace, why should we Renew it?

Answ. How is it possible for any understanding Christian to imagine, that a Covenant made with God through Jesus Christ, is the Covenant of works, or that a Covenant wherein men profess themselves unable to do any thing of themselves, and that wherein they fail in their Obedience, they look for pardoning mercy through the Mediator, is a Covenant of works? All which is true with reference unto the Covenant before us. And whereas it is said that men under the Covenant of Grace, need not to Renew their covenanting with God, nothing can be spoken more contrary to Scripture, or to the practice of Saints. Was not Jacob under the Covenant of Grace? Was he in a state of Salvation by virtue of any other Covenant then that of Grace? Yet in the time of his distress, he Renewed his Covenant, in giving himself up to God, and promising to cleave unto the Lord as his God. Gen. 28. 20. Doth not Faith in Christ give men an Interest in the Covenant of Grace? Then as often as Believers renew their closing with Christ, they do on their parts, Renew their Covenant. But they that do already believe, may and should again and again give themselves up to the Lord Jesus. Joh. 2. 11. Christians, every time that they worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and more especially in that Ordinance of the Lords Supper, do implicitly Renew their Consent to the Covenant of Grace. And if an implicit Renovation of Covenant be necessary, then sometimes to do it after the most solemn and express manner that may be, will certainly tend to the glory of God, and to the good of Souls.

Answ. How is it possible for any understanding Christian to imagine, that a Covenant made with God through Jesus Christ, is the Covenant of works, or that a Covenant wherein men profess themselves unable to doe any thing of themselves, and that wherein they fail in their Obedience, they look for pardoning mercy through the Mediator, is a Covenant of works? All which is true with reference unto the Covenant before us. And whereas it is said that men under the Covenant of Grace, need not to Renew their covenanting with God, nothing can be spoken more contrary to Scripture, or to the practice of Saints. Was not Jacob under the Covenant of Grace? Was he in a state of Salvation by virtue of any other Covenant then that of Grace? Yet in the time of his distress, he Renewed his Covenant, in giving himself up to God, and promising to cleave unto the Lord as his God.