My dear Berith,<\/p>\n
The conspicuous change which has been effected in you, by the grace of God, affords me peculiar satisfaction, and begets in my mind, an anxiety for the increase and permanency of those pleasures of which you have already tasted; and with this object in view, allow me to lead your attention to the inexhaustible treasure, whence all spiritual blessings are derived; even the COVENANT OF GRACE.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe ye always mindful of his covenant\u201d is the express command of Jehovah to his people, by his servant David; and if my dear young friend were fully aware of the advantage arising from habitual appropriation of the covenant plentitude, and holy communion with the covenant head, the constant\u00a0 <\/span>cry of his heart would be \u201cLord show me thy covenant.\u201d<\/p>\n The covenant of grace is that grand stipulation between the persons of the adorable Trinity, in which all that relates to the great work of redemption, was planned and provided by the infinite wisdom and sovereign love: each person in the Godhead engaging in its distinct parts, aud uniting in its grand and glorious scheme.<\/p>\n God the Father having determined to pardon and save millions of Adam\u2019s rebel race, fixed upon their persons in his eternal fore-knowledge, wrote their names in the book of life, and gave them into the hand of a divine Surety, making him responsible for their salvation; and securing to him all the glory and satisfaction of the everlasting triumph over sin, death, and hell.<\/p>\n God, the Son, voluntarily entered upon his mediatorial office; took all the guilt, and all the vast concerns of his church upon his own person: engaged to cancel all her debt; atone for all her guilt; assume her nature; impart to her his nature; and become all for her, and to her, which is requisite for her present happiness and eternal glory.<\/p>\n God, the Holy Ghost, also engaged in covenant to distinguish the elect and redeemed family from the world by special grace; to bring to Christ, yea, into vital union with Christ, reveal Christ to them, and lead them into sweet fellowship with the Father; to renew them, comfort them, and conduct them home to glory, as the purchase of Jesus\u2019 blood, and the objects of the Father\u2019s love.<\/p>\n The infinite wisdom displayed in this covenant transaction, is such as eclipse all the contrivances of mortals, and I trust will lead my dear Berith to exclaim, \u201cO, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.\u201d<\/p>\n Let it never be forgotten, that this covenant is \u201cordered in all things and sure.\u201d Such is the infinite wisdom and love of our covenant God, that he omitted nothing in his covenant provision, which could be conducive to your present and eternal happiness, and productive of glory to his divine perfections; so that you may take a retrospective view of all the blessings which you have received at the hand of God, with the high satisfaction arising from the knowledge of their having been provided, \u201cordered,\u201d for you in covenant love; and then take a prospective view of all your future necessities, with the sweet assurance, that they shall be supplied from the same covenant fullness: for my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.\u201d Phil. 4:19.<\/p>\n There is no part of this delightful covenant scheme left doubtful or contingent: it is altogether worthy of its divine author, whose infinite understanding saw the end from the beginning, and condescended to confirm what he had purposed with an oath, that in the secret purpose of his love, and the public promise of his word, as \u201cby two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us.\u201d Heb. 6:18. The covenant of grace is the invariable rule by which all the great events of time are controlled, and from the creation of the world to the consummation of all things, Jehovah carries on his grand designs according to the fixed order, and divine purpose of this covenant. He employs both his friends and his foes as he will, in the accomplishment of his objects, but allows no power or artifice to derange his plan or hinder his work.<\/p>\n The stipulations of this covenant are between the persons of the Godhead, and are therefore sure\u2014the gifts of this covenant are all free, and therefore suited to the condition of ruined man\u2014all it required has been perfor\u00admed by the covenant head, and admits of no addition\u2014 all it contains is the inheritance of every child of God; and, being secured by the Father’s oath, and received for them by Christ in his mediatorial character, shall assuredly be communicated to them by the power of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n How delightful, my dear brother, is the view of Deity in this blessed covenant character, wherein all the perfections of Jehovah are seen going forth in the most interesting acts and endearing relations, for the salvation of guilty man; yea, actually pledging the divine honor of all the persons and perfections of Deity in a grand covenant compact, to bring about and effect that salvation, against which earth and hell are combined, and against which the sinner himself is decidedly hostile by nature.<\/p>\n Behold, my dear young friend, in this precious cove\u00adnant, all that pertains to your salvation provided and secured, and you will be disposed to sing with David, \u201che hath made with ME an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; this is all MY salvation, and all MY desire,” Think of the endearing relation it forms be\u00adtween the God of heaven and hie beloved people. You are at liberty to consider yourself one of the royal family of heaven: adopted by God the Father; betrothed to Jesus In faithfulness; and a disciple of Christ; training up for the court of heaven, by the teachings of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n The very corrections with which the children of God are visited, proceed from covenant love, and whatever may be the rod, it is held in a father\u2019s hand to accomplish his own designs in their experience; nor can one stripe be dispensed with, because infinite wisdom has numbered them, and covenant faithfulness demands the blessed effect to be produced by them, hence we have often seen the saints of the MOST HIGH visited with trial after trial and sorrow upon sorrow, until they come forth from the furnace like gold, according to the decree of covenant love. Think of this my dear bro\u00adther whenever you are called to pass through deep waters, or to suffer fiery, persecutions.<\/p>\n Should a doubt arise in your mind respecting your personal interest in this unalterable covenant, have recourse to self-examination, and I trust you will ascertain that you have had personal intercourse with the covenant head, in which you have acknowledged yourself a guilty sinner; cast yourself at his feet, trusted his merits and cried most feelingly \u201cLord save me.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, I will venture to take it for granted that you have participated in covenant blessings, such as, genu\u00adine repentance; holy desires; spiritual enjoyments and a new bias to your affections, or at least that you have been made willing to consent to covenant terms, which may be briefly summed up in renouncing self and receiving Christ. Permit me my dear Berith, to assure you, that these are evidences of an interest in covenant love, because they are all the gifts of your covenant God, and whatever may be the fluctuation of your frames and feel\u00adings, if your covenant security is revealed to your mind by the divine Preceptor, you will find it a never failing source of consolation, which neither tribulation nor temptation can take away.<\/p>\n I do not wonder that many Christians are destitute of that holy peace which the gospel of Christ is calculated to impart, while they neglect the fountain head of comfort, and even allow themselves to be alarmed at the sweetest and most expressive declarations of covenant love; such as, \u201cmy covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth,\u201d Psalm 89:34. and again, \u201cI will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me, Jer. 32:40. The very mention of such decla\u00adrations as these, warm my heart as I write, because in them I see my present and eternal welfare linked with the veracity of God; who has thus sworn that he will not depart from me, and that I shall not depart from him: so that I have only to plead as David did, \u201chold thou me up and I shall be safe; and, instead of trusting my own faithless deceitful heart, to repose unlimited confidence in my covenant God, exulting again with the King of Israel, in the delightful consideration that he hath made with ME an everlasting covenant.<\/p>\n I am aware this is considered presumption, by those who have not yet learned to live near to God, and who are not rooted and grounded in the truth; but if it be presumption, the Lord make me more presumptuous.<\/p>\n What is the whole bible but the history of a covenant people, and the record of covenant transactions? \u2014 What are all its doctrines but the charter of covenant love? \u2014 What are all its promises but the assurances of covenant blessings? \u2014And what are all its precepts but the reveal\u00aded will of a covenant God to his covenant people? Is not Jesus the covenant head?\u2014Is not his blood \u201cthe blood of the covenant?\u201d\u2014 Is he not emphatically the \u201c mes\u00adsenger of the covenant ?\u201d\u2014 And, shall not his people delight in his covenant?<\/p>\n Whence can you obtain peace of mind, when the de\u00adpravity of your nature stares you in the face? When all your resolutions fail ? When your heart backslidings are discovered? When your weakness in the hour of trial is felt? And when your sensible comforts are sus\u00adpended? no-where, but in the covenant love of him who has said, \u201cmy grace is sufficient for thee,\u201d here you will find firm ground to rest upon; this is solid rock, all be\u00adside is sand.<\/p>\n Go then my dear brother, take your standing on this solid basis; take hold of Jehovah\u2019s covenant, and you shall stand unmoved amidst all the convulsions of time, safe when the fabric of creation falls, and triumphant to all eternity.<\/p>\n You have felt the sensations which covenant grace alone could produce; you hate the evil which covenant precepts forbid; you thirst for the blessings which cove\u00adnant promises present, and you can trust the finished salvation which the covenant charter provides; yea, you can trust your all with the covenant head; and, can you now dispute your interest in covenant love? O! yield no longer to unbelief and slavish fear, but look up for grace to live on the covenant fulness of Jesus, and you shall never want a fountain of peace, a refuge in distress, or an incentive to holiness and activity.<\/p>\n What can so effectually call forth the gratitude of a child of God, as the assurance that Jehovah in the trinity of persons, has engaged in an unalterable covenant to pardon and save his soul, making provision for all his necessities on his way to glory? The love, wisdom, and condescension herein displayed, are the most powerful incentives that can exist in the human mind, and while they impart joy unspeakable and full of glory, the graces of the Spirit are called into exercise, and the whole life must of course be influenced thereby to the silencing of gainsayers, and to the glory of FATHER, SON, and SPIRIT, Israel\u2019s covenant God.<\/p>\n That your acquaintance with covenant blessings\u2014 your confidence in covenant love\u2014 and your participation of covenant pleasure may daily increase, is the prayer of Yours, &c. affectionately<\/p>\n \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bIn covenant bonds,<\/p>\n \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bJ. I.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Contingency, I leave for infidels:<\/p>\n A term degrading to redemption\u2019s scheme,<\/p>\n Lord let thy secret be reveal\u2019d to me.\u2014<\/p>\n Shew me the cov\u2019nant heavenly wisdom plann\u2019d\u2014<\/p>\n Order\u2019d in every part,\u2014confirm\u2019d with oaths,\u2014<\/p>\n And like thyself IMMUTABLE\u2014<\/p>\n Mindful of that grand cov\u2019nant scheme,<\/p>\n Engaging all the attributes of God,<\/p>\n In one firm compact to redeem my soul,<\/p>\n I cast away my doubts, abhor my sins,<\/p>\n And feel myself In Christ secure for heaven.<\/p>\n Yes, all is well, tho\u2019 foes and friends wage war,<\/p>\n The pledge of cov\u2019nant love is life divine,<\/p>\n Which lives on Christ the cov\u2019nant head,<\/p>\n And pants for nearness to a COVENANT GOD.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n