X. a Power in the Party that is to receive Be- SERMON nefit from the Covenant to qualify himself m for fuch Benefit by the Performance of certain Conditions on his Part, for Man was nou fuch capable Subject; he had loft all Power to Good, was in the Condition of an infolvent Debtor who had nothing to pay; in the Hands of his deadly Enemies, and sfo without Liberty; and upon the whole, emphatically poor, and miferable, and blind and naked: all that remained to him was the Power of being a Receiver, but such a one is ill qualified to be a Covenanter, for what we commonly term the Conditions of the Covenant, viz. Repentance and Faith, easy as they may feem, they are, if confidered in an Evangelical Senfe, the Gift of God, and Graces of it; and therefore of Neceffity it was, that fallen Man must be apprehended of Chrift before he could in any Senfe apprehend Him*. If it be objected here, that all the Applications to Man in Scripture, to repent, believe, turn, &c. do suppose a Power in Man to correfpond thereto: Be it answered; That we believe there is fuch a Power in every Man, but not of Man, not belonging to his own fallen Nature, but the Gift of God in Jefus Chrift, a Portion of his Spirit of Grace, a Seed of Faith: To this every Call, Appeal, and Application is directed, as to that Power whereby the Man is enabled to receive and obey it; but that where, by long and obftinate Refiftance to the Strivings of this good Spirit, Secondly, SERMON Secondly, As Salvation is a free Gift, fo is it free to all, for the Promife was made to our firft Parents, and in them to all their Seed to perpetual Generations, without Limitation or Restriction: And the Covenant was established in Chrift the fecond Adam, as another Parent of the human Race, in whom all the Nations of the Earth fhould be bleffed, and who should be a quickening Spirit to regenerate in them that Divine Life and Nature which was loft by the Fall, to give to as many as would receive Him Power to become the Sons of God. And to this End Grace was given to all, that all should come unto Him that they might have Life, and to receive Grace for Grace. The Covenant being thus estas blished with Man in Chrift, it has fure Foundations, for all the Promifes of God in Him are Yea and Amen, even the fure Mercies of David, confirmed by that folemn Oath of the Great Jehovah, when He fware Pf.lxxxix. by his Holiness, that He would not fail 34. the Grace is finned away, and this Power of Faith entirely loft (which feems to be the Sin against the Holy GhoftLord keep us from it!! in this Cafe the Day of Vifitation is paft and gone with refpect to fuch unhappy Perfons, the Gofpel is hid from them that are fo loft, and the Word preached cannot profit, not being mixed with Faith in them that hear it. X. David. Now what other David [Beloved] SERMON was this than the Son of his Love in whom He was well pleased. Who but David's Lord, the Subject of his Song, and the God of his Salvation? To him he fware, that his "Covenant should stand faft with "Him, and that his Seed should endure "for ever." And Thirdly, as this Covenant is both free and fure, fo is it exceeding precious; for the Son of God who is its fœderal Head and Mediator, is alfo the Sum and Subftance of it, concerning whofe fuller Manifeftation afterwards is that Promife of the Eternal Father by the Prophet-" I will Ifa. xxviii. give thee for a Covenant of the People, 16. I and to denote both his Ordination to it and the Stability of it, He is called "the 1 Pet. ii. Foundation, the chief corner Stone laid 5, 6. "in Zion, elect and precious, on which "the redeemed ones are built up a fpiritual "House, an holy Priesthood, to offer up fpiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God in Jefus Chrift." And as Jefus Christ, the fame Yesterday, to Day, and for ever, is the Virtue and Grace, the Foundation and Confummation of the Covenant, fo in Him. is the Election, He being, in this his Of SERMON fice for Man's fake, ftyled of God, His X. "Elect in whom his Soul delighteth:" And Ifa. xlii.. all his Servants who thro' the Obedience Heb ii. 11. of Grace and Faith are brought into Union with him, are, by Virtue of that Union styled the Elect alfo: And no Wonder that they are honoured with fo high a Title, who are dignified by fo near a Relation to the Son of God; for by the Spirit of Adop tion they can call God Father, and Jefus is "not ashamed to call them Brethren." Now fo long as they continue to be of that Seed wherein is the Election, and to which appertaineth the Predeftination to Eternal Life, fo long are they dear Children, Heirs of the Covenant, and joint Heirs with Chrift; theirs is the Mercy and Grace, theirs is the Pardon and Peace, theirs is the Filiation and the Inheritance: So long as they continue joined to the Lord in one Spirit, fo long is He made unto them Wifdom, and Righteoufnefs, and Sanctification, and Redemption. But then to put them in mind of the Poffibility of their falling in this their probationary State, as Man and An *That there a poffible Degree of our Union with Chrift here beyond the prevailing Power of Temptation, and all Danger of falling away, feams confirmed by many gels X. gels had done before, and that they be not SERMON high minded, but walk humbly with their God, they are bid to make their Calling and Election fure, by abiding in Him who is the Root of their Election and of all their Graces; for "unless a Man abide in me, John xv. fays our Lord," he is caft forth as a Branch, 6. and is withered ;" and therefore He commands us to be "faithful unto Death, Rev.ii. 10. ἐσ that he may give us a Crown of Life." Thro' neglect of this Caution some who had attained to great Gifts and Graces, not ftanding faft in the Liberty wherewith Chrift had made them free, have been entangled again with the Yoke of Bondage. If then we have obtained the like precious Faith, be it our Care, under Grace, that we be not of them who draw back unto Perdition, but of them who believe to the faving of the Soul. 1 Having thus glanced at fome Particulars relating to the Nature and Origin of the Covenant of Grace, proceed we, Secondly, to confider it as opening to a clearer Difcovery of itfelf in the Call of Abraham, after Scriptures: But that this high Diftinction of Grace is the |