A VIEW OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE, FROM THE SACRED RECORDS. WHEREIN THE PARTIES IN THAT COVENANT, THE MAKING OF IT, ITS PARTS, CONDITIONARY AND PROMISSORY, AND THE ADMINISTRATION THEREOF ARE DISTINCTLY CONSIDERED. TOGETHER WITH THE TRIAL OF A SAVING PERSONAL INBEING IN IT, AND THE WAY OF INSTATING SINNERS THEREIN, UNTO THEIR ETERNAL SALVATION. TO WHICH IS SUBJOINED A MEMORIAL CONCERNING PERSONAL AND FAMILY FASTING AND HUMILIATION, PRESENTED TO SAINTS AND SINNERS. ADVERTISEMENT. This Treatise, and the Memorial adjoined, being posthumous works of my father's, I thought it necessary to testify to the world, that they are published as he left them, being printed from his own Manuscript prepared for the press, without any addition or alteration whatsoever. THOMAS BOSTON. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. As man's ruin was originally owing to the breaking of the covenant of works, so his recovery, from the first to the last step thereof, is owing purely to the fulfilling of the covenant of grace; which covenant, being that wherein the whole mystery of our salvation lies, I am to essay the opening of, as the Lord shall be pleased to assist. And there is the more need of humble dependence on the Father of lights, through Jesus Christ his Son, for the manifestation of his Spirit in this matter, that whereas the first covenant is known, in part, by the light of nature, the knowledge of this second is owing entirely to revelation. It was from this covenant the psalmist, in the verse immediately preceding the first text, took a comfortable view of a glorious building, infallibly going up in the midst of ruins; even a building of mercy: "For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever;" the ground of which confident assertion is, in our text, pointed out to be God's covenant with his chosen. From the type of the covenant of grace, namely, the covenant of royalty made unto David, he saw a building up of mercy for the royal family of Judah, when they were brought exceeding low. From the substance of it, he saw a building of mercy for sinners of mankind, who were laid in ruins by the breach of the first covenant. This is that new building free grace set on foot for us; into which they that believe are instantly thereupon received, and where once received, they shall dwell for ever; a building of mercy, in which every stone, from the bottom to the top, from the foundation stone to the cope-stone, is pure mercy, rich and free mercy to us. Of this building of mercy I shall drop a few words. And, 1. The plan of it was drawn from all eternity, in the council of the Trinity for it is according to the eternal purpose purposed in Jesus Christ, Eph. iii. 11. The objects of mercy, the time and place, the way and means, of conferring it on them, were designed particularly, before man was miserable, yea, before he was at all. 2. The builder is God himself, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. iii. 9, "Ye are God's building." All hands of the glorious Trinity are at work in this building. The Father chose the objects of mercy, and gave them to the Son to be redeemed; the Son purchased redemption for them; and the Holy Ghost applies the purchased redemption unto them. But it is specially attributed to the Son, on the account of his singular agency in the work: Zech. vi. 12, "Behold the man whose name is the Branch-He shall build the temple of the Lord:" ver. 13, "Even He shall build the temple of the Lord, and He shall bear the glory." 3. The foundation was laid deep in the eternal counsel; beyond the reach of the eyes of men or angels. Paul considering it, cries out, "O the depth!" Rom. xi. 33. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counsellor ?" ver. 34. 4. It is more than five thousand years since this building rose above ground. And the first stone of it that appeared, was a promise, a promise of a Saviour, made in paradise after the fall, Gen. iii. 15, namely, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. Here was mercy. And mercy was laid upon mercy. Upon promising mercy was laid quickening mercy, whereby our lost first parents were enabled to believe the promise; and upon quickening mercy was laid pardoning mercy to them; and upon that again sanctifying and establishing mercy; and at length glorifying mercy. 5. The cement is blood; the blood of Jesus Christ the Mediator, which is the blood of God, Acts xx. 28. No saving mercy for sinners could consist, nor could one mercy lie firm upon another in the building, without being cemented with that precious blood; but by it the whole building consists, and stands firm for ever, Heb. ix. 22, 23, and vii. 24, 25. 6. Ever since the time it appeared above ground, it has been going on. And many hands have been employed, to serve in carrying on the work. In the first ages of the world, patriarchs were employed in it, such as Adam, Enoch, and Noah; in the middle ages, prophets, priests, and Levites; in these the last ages, the apostles, and other extraordinary officers, and ordinary ministers of |