62 Of Eleflion. ~ fame, occafioneth him in the midfi of his Declaration of thofe Promifes of BooK l. Graet, to cry out; Thu is tht ·Waters of Noah to me : The verr famt I J 1 d ~thm. Now the thingsthat were then done, at thofe Waters, were an uttering a Covenant by God, for Noah's Salvation in thofe Waters : Likewife Gods fe– cret Purpofes and lntendments, then only known to himfelf , by thofe tranf– adions with Noah as in a Type, did forefignifie his like gracious Purpofcs to– wards ~is Church; which he utters, and declares. : Alfo NOilh his tolling and Tryals 1n the Waters, and Gods remembrance ofhtm then, tn the midi! of thc:;n. And thus, in faying this is the Waters of Nosh to illt; It is as if God had there faid, the Promifes and Covenant I have but now declared towards my Church, make me call to mind what I faid to Noah at the Flood, when the Waters would 11ave defiroyed him: And..alfo to remember what my 6race my Intentions, Purpofes, my Affedions , my Heart , was then, and at ;hat time: And thofe my tranfadions with him then, I intended, and aimed to prefigure, and Pourtray out thefe my like Gracious Purpofes ; to my Church to come out of his Loins: Which I meant in after Ages , and in due time t~ declare, and open the mi!lery of: And accordingly I now upon this occafion do declare it in my Prophet l{ai.; This is tht Wattrs of" Noah to me: I the~ had them all in contemplation afore; I had all my eled Church to come in my view : All my purpofes ofGrace, all my Promifes of Salvation were afore me then: I intended them all in the Figure, a<Jd Type of Noah's Salvation, and of his Sons: And when the rime of the accomplithment lhall come , I lhall further, and more amply declare this te have been in my Heart and Defign by my Apofiles, To mr. ) There is a great deal of emphafis in that Adjedion, and ferves for confirmation of thefe things,. which have now been fpoken. '• It imports that God fo lookt at it, and intended it as fuch. A man ufeth to fay of a thing that we account to be fuch, anG fuch, It is fo to me: To us , thrrt is /;ut onr God, e5c. Says the Apofile in the name of Chrifiians : Sowe Judge, and believe; thefe Waters were my Covenant : So it fiood in my thoughts; and fo it lhould !land in yours. 2.. It importS, that a th ing is privately, and fecretly, and within ones bre!l,fo or fo intend·?d and efieemed: It is to 11Je) Who am privy to my own In– tentions ; fo to God, between God and himfelf, And this import the next fentence fuggefieth, For M I havt]worn, thr Wattrr of Noah jhatl11o mort go ove/ the Earth. Now look over all that !lory in Gtntfis, then over the whole Book of the O ld Tdlament, and you find not the leafi intimation of an Oath which God had taken about this matter : And if God had kept his own Counfel, we could never have challedged him with this parallel of an Oath to both his Covenant , and ours : His intentions therein were known only to himfelf: But himfelfknowing.his own mind, utters it here : For it is to me that the Watefs ofNoah are my Covenant ef Grace. 3• Lafily, this [To me J imports Gods acknowledging himftlf obliged to fulfill his Covenant of Grace to the eled: For though none did know this to have been his intentions in it, yet it was enough for him, within himfelf to have intended it fo. And it is enough to us for him to fay , This is to mt tht Waters of Noah : And as I performed that then , fo I hold my fell obliged now, My own purpofes had then, are my bounds between me, and my felf: And I can no more alter my purpofes in it, than I did recall my Cove– nant made to Noah then , when I made it. This being the true intent, and meaning of thde words ; further, as for the form of ·fpeech it felf, to fay of the Promifes of his Covenant of Grace, this] is the Wafers of Noah; this form, or manner of Speech is ufual. As, t. When we would parallel two things that are alike, we ufe to fay~ thit is fuch , or fuch a thing; namely, to which it is like, Thus Chrillfpeaks of John Bapt1f/, Matth. 11. 1) This is EliM : He fpeaks it of Johll m C~herence with Verf. 13· And why, but becaufe he was fuch another Man,m h1s courfc
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