68 Of EleClion. --------------------~ ------------------ ~of ljawb; fo, l'lor none more perfpicuoufly and Evangelically of the Gofpef BoOK I. Covenant, than the )4th Chapter ; and the two other that follow. And in ~the 55th Chapter, the 5th Verfe, this Covenant is called The furt Mercits of David: that is, of Chrifi: Having purchaf~d them for us by his Death and by rifingagainhavingapplied them to us. • 4• The fourth Parallel is, The tehaernefs of Gods Mercies to his Elect whom he takes into his Covenant , in all thefe Difirelles and Extremities~ This is by the Parallel of Noah's Story fet forth to us: For what can be fup· pofed more fympathizing with his People! or argues a deeper fenfe and found· ing of Bowels, than to hear God m the mtd!l ot their Allltctions and Tempta– tions, cry out on the fuddam, and wnh the greatefi vehemency; (Oh) thou afftii1ed, a11d tofftd witq tempejls, a11d tJot comforted: There is no fpeech or palfage which we find our God to utter in Scripture, more pathetick or pallio– nate than this: And yer you fee, (as before I touched) it is rei>refented under a perfeCt Allufion to, and compatrionate Remembrance that .God's Heart fiill had retained of Noah, whil!l m the Ark, floating in thofe Waves and horri– ble Tempe!ls; which coming in immediately with coherence with the re– membrance of Noah's Waters, Thu 8 the Waters of Noah, (§c. inVerf g. As a remembrance of his Covenant with his People, could not have been more probably carried over to any other Similitude or Allufion in Scripture whatfoe– ver, fuppofe this coherence had not been: But for the perrinency of it,l1hew· ed before what remembrance God had of Noah, whilfi in the Ark, Gm. 8. r~ And if Noah's lnfiance had not been alluded to, I appeal to any what Exem– plification they can find, to fet outtothe life the Sympathifings of a condo– ling Heart of another in Mifery, like unto it; nor could the movings of God's Bowels have been more elegantly uttered. Methinks it is iis if the deare!l Friend, or mofi loving Husband, or Father, having his dearefl Relations of Wife and Children, and friends, in a Ship at Sea, and viewing them to lit within the rage of wild Waves and Winds; which he, flanding himfelf fafc on the immediate Shore, fees, and beholds with his own eyes; and at every bending of the Ship near to a fuppretrion under thofe Waves, his heart beats, and he lamentably cries out at every tofs and motion, and thinks with himfelf. how mufl their hearts be afllicted, and nor comforted in the mid!\ of all, that are fhiltlefs and helplefs in this Storm, and know nor what to do! Like to fuch an one doth God exprefs his Affection here, 5. As touching the eminent Subject of this new Covenant, and of Elect;on ef Grace; that is, the Perfons to be faved, or that Church this Covenant is efiabli1hed ~'<ithal; our comparing together what is prophecied th<reof in this 54th Chapter of Ifaiah, and the preligurations thereof in Noah's Ark and Story, and his own Prophecies given out about it, will afford another (if ( · may not call it a Parallel, yet) concordant Harmony, yea Identity, to be tl>le fame in both, · Who, and what that Church fhould be, is lively fet forth in Noah's Story, under a double Notion or Confideration of them, 1, Of their Prrfons, whom that Church fbould fpecially be made up of, z. In refpect of their Condition, viz. all forts of Sinners. 1, Forthefirfi, This 54Chapter of lfaiah informs us, that thatChurch which God applies all thefe Promifes unto, and intends all thefe his Comforts to, was the Chriflian Church of the New Tefiament, which was to rife up foon after Chrifl's Death; (which many other Prophecies had foretold;) And in a f~ecial manner the coherence Df the nd ChapJ;er, and this )4th Chapter, fhews; this alfo (as it ferved afore for the former purpofe, fo now for this;) you have in Chap. 53· the mofi renowned of all other Records in the Old Te– flament, prophecying of Chrifi's Death , and therein a Promife as his Pur– chafe and reward, Ver f. 10. Tkotl jbalt malu his Soul an Ojjtri1tg for fig; H; fbat! (tt his Seed, t:§c. And as tn the Event 11 proved, that foon after Ghnfi s Death, a new Chrifiian Church began to be reared ; fo in order follows next in the Propher,a Prophecy of that Church: For immediately upon it, 1n Chap. . 5+
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