GO D,_ oR ALEHI M, .&C. 1í3 the BELOVED. What precious Words are thefe ? GOD, willing more abundantly to thew unto the Heirs of Promife the Immutability of his Counfel, confirmed it by an Oath [Marg. interpofed himfelf by an Oath] ;. that by two im- mutable things, in which it was impoffible for GOD to lie, WE might have a firong Confolation, who have fled for Refuge to lay bold upon the Hopefet before us. * Why did he take this Trouble, why ftoop fo low; why hum- ble himfelf, for .the fake of fallen, apoftate Man ? Why engage in this Covenant, and reveal this Covenant engaged, for fo poor a Lump of Clay, the tottering Tenement of a rebellious Soul ? Why promife and ful- fill fuch and fo many marvellous Bleftings for thole, who, unlefs he added the Gift of Thankfulnefs, would never thank him for one of his Gifts, which his Good- nefs fight confer before ? O, wonderful to fay ; all was t e. Refult offree, unfolicited; unthought of, Grace ! Man ffood in need of it; but neither fought, nor wifhed to Peek, for the Bleffing. His own Sagacity, combined with all the Subtlety of Satan; could not even have imagined it: GOD alone could be the Au- thor, and Man alone was the SubjeFt, of redeeming Love. The Plan was laid upon the everlaftingThrone in Heaven; and neither Men nor Devils can fruftrate its Execution, though but in the minuteft Inftance, upon Earth. The Covenant of GOD is as firm and (table, as the very Being of GOD himfelf. What joyful New fhould this be, O Believer, to Thee, and to every one, in whom the Effect of this Covenant of Life appears ? Does not thy Heart burn within thee, t in the Contemplation of its Importance, and in the Perfualion of thy lntereft in it? What De- light muff the Affurance of GOD's Word and Spirit give thee, that the ALEHIM bath confiituted for Thee, even FOR THEE, an everlafting Covenant, ordered in all things above every human Contrivance, and fare in all * Heb. vi. 17, 58. t Lake xxiv. 3z. tbin;$ I
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