Home A TREATISE ON THE COVENANT OF GRACE A TREATISE ON THE COVENANT OF GRACE by John Cotton,1652.16

A TREATISE ON THE COVENANT OF GRACE by John Cotton,1652.16

by outofmydepths
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3. This also is a third effect of the freedom from the Covenant of Works; that a Christian doth not look for conjugal comfort from his obedience, nor fear conjugal divorce from his disobedience. In a Covenant of Works, it is with a man, as it was with Leah, Jacob’s wife, who expected love and fellowship from her husband, because of her fruitfulness, Genesis 29:32, when she brought forth her first born, she said, Now therefore will my husband love me; and when she brought forth her third son, verse 34, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me: but thus doth not a man under a Covenant of Grace; for when he hath done all he can, he is ready to say, I am an unprofitable servant, Luke 17:10, and doth not challenge God for any of his dealing with him: he seeth he deserveth not his daily bread, and so looks for no reward from his good works: though the Lord will graciously acknowledge his servants in what they do according to his will, yet they are not wont to plead any such thing; which is very observable in the practice of Jacob, Genesis 32:9,10, &c.

O Lord God of my Father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy Country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee; I am less then the least of all the mercies and truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. So he doth not press his performance of God’s Commandment to procure blessing, but acknowledgeth his unworthiness, and looketh for Grace from the Promise of God. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother; for thou saidst, I will surely do thee good. Nor doth a child of God fear divorce by his disobedience, though it have been very great. Sometimes the people of God have not only rejected the servants of God, but the Lord himself, 1 Samuel 8:7, but when Samuel had pressed hard upon them for their sin, chapter 12, and they were truly humbled, then Samuel said unto them (verses 20,21,22)

Fear not; ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart: and turn not you aside, for then you should go after vain things that cannot profit nor deliver (for they are vain) for the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great Name sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people, therefore fear you not, he will not cast you off: So that (mind you ) a poor Christian doth not fear divorce from his disobedience; for if we should look for blessing from the one, or cursing from the other, we were not under Christ, but under the Law: but he that is freed from the Covenant of Works, is freed also from expecting salvation, or fearing damnation from what he doth; he knoweth the Lord will hide his face from him if he do evil, but he knoweth the Lord will not cast him off for ever; yet he dares not commit sin, but being under Grace, he is the more affected if he shall at any time displease God, and procure chastisement to himself: and by this means the Lord doth mortify his distempers.

On the side, if he do well, he will not say, Now my husband will cleave unto me, and dwell with me; no, no, we are freed from the Law, Romans 7:4, which we were not, if we look for conjugal love from God, for our obedience to the Law: it is true, if a man be married to the Law, his obedience unto it will supply comfort unto him; but if we be dead unto the Law, we have no life in it, nor by it, but only in Jesus Christ, from whom we expect our comfort: indeed we are troubled that we should sin against the grace of God, otherwise we look not at our obedience or disobedience, to make us accepted or rejected.

4 And finally, the soul doth not claim his right unto any conditional promise, by his performance of the condition; nor doth he deny himself the blessing that the promise may reach forth unto him, though he be wanting in obedience to this or that Commandment: pregnant for this purpose is the example of Jacob (which we mentioned before) Genesis 32:9,10, who though he had a plain and a full promise of God, to do him good if he would return to his Country, and to his kindred, yet when he did return according to the word of God, he claimed not his interest in that promise, for that he had done as God commanded him, but I am less then the least of thy mercies; and yet he cometh unto the Lord for the performance of his promises, but not upon this ground; only for the sake of mercy and truth, Deliver me I pray thee: for thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, verses 11,12.

So that (mind you) though the soul can make use of a conditional promise, and come to God for the blessing of it, yet not expecting it in the least manner, by virtue of his obedience: and truly this is the freedom of a Christian soul; whereas another man, if he have kept the Commandment, and performed the condition, he then looketh for acceptance from God: as if the Lord make this promise, that he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin, shall find mercy; this man confesseth his sin unto God, and forsaketh it, and therefore he looketh for mercy: but this is not the manner of God’s people; and yet if they look for any mercy, it is in the way of God, but not because of their own goodness; their hope is in the faithfulness, and free grace of God: they may make mention to the praise of God, how he hath guided them, and carried them an end in his own ways; yet they challenge nothing from any thing that they have done, but put the Lord in mind of his free promise, that as of his free grace he hath freely promised: so from the same grace he may make good what he hath promised.

Use 1: If any therefore shall accuse the Doctrine of the Covenant of free Grace of Antinomianism, and say, it teacheth men freedom from the Law of Moses; and if they commit any sin, they plead they are not bound unto the Law; we see how false such an aspersion would be: for all the people of God know, that the Lord is an avenger of every such wickedness. There is none under a Covenant of Grace that dare allow himself in any sin; for if a man should negligently commit any sin, the Lord will school him throughly, and make him sadly to apprehend how he hath made bold with the treasures of the grace of God. Shall we continue in sin, that Grace may abound? God forbid: None that have a portion in the grace of God, dareth therefore allow himself in sin; but if through strength of temptation he be at any time carried aside, it is his greatest burden, 2 Samuel 12:8,9, compared 13, Hath not the Lord (saith Nathan) done these and these things for thee? Wherefore then hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord? then David confesseth, I have sinned. It pierced him to the heart to consider it, that he should abuse his Neighbour’s Wife, and kill her husband, and commit such wickedness against God, that had dealt so graciously with him.

So that the children of the Covenant of grace will only tell you, that they are free from the Covenant of the Law, but not from the Commandment of it: for as it is given by Jesus Christ, and ratified in the Gospel; and as Christ hath given us his Spirit enabling us to keep it, we are under it so far, as to take our selves bound by the authority of it; and if we do transgress against it, we know it is sin in the sight of God, and therefore it is that the soul in such a case is sensible of the wrath and displeasure of God, whether it be his own sin, or the sin of his brethren: therefore he runneth unto God for mercy; which he would not do, if he did not know, that his desert according to the Law did utterly cut him off from mercy, else would he never pray for pardon of sin, nor rejoice when the Lord helpeth him to do that which is right and just in his sight, nor bless the Lord for strengthening him unto obedience, unless he thought it to be his duty: and therefore,

Use 2: It is of use also to teach the servants of God, how far they are freed from the Law; to wit, from the Covenant of it: so that they neither look for justification, nor salvation from it. And let it not be grievous to any soul, that a Christian should say, He doth not fear condemnation by his disobedience: he will be apt to fear in this kind, until he be assured of the favour of God; but when he knoweth his portion in the Covenant, then indeed he doth not fear condemnation by his sin, nor doth he think that the Lord will cleave unto him because of his fruitfulness; he casteth not off his comfort, nor looketh at himself as divorced from Christ, because of his barrenness before the Lord; nor doth he look for his daily bread from all his obedience, but expecteth all goodness and blessing from the treasures of the free grace of God.

Use 3. This may also serve to teach men some kind of discernment of their own spirits, and state: if you look for Justification no longer then you are obedient, and fear eternal condemnation when you are disobedient; if you be afraid of divorce from Christ because of your sins, or if you look for any blessing, and challenge right to any promise, by virtue of any well-doing of your own; in such a case either thou art under a Covenant of works, or at the least thou art gone aside to a Covenant of works; and if ever the Lord open your eyes, and bestow his free grace upon you, you will know your redemption from such dependences as these be. I know a Christian man, that hath not been clearly taught the distinct differences of the two Covenants, may be misled into dangerous ways, that might tend unto the utter undoing of his soul; but it is a sin of ignorance, and the Lord will not leave his servants, but clear up his truth and grace unto them.

Use 4. May serve to teach the servants of God, that desire to walk in a way of constant comfort, how to build their faith and their hope: truly if they be grounded upon your own obedience, or righteousness, or sanctification; if they depend upon you, you will find your hearts ever unsettled: you may find comfort, as under the Law you shall; for if a man be married to the Law, the Law will cast in comforts upon him because of his obedience; but if you shall believe that Christ is yours, and comfort your selves because you have been by the power of the Law constrained to duties, and restrained from sin, and thereupon build your conjugal communion with Jesus Christ, you will find your souls full of sadness and fear ere long, specially if you have true grace in your hearts: and therefore it is the faithfulness and tenderness of the grace of God unto his people, that when Christians come into this Country, though they have been marvellous eminent in our native Country, they cannot pray fervently, nor hear the word with profit, nor receive the seals with comfort: they wonder what is become of their old prayers, and hearings, and Sacraments, and of their lively spirits in holy duties. 

Truly the Lord hath disenabled them (as it were) from such things, because they did build their union and fellowship with Jesus Christ upon them, that so they might know the freedom of the grace of God, that justifieth the Ungodly; then will the poor soul be glad to seek after the Lord Jesus Christ, and say (as the people of God sometimes did, Hosea 2:7) I will go, and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me then now: now the soul will plainly see and discern, that he closed not with his true Husband, when as he built so much hope and comfort upon his duties; therefore he will find himself weak, and dead, (as it were) to all spiritual duties, and can find no life in them, no comfort from them; and it is the marvellous goodness, and free grace of God unto such a soul, whom the Lord will not suffer to bless himself in his works; for if a man should lay the foundation of his comfort in them, and be ready as it were to take it ill, if he should not find God accepting his works.

Wherefore have we fasted, and thou regardest it not? Isaiah 58:3. If a man rejoice in the sparks which he hath kindled, this shall he receive at the hands of God, to lie down in sorrow, Isaiah 50:11, whereas the light of God shall graciously break forth unto the servants of God, though they wait upon him, though they be for present in darkness, and see no light. Trust not therefore in any legal comforts, but wait upon the free grace of God, both to justify, sanctify, comfort, and glorify your souls; and this is the way of constant peace: and if the Lord do at any time check his servants, when they walk in by-ways; it is, that he may build them upon a surer foundation. So that their salvation will not lie upon their obedience, nor damnation be procured by their disobedience: this is the way of constant peace and safety unto all the Israel of God.

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