The covenant of grace

--Thomas Brooks, "Paradise Opened" 1675

"He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure. Will He not bring to
fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?"
2 Samuel 23:5

All mankind would have been eternally lost--had God
not, of His own free grace and mercy, made a new
covenant with sinful man. The fountain from whence
His new covenant flows, is the sovereign grace and
mercy of God. There was nothing outside of God, nor
anything in God, but His mere mercy and grace--which
moved Him to enter into covenant with poor sinners,
who were miserable and loathsome and polluted; and
and were actually in arms against Him!

As there was nothing in fallen man to draw God's favor
or affection towards him; just so--there was everything
in fallen man which might justly provoke God's wrath and
indignation against him! Therefore it must be a very high
act of favor and grace--for the great, the glorious, the holy,
the wise, and the all-sufficient God--to enter into covenant
with such a forlorn creature as fallen man was!

Oh, the admirable counsel, wisdom, love, care and
tenderness of the blessed God--which sparkles and
shines in the well-ordering of the covenant of grace!
Oh, how lovely and beautiful, with what symmetry
and proportion, are all things in this covenant ordered
and prepared! Oh, what head can conceive, or what
tongue can express--that infinite wisdom which God
has manifested in ordering the covenant of grace--so
as it may most and best suit to all the needs, and
straits, and necessities, and miseries, and desires,
and longings of poor sinners' souls! Here are fit and
full supplies for all our spiritual needs! In the covenant
of grace, every poor sinner may find . . .
a suitable help,
a suitable remedy,
a suitable support,
a suitable supply!

The covenant of grace, is so well ordered by the
unsearchable wisdom of God, that you may find in it . . .
remedies to cure all your spiritual diseases,
cordials to comfort you under all your soul-faintings,
and a spiritual armory to arm you against . . .
all sorts of sins, and
all sorts of snares, and
all sorts of temptations, and
all sorts of oppositions, and
all sorts of enemies--whether inward
or outward, open or secret, subtle or silly.

Do you, O distressed sinner--need . . .
a loving God,
a compassionate God,
a reconciled God,
a sin-pardoning God,
a tender-hearted God?
Here you may find Him in the covenant of grace!

Do you, O sinner--need a Christ . . .
to counsel you by His wisdom,
to clothe you with His righteousness,
to enrich you with His grace,
to enlighten you with His eye salve,
to justify you from your sins,
to reconcile you to God,
to secure you from wrath to come,
to bring you to heaven?
Here you may find Him in a covenant of grace!

Do you, O sinner! need the Holy Spirit . . .
to awaken you,
to convince you of sin, righteousness and judgment,
to enlighten and teach you,
to lead and guide you in the everlasting way,
to cleanse you,
to comfort you?
Here you may find Him in the covenant of grace!

O sinner! Do you need grace, all grace, great grace,
abundance of grace, multiplied grace? Here you may
find it in the covenant of grace!

O sinner! Do you need peace, or ease, or rest, or
quiet in your conscience? Here you may find it in
the covenant of grace!

O sinner! Do you need contentment, or comfort,
or joy, or satisfaction? Here you may have it in
the covenant of grace!

O sinner, sinner! whatever your soul needs are--they
may all be supplied out of the covenant of grace!
God, in His infinite wisdom and love, has laid into
the covenant of grace, as into a common storehouse,
all those good things, and all those great things, and
all those suitable things--that either sinners or saints
can either desire or need!