ling a sweet favour in his death and fatisfaction thereupon, God fets the bow of the covenant in his church. O firs, if it had not been for the fatisfaction which our furety offered, this bow of the covenant had never appeared in our heavens. 3. God's bow in the cloud is a fecurity against the waters of the deluge, that they fhall never return any more to deftroy the earth; and indeed the bow in the heavens is a greater fecurity against it, than the fands and rocks wherewith it is furrounded: fo the covenant of grace, grace, founded upon, and fealed with the blood of the Lamb, is a glorious fecurity against the devouring deluge of divine wrath, that it shall never return to destroy any foul that by faith flees to Chrift, and takes shelter under the covert of his blood and righteousness. Whenever a man fees the rainbow, it yields him peace and fafety against the fears of another deluge, tho' never fuch hurricanes or tempefts were blowing out of the heavens; tho' the fea were roaring and its waves fwelling, as tho' it would fwallow up the dry land, yet the fight of God's bow in the clouds, puts us out of fear of an univerfal deluge: fo here, whenever a poor foul by faith takes a view of the bow of the covenant furrounding God's throne of grace, it yields him peace; he is made to fee, that whatever be God's difpenfations, whatever be the appearance of his providences, yet the deluge of his vindictive wrath having spent itself upon the Surety, juftice itsef becomes the finner's fecurity, by virtue of the covenant of grace. Ifa. liv. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have fworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth: fo have I fworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. 4. The rainbow (as naturalifts think) is just a re flection of the beams of the fun; and it is the fun that gives being to the rainbow; for take away the fun out of the firmament, there would be no rainbow in the clouds: fo here, it is Chrift the fun of righteoufness, that gives being to the covenant of grace; he is the very life and fubftance of it; I will give thee for a covenant of the people. All the promifes of the covenant, what are they but juft the rays of grace and love, flowing out from Chrift, the brightness of the Father's glory. All the promises are in him, and in him they are yea and amen: Take away Christ, and the promise is not, the covenant is not. 5. Although the arch of the bow is high above us, reaching to the heavens, yet the extremes of it stoop down to the earth, and come near to every man, yea, one would think, whatever he is, or whatever place of the world he is in, ftill the end of the rainbow is pointing towards him: juft fo it is with the covenant of grace; altho' the great covenant-head be in heaven, yet the covenant itself stoops down to men upon earth. Rom. x. 6, 7, 8. Say not in thine heart, Who fhall afcend into heaven? (that is, to bring Chrift down from above) or Who shall defcend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Chrift again from the dead.) But what faith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach. By the righteoufnefs of faith, fpoken of in the 6th verfe, fome of our beft interpreters do understand the covenant of grace, which is fo called, because therein God brings near his righteoufnefs to us; yea, the covenant of grace, in the difpenfation of it, like the bow in the clouds, points to every man, faying, To you is the word of this falvation fent. The covenant is indefinite, no man's name name is mentioned, no man's name excluded; but as it were a blank left for every man to put in his own name by an applicatory faith. 6. God's bow in the cloud's is very extenfive, reaching from the one end of heaven to the other: fo God's covenant of grace is a large and wide covenant. Though all Adam's pofterity were gathered together, there would be room for them within the arches of the rainbow. God's covenant of grace is a large and wide covenant; there is room in it for you, room for me, and room for all mankind; God's voice is to every one to take hold of it, for every one to come within the circuit of it: Ho, every one that thirfteth, come to the waters; he that hath no money, let him come. You that have spent your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which profiteth not, ye are called to take hold of it, Ifa. lv. 1, 2. 7. As the rainbow is a fecurity against an univerfal deluge, fo it is a prognoftic of a refreshing shower of rain to the thirsty earth: fo this bow of the covenant that is furrounding the throne of grace, as it fecures against vindictive wrath, fo it prognofticates, yea gives the greatest affurance of the rain of the Spirit's influences. It is an article of the covenant, I will be as the dew to Ifrael, and he shall grow as the lilly, and caft forth his roots like Lebanon: I will come to them as the rain, as the latter and former rain upon the earth. As it feldom or never fails, that if a man looks upon the rainbow, but a fhower follows it in a little time; fo it never fails, that if a man looks by faith to the bow of the covenant, and the faithfulness of God in it, but fome refreshing rain of the dew of heaven falls on his foul. Eph. i. 13. After that ye believed, ye were Sealed Kk 4 1 fealed with the Holy Spirit of promife. John xi. 40. Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou fhouldft fee the glory of God? 8. The vifible and fenfible appearance of the rainbow is but of a fhort continuance, commonly it appears for a little, and then vanifhes; fo the fenfible and lively views that the believer gets of the cove- . nant of grace, in its beauty, order, freedom, fulness and stability, are commonly but of a fhort continuance; it is a rare hour and a short ftay, faid one of the Antients: 9. Although the rainbow disappear, and that for a long while together, yet we do not conclude upon that account, that God's covenant with us is broken, or that the waters will return again to destroy the earth. No, the remembrance of the rainbow fet in the clouds, though a man has not feen it but once in his life; I fay, the very remembrance of the bow makes us eafy, and perfuades us that the deluge fhall not return again: So here, whenever God difcovers this bow of the covenant furrounding the throne of grace, when he has determined thy foul to take hold of it, although thou doft not fee it in fuch a fenfible manner now as thou haft feen it formerly, yet the very remembrance of this covenant may make thy foul eafy against the fears of wrath, because the veracity and faithfulness of God in the covenant, is the fame without any variablenefs, however matters may be with thee,as to thy prefent fense and feeling. Thus you fee in what refpect God's covenant is resembled to the bow which he has fet in the clouds. For the fecond question, Why this bow is faid to be round about the throne? I anfwer, 1. This fignifies the glorious Majefty of a God of Grace in Chrift; for, for, as I told you, it is reprefented as a canopy of |