The Communicant's Companion (continued)
make our covenanting with God the more solemn, and consequently the more affecting, and the impressions of it the more abiding. The covenant of grace is a "covenant never to be forgotten." This ordinance, therefore, was instituted to assure us, that God will never forget it, and to assist us, that we may never forget it. It is the seal of the new covenant; that is,
1. God does in, and by this ordinance, seal to us, to be to us a God. This article of the covenant is inclusive of all the rest; in giving himself to us to be ours, he gives us all things, for he is God all sufficient. This is the grant, the royal grant which the eternal God here seals, and delivers to true believers, as his act and deed. He gives himself to them, and empowers them to call him theirs. What God is in himself, he will be to them for their good. His wisdom theirs, to counsel and direct them; his power theirs, to protect and support them; his justice theirs, to justify them; his holiness theirs, to sanctify them; his goodness theirs, to love and supply them; his truth is the inviolable security of the promise, and his eternity the perpetuity of their happiness. He will be to them a Father, and they shall be his sons and daughters, dignified by the privileges of adoption, and distinguished by the spirit of adoption. Their Maker is their husband, and he hath said, that "he is married to them, and rejoiceth in them as the bridegroom in his bride." The Lord is their shepherd, and the sheep of his pasture shall not want. He is the portion of their inheritance in the other world, as well as of their cup in this; he has prepared for them a city, and thereby "is not ashamed to be called their God."
2. We do in and by this ordinance, seal to him to be to him a people. We accept the relation by our voluntary choice and consent, and bind our souls with a bond, that we will approve ourselves to him in the relation. We hereby resign, surrender, and give up our whole selves, body, soul, and