Chapter IV
The instance of Noah, and his being saved in an ark, and God s covenant made
with him, proved more largely and fully to be a great exemplar and typical
representation of election and the covenant of grace.
In that draught of the line of election that runs through the whole Scrip
tures, I could but briefly touch upon that one particular instance of Noah and his sons ; but my meditations have been since more especially enlarged about this Noah, that not only himself, in his own person, as recorded in
his story, to have been a special instance and example of electing grace, and
of the covenant thence flowing, but farther, that God s covenants made with him and his seed, and God s dealings with him according to those cove
nants, were prophetic figures of his covenant with his church, in the times
of the New Testament; who were, by virtue of the election of grace, to be
raised up out of his loins. And the demonstration of this out of the Scrip tures is the design and subject of this appendix, which I chose thus to sever from the former, because it would have taken up too much room in that brief
enumeration of so many other persons that are instances of election in that
catalogue ; and yet it subserveth to the same end and purpose. I therefore annex it thereunto, as an appendix to that discourse.
I have a long time looked at that which both the Old Testament and the New style the covenant of grace, or the
* new covenant, to be but election
purposes and designs put into promises ; God expressing therein the gracious intentions and resolutions of himself towards his elect, which had been taken
up by him from eternity; only whereas election in God s heart then did
design the individual persons, together with the things decreed to them ; he
hath in the promises and revealed declarations of the covenant of grace, con
cealed the particular persons, and doth only indefinitely propound the sub
* sinners
jects of those promises, touching the persons intended, that they are
of mankind, and that of all sorts and conditions, to whom, and upon whom, God therein declareth that he will certainly and infallibly make good that
covenant and the promises thereof. And himself hath therein undertaken
* new hearts and new spirits, to teach them to know him and his Son Christ, the mediator
to perform it in them, though not for them, as to give them
of that covenant, and the like ; and in such absolute terms of promises on God s part doth that covenant run, with difference from the covenant of
works, so as the materials of the covenant of grace are all one with election
decrees in the things decreed, though the persons are not named whom God
will infallibly bestow them upon, but yet with greater certainty declared that God will perform it to and amongst mankind ; and yet the persons who being
left indefinite, that ought to set all a-work to seek to come under it, in such
ways as God hath commanded all men that [are] within the hearing of it [to] seek him in [it]. Noah s story doth partly in the reality to his own person, partly in the
type of things in that story, [contain] these two eminent parts concerning our salvation.
1. God s covenant of grace, and God s everlasting kindness therein,
42 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
which is the spring of that covenant, and for that I take Isa. liv. 9, 10 for my text.
2. The type of the mediator of that covenant, Christ, which was the ark; and how that Christ, as signified in our baptism, is the sole author of salva
tion to us; and for that I refer to the 1 Peter iii. 20, 21, Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were
saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us
(not the putting away the filthiness of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
8. The work of the covenant in us and upon us, namely, of faith, &c., which God hath as peremptorily also ordained to be the means of the appli cation of Christ for salvation to us, and without which we shall not be saved. And for this take Noah s instance : Heb. xi. 7, By faith Noah, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the
saving of his house ; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir
of the righteous [ness] which is by faith. The example of Noah there in the
type set out, gives us a lively pattern of the work of salvation in us, answer
ing to his faith about the ark (that is) through the work of application to us
by faith on Christ.
4. The difficulties, distresses, hazards, temptations, through which we
pass (after our being in Christ), under the covenant of grace, ere we arrive
at heaven; and for this I take those words in the fore-cited Isa. liv. 11, thou afflicted, and tossed with tempest, and not comforted! speaking to his
church, which in their coherence with the verses afore, 9 and 10, have mani
festly a respect to Noah s condition in the ark, which in those 9th and 10th
verses God hath first made mention of. And it is the first of those, upon Isa. liv. 9, 10, which I single forth for my present argument ; which is an exemplification of election, and of the covenant of grace in Noah s person and story.
SECTION I.
Of election, and the covenant of grace, and the church of the New Testament, the subject of both, as typified forth in NoaJis story. That Noah, in hi* own person, was intended as an example of election; the covenants made with him before the flood, and with him and his sons after, were types of the covenant of grace; proved in a discourse on Isa. liv. 7-11.
For a small moment have Iforsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from tlieefor a moment; but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart^ and the hills shall be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath
mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted !
ISA. LIV. 7-11.
That these words speak, in the first place, the pure covenant of grace, and the everlastingness and perpetuity of that grace and covenant, as it flows in God s heart in and from election, may be apparent in the very reading the words ; and, secondly, that they refer to the story of Noah s covenant and
CHAP. IV.] OF ELECTION. 43
waters at the flood, as the figure and exemplification thereof, I hope, through God s grace, to make evident throughout this whole discourse ; but
at present,
1. For the first, you have not only the very word covenant in express terms, ver. 10, My covenant, and that of my peace, hut also the pure
grace and kindness of God, out of which he made the covenant, and which he exerciseth throughout in all the dispensations of it. This those many words that surround the text do declare ; as that, with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, ver. 8; my kindness shall not depart from thee,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee, ver. 10. And that the grace of
election, though it be not under that term or word mentioned, yet in sense and reality is specified, that word, with everlasting kindness, insinuates, as
grasping within it both everlastings ; a kindness everlasting for time to
come, being but the continuation of an everlasting mercy and kindness that hath been for ever of old : Ps. xxv. 6, Remember, Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old; that as God s own everlastingness comprehendeth both, Ps. xc. 2, Even from
everlasting to everlasting thou art God, so doth and is his lovingkindness towards us. And those other words, Says the Lord that hath
mercy on thee, miserator tuus; which is a periphrasis of election, and is tantamount as to say, The Lord who hath chosen thee, as Rom. ix. (where election is handled), the apostle expressly doth shew.
2. For the second of these, that these things are found in and may be
fetched out of Noah s story and covenant, declared to him upon occasion of
the flood, appears from this in the text, that God, to verify the truth of his
covenant to his church, allegeth and referreth both himself and us to the
waters of Noah: This is the waters of Noah to me, saith he.
Three general heads of the first part of this discourse drawn forth out of
the words, ver. 9.
In which words, and those that follow, God doth (for they are his words by the prophet, as his mouth), 1, at once point us both to Noah s person (whom therefore he twice mentions), and his waters in his salvation from them, as an example of that covenant and mercy which now he promiseth unto his
church, and all her children (as ver. 13 they are called), to perform the same to them as he had done it then to him ; as likewise, 2, that the
story of him and his waters or flood, and God s covenant with him, his sons,
&c., and oath thereabouts, though in the letter the semblance they bear was
but of the temporal salvation and deliverance from the flood, yet in the
mystery thereof they were (as is here signified) intended as figures of God s
eternal covenant and mercies unto his elect church, which were to come out
of Noah s and his sons loins ; 3, which church, that is here specially pointed at concerning his covenant, with which he says, This is to me the
waters of Noah, is the church under the New Testament, and the seed of
Japhet especially, whom this covenant and promises do more particularly concern, as in ver. 1, 2, 3 of this chapter will appear. And these are the three heads and branches of this general part of this
discourse.
1. The first of these three heads hath two branches in it.
(1.) The first, concerning Noah s particular person, that he was first
intended in it as an example as well as a type of that grace, and election, and covenant here declared to the church.
(2.) The second, that the covenants made with him afore the flood, and with him and his sons after, were figures of the same, &c.
44 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
(1.) Noah in his own person was intended as an example of the covenant
T^aT himself was the principal and first covenanter, declared heir of the
covenant of grace, and that made known to him by God himself upon that
occasion of the flood, is evident by this, that he is said by faith to have
entertained it, and accepted on his part God s declarations made then to
him as understood by him to be the declarations of the covenant of grace. And therefore it must be that God also on his part had with that intention
uttered that covenant unto him personally. Now that Noah did well under
stand and apprehend that under the type of the ark and his salvation thereby,
that a further salvation than temporal was signified thereby to him, and
another manner of ark than that of gophir wood, even Christ the promised
eeed, to save him from a more dreadful inundation of wrath to come, and
so from a greater destruction than that which the waters only brought upon
the lives of the ungodly of that present age ; that, I say, he understood by
faith these things, the Holy Ghost, that knew both Noah s heart and God s
also in his covenant to him, and transactions thereupon with him, hath
informed us: Heb. xi. 7, By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not
seen, prepared an ark to the saving of his house ; by the which he condemned
the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith, which
last words, he became heir of the righteousness which is by faith, do give
us the true intent of the former words, by shewing us that Noah had in
those dealings of God with him the very same righteousness for the object
of his faith, which our gospel now proposeth to us, and which our faith doth
lay hold upon ; for why else doth he propose it as an example of thaHaith
he exhorteth us now to have ? which the same apostle in his other epistles doth in the same phrase and language style the righteousness of God, and
the righteousness of Christ, which is by faith : Philip, iii. 9, Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith ; which right eousness for justification he more setly treateth of in the epistle to the
Romans, under the same very words : Rom. iii. 21, 22, But now (that is, under the gospel) the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Now Noah was a prophet, Gen. ix., and
among other prophets witnessed to this righteousness, himself first believ
ing in it, and then being a public preacher of righteousness, as the other
apostle calls him ; and not only of that righteousness of an holy life, in which he himself so exceeded, which follows upon believing, but of that right eousness which is by faith, as it hath Christ for its object. And certainly,
if he were a righteous preacher, as he was, then that righteousness himself had recourse to [for] himself and his own salvation, that he preached unto
others for their salvation. Now it was that righteousness Noah had an eye upon (as typified by his ark, and from thence had learned it), and had recourse unto for his eternal salvation, as the apostle to the Hebrews testifies ; although he were, as is testified of him in respect of his own inherent righteousness, the most righteous man in his generation : A perfect and just man. And
in sign and token that yet he had his eye upon this righteousness out of himself to save him, it was through the same faith he betook himself to that
ark, a means wholly out of himself, to save him from the waters, which otherwise all his own righteousness would never have done ; for why else is
it there said, that by preparing the ark, he became heir of the righteous ness which is by faith ? Which righteousness by faith, to be Christ s righteouness, all sound protestants do profess ; and as the righteousness he
CHAP. IV.] OF ELECTION. 45
believed on, and was made heir of, was this gospel righteousness, signified to him by the ark, so the rest of those things there mentioned did in their
several designs much type out to him things spiritual, and of like spiritual mystery. As the flood typed forth the wrath of God unseen by carnal eyes ; and the condemnation of the world there spoken of was the condemnation
to hell, and not to the waters only, as Peter informs us ; yea, and he con demned the world more by preparing that ark, and by preaching a gospel
righteousness to men, or the Messiah to come, whom he is also said to have
preached in the figure, 1 Peter iii. 19, 20, than by all his holiness, as that Heb. xi. 7 doth witness.
Let us now approach to bring together what I premised concerning the
covenant, and grace, and election, which are the subject of the text in
Isaiah, and mine also, and the passages which we find in Genesis concern
ing Noah, together, and see how appositely they correspond and agree to
this my purpose.
[l.J It is greatly observable, that in the sacred story Noah was the first
of the sons of men unto whom God ever spoke of a covenant. There was
promise indeed of Christ, the woman s seed, uttered before, which all the
patriarchs before the flood lived upon ; but under the title of a covenant never no mention, no, nor of the word grace till now. Noah had the first honour of both these expressions, grace and covenant. And therefore most
properly and meetly hath God here in Isaiah singled out the instance of Noah for both ; for, primum in quolibet genere est mensura reliquorum. The
first in every kind is the measure of the rest of that kind that do after fol
low. This of covenant you find in Gen. vi. 18, But with thee will I estab
lish my covenant ; there is the first ; and, 2dly, the expression of grace is
* But Noah found grace in the eyes of
to him, and first to him in ver. 8,
the Lord. And it is God s own speech unto him, though spoken by God
as in the third person of himself. And it is not the addition of Moses the
penman, but it comes in a continued sermon made to him by God himself, and uttered privately to none but him ; and that speech is pure New Testa ment language
: to find grace, and obtain mercy, as Heb. iv. 16. And
after it had been thus first uttered to Noah, this speech came after into more
frequent use, both in the Old and New Testament, as unto Moses, Exod.
< Unto David his chosen, Acts vii. 45 ; and the blessed Virgin Mary, Luke vii. 70, thou art ingratiated, gratia donata, endowed with God s favour ; and the sense is the same. And this title Noah was the first
xxxiii. 12 ;
that bore it, as a new addition to the coat of arms of God s elect, which from that time they have worn as the highest title of honour.
[2.] And it was not afore now given to Noah ; yea, grace in the Hebrew (as Ainsworth observes) is in a manner the anagram of Noah his name, though the letters in the name Noah do in their direct order signify rest; yet such
a rest as is out of grace given and bestowed, which an inverted order of the
letters signifies. See for this Ainsworth on Gen. vi. 6.
[3.] And, thirdly, it was the grace that is and was in God s heart towards
* in the eyes or mind of Jeho vah ; and not that grace which was in Noah s heart : that was but the
him, that is meant, as that additional shews,
effect. To find grace in one s eyes, is indeed a phrase used likewise of man s
being favourable to another (as in those places Gen. xxxiv. 11, 1 Sam. i. 18, and many other) ; which yet comes then to be used, when the kindness
sought, or to be bestowed, depends merely on the good will of the man who
is to cast it upon the other, and wherein they that seek it, when that man ner of speech is used by them, do acknowledge no merit or worth in them
selves, why that favour should be shewn them ; and therefore much more it
46 OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
hath that import, when it is spoken of God, and of his grace towards man,
of whom the apostle says, who hath first given to him ? &c. ; and moreover
imports, that God s eyes and foresight saw nothing in the creature why he
should endow him with it; yea, furthermore, to find grace in God s eyes, is
when God prevents the creature, in its very seeking of it ; as Isa. Ixv 1,
am found of them that sought me not ; which was because they had found
grace in God s eyes afore they sought it, and without their having done any
thing to move him to it. And the word found, also, which is added unto
grace (as here), doth superadd to this import. The Grecians call a thing
unlocked for, not dreamt of, or freely cast on one (by chance as it were)
without his looking for it, they call it fupjA**, a thing found ; and such
is God s grace, as that word, found grace, intimates : all which expressions
suit perfectly with grace in God electing, or with electing grace. The emi-
nentest person to whom grace (as electing) is attributed, was Moses, who
bears that title, Moses his chosen, Ps. cvi. 23 ; and the election of him is
: Exod. xxxiii. 12, I know thee by name, and
expressed by this very phrase
thou hast also found grace in my sight ; that is, God had chosen him freely,
to be personally and individually his. And we find God s foreknowledge is
put to express election, as it is God s foundation : The Lord knows who
are his ; and God s people whom he foreknew, in Rom. xi. 2, are in ver. 5
but a remnant according to the election of grace ; and so towards Moses, God s grace cast on him was the sole product of God s will : so ver. 19 of
Exod. xxxiii. interprets it, and applies it to him, I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, God therein giving Moses the true ground and account
why he was gracious unto him, when not to others ; and therefore those very words are cited under the instance and case of Moses, by way of discrimina
tion from Pharaoh, as the opposite person whom Moses had to do with, to
prove election, Bom. ix. 15 ; and in the same tenor and meaning of speech,
* found grace in the eyes of
it is, that God declares of Noah, Noah hath
Jehovah ; and it may also be said of him, that God knew him by name ; for
to testify his having pre-ordained him, and separated him from the womb (as
Paul speaks of himself), unto salvation ; as also that deliverance in the flood, out of his mere free grace, he inspired his father with a prophecy about him at his very birth. Look as God inspired his great prophet Enoch, to
give his son Methuselah a name that foretold the flood, and the year of the
coming of it, being by interpretation, he dieth, the emission, or dart cometh,
meaning the flood : Enoch, being a prophet, foretelleth this his son should
die, and then the flood should be emitted ; and therefore our days, as Methu
selah s were, are appointed and set ; in like manner God inspired Noah s
father with a name, which foretold the restoring of the earth from that curse,* even from Adam, all along due to it, from the flood ; and for the giving both
the earth, and a new world of inhabitants, rest in it again, by that Noah, who was then born unto him : thus Gen. v. 29. And this being foretold of him
at his birth, when he had done neither good nor evil (as in the case of Jacob s
election out of grace, and Esau s rejection, the apostle argues), doth plainly argue it was God s free grace towards him, which had separated him from the womb hereunto, and no righteousness at all of his ; and out of the same
grace still continued towards him, now when he acquaints him with his pur pose to bring the flood, he tells him he would deliver him out of it ; and that
* I might at large give an interpretation of his father Lamech s prophecy of him, and shew how he was declared an exact type of Christ to follow. The founder of the new world, the church, the remover of the curse, by being himself made a curse ; the easer of our toil, and all sorts of miseries we labour under, and giver to ua of rest, Mat. xi., Heh. iv.
CHAP. IV.] OF ELECTION. 47
it was his sole grace, borne to him from the first, that was the cause and
designer of that his salvation, thou hast found grace in my sight, and there with utters a covenant, obliging himself so to do. And though God mentions
the grace, or righteousness, that was in Noah also, yet as that which that
free grace which had been in God s heart towards him from his birth, yea, from everlasting, had wrought in him, to make him meet for that mercy and
deliverance. Yea, and further, to testify he knew him by name, and had
ordained him out of pure grace unto this, he gave him a name, that in the
letters inverted bore the stamp and impress of the grace of God (as was before
observed) ; even as at the Baptist s birth, he by a wise disposement ordered him a name, signifying in the indirect placing of the letters, grace, shewing that he was out of that grace separated from the womb unto his work, &c., as Noah here had been.
[4.] And, fourthly, this was done (as I added) with a discrimination or dif
ference put between Noah and the rest of the world, out of special grace to him ; and election, or choice, which is to single one out from others, always supposeth a leaving out of others ; and the occasion whereupon it comes in,
* But Noah found grace, &c., which is spoken even whilst on
is with a but;
the other hand God just afore had told him, in the verse afore, I will
destroy man whom I have created from off the earth, ver. 17 ; and then, at
the 18th verse, But with thee will I establish my covenant. He is at his
but again ; thereby denoting the same discriminating grace of election, as if he had said, But with thee (singling thee forth personally, and by name, from
the rest of the world) I will establish my covenant (that is, make this as a sure and stable covenant with thee : as afterwards David speaketh of God s cove nant of grace with him, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5) ; which I do not with others. So
then, do but join ver. 8, But Noah found grace, &c., together with the words of ver. 18, But with thee will I establish my covenant ; and then
you have, 1, grace declared to be the foundation or spring of this covenant,
ver. 18 ; and, 2, that covenant itself declared to be stable and irrevocably firm from out of the same grace, I will establish, &c. ; and, 3, all put
together rising up to this, as if he had plainly styled it, the covenant of
grace. Thus it was to Noah s own person ; yea, and such a covenant as we
usually describe the covenant of grace to be, proceeding from election grace at first, and continued stable and firm out of the same, as we have before in Noah s example explained it.
And, that it was the covenant of grace unto Noah s person, and proposed in him as a pattern and example to us, who were after to believe, there is
further reason for it. If the same covenant, as it was afterwards estated
upon Abraham and David, are so to be understood (as generally we acknow
ledge), then surely the first covenant that under that title and notion God
did promulgate to mankind, and whereof grace by name was the foundation, established with this man ; a man of as great holiness and acceptation with God as any of them were, for which you may take the judgment of God
himself, who ranks him in the head of the first three (I allude to David s) worthies of the Old Testament, Ezek. xiv. 14 ; a man perfect in his gene
ration, and singled forth of an whole world destroyed before his face, unto which he had been the preacher of righteousness, the righteousness of faith, whereby men are to be saved in all ages, and thereby condemning them for
neglecting and refusing that salvation, Heb. xi. 7, even to hell, 1 Pet. iii. ; and further, the beginner and founder of a new world ; and, in that respect, a type of the second Adam, yea, and the father of him, namely, Christ
according to the flesh, yea, and with him of all the elect, whether Jews or
Gentiles, that after succeeded ; then surely, I say, this covenant was to
OF ELECTION. L
Mmqplf the covenant of grace, as well as unto any of them, and promulged S3JMS. and head, as on behalf of the elect his sons, to proceed
salvation of sea may be answered, that so did the covenant declared to
David (in the first delivery of it, in 2 Sam. vn. from ver 12, and so on
speak but of his house, and establishing of his kingdom to his seed ; whilst
yet his own salvation (2 Sam. xxiii. 5, God made with me a covenan , and
this is all mv salvation ) and the salvation of the elect through Christ, was
intended therein ; so here, it may also be replied, that the word grace, as
it is spoken of God, and to express his grace, is too deep a word to be
bestowed only upon a mere temporal salvation; but only used where tt
eternal grace and love of God is the fountain of it The favour God bore
even to Adam in innocency is nowhere so far ennobled as to be styled grace ;
nor are the gifts in temporaries termed grace, though they be called spi
ritual gifts, in their kind, and freely given to the rebellious a so
But, besides such returns as these to this objection, that which will mal
the answer complete, is the consideration of the second branch afore pro
posed, namely,
(2 ) That Noah s covenant, over and besides its being to his person the cove
nant of grace, and he an example thereof to us therein ; that also both that
covenant afore the flood for his temporal salvation in the ark, Gen. Oth and
7th chapters, and that other after the flood, Gen. ix., were figurative or pro
phetic types in God s intention of eternal salvation, unto himself, and the
elect of his posterity to come, especially under the New Testament.
When this is joined and added to the former, and proved that it was the
covenant of grace to Noah s person, &c., makes not only the answer to the
objection sufficiently complete, but also will prove a foundation to the main
things to be built up in this following discourse.
This position, the apostle Peter doth in terminis affirm, in his 1st Epistle 3d
< God waited in the days of Noah, whilst the ark was
chap. ver. 20, 21,
a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. It is
express, that the salvation of him and his sons was intended as a figure, and
a figure that did bear a likeness, or parallel in it, unto our everlasting salva
tion, and the things thereof. And further, that it was not only to Noah
himself a figure of his own everlasting salvation, as figuring forth to him
thereby that God would save his soul eternally, but prefiguring that salva
tion which is now revealed unto ?/s (as his words are) and therefore prophetic
of ours ; for what under the Old Testament is called a figure, or a type of
things of the gospel, that did God and his Spirit intend by that as a sha
dow, to signify and foretell a substantial reality of those things to come under
the New, in the truth and verity of them ; for so in the like case the apostle warrants us to understand: Heb. ix. 8, 9, 11, The Holy Ghost signifying
thereby, says he, ver. 8, &c., they being a figure for the time then present, as ver. 9,
* of good things to come ; so ver. 11, namely, those good things under the gospel, and the same must hold here in this ; for the apostle as
expressly calls it a figure here as therein those mentioned.
If that salvation, then, in the ark was a figure of that gospel salvation now, then Noah s covenant out of special grace (in compare to the world) for
that salvation of him and his sons, was in like manner intended for a figure
of that covenant for our salvation under the gospel ; yea, and also of that
discrimination of grace, which was the foundation of Noah s covenant. And,
CHAP. IV. J OF ELECTION. 49
moreover, this must have been the figure also of a far more transcending
grace, to be the foundation of our covenant, proportionably in an excelling glory of it, unto what the greatness of our salvation bears (as being the
effect thereof as the cause) in compare with that temporal salvation of Noah s ; and that grace of ours is no other than that
* exceeding riches of grace our
gospel so extols, Eph. 1st and 2d chap. These all are of a like coinmensuration and elevation in this their kind and proportions, as an everlast
ing covenant, an everlasting salvation, proceeding from an everlasting grace aud love. And then that which was the sole outward means of Noah s
salvation, the ark, must have, it being a figure in this round, a super-excelling outward means answerably thereunto ; as the sole means prefigured, and that is Christ, the mediator of that covenant, in whom alone we are gra ciously accepted, and who is the author of that eternal salvation. These all hang together (as we say) on one string ; are all connexed, coherent, and
* Thou hast made a covenant with me, saith David, sure and stedfast, and this is all my salvation, 2 Sam. xxiii. ; and grace and salvation joined : By grace ye are saved, said twice over, Eph. ii. But you have them all joined, even Christ our ark, and all use and universal suffrage of all the prophets that have been since the world
inseparable, covenant and salvation :
: Luke i. 69-73, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy pro phets, which have been since the world began ; that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us ; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham ; yea, and I may say, which in the
began
figure he sware to Noah too. And my argument for this is fetched, not from the real inseparable connexing and hanging together of the things themselves ; and that therefore if but one of them be set forth in the type, the other must
be, by consequence, and from the conjunction of the things themselves in the verity itself, be supposed also to exist. This argument, though it might hold (I say) to prove the existence of those other things that are so connexed
together, yet might prove an argument that would fail us, if we should go about to argue from the type itself ; for then the things argued must be also found to have a lineament of similitude in the typing of it forth in the type itself. Now no one type also is in all things a complete representation of the whole substance of all that are connexed with, and appertain to, the thing
signified in the type. And therefore it was, that God hath drawn and
painted out the things of the gospel in so many several pictures, that one might foreshadow more specially the resemblance of one thing, another of some other. Yet this I will affirm concerning this type of Noah s, that this one of Noah, as it is instanced in by our apostle Peter, hath the likeness of as many, and specially of all those four we have insisted on (which are the main studs and substantials of our salvation), as perhaps will be found in any other single instance of any type whatever. Our apostle in that place terms our gospel salvation not barely figure, ruro;, but GLVTITUVOZ, a like
figure (as we translate it) ; a correspondent figure (as others). TUXO$, a
figure, imports a likeness, but avr/Yucrov, a like likeness ; * that is, an
"Avri in composition doth enhance the signification of that which it is com pounded with. As Xurgov signifies a price, dfcvr/Xurgov imports a full and adequate price, every way answering; it speaks equivalency, and when it is added to the like ness, that is, in a figure to the thing figured, or, e contra, in a thing figured unto a
figure, it imports somewhat more than what is ordinary and common between things of that nature ; that is, than is between other usual figures and things figured in comparison unto this. And if it be said that the word here, avr/Yu/rov, is applied VOL. IX. D
OF ELECTION. [BOOK I.
ordinarily m umci a^n.^^ ,
" ~~- -------- , .,
- v ,, ,
ness shall be found in this, if narrowly observed ; the parallel lines of each
run along further, and correspond in very many things alike. Now, there
fore, it being thus spoken in respect of similitude or likeness, we might
warrantably go by this rule (which in expounding the signification of types,
is a good and sure rule), that when and where we find a type of the Old
Testament applied by the Holy Ghost, to some good thing that was to come
under the New, which is the main substance of that type ; yea, and although
it prove to be the thing prefigured in the New be instanced in, and pointed
at, but in some one particular ; yet this warrants our application of other
parts wherein a likeness or resemblance doth appear between the ngure in
the Old and the thing figured, as we find them scattered up and down,
though they be not punctually and precisely applied to each of the particulars,
between which and the figure the likeness proves to appear. The Holy
Ghost pointing us, though but to one parallel, sanctifies all the rest that
appear parallel also. This rule holds in expounding parables, and it must
needs be safe in expounding types. So then, if Peter had only instanced
but in one particular, that the salvation in the ark, &c., was a type of gospel
salvation, sealed up in baptism, we might warrantably have made up^those other we have mentioned ; as that this ark was the figure of our Christ, as
he is applied to us in baptism ; yea, and of whatever else we find to be in
baptism touching our salvation, analogous, or bearing resemblance with
those passages about Noah s salvation in the ark. We see that the apostle
himself makes an application of the very number of persons that were saved
in Noah s ark, to have had a significancy in it of the paucity or fewness of
the persons who shall find the like special grace under the gospel, to be
effectually partakers of salvation, although multitudes shall profess Chris
tianity, and be outwardly partakers of baptism, as in Noah s days there
were many that professed themselves to be the sons of God, that perished
in the waters. Thus our apostle makes use of that small circumstance of
the paucity of the persons ; and because our Lord had foretold in his hear
ing, that there be few that find the narrow gate and way that leads to life, Mat. vii. 14, and few that shall be saved, Luke xiii. 23, and that for this
cause that few are chosen, in comparison of the many that are called ;
especially of the many that go to hell, therefore Peter observeth the few
ness, but of eight persons that were saved in the ark, puts that into his
* that is, eight souls were
figure, there, of the ark : wherein few, says he,
saved. He intends not, though retaining the number of eight, the definite number of persons, that is, of eight only, under the gospel to be saved, the number of his fellows, the eleven apostles, exceeding in his view that number ; but he set down few, as indefinitely signified by that eight, then compara
tively to the whole world.
Now, then, to confirm my argument, that the Holy Ghost by Peter s pen, having pointed us to Noah s salvation, and his sons with him, as that which was the figure of our like, though far super-transcending salvation now under
unto the thing figured, as denoting our baptism, and gospel salvation to be the truth, the substance figured, I answer, that however it is for the likeness, for the near resemblance that is between them, whether it be attributed to the figure or thing figured, it shews that, in respect of mutual similitude, it is given for this respect to the other. For the figure and things figured are relatives, in respect of their like ness ; and so it comes all to one, with which of the two am
1 is compounded ; for in Heb. ix. you have avriruva applied to the shadows of heavenly things.
CHAP. IV.] OF ELECTION. 51
the gospel, God hath by that one particular instance (if there were no
more) sent us to the story of Noah, and therein unto all that concerned that
of his salvation in the ark. And therein we finding also not a promise, but
a covenant established with Noah for that salvation ; a grace likewise in the
heart of God to have been the foundation of that covenant ; an outward
means, an ark, the only means that could have been of that salvation, and
this wholly of God s inventing, and therein Noah to have been preserved in midst of waters ; and then viewing over the New Testament (and the Old
too, so far as pure gospel is up and down manifested therein), we there do
find up and down a covenant made, and established with, and for the said
salvation (which salvation Peter expressly guides us unto) of God s elect under the gospel ; and an exceeding abundant grace, the original cause and
fountain of that salvation and covenant ; and Christ, whom God hath set
forth as the only means, or name under and whereby men should be saved from that wrath, that, if found out of him, will fall upon all the world. These things, and all these things, being so expressly set out unto our view, both on the one hand in Genesis, and in this conjunction mentioned, and
those other, all of them which are the substantial points of our Christian
religion, we finding in our gospel as causes of our salvation, %g/; dvr/
pag/7og, grace for grace, covenant for covenant, salvation for salvation, and an ark for Christ, how shall we otherwise but conclude that these are
parallels ? Or in Peter s language, avrhv-Tra, like figures, the one of the
other, for in likeness and resemblance they correspond one to the other.
But we are not put to it for the proof of all this, to proceed by this way of consequential inferences ; for behold they are all the four of them more than impliedly specified and yoked together, in this one text of the apostle Peter ; for as there is Noah s salvation for our gospel salvation, so his ark
typifying forth our Christ, and that as expressly ; for his adding as his last words in the verse, saved in baptism by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
is a manifest reference unto and resemblance of the manner how Noah was saved in the ark from out of the waters, and in being carried through the waters safe to land, it still rising up under them as the storms did fall, by
parts or by wholesale, upon it, and endangered the overwhelming of it, till at
last it arrived safe, and rested on mount Ararat : an exact figure and semblance of Christ in passing through the waters of death, storms of that wrath and curse due to us, poured forth upon him, by and under which it was not possible for him to be holden, as Peter speaks, Acts ii. ; and so Noah received it as Abraham did that of Isaac s delivery, as a figure of the
resurrection of his ark Christ, and of all in him.
And whereas, here, baptism is said to be the figure of the ark, not Christ, I answer,
* Know ye not (as Rom. vi. the apostle Paul speaks) that as many as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into the likeness of his
resurrection ? as also of his death first, that like as Christ was raised up, &c., so we being planted together in and with him, should after baptism walk in newness of life. So then it is Christ, in whose name we are baptized, and into whom we are implanted, which is the significancy of baptism.
Again, 3dly, that the baptism is made the thing figured, doth as evidently prompt us to the covenant of grace, as included in baptism, and so to have been prefigured therewith ; for what more properly doth baptism serve, or was instituted for, as an end containing in it, than to be the seal of the new covenant of grace, even as circumcision was of the old covenant ? Gen. xvii. And baptism also succeeding in the place and office of it, as Col. ii. tells ; yea, and circumcision was then suddenly* the seal of the covenant of grace,
* Qu. certainly, or similarly ? ED.
OP ELECTION. tBOOK
iTthe founder of the covenant, and the communion of God the Holy (
the pplier of the covenant, are sealed up unto us, even all of these, and %2Sf*l doth comprehend, and all these Wf*~*^ therefore full well might the apostle (as he doth) tell us, that Noah s s tiT?% of ours ; for in the figuring our baptism, it
U as
contain^
n a figure, all these things in it ; all that belong to us now, that is, undo
he gospel; both which words he with an inculcation urgeth upon our
observation that we might be deeply apprehensive of the abounding; sig-
substantial salvation were included in it alone, to the end %andean*** our thoughts awork, to search out the full mystery thereof at large m all
nificancy of this though but one type, how much of our gospel
the particulars of it.
This as to Noah s covenant afore his entering into the ark, &c.
There was a covenant (I must not call it another covenant, but yel
second time renewed with enlargement, and withal said to be establ
with Noah and his sons after his and their coming out of the ark, and prc
mulged upon his having offered up that famous sacrifice in Gen. vm. the
< God spake unto Noah, an.
verses. And then in Gen. ix. in the 8th verse,
his sons with him (so it runs there unto them as well as to him), saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and your seed after you ;
and again, ver. 11, And I will establish my covenant with you: neither
shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall
there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. This, say I, was the figure
of the covenant of grace, to the church of the new testament, that were to
be the seed of him and his sons (of which hereafter). And unto the words
of this second covenant with Noah more especially, it is that the words ot
my text in Isaiah relate: ver. 9, For as I have sworn that the waters of
Noah should no more go over the earth ; so have I sworn that I will not
be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee; that is, my everlasting wrath shall
never overwhelm thee; for of that wrath, that universal flood, that passed
over the rest of mankind, children of wrath, was the figure. Which words,
not to destroy the earth, are found in and do belong to that covenant in
Gen. ix., as you will clearly see if you compare the even now fore-cited
words out of verse 11 of Gen. ix. And this covenant God styles here in
Isaiah the covenant of his peace, ver. 10 ; for as that covenant in Genesis
viii. ix. chapters was upon Noah s offering that sacrifice and peace-offering
in it, chap. viii. 20, with which God professed himself so well pleased as it
is said, he smelled a sweet savour, ver. 21, so signifying himself at peace, and atoned with Noah and his sons, and propitious unto the new world
they were to be the restorers of (for that was the season God took to express
this covenant in). Now, this sacrifice was in the figure, as the former sal
vation in the ark had been (as you heard out of Peter) a figure, &e., of. a
greater sacrifice than this of Noah s, even of Christ s; with which, and for
which, and in the intuition of which, God established this covenant, which
CHAP. IV.] OF ELECTION. 53
he termeth the covenant of his peace, both because he [isj pacified by Christ s sacrifice, who is our peace, Col. i. 20, 21. As also because he
promiseth peace, his peace to those the elect of mankind, to come out of Noah s sons loins. And that Christ s sacrifice was figured out by that of Noah s, the apostle hath discoursed; whilst in speaking of Christ s, he useth the very words wherewith God s acceptance of Noah s is expressed by: Eph. v. 2, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour; which latter are
the very words in Genesis. And besides it is certain that, unless God had
smelt so far off aforehand this sacrifice of Christ s that was to come, the smoke of beasts sacrificed had but an unsavoury scent in God s nostrils as
well as man s; but the smell and savour thereof (though so long afore) per fumed this of Noah, and went up into the nostrils of Jehovah.
But not only Christ s sacrifice is thus in these speeches pointed at by the
apostle, as signified in Noah s (and a covenant was then, and at all times, used to be ratified by a sacrifice, Ps. 1. 5, Heb. ix. 18, 20, and so on); but
furthermore, as touching our covenant of grace, it is evident that when God
himself did most solemnly proclaim and set forth that covenant as to come
in the days of the new testament, that he hath likewise recourse unto like words and passages, taken out and borrowed from that latter covenant of
Noah, thereby to express that new covenant of grace by, and confirm the
stability of it to us ; which is a consideration of some moment to our subject afore us. There are three chapters in Jeremiah following one another, wherein this covenant of grace is set by, and professedly handled, by way of
prophecy, so as nowhere else the like in the Old Testament: first, chap, xxxi. ver. 33, 34, But this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel, thus speaking with difference from the old covenant then more in
view, and it is his new gospel covenant, the same which, Heb. viii., the
apostle citeth, as that to write the law in their hearts, &c., as you may read in those verses. Now, to confirm to them this covenant, he adds in
that place, ver. 35, Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar ; The Lord of hosts is
his name; where what our translation reads, which divideth the sea, &c., our English Annotation out of the Hebrew renders, which stilleth or maketh
quiet the sea, or settleth the sea when the waves thereof roar; that is, (as
they) do keep the sea within compass, and make it rest within its bounds. The tendency of this to my present purpose you will perceive when I have added what in the other chapters we find to follow. Then again in the 32d
chapter, God rehearseth more pieces that belong to the same covenant of
: ver. 38-40, And they shall be my people, and I will be their God : and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for
grace
ever, for the good of them, and of their children after .them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from
them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me ; though promised to begin upon his elect
people that were to return from Babel to their own land, as the*rest of that
chapter shews ; for the covenant of grace had a secret efficacy to the elect
in the old testament as well as in the new. Then, thirdly, in the 33d
chapter God receiveth * other particulars belonging to the same covenant, and that as they were more evidently to be performed in the days of the new
testament; for to those days do the words of the 15th verse refer (which * Qu.
< revieweth ? ED.
54 OF ELECTION. [B OK L
davs and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up uS David anl I shall execute judgment and W*-~"^ and verse 16, In those days shall Judah be saved and Jeiusalem shaU
: <In thOse
comes in amongst the midst of those promises in that chapter)
: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord
our Righteousness; that is, when Christ, who is the mediator of ***-
dwell safely
nant, should come in the flesb, in which days the covenant o grace
^should appear nakedly and operly in its pure glory; and the n^cwtotfa old covenant with the Jewish church (under which this of the new didL hen
run undermost, hidden, as arteries under the veins) should decay as grown
old, as the apostle in the said Heb. viii. doth argue.
Now, God having thus so explicitly set forth the substantial materials of
this new covenant in these three chapters, then for a close to all he had said
about them there cometh a special word to Jeremiah: yer. 19, /And the wore
of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, &c. And it is to verify the stability
or everlasting sureness of this covenant, as in Isa. lv., the next chapter
my text, is celebrated. He doth insert, and (as it were) call m for witnesses
to attest and confirm the said stability thereof, divers of those passages
which we find in the covenant made with Noah, which purpose they serve
most aptly and suitably unto; for in making that covenant with Noah, trod
< I will establish my
had uttered himself in these words of everlastingness,
covenant with thee, so to certify and assure the like stability of this covenant
of grace, the materials whereof had been in these three chapters so largely
insisted on. Now, moreover, as his transition, ver. 19, is, a special word
must come, and is added on purpose, and alone, and over and above the
former, to verify the unalterableness of it, and that as exemplified by those
unalterable things promised to Noah in his; for what follows first in
verse 20 ? Thus saith the Lord, If you can break my covenant of the day,
and of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their
season; there is one passage in Noah s; and verse 21, the reddition follows, Then may also my covenant be broken with David. Then may also my
covenant (that is, my gospel covenant) be broken with David, unto whom,
as we all know, was made the promise of Christ, who himself was the spiri
tual David, the mediator, and with whom the new covenant for all the elect
was published by God in David s time (which I need not enlarge upon the
proof of to be meant in this place of Jeremiah). Then again a second pas
sage of Noah s is inserted in verse 25, Thus saith the Lord, If my covenant
be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of
heaven and earth; and it follows, ver. 26, Then will I cast away the seed
of Jacob, and of David my servant. As God produceth the materials pro mised and specified in Noah s covenant, so he expressly utters them under
the word covenant ; yea, and calls that with day and night his covenant :
my covenant, twice mentioned, ver. 20 and 25, thereby manifestly calling us
to look back to Noah s covenant, made for day and night ; as in the making of which he had an eye to his like ratification and firm establishment of his
covenant of grace, and as hiddenly intended by him then, when he uttered
this of Noah s.
And now let us but review those passages in Genesis and in Jeremiah, and compare them together. First, those in Jeremiah : ver. 20, If you can break my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, &c., where do we find mention of a covenant that God made with the day and with the night, which God should term his covenant with them or about
them, not a covenant, one with another ? And observe the language in both : in Gen. viii. 22,
< Day and night shall not cease, saith God there
CHAP. IV.] OF ELECTION. 55
upon his sacrifice ; which are in the sense of them the very words used in Jeremiah xxxiii. 20,
* If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, that there should not be day and night in their season. This is all one as to have said, I have made a covenant that they shall not
cease and even so we find in Genesis, and where else it is* to be found under the name of a covenant and if you can break that my covenant, &c., then may also my covenant of grace with David be broken. Again, in Jere
miah, the 25th verse, he joins to his covenant with day and night (as his
too) an alike settled appointment of the ordinances of heaven and earth :
If I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; appointed, that is, settled in a certain, constant, and perpetual course, with which sense the fore-cited words, chap. xxxi. 35, 36, do agree, and withal explain them : Thus saith the Lord, that giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, If these ordinances depart from me, saith the Lord. And we all see that these have not failed nor departed, or (as God s word is) ceased from or before him. But you will say, These last mentioned in Jeremiah are the ordi nances of heaven only, and they are not mentioned in Genesis ; and again, demand what are those on earth ; I answer, these two, or both, come all to one in the real intention of them ; for the ordinances for revolutions and
courses of the heavens, sun, moon, and stars, being the causes of the ordi nances and vicissitudes of seasons on the earth, as the effects of them, which
are indeed the ordinances of the earth. And of these we read, Gen. i. 14,
< And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to
18,
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years; and to rule over the day, and over the night; and
to divide the light from the darkness. Hence, then, seeing both these
ordinances do coalesce in one and the same issues, for those in the heavens
are ordained for those on earth ; and that also you find these ordinances of
the earth in Gen. viii. 22, Whilst the earth remaineth, seed-time and
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. Hence, therefore, all that Jeremiah says of the ordinances
in the heavens, of sun, moon, and stars, are in effect comprehended in Gen.
viii. 22, as if there they had been named. And although the settlement of both these ordinances began at the creation (as in Gen. i.), yet God having cursed the ground for man s sake upon Adam s fall, which God in the 21st verse
afore of that Gen. viii. professedly doth make a recognition of to this intent, to shew that he now began with Noah upon a new covenant ; and that else
there had been an end and dissolution of both sorts of ordinances, whether on earth or heaven ; but that God upon a new account and score, even the
intuition of Christ s sacrifice, typed forth in that of Noah s, did anew say in
his heart, and declared also to Noah, I will not again curse the earth for man s sake. But whilst the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. So,
then, it is not the natural covenant by the first creation, if appointments of
these then might be called his covenant, for God declares that to have been
void by his curse for sin ; and therefore the appointment for the continuance
of these ordinances, now, since Noah s time, renewed by a covenant of
mercy, its making and institution, whereby the grand charter of these was
de novo, begun to be verified and confirmed.
And now will you take notice of that other piece of God s covenant with Noah about the waters, their not returning any more to cover the earth, which you find in Gen. ix., which is expressly alleged by God in terminis in
* Qu. is it ? ED.
56 OF ELECTION. [B OK L
my text in the prophet Isaiah, and to the same effect in Jeremiah, and in
berth still ascertaining the firmness of the covenant of grace Now, in Jere
miah the words run, Thus saith the Lord, that stilleth the sea when the
waves thereof roar; and he says it to the end, to confirm his covenant of
grace. And then it is said, he stilleth them when the waves raged most roar
ing to recover their lost prey, and threaten another deluge, but that God
restrained them from overflowing the earth again; for in order to their not
overflowing the earth again, it is there spoken elsewhere, his stilling them,
and setting bounds to them, is noticed to be with that intent: Ps. civ. ,
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not
a^ain to cover the earth; and Jer. v. 22, Who hath placed the sand for
the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it ; a
though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though
theyroar, yet can they not pass over it ? and Ps. Ixv. 7, Who stilleth the
noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.
Now, bring this to Genesis; is not this express in Noah s covenant? Cren.
ix. 11, 15, And I will establish my covenant with you
: neither shall all
flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood ; neither shall there be
any more a flood to destroy the earth. And I will remember my covenant,
which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh ; and
the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And so now
you have God s promise and covenant for and with both earth, heaven, and
sea, and the waters thereof, alleged by God as witnesses long ago, forelaid
and ordained, shall I say, suborned ? yea, and you see God gageth and
pawneth one covenant to perform another, the covenant of Noah to make
good this covenant of grace. And that whenever we read this covenant, he
would have our faith look back to this in Genesis, which we see hath not to
this day failed in performance, thereby to confirm us in the belief of this
gospel covenant, made and delivered under David s name for the whole elec
tion. We all acknowledge David s covenant to have been an example of, at
least figurative of, the covenant of grace.
The rest of the passages in that covenant of Noah, I shall have occasion
to meet with in the application of several other particular parallels that are
found between Noah s covenants and this of the covenant of grace ; if these
alleged, and thus compared, be not sufficient for the proof in the general.
SECTION II.
The application made by God himself of Noah s covenants to exemplify and
confirm, his covenant of grace, as it is in Isa. liv. 9.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me : for as I have sworn that the waters
of Noah shall no more go over the earth ; so have 1 sworn that I would not
be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. ISA. LIV. 9.
Having hitherto been a-producing other scriptures to prove that both Noah s covenant to his own person is an example and pattern of the like
grace to the elect, and likewise that those his two covenants, afore and
after the flood, were figurative of the same covenant of grace to the church
of the new testament, I return now anew with the more confidence to further
exposition of this text, which I chose for the ground of this subject ; as in which I found God himself alleging it, and applying it to the foresaid intents and purposes ; and this is the first application that was made of it by the prophet Isaiah ; and the other out of Jeremiah, &c., which I have nnTover,
CHAP. IV.J OF ELECTION. 57
followed after this of Isaiah. And this in Isaiah is so signal as God doth
plainly point to it : This is as the waters of Noah to me. And that the thing aimed at here is the covenant of grace, the coherence
of the words with what went afore, and follows after, doth in the general shew.
In the words just afore, the 7th and 8th verses, the promises to the
church of the Gentiles, under the new testament, are : For a small moment
have I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will
I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. After which immediately succeed the words of this 9th verse. Now these promises in verse 7 and 8
are a prophecy of what mercy and grace he would shew, in saving those his
elect from first to last ; and these words that follow my text come in as a
confirmation and illustration thereof, by alleging a most lively figure and
correspondent type that had long before passed between God and Noah ; in
a way of covenant, as on God s part, declared by God towards him, which
upon this occasion of his prophesying this new covenant to his church, the
sons of Noah, God calling that of Noah to his fresh remembrance, breaks
: This is as the waters of Noah to me. As if he should
out thereupon
say, This is that very thing which I intended to prefigure and fore-signify, then when I sat at the flood (as Psalm xxix. 11) in and by those passages with Noah, which were at and about his flood, which God calls the waters
of Noah. This, even this, which I even now have spoken of, my grace and
mercy to my church, who are his sons and posterity, in the words imme
diately afore ; even this was the mind and mystery of those my promises, which I made then to him upon occasion of and about those waters ; which
is just such a like speech, as I shall after in the particular explication shew,
as that of Christ to the Jews, where, pointing to the type of himself, he
says, I give you the sign of Jonas. And this Noah s waters were to me, which latter word hath also a great emphasis in it, as to this import in hand.
They were such in my account, and ordination in mine own secret intent, which I had within myself when I uttered them ; and this I therefore now
upon this occasion declare to have been the mystery of them according to
this matter ; that so you may have your faith confirmed in this covenant of
grace the more, in that it was in my heart so long afore, and in my intentions