Page:Faith's plea upon God's covenant (2).pdf/21

 wings.—I am the Lord that healeth thee.—I will heal your backslidings." O then plead, saying, Lord, Have respect to the Covenant. Are you in extreme danger of hell and damnation, because of your sin and guilt? O here is a Covenant of deiivering grace, saying, "Deliver his soul from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom." O then plead it, and say, Lord, Have respect to the Covenant. Are you in bondage unto sin, Satan, and the world, a captive unto lusts, and shut up in unbelief as in a prison? O here is a Covenant of liberating grace! "Preclaiming liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Are you a stupid soul that cannot move toward God nor stir heaven ward, by reason of a backward will, like a brazen gate, that resists all the force of moving means? Well, but O, here is a Covenant of drawing grace, saying, "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men after me." As the power and virtue of the loadstone draws the iron so the virtue of an exalted Christ draws the iron bar of the will: "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." O then plead it, saving, Lord, Have respect to the Covenant.

What other concerns have you? Are you concerned for your children, that they may be partakers of Covenant blessings, and saved of the Lord? O here is a Covenant of extensive grace, entailing blessings on us and our offspring, saying, "I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed." O then look to God in behalf of your children, saying, Lord, Have respect to the Covenant. Are you concerned for the Church, and the dangerous circumstances she is into by reason of cruel enemies? This seems to be the great concern of the Psalmist here, as appears