"I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will
never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them
to fear Me, so that they will never turn away from Me."
Jeremiah 32:40
The covenant of grace is that agreement which God has
made with sinful man out of His own free mercy and grace,
wherein He undertakes to save fallen man. All mankind
would have been eternally lost—had He not of his own
free grace and mercy made such an agreement with sinful
man. This covenant is called a covenant of grace, because
it flows from the free grace and mercy of God. There was
nothing outside of God, nor anything in God—but His free
mercy and grace—which moved Him to enter into covenant
with poor sinners.
The covenant of grace consists in these things:
(1.) that God will be our God;
(2.) that He will give us a new heart, a new spirit;
(3.) that He will not turn away His face from doing of us good;
(4.) that He will put His fear into our hearts;
(5.) that He will cleanse us from all our filthiness and idols;
(6.) that He will rejoice over us to do us good;
(7.) that we shall be His people;
(8.) that we shall fear Him forever;
(9.) that we shall walk in His statutes;
(10.) that we shall not depart from Him.
Oh what head can conceive, or what tongue can express
that infinite counsel, wisdom, love, care and tenderness,
which is in the covenant of grace—so as it may best suit
to all the needs, and straits, and necessities, and miseries,
and desires, and longings of poor sinners' souls.
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 diseases, and
cordials to comfort you against all your faintings, and
a spiritual armory to arm you against all your enemies,
namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Do you, O distressed sinner, need a loving God, a
compassionate God, a reconciled God, a sin-pardoning
God? Here you may find Him, in the covenant of grace.
Do you need a Christ to counsel you by His wisdom,
and to clothe you with His righteousness, and to adorn
you with His grace? Here you may find Him in the
covenant of grace.
Do you need the Spirit to enlighten you, to teach
you, to convince you, to awaken you, to lead you,
to cleanse you, to cheer you? Here you may find
Him in the covenant of grace.
Do you need grace, or peace, or rest, or quiet, or
contentment, or comfort, or satisfaction? Here you
may find it in the covenant of grace. God has laid
into the covenant of grace, as into a storehouse,
all those things that sinners or saints can need.
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Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)
Much of what is known about Thomas Brooks has been ascertained from his writings. Born, likely to well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by 1640. Before that date, he appears to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain with the fleet.After the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Thomas Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle's, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons on December 26, 1648. His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44:18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. Three or four years afterwards, he transferred to St. Margaret's, Fish-street Hill, London. In 1662, he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached as opportunity arose. Treatises continued to flow from his pen.[3]
Thomas Brooks was a nonconformist preacher. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He soon became an advocate of the Congregational way and served as a chaplain in the Civil War. In 1648 he accepted the rectory of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London, but only after making his Congregational principles clear to the vestry.
On several occasions he preached before Parliament. He was ejected in 1660 and remained in London as a Nonconformist preacher. Government spies reported that he preached at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields. During the Great Plague and Great Fire he worked in London, and in 1672 was granted a license to preach in Lime Street. He wrote over a dozen books, most of which are devotional in character. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.