l his works. Oh, let us not forget that which we ought
always to remember! Let us remember to keep that covenant, as we ever
desire God should remember us in mercy at the great day.

2. The covenant we make with God in our afflictions. Famous is that
passage of Pliny in one of his epistles, to one that desired rules from
him how to order his life aright; I will (saith he) give you one rule,
which shall be instead of a thousand: That we should persevere to be
such, when we are well, as we promise to be when we are sick. A sentence
never to be forgotten: the Lord help us to live accordingly.

3. The covenant which you are to take this day. The happiness or misery
of England doth much depend upon the keeping or breaking of this
covenant. If England keep it, England by keeping covenant shall stand
sure. If England break it, God will break England in pieces. If England
slight it, God will slight England. If England forsake it, God will
forsake England, and this shall be written upon the tomb of perishing
England, "Here lieth a nation that hath broken the covenant of their
God." Remember what you have heard this day, that it is the brand of a
reprobate to be a covenant-breaker, and it is the part of a fool to vow
and not to pay his vows. And God hath no delight in the sacrifice of
fools. "Better not to vow, than to vow and not to pay." It is such a
high profanation of God's name, as that God cannot hold a
covenant-breaker guiltless; it is perjury, injustice, spiritual
adultery, sacrilege. And the very lifting up of our hands this day, (if
you do not set heart and hand on work to keep covenant) will be a
sufficient witness against you at the great day. We read "that Jacob and
Laban entered in covenant, and took a heap of stones, and they called
the place Mizpah, the Lord watch between me and thee," and made them a
witness, and said "this heap is a witness." "The God of Abraham judge
betwixt us." Such is your condition this day. You enter into covenant to
become the Lord's, and to be valiant for His truth, and against His
enemies, and the very stones of this church shall be witness against
you, if you break covenant; the name of this place may lie called
Mizpah. The Lord will watch over you for good, if you keep it, and for
evil if you break it; and all the curses contained in the book of the
covenant shall light upon a willing covenant-breaker. The Lord fasten
these meditations and soul-awakening considerations upon your heart