But there is another acceptation thereof when God is represented as making a covenant with man which is more agreeable to the divine perfections, and that infinite distance there is between him and us; therefore we find in several places of scripture, that when God is said to make a covenant there is an intimation of some blessings which he would bestow upon his people, without any idea of stipulation, or re-stipulation, annexed to it: thus we read, in Jer. xxxiii. 20. of God’s _covenant of the day and night_, or that there should be day and night _in their season_; and, in Gen. xi. 9, 10, 11. of God’s establishing _his covenant with Noah, and his seed, and every living creature, that all flesh should not be cut off any more, by the waters of a flood_. And, in Ezek. xxxiv. 25. when God promises to cause _evil beasts to cease out of the land_, and that his people should _dwell safely in the wilderness_, and that he would confer several other blessings upon them, mentioned in the following verses; this is called, his making with them _a covenant of peace_. And, when God promises spiritual blessings to his people, in Isa. lix. 21. he says, _This is my covenant with them; my Spirit that is upon thee, and the words that I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth, and for ever_. Moreover, sometimes the Hebrew word, which we translate _covenant_, is used to signify a _statute_, or _ordinance_, which God has established, or appointed, in his church: thus, in Numb. xviii. 19. when God ordained, that Aaron and his sons should have the heave-offerings of the holy things, he says, _These have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, to be a statute for ever_, and adds, in the words immediately following, _It is a covenant of salt for ever, before the Lord_. And as for the word used in the New Testament,[90] by which the LXX generally translate the Hebrew word, before-mentioned, in the Old Testament, this signifies the same thing; so that both the words imply little more than a divine establishment or ordinance, in which God gives his people ground to expect promised blessings, in such a way, as redounds most to his own glory; and at the same time, they, who are expectants thereof, are not exempted from an obligation to perform those duties, which this grace obliges them to, and which will be an evidence of their right to them.