_who died in faith, not having received the promises_, or the blessings promised, but _having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them_, Heb. xi. 13. Again, as we receive the blessings of the covenant by faith, so to enter into covenant with God implies, a professed dedication of ourselves to a covenant-God, with a due sense of our obligation to yield that obedience, which we are engaged to thereby, or a declaration that we pretend not to lay claim to the blessings of the covenant, without being enabled, by his grace to comply with the demands thereof; and this is sometimes expressed, by swearing to the Lord, as it is said, _Unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear_, Isa. xlv. 23. As God, when he enters into a covenant with man, is sometimes said to swear to him, or to confirm his promise by his oath, upon which account the covenant of grace is sometimes called his oath, as in one of the scriptures before-mentioned, and others that might have been referred to, Luke i. 72, 73. so, on the other hand, our entering into covenant with him, is our swearing fealty, as subjects do to their princes, whereby they own them to be their rightful governors, and themselves under an obligation to serve them. This is farther explained, in that solemn transaction that passed between God and his people, in the close of the ministry and life of Moses, Deut. xxvi. 17, 18. by which we may understand what is meant, in other places, by God’s entering into covenant with them; this is expressed by his _avouching them to be his peculiar people, as he had promised them, and that they should keep all his commandments_; _q. d._ he conferred this privilege upon them with that view, that they might reckon themselves under the highest obligation to be obedient to him; and then we have an explication of man’s entering into covenant with God, when it is said, _Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God_, that is, thou hast publicly declared, that thou art willing to be subject to him, as thy covenant-God, and expressed a ready inclination, pursuant hereunto, to walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: this is such an entering into covenant, as is incumbent on all who expect the blessing thereof; and, if any one intends nothing more than this by restipulation, when he uses the word in explaining this doctrine, I will not contend with him; but, since it is to use a word without its proper ideas, which others annex to it, I humbly conceive this doctrine may be better explained without it. Footnote 89: ברית. Footnote 90: διαθηκη. Footnote 91: Rather, “ratified over a dead body,” an ancient mode of covenanting. Footnote 92: _These style it, Testamento Foedus, or Foedus Testamentarium, or Testamentum Foederale._ Footnote 93: