2. The grace of God is displayed in the covenant he has made with his elect in Christ; this, with great propriety, is commonly called by us, “the covenant of grace”; though the phrase is not in so many words to be met with in scripture; it is founded in the unmerited grace and mercy of God; and is made to establish and secure the glory of it (Ps 89:2, 3). It was free grace that moved God to make one, to which he was not otherwise obliged: it was free grace that called, and that moved Christ to engage with his Father in it, and which “gave” him to be the covenant of the people, (Ps 40:6, 7; Isa. 42:6) it was free grace that stored it with all spiritual blessings; by which it appears to be ordered in all things for the glory of God, and the good of his covenant people; and these are grants of grace, made in it to them in Christ, (2 Tim. 1:9) and it was free grace that filled it with exceeding great and precious promises; promises of grace and glory, made before the world began; and which made them sure by an oath to the heirs of them; and who become heirs of them, not through any merit of theirs, but through the undeserved favour of God towards them.
John Gill (1697 – 1771) A Body of Doctrinal Divinity Book 1, Chapter 13, The Grace of God
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