Lord. He is the way unto the Father. By Him his people have access unto the grace wherein they stand. He drew near to present an acceptable sacrifice; and as a priest, he makes intercession. It is by Him that his people draw near. While they profess their faith in him, it is by Him that they draw nigh in the full assurance of faith.17 It was by his sufferings and death that the everlasting covenant was ratified. And when he died, the way to all duty and privilege was opened to all who should believe upon him; and the title of the saints who had gone before to the enjoyment of the eternal inheritance, and who had Covenanted to accept its blessings, was shown to be

secure.

As a

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Fourthly. Believers, as a people who would Covenant and fulfil their obligations, were given to the Mediator in the everlasting covenant. covenant people, the heathen were given to Him for an inheritance.18 According to an interpretation of an apostle, He himself says, "Behold, I, and the children whom God hath given me And that such were promised as a people who should discharge the duty of Covenanting, and the other engagements of the covenant, appears from the words, "How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, thou shalt call me, my Father; and shalt not turn away from me." 20 He received also the promise -implying, that a people in serving Him should habitually take hold on him in Covenanting,-" A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." 21 These, and corresponding declarations, teach how intimately connected with the gift of a people to the Redeemer was the provision made for the obedience to be claimed 17 Heb. x. 19-23. 18 Compare Ps. ii. 8, and Deut. xxxii. 9. 19 Is. viii, 18, and Heb. ii. 13. 20 Jer. iii. 19. 21 Ps. xxii. 30.

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and accepted at their hands. They mercifully intimate that one of the reasons for which they were given to him, was that they should obey God in taking hold of his covenant. It was in the everlasting Covenant that they were promised by the Father, and accepted by the Son. On the condition here specified, they were received. They are, therefore, urged to the duty, in consequence of that infinitely glorious compact; and, by the offer of the Father, the acceptance of the Son, the Covenanted aid of the Spirit, by the bowels of Divine love, to this, and consequently to all its engagements, they are bound.

Finally. The elect were chosen in Christ that, in union to him, they might perform this duty. To all that is included in holiness, these were chosen in him. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."22 It is in that spiritual union to him, which was secured by their election and the gift of them in the everlasting Covenant, that they discharge every duty.23 It was because of the sovereign love of God that his Church was chosen, and united to Christ in the character of his Covenanted Spouse. In consequence of that love, which is manifested even by the infliction of chastisement, being branches of Him-the true vine-they are purged that they may bring forth more abundantly those fruits of righteousness, among which stands the act of taking hold on God's covenant.2 24 These fruits include not merely the obedience of the life, but the homage of the heart expressed by the lip. And by the lip, fruit is brought forth when God's name is called upon in vowing and swearing to him.

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By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks (confessing) to his name.”25 22 Eph. i. 4. 23 Jer. xxxi. 3. 24 John xv. 5. 25 Heb. xiii. 15.

The elect are chosen "to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth ;"26 and consequently to Covenanting, as well as every other act in which faith is exercised. By faith they vow and swear; and that is connected with union to Christ. Whatever view of the Spirit's procedure in the day of regeneration may be entertained, union to Christ is then effected, faith is given, and the believer proceeds to endeavour after obedience. Some have maintained that faith precedes union to the Redeemer; others, that union to Him anticipates that grace. And, accordingly, though both classes maintain that these occur simultaneously, yet they entertain opposite opinions regarding the relative order in which they take place, or what is denominated "the order of nature," in reference to this.. If it were necessary to admit that an order of nature is observed here, the latter supposition would seem to have the better claim. But though in many things connected with the believer's progress there is unquestionably an order of nature, perhaps there is no necessity for introducing that idea in reference to this particular case. By maintaining that such an order obtains here, there is manifested a tendency, as if to represent the two things as proceeding like two points in a straight line, which moves in the direction of its length, and so to conceive that one of them must necessarily be first; while, by abandoning the notion of such an order, we might compare the two to two points, both of which are carried by the line moving only in a direction perpendicular to itself, and so conceive that at any instant both would be first. And the latter supposition, indeed, seems to correspond with the circumstances of the facts. At the same moment that Divine power is put forth in order to conversion, both union to Christ, and the faith which recognises

26 2 Thess. ii. 13.

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that union, are at once vouchsafed. Then indeed a new life is begun, and the manifestations of life necessarily begin to appear. Lastly, the faith of the believer is exercised by him in resting on Christ as the one foundation laid in Zion; and reposing on him, he habitually takes hold on the Covenant of God, instead of a refuge of lies the covenant with death and hell, which shall be swept away. 27 It is to the glory of God that Christ is confessed. 28 It is in union to Christ as the true foundation that this is done. 29 The glory of God as a strength is spoken of as being founded. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength (founded glory)."30 Where there is Divine power and Majesty, there is glory. "Strength and beauty (glory) are in his sanctuary."31 Resting on the one foundation, as a temple to the glory of God, the Church engaging in the act of confessing Him in Covenanting, and otherwise keeping his Covenant, will therefore realize the promise, "I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory,"32

SECTION II.

Covenanting, under every dispensation of Divine Grace, was provided for.

In the scheme of Redemption, all the means by which it should be carried into effect were provided. From that proceeded the means of grace adapted to the circumstances of the Church in every period of history. From that followed those arrangements that were suited to the Patriarchal, Levitical, and later times; and from that arose all the various

27 Is. xxviii. 15-18, and 1 Pet. ii. 6-10. 28 Phil. ii. 11. 29 Col. ii. 6, 7. 30 Ps. viii. 2, and Matt. xxi. 16. 31 Ps. xcvi. 6. 32 Is. xlvi. 13.

dispensations themselves. Exhibitions of Christ, the chief blessing of the Covenant, were common to all of them. Nay, to make these exhibitions, all of them were devised. The world was adapted to man, whether in a state of innocence, or in a state in which he should be invited to return to God. According to the wondrous plans of Him who foresaw and arranged all things, the world, after trangression, behoved not to be lost, but to be made the scene of events glorifying to God. To suppose that the earth was formed for the purpose of carrying into effect the plan of salvation is allowable. To imagine that that plan was being carried into effect in Eden, even before the sin of man, is in opposition to the spirit of the declaration that Christ came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance-to the truth that the salvation of man, was a salvation from sin, and that the God of salvation is He who pardoneth iniquity, nay, to the whole tenor of Scripture. To admit, however, that the world was a scene on which man in innocence, throughout whatever period God might have willed, might have enjoyed good, the wisdom of Him who arranges not, nor commands what may not be fulfilled, requires. But the sentiment that the Covenant of Works secured the continuance of man upon the earth, even after the fall, is not merely gratuitous, but in direct opposition to the consideration that the world was destroyed by the flood on account of the sin of man, and that God's covenant with Noah secured those outward advantages of which not merely the righteous but the wicked were to partake. It seems inconsistent with the sentiments which we should entertain of the wisdom and other attributes of God, to suppose that the world was created either for man in a state of innocence exclusively, or for him exclusively in a state of sin. Even facts show that the world was adapted to both. That