God assures them that they shall not be disappointed in coming to Him," Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." "He will not despise the day of small things." แ "He will love them freely, and receive them graciously." "He will be their God, and they shall be His people." Every thing short of this is uncertain, transient, and not to be depended on. What is the promise of a man whose breath is in his nostrils? He may make a promise and not live to fulfil it. But not so with God, He is an eternal, infinite, and all-sufficient Being. Here also is sweet encouragement to pray. "I said not to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain." We may seek Him a long time, but in the end He will be found. "I will cry unto God Most High, unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me." David is determined to cry to His God, and call upon Him for help. Why did he do so? Because He is the Most High God, who is able to help, and has promised so to do. CHAPTER XXVI. WE have said that there are three things in the covenant, viz., Perpetuity, Certainty and Order. Having considered the former two, we will now endeavour to open the third. Each of these affords great comfort and consolation to the people of God. What an infinite mercy it is that the blessings are of an eternal nature, and the enjoyment of them certain, and they are all in order! The covenant is an ordered work; it was made by Him who is infinite in wisdom, wonderful in counsel, and full of love. We shall now see wherein this order consists. 1st. There is that which is adequate to all the demands, needs, and straits of the people of God. Let their trouble be ever so great, their needs many, their misery deep, whether spiritual or temporal-above the power of men's or angels' help-yet in this covenant there is a sufficiency for all requirements. Is the sinner longing for a reconciled God? Is he in want of a precious Christ, panting after atoning blood, praying for salvation, craving for pardon, hungering and thirsting for the bread and water of life, seeking after holiness, faith, patience, hope, love, meekness and resignation ? Here are all these things in order, to be communicated to him. Is the living soul in want of peace, rest, ease, joy, aud comfort for a troubled conscience? From hence he shall be supplied. Is he in want of any temporal thing that pertaineth to this life? This is also ordered," Bread shall be given, and water sure." Here is nothing wanting, but all things superabounding. 2nd. Things are well ordered when they are well placed; a thing out of place is out of order. In the covenant of grace all things are in their right place. Christ keeps His place as Mediator, the Father as a Donor, and the believer as a receiver. Here it is revealed what Christ is to do, what the Father will do, and what His Spirit is to reveal, and the believer is to do. Here is no confusion. God is a God of order: every one has his portion ordered. Here is hope for despair, ease for one that is heavy laden, peace for a broken heart, mercy for the penitent, a precious Christ for one that has faith, redemption for one in bondage, righteousness for one that feels himself naked, grace for the unworthy, riches for the spiritually poor, help for the needy, strength for the weak, a balm for the wounded, rest for the weary, bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty, and a refuge for the criminal. 3rd. Things that move and work to a right end are rightly ordered, and in this covenant every thing works right which is to the praise and glory of God's grace. The Father made the covenant for his own glory; redemption by Christ is for the glory of both; and regeneration by the Spirit is to glorify the blessed Trinity; every good thing given and received, all work to this end, that is, to the glory of God. Christ, as the Surety, as sent by the Father, dying and triumphing on the cross to make satisfaction and peace, all aim at the same thing. The grace which a sinner receives, and the works which he does by grace, and the things which he hopes for, all tend to the glory of God 4th. Every thing in season is beautiful. "He hath made every thing beautiful in His time." If any thing is out of time, it is out of order-frost in summer is out of order. If physic comes when a person is dead, this would be disorderly; things are in order, when they are neither too soon, nor too late, but at the time of need. And so are the dispensations of the covenant; they are sent, and come in time of need, when a sensible sinner is ready to give up all for lost, cries "My God why hast thou forsaken me?" all doors shut-that very time Christ appears, mercy and help comes. "When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord will hear them, and not forsake them. I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee." When the heart of David was overwhelmed, then God comforted him. When the church was like a woman forsaken, then said God, "With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee." When Ephraim was ashamed, even confounded, then said God, "My bowels are troubled, I will surely have mercy upon him." When Paul was pressed with temptations above measure, then Christ told him that his grace was sufficient, and that his strength would be made perfect in weakness, and so it is now with the people of God. They receive mercy in the fittest time. God is gracious and wise, therefore He knows the best time, and as a faithful God He will lose no time. 5th. This covenant being well ordered, there is a firm foundation for our hope and confidence, that a sensible sinner will be received by God the Father. Christ says, I will satisfy for his sins, and make peace for him; I will forgive, and abundantly pardon, says the merciful God. I will love Him freely and receive Him graciously, says the God of love and grace. Here we have Christ who merited all, and God, who promised to give all, who hath bound Himself by oath to perform all for them, and who rejoices over His people to do them good, and accounts it His praise and honour, in loving them encouraging them to call upon Him, to trust in Him, and to receive from Him. Hence the children of God must persevere. The covenant is everlasting, or ordered in all things and sure; God engaged to maintain an everlasting union and communion between Himself and His people, and gave charge to Christ to keep them in His name, and He willingly undertook this charge, and executed it faithfully. He conquered His people's enemies, supplies them with sufficient grace, and as the Lion of Judah guides them through this wilderness safe to glory. "With David's Lord and ours, Firm as the lasting hills, N Whose potent shalls and wills O, sacred deep, without a shore, Thee with delight shall God behold, And when through Jordan's flood, And in this covenant thou shalt view, CHAPTER XXVII. THE triumph of Christ on the cross as God-man over sin and the sinner, is gloriously exhibited in the rending of the vail of the temple from the top to the bottom-" And behold the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." It began at the top which was out of the reach of man. It was to teach us that salvation of sinners by Christ was by Him alone; the creature had no hand in it. He alone trod the wine-press, and his own arm brought salvation. He, and He only, is the Saviour of sinners "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved." Salvation is the gift of God; it cannot be merited by our works. This salvation is brought to a soul when dead in trespasses and sins; and a sinner dead in sin cannot quicken himself, that is, he cannot impart spiritual life to his own soul. Repentance and tears are not available before God, except they flow from a spiritual life; and this is the gift of God-" And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." This is an act of the mercy and love of God; it doth not depend upon the free will of man, for "God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace are ye saved. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Salvation is a covenant blessing, freely given unto us. The covenant itself is a gift-"I will give thee my covenant.' Christ is a gift-"Behold I have given Him for a witness to the people;" and all the blessings stored up in Him are a gift. What a mercy it is that they are all freely given unto us! Fallen creatures could not merit. All is giver. The Father gave Himself, and He gave Christ-" For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." Christ gave himself—"Who loved me and gave Himself for me." Love, peace, eternal life, the Spirit of God, a new heart, faith and repentance, and all things beside are freely given. Isa. xiii. 6; lv. 4; John iii. 16; Gal. ii. 20; Cant. vii. 12; John xiv. 2 ; x. 28; Luke xi. 13: Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Phil. i. 29; Acts xi. 18; 2 Tim. i. 16; Rom. viii. 32; Psa. lxxxiv. 11; 2 Pet. i. 4. There are two reasons why these inestimable blessings are freely given to us : A God. 1st. We have nothing. The fall has stripped us of all good. Through it we became poor, blind, naked, wretched, and miserable; not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. "What hast thou that thou hast not received ?" In our first creation God made us beautiful vessels, pure, and clean, capable of containing all good, knowledge, holiness, and righteousness; in these things consist the divine image of God. But these vessels were made of brittly stuff, liable to crack; that is mutable. creature cannot be immutable-God alone is immutable. had bestowed on man largely and bountifully, as it became the Giver, The Giver was the great God, and He gave a large stock to Adam to help himself. He deprived him of nothing except one tree, which was the tree of knowledge; and the reason this tree was prohibited, was to teach him obedience to his Creator. But Satan through his infernal suggestion, cracked this beautiful vessel, and so all its contents ran out, and left it empty. Thus man became poor and miserable. Besides this he incurred the wrath of God, and became a great debtor to Him, |