(Isa. lxi. 1), and a worker of miracles (Isa. xxxv. 4, 5, 6). He was to be despised and rejected of men (Isa. liii. 3), sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zec. xi. 12), taken from prison and from judgment (Isa. liii. 8), scourged (Isa. 1. 6), and then cut off out of the land of the living (Isa. liii. 8). His hands and feet were to be pierced, his garments parted, and lots cast for his vesture. He was to be numbered with the transgressors, but make His grave with the rich (Isa. liii.). He was to rise from the dead (Psalm xvi. 10), and then ascend to glory (Psalm xxiv. 7).

Thus, from the earliest dawn of sin, the promise of a Saviour was made; and down to the hour of His advent, His faithful sons were eagerly looking for its fulfilment; so that when at last Christ came, and claimed the homage of men as the King of Zion-the predicted Deliverer, many, who saw meeting in Him all that the prophets had told of their Messiah, at once acknowledged that he was, indeed, the Son of God. (Matt. xiv. 33-John i. 49.)

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COVENANTS OF REDEMPTION AND GRACE.

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: for He hath visited and redeemed His people; and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us—to perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, and to remember His holy covenant." Benedictus.

I HAVE, now, to point out the method by which man's salvation was accomplished; but, before proceeding to the proposed investigation, let me guard the reader against any presumptuous questioning of the propriety of that arrangement which was made for our redemption; for, until we can fathom the Divine mind, and fully comprehend the motives and end of God's design, and until we are able to perceive the relation which our fall and recovery have to God's moral government of other portions of His wide dominions, we are incompetent to reason upon its necessity: and are required, humbly and thankfully, to accept it, in the firm belief, that it was the best contrivance which Infinite Wisdom could devise to save lost man from the condemnation he had brought upon himself.

Thus, guarded against a too curious and speculative questioning of God's power and ability to save our sin

ful

race, without the sacrifice he made for that purpose, and prepared to receive as His gift the blessed redemption He has offered, we may proceed to consider the method of its accomplishment, by the obedience of Christ in His life and death.

As God, from eternity, knew all the circumstances of our fall, He knew likewise its remedy; and as He could not know it, unless he had designed it, we must regard Christ's work as an eternal redemption. God knew, loved, and resolved to save His people, by the sacrifice of His Son, from the beginning; for, though in the fulness of time, Christ came to enter upon His work, the promise to save mankind was an engagement or covenant, made with His Father, before the foundation of the world. (Luke xi. 50; Eph. i. 4; Rev. xiii. 8).

The covenants of redemption and grace differ only in this, that while the former (which is a covenant of grace, inasmuch as it is God's gift) includes only, as parties to it, the triune Jehovah; the latter embraces man; and is made with him through Christ. The covenant of redemption is an agreement made between God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to save mankind from destruction; while, the covenant of grace is the promise of this salvation to man, upon conditionsconditions, however, which shall not affect the freeness of the gift, or the sovereignty of the Giver.

But, though the covenant of grace is new, and has come in the place of the old covenant of works, it does not dispense with, set aside, or change that covenant;

for the covenant of works is unalterable, and cannot be superceded.

By Adam's act his position was changed; but, God remained the same-His law the same-His promises and threatenings the same. Adam could no longer obey, but the law still demanded obedience. The covenant of works was broken, but remained unrepealed; and on man still rested the obligation of strict conformity to it, as the ground of God's favour. Obey the law and live, disobey and die, remained as God's covenant with man; and shall remain unto the end, unchanged and unchangeable.

Man, having failed to perform his obligation, and being reduced by that failure to a condition which rendered his obedience to the law impossible, must have perished, had not Divine Wisdom contrived the scheme of redemption. The first Adam disobeyed the law, and broke the covenant; but a second Adam was provided to obey the law, and fulfil the covenant. The first Adam involved his constituents in the penalty which he brought upon himself; the second Adam procured for his constituents, the blessings which his obedience earned for himself. Thus, in the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works was included. Christ engaged to fulfil that covenant, and man in Christ fulfils it also; and the only difference between our present state and Adam's is this, he was to obey the law in his person, but we obey it in the person of another. Perfect righteousness was the demand made

in the covenant of works, and is demanded still; but the righteousness required of Adam was personal, while ours is imputed. Both Adam and ourselves are called to purchase life by obedience; but he was to obey in his own person, while we obey in the person of Christ. The covenant of works, was that which Christ came to fulfil for us; and as Adam's righteousness was personal, so was Christ's; but as Adam failed, Christ came to make good his failure.

In the covenant of redemption, it may then be said with truth, that man's righteousness consists in his obedience to the covenant of works; for he could not obtain salvation without righteousness, and no righteousness could be obtained without the fulfilment of that covenant: but though he cannot obey the law of works, and is personally unrighteous, yet the righteousness of Christ is so imputed to him, as to become his personal property; and shall be rewarded as such. Thus, in Christ, the believer stands upon the covenant of works; for, united to Christ by faith, he, with Christ, obeys. As in Adam we sinned, and came under the condemnation of death; so in Christ we are righteous, and come under the life-giving promise of a covenant God. In our federal head, man engages to obey the law, and by the mystical union which exists between Christ and His believing children, we do faithfully fulfil our engagement. There is so intimate an union between Christ and the believing soul, as to constitute them one person in the eye of God; who sees their iniquities in His