for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. iii. 23, and x. 4.

The righteousness of the Lord Jesus is declared by the inspired pen both of Daniel and of David, to be "everlasting :" and that it must be so, in its very nature, is abundantly evident. Was it not wrought out by a Divine Person? Was it not perfected according to an everlasting standard ?—And is it not laid by God as the only ground of human salvation, from the beginning to the end of time? The efficacy of the obedience of the Lord Jesus endures throughout all ages. The world shall perish, but the righteousness of Christ perisheth not. Time shall terminate, but the righteousness of the Redeemer shall see no end. Its fragrance will continue for ever. Its leaf will be green, and its fruit will be sweet throughout all eternity. This glorious truth, the inspired Prophet most emphatically declares, “The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." Isa. xxxii. 17. Clothed in this righteousness, the saints of God will appear before His throne without a single spot or stain. Immaculate in this righteousness, they can never again be sullied, but they will be without fault for ever and for evermore. Realizing this blessed condition as his present privilege, the Prophet Isaiah thus gives utterance to the full ecstasy of joy which it had awakened in his heart: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a

bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Isa. lxi. 10. David also joyfully declares, "My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only." Psa. lxxi. 15, 16. And St. Paul exclaims, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Phil. iii. 7—9,

To renounce our own fancied righteousness, and to accept the everlasting righteousness of Christ, is one of the hardest. lessons of the Gospel. Man tenaciously clings to the idea of his own merits. He cannot conceive why, or how, he is to be saved by the merits of another. Yet this is the great Scripture doctrine,-salvation by imputed righteousness. “By the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 13. How can it be "unto children's children," but by God's gracious imputation of it to each of them personally, as they appear in their successive generations? This glorious doctrine, wherever we turn upon that perfect globe of truth, the Holy Bible, is to be seen shining with meridian brightness in both hemispheres-the Old and the New Tes taments. In the Old Testament the Messiah is thus foretold: "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of right

eousness arise, with healing in His wings," or rays. Mal. iv. 2. And "This is His name whereby He shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Jer. xxiii. 6. And therefore, of each of His believing people it is affirmed, "Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." Isa. xlv. 24. In the New Testament it is expressly written, that "The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, is unto all, and upon all, them that believe." Rom. iii. 22. And therefore, who can sufficiently describe the "blessedness of the man, to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works"? Rom. iv. 6.

This "blessedness" is freely bestowed on all who fear and obey God. Those who do not fear to offend Him, who regulate their lives only by their own wishes and desires, having no design to please their heavenly Master, possess neither part nor lot in this imputed and everlasting righteousness. Those, however, who by grace, retain a reverential remembrance of the Omnipresent God, who fear to act contrary to His holy will, and who entertain a child-like desire to please Him as a Father in all things, through Jesus Christ, such obedient believers have full warrant to appropriate, and to enjoy, the mercy and the righteousness of the Lord, their present portion and their everlasting inheritance.

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The believer possesses the happy assurance that these blessings are free, not only to his own soul, but also to the souls of his children after him. The covenant which God made with Abraham, was thus secured to his descendants in the Jewish Church: "I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." Gen. xvii. 7. This covenant was ratified

"The

in Christ with equal fulness to the Gentile Church: promise is unto you and to your children." Acts ii. 39. Great is the joy which this assurance imparts to the believing parent. His children, he learns, are graciously included in the same covenant with himself. He therefore feels emboldened to plead on their behalf before that gracious God who has said, "I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Isa. xliv. 4. Therefore, he feels intensely solicitous to train up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and longs and labors assiduously that both he himself, and all who belong to him, yea, and "his children's children," may be such as "keep His covenant, and remember His commandments to do them."

This declaration proves that the "fear" here spoken of by the Psalmist, is not an idle, inoperative, sentiment in the breast, but a powerfully influential, and active principle in the life. Those who "fear God," not only know, but "keep His covenant;" they not only remember His commandments to repeat them,but they "remember His commandments to do them." True believers both sincerely desire, and earnestly endeavor to please God. They strive to yield an unremitting obedience to all His injunctions. They love the Lord their God with all their heart, they delight to serve Him with all their soul. The words which He commands them they teach diligently to their children; and by their example, as well as by their precepts, they labor to train up every one of them in the way in which they should go.

The encomium pronounced upon Abraham by God Him

self was this: "I know him that he will command his chil dren and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." Gen. xviii. 19. And to the obedience of some of his "children's children," this remarkable testimony is given in the case of Moses and of Joshua: "As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua ; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses." Josh. xi. 15.

"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies." Psa. xxv. 10. The promise is as gracious as it is explicit: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov. xxii. 6. Prov. xxii. 6. It is to be expected that children will walk in the ways of their fathers, as said our Lord: "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." John viii. 39. Therefore the promises are given, with a similar condition to David's: "If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore." Psa. cxxxii. 12. God said unto Abraham, "Thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, in their generations." Gen. xvii. 9. With peculiar emphasis did God re-deliver this covenant on Mount Sinai, saying unto Moses, "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye