reasoning in Rom. v. 12-21. In the first part of the Epistle, he shows that all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, are sinful and condemned in the sight of God. He then argues, that the law of itself cannot justify a sinner, because it serves only to declare his guilt and condemnation. The only remedy then, is the Gospel. And as for the Mosaic law, its greatest glory was, that it served to prefigure the divine. plan of salvation through Christ. And then he proceeds to show that the moral state of the Jews was determined, not by their descent from Abraham, or by their privileges in virtue of the law of Moses, but by their connection with Adam; and, that as he is the father of all mankind, so as to their moral state they are all on a level in the sight of God. They are accordingly all subjected to mortality, by a law dif ferent from that of Moses. It follows then, that as Christ came to deliver from death, it behoved him to answer the claims of that law under which mankind at large are placed. As the forfeiture was sustained by all the nations of the earth, so the blessing of redemption is free to all kindreds of mankind. Such certainly is the first promise of mercy. And as the law of Moses was not against, but subservient to the promise; so the covenant with Abraham could not be against, but must have been subservient to, the original promise to mankind. And as that promise contained an epitome of the counsels of God from eternity, which never can be disannulled, it, of course, contained a revelation of the general plan of redemption.

Many imagine that the covenant of God is a kind

of bargain, in virtue of which, on the ground of something done by themselves, its blessings are to be communicated. In particular, faith, repentance, and new obedience, are considered as conditions, which, on being duly fulfilled, entitle to the blessings of the heavenly kingdom. Such ideas are utterly subversive of the scheme of mercy. What more dishonourable to God, than to turn his gracious proclamation of forgiveness into the ground of a bargain between himself and rebels, as if he and they were on a footing? Faith and repentance, as well as Christian obedience, are themselves blessings of the covenant, and essential parts of the salvation of God. Without them, indeed, no other of the blessings of redemption can be enjoyed; but this is quite a different thing from their being conditions, on the performance of which a title is acquired to the benefits revealed in the Gospel. The work of Christ is the ground or condition on which the blessings of redemption and eternal life are bestowed upon sinners. Repentance, or a change of mind, is necessary to the enjoyment of those blessings; faith is the medium through which they are bestowed; and genuine obedience is the fruit and the evidence of this faith and renovation of mind. They cannot, however, be the meritorious ground or condition on which the blessings of Heaven are obtained. By the covenant of God, we are to understand his free promises of salvation and blessedness in behalf of sinners, ratified by the death of Emmanuel; and a gracious constitution of things, or an institution, or a system of institutions, founded upon and illustra

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tive of these promises. All the covenants which God has condescended to establish with his sinful creatures will, on a careful examination, be found to accord with this definition. In particular, the everlasting covenant is often represented as a gracious constitution-dispensation-disposition, or fixed order of things, while the primary view given of it, presents to the mind a purification sacrifice, as a solemn ratification of the promise of salvation and eternal life, in behalf of the children of men, considered as the subjects of guilt and pollution, and exposed to death and condemnation.

The word, which in the Old Testament Scriptures is rendered covenant, is accordingly derived from a root, which signifies to purify, and hence it is sometimes used to signify soap, Jer. ii. 22; Mal. iii. 2. The word itself, which is rendered covenant, signifies a purifier, a purification, or a purification sacrifice; and the phrase for making a covenant, literally signifies to cut a purifier, or to cut off a purifying victim. The ancient manner of confirming a covenant, was by the slaying of an animal in sacrifice, and then dividing it into pieces, between which the party making the engagement or promise, solemnly passed. After Abraham had divided certain victims, God, under the symbol of a burning lamp, passed between the pieces; and thus, "In that same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, Gen. xv. 7-18. This was by no means a covenant of mutual stipulation,

but of free promise on the part of the Almighty alone; and therefore, the divine glory alone passed between the pieces. It deserves our attention, that though many of the promises to Abraham are recorded in the xii. and xiii. chapters of the book of Genesis, they are not termed a covenant, till an account is given in chap. xv. of their being ratified by sacrifices. This solemn mode of confirmation prefigured the great sacrifice of the Son of God, in right of whom Abraham and his seed were to inherit the blessing. It is easy to see how promises made in behalf of sinful and polluted men, came to be confirmed by means of a sacrifice; for as it is by means of an atonement that guilt is purged away, and that sinners, as thus purified from it, have access into the presence and family of God; so it was proper, that whatever promises of blessing were made to such, should be ratified in a way which should exhibit the the great means, by which purification from sin and reconciliation to God should be effected. To this mode of confirming the covenant there is a reference in Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19, where God denounces a curse on the different classes in Judah and Jerusalem; who on a particular occasion, had made a covenant before him, in regard to their servants, by cutting a calf in twain, and passing between the parts of it, as a ratification of the promised liberty of their enslaved brethren. In allusion to this character of our Lord as a purifier, the redeemed are represented as arrayed in robes made white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev. vii. 14. Now, garments cannot literally be made white by being washed in blood; but sins

being represented as the pollution of the soul, and so excluding men as spiritually defiled from the presence of God, it is easy to see how that state of acceptance into which men are brought, through the application of the atonement of Christ, is signified by their appearing in robes made white by being washed in his blood.

When men saw that God confirmed his promise by a sacrifice, they learned to confirm their own engagements by the same means, though not with the same views. The custom appears to have arisen from regard to the great sacrifice, which was to redeem mankind; and those who in this way symbolically confirmed their engagements, would be considered as having staked their hope of salvation, through the great sacrifice, on their faithful fulfilment. Now, as the engagements of men were generally mutual stipulations between the parties concerned, the word covenant came to denote a mutual compact so ratified, and, at last, whether thus ratified or not. But when applied to God, it denotes nothing of this kind, but, as has just been stated, his own free and gracious promises in behalf of the guilty and unworthy, ratified by a sacrifice; or else a gracious constitution of things, or an institution, or a system of institutions, founded upon and illustrative of his promises.

The former is evident, from the reasoning of the Apostle in Gal. iii. 15-18, which proceeds on the principle, that a promise, or promises, and a covenant are one and the same thing; it being understood, that a sacrifice has been slain for the purpose