(Bp. Phillips Brooks.)

(G. Littlemore.)

I. Consider, for a moment, and you will see that this is the great characteristic of the man — THAT HE IS THE CONSTRUCTOR OF THINGS FASHIONED AFTER AN INWARD IDEAL OR PATTERN, and thus he transforms the outward world according to his mental and spiritual conceptions. Here, on one part, stands vast, unshaped matter — rock, wood, stream, fluent, air: on the other part is the human agent who is to work upon this world of matter. You may say that the beaver or the bee works upon matter. The one proceeds with the utmost accuracy to build its neat, and the other to construct its dam; but there is a point at which each of them stops. They do not go a jot beyond the line of instinct; they do nothing more wonderful, nothing different from what has been done for six thousand years. But see, out of this same world of matter, man makes houses, weapons, ships, printing presses, steam engines, and telegraphs. He makes implements, and produces combinations that did not exist in nature, but that stood first as shadows on the horizon of his own thought — patterns that were shown him in the mount of intellectual and spiritual elevation. But if this power which man has of working from inward conceptions is expressed in the ways in which he pours his thought into matter, it is still more apparent in the ways in which his thought, so to speak, overrides matter — as he appears not merely in inventions, but in creations. The work of art, for instance — the great work of genius — whence comes that? Something that you do not see in nature, something that can nut be interpreted as a mere combination of matter — a mere putting together of the elements of the physical world; but something that has flowed out of the ideal springs of a man's own soul, until we have the splendours of the sunset sky woven in the fibres of the canvas, and the stones of the quarry heaved up in an architectural ant m of grandeur and aspiration. But the main conclusion to which I would lead your thought is this: than a most every man has conceptions higher and better than he realises, or than he even endeavours to make real. Before every man there hovers a high conception — or one more or less high — certainly above the level of his present conduct — of virtue, of moral action, of duty, of righteousness, of truth; and the more h- looks at that, the more vivid it becomes to him. Although he may, at the same time, not move a jot or a hair toward it, nor even endeavour, for a single instant, to come up to it, yet it stands before him, and he sees it clear and bright, kindling upon his thought, and ready to move hi heart. And you see this fact revealed m this remarkable manner by every man. If he does ever so bad an act, he tries to justify it in some way — tries to reconcile it to some ideal of virtue. So that from his own showing, his own confession, there is an ideal standard in his mind higher than that from which he has acted. What better advice, then, could be given to any man than just this? Work out your highest conceptions — the noblest standard of truth and duty that comes to you. It may not be the highest possible, nor the highest conceivable by other men, but that which seems to you the highest possible or conceivable, work up to, and live up to, and endeavour to make it the rule. And so especially it is in regard to the matter of faith about which many are much troubled and perplexed. They say they cannot believe that the Bible is divinely inspired; they are not fully convinced about the immortality of the soul, and they even sometimes incline to doubt the existence of a God. What then are you to do, my be low-men? To throw aside all faith and live outside of its circle, merely as an animal, in a coarse, material existence? No — no; some shred of faith you have. Every man ha. some. Some conceptions of spiritual things dawn upon every mind; live up to the faith you have. Have you a faith that it is good to do good? Live up to that. Have you a faith that charity is a blessed thing? Live up to that. Work out to the extreme limit of your conception here, and just so sure as you do it, the wider will your circle open before you.

II. In the next place, let us proceed to see WHAT WILL RESULT IF A MAN ACTUALLY ATTEMPTS THUS TO WORK UP TO HIS HIGHEST AND BEST SPIRITUAL CONCEPTIONS. In the first lace, I think he will acquire some comprehension of the worth and certainty of spiritual being, and of the reality of his own soul. Let a man think, when he endeavours to carry out the best conception of duty, how much that is all-controlling and supreme in his life, let him think that the highest claim in his life is from within; hst him think how mind will after all control and master the body. The moment you think of this power to control and master material things, you fall back upon the consciousness theft you have a soul, and that there is more evidence than you have supposed of its existence. In fact, there is more proof of a soul than of a body. When a man asks me what proof I have of a soul, I reply by asking him, What proof have you of a body? You have more logical difficulty to prove an outward world than a soul. Spiritual consciousness, mounting aspiration, ideal influences have controlled you all through life. But more than this; not only will a man, as he begins to work from his best spiritual conceptions upward, begin to comprehend the worth of spiritual things and of the soul, but he will begin to acquire right standards of action. I hardly need say that in the calculations of men, very generally they do not start from the ground of the soul. If you look at a great many of the social fallacies of our time, at a great many of the social faults and errors of men in business, in politics, and in life generally, you will find that the fallacy or error consists in the fact that they do not start from the ground of the soul as a standard, but from outward things. They estimate all outward things by their bulk or glitter. Let a man take up the subject of immortality — of the spirit of man enshrined in time, and working through sense, as destined to live beyond the stars, when banks and warehouses, cities and continents, shall have melted with fervent heat, and crumbled to ashes; when this world shall be dashed from its orbit as a speck of dust from a flying wheel — let him take the grand calculus of the immortality of the soul, and start with that, and then worldly good and gain will take their proper attitude, temporary expediency will sink down, and right will assert its proper place; then he will have a true standard by which to estimate all things. In the next place, if a man really endeavours to work according to his highest a-d best inward conception, he will come to perceive the need of Christ and the worth of Christianity. Working from his best and highest, he gains a better and a higher still, until at length he will come to feel that spiritual aspirations are boundless. And when, from the yearnings of his educated soul, he wants a perfect ideal, he will ask, Where is the excellence that will answer my highest ideal? where is that which will begin to fill up this boundless thirst of the soul, which has only been increased by drinking from narrow cisterns? And Jesus Christ comes out upon the horizon of history, and stands before him in the gospel, and answers that inquiry. He says virtually to man, "I am the ideal for which you aspire; in Me behold a perfect reflection of that which you now must seek; in Me behold that which continually fills up your yearning want, and makes that want the deeper, that it may fill it with more." Here stands man on one side, with a sense of imperfection and sin, asking, What is there that will help me in, what is there that will deliver me from the power of sin? No mere man, no mere teacher, like or Seneca, can do it. Man needs some spirit of Divine goodness to enter into him, to cure him of his sin and Jesus Christ embodies that Divine spirit. He comes before man to assure him of mercy, with the encouragement that the vilest sin may be cast off, and that man may throw himself upon the Divine mercy which He represents, and be lightened of his load. And here, on the other hand, are limitless wants and desires; and how does Jesus Christ gratify them? By exhibiting perfect Father; by showing an ideal to us that we never can compass, but can always aspire to.

(E. H. Chapin, D. D.)

2. As great respect is manifested to God in the manner of doing what He requires, as in matter. In this was David commended (2 Kings 3:6). This was it that Hezekiah pleaded before God (2 Kings 20:3).

3. Herein lieth a main difference between the upright and the hypocrite, instance the difference between Abel's and Cain's offering (Genesis 4:4, 5).

4. That which is good is altered and perverted by failing in the manner. Good is thereby turned into evil, and duty into sin.

5. Failing in the manner makes God reject that which in the matter He requireth (Isaiah 1:11).

6. God detests things commanded by Himself when they are done in an ill manner (Isaiah 66:3).

7. In this case he that doth the work of the Lord is accursed (Jeremiah 48:10).

1. This giveth just cause of examining ourselves even about the good things that we do. This use is the rather to be observed because every one best knoweth his own failings in the manner of what he doth (1 Corinthians 2:11).

2. Upon due examination we cannot but be deeply humbled ever for our failings in the manner of doing good things. The glory of our reading, hearing, praying, singing, partaking of the sacrament, alms-deeds, and other duties, is hereby taken away, which if profane men knew, they would insult over professors.

3. This giveth just occasion of abnegation, and of renouncing all confidence even in our best works, for we must fail therein (1 Samuel 3:2). Did justiciaries well understand this, it would make them cast down their gay peacock's feathers. They would not be so conceited of themselves, as the proud Pharisee, but rather as the humble publican (Luke 18:11-13). There is nothing of such force to work in us This lesson of denying ourselves as a consideration of the manner of doing the good things we do. This consideration would soon put an end to all conceits of fulfilling the law, of meriting, of doing works of supererogation, and undry other proud apprehensions.

4. Upon the aforesaid ground be exhorted to learn as well as to do, what we enterprise, as what we do. God loves adverbs. We were as go d be ignorant of the duty itself as of the manner of performing it. To know what ought to be done, and not to know how it ought to be done, will be a great aggravation of sin.

6. For well-doing that which, is good observe these few rules; —(1) Exercise thyself in God's Word, diligently read it, hear it, and meditate upon it. This is an excellent help. and the best that I can prescribe. For God's Word doth expressly and distinctly declare both what is to be done and how it is to be done (Psalm 119:105).(2) Think on duty before hand, and endeavour to prepare thyself thereto. Sudden, rash, unprepared enterprising a sacred duty is one occasion of failing in the manner of doing it (Ecclesiastes 5:2).(3) Consider with whom thou hast to do in all things; even with Him who is the searcher of the heart. This will make thee circumspect in every circumstance. Conceits that we have to do with man alone, make us look only to the outward duty (2 Corinthians 2:17).(4) In penitent confessions, acknowledge thy failing in the manner of doing duty.(5) Pray for ability even about the manner of doing duty (2 Corinthians 3:5). The work of the Spirit is herein specially manifested; we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But none can do good in a right manner except the regenerating Spirit be in him and help him.

6. For comfort in this case we must have our eye upon our Surety in whom was no failing at all (Hebrews 6:26).

(W. Gouge.)

1. What we are to understand by a covenant in general.

2. What by the covenant of grace in particular.

3. Illustrate two or three particular points which have created some doubts and difficulties in this subject.

4. Consider some of the peculiar titles and distinguishing properties of this covenant.

II. JESUS CHRIST IS THE MEDIATOR OF THIS COVENANT.

1. The proper office of a mediator.

2. Christ's peculiar qualification for this high office of Mediator between God and man.

3. His accomplishment of it.

4. How admirably this constitution is founded in the Divine grace and wisdom.

5. What regards are due to Christ under this character of Mediator.(1) Does He not deserve and most justly claim all our love, our superlative and most ardent esteem?(2) What exalted honour, adoration, and praise are due from us to Him, who was so wonderfully qualified for this high office by the hypostatical or personal union of the Divine and human natures.(3) As Mediator of the new covenant, let us readily trust Him with all our spiritual and everlasting interests.(4) As our Mediator, we are humbly to seek to Him for that grace, which must make us meet for His salvation; for His awakening grace, to make us more sensible of our guilt and need of Him; for His quickening grace, to encourage, direct, and strengthen us in the way to eternal life.(5) As our Mediator, we are to perform every part of religious worship in His name. He is our way to the Father.

III. THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION IS A BETTER COVENANT THAN THAT UNDER WHICH THE JEWS LIVED.

1. Because it contains better terms. Repentance, faith, and sincere obedience are called the terms of the covenant, not only because they are the requisites on which the promised blessings of the covenant are suspended, but because they are of themselves essentially necessary to qualify us to partake of them.

2. Because it affords better helps or assistances.(1) The method of worship under the gospel is more easy, rational, and spiritual.(2) The revelation we enjoy is more plain, full, and extensive.(3) The Divine aids offered to us are more particular, ample, and effectual.

3. Because it is founded on better promises.(1) Because they are the promises of better things; or the subjects of them are more excellent, sublime, and glorious.(2) The promises of the gospel are more plain, clear, and explicit than those of the legal covenant.(3) The promises of the gospel are not only more clear, but more numerous and extensive than those of the Jewish dispensation.(4) Another thing which gives the pre-eminence to the promises of our covenant, is that they are all ratified and confirmed to us in Christ, the Mediator of it.

(John Mason, M. A.)

II. In the Christian dispensation THE GOSPEL OR COVENANT OF GRACE IS REVEALED MORE PERFECTLY AND PLAINLY THAN EVER BEFORE; not in obscure expressions, in types, and carnal metaphors, but in its own proper form and language, i.e., as a covenant relating to things spiritual and eternal.

III. THE RITES AND CEREMONIES which are superadded to the covenant of grace, in the Christian dispensation of it, ARE MUCH PREFERABLE TO THOSE IN FORMER TIMES, and that in three respects; they are fewer, they are clearer, and they are much more easy.

IV. THE SON OF GOD, WHO WAS THE REAL MEDIATOR OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE THROUGH ALL FORMER DISPENSATIONS, HAS CONDESCENDED TO BECOME THE VISIBLE MEDIATOR OF THIS DISPENSATION.

V. THIS DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL is not confined to one family, or to one nation, or to a few ages of men, but it SPREADS THROUGH ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, AND REACHES TO THE END OF TIME.

VI. I might add here some OTHER CHARACTERS OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION, which the apostle gives it in 2 Corinthians 3., whereby he exalts it above all the religion of the Jews, and especially far above the Sinai covenant.

VII. THE ENCOURAGEMENTS AND PERSUASIVE HELPS WHICH CHRISTIANITY GIVES US TO FULFIL THE DUTIES OF THE COVENANT ARE MUCH SUPERIOR TO THOSE WHICH WERE ENJOYED UNDER ANY OF THE FORMER DISPENSATIONS. NOW these consist chiefly in examples and motives.

1. Do examples invite us to our duty, and by a soft and secret influence encourage and lead us on to the performance of it? Such indeed were the names of Abraham and David, each in their day a happy pattern to their several ages; but in my opinion all the praises which are due to David and Abraham fall far short of the labours and sufferings, the zeal and patience, the holiness and the love of St. Paul. And not one of them is to be compared with the more excellent and perfect pattern of Jesus Christ.

2. Let us next consider our various motives to duty under the New Testament. Are the motives of love and gratitude powerful principles to encourage and persuade us to every active service? Such indeed were the blessings and gifts which God bestowed on men under former dispensations. But what were all those gifts and blessings in comparison of the unspeakable gift of His own Son, to die as a sacrifice in our stead, which is one of the chief themes and glories of the Christian revelation? Are the promises and threatenings of God another set of motives to duty? Do the awful glories and terrors of a future and eternal world work upon all the springs of our activity and diligence by hope and fear? Yes, certainly, in a high degree. But the former dispensations had but few of these eternal terrors and glories, these threatenings and promises relating to an invisible state.

(Isaac Watts, D. D.)

1. As respects God, He who has no rule of action but His own will is pleased hereby to bind Himself, in His dealings with men, to the observance of certain specified terms.

2. As respects men. they are bound to fulfil the conditions herein prescribed to them, under pain of forfeiting the offered benefits, and incurring the attendant penalties. The covenant under which all men are born, as children of Adam, is that of works. It must be evident to every one, that if he be tried according to the letter of this covenant, there remains no hope for him before God, for he is a transgressor of it from the womb. And thus the Scriptures everywhere testify. We are led then to the inquiry: is there any other covenant or dispensation of God for His creatures, whereby (letting go the first, and laying hold on this) we may have that eternal life and blessedness which we have irrecoverably forfeited by the first? Such a covenant there is. The terms of it are fully made known to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the "glad tidings of great joy."

II. The particular features of this "BETTER COVENANT, which was established upon better promises."

1. Whereas in the old covenant something is required on the part of man, as a title to its privileges, this contemplates in him nothing but sins and unrighteousness, and lays the basis of all covenant good vouchsafed to him in the sovereign grace of God, a promise as large and unlimited as language can express of the free removal of sins, and that for ever. Herein is summed up all the grace of the covenant, that it supposes guilt of every kind and degree, in the objects of it, and meets them with this cheering assurance, I will be merciful to it, I will remember it no more. But has God, then, deserted His justice, in showing mercy to a sinner, and dishonoured His law by suffering the violation of it with impunity? God forbid! The condition of life under the new covenant is precisely that of the old — perfect obedience. But under the gospel this obedience is rendered for the sinner by his surety, and the life which is its due becomes his, not by working, but by believing. Christ has fulfilled the law for us. Mercy, therefore, to man is the jut reward of merit in Christ.

2. Mark another feature, no less distinguishing the gospel as a "ministration of glory." This is the exceeding fulness of its promised blessings (Romans 15:29).

(1)Divine renewal;

(2)Divine relationship;

(3)Divine illumination.

3. Its security. The effectual provision which God has made in it for the sure enjoyment of its rich benefits.

4. Its everlasting continuance. Hence it is expressly called " the everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13:20).Lessons:

1. The overwhelming motives afforded us, by this covenant of grace, to walk before God in all holiness and godliness of living.

2. The grievous sin of those who carelessly neglect this covenant of grace, or obstinately refuse to close with it.

3. The abundant encouragement which this covenant holds out to the most guilty and desponding sinner to return to God and be at peace.

4. Lastly, let the established believer recognise in this covenant the charter of all his privileges. Ever rejoice, my Christian brethren, in your entire deliverance from the law of works as a means of obtaining life. Life is yours by free gift, covenant gift of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. Having the Son, you have life. Only abide, then, in Him, your Covenant Head, and walk worthy of your exalted privileges, in all holy and happy obedience.

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

I. Consider it As IT BEGAN IN ETERNITY. As there never was a moment in which God was not, so never was there a moment in which this grace to man was not the determinate counsel and object of delight of the Eternal mind. The purpose of redemption was not (as many unworthily think of it) a purpose conceived only when man fell, to remedy a mischief never contemplated till then. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." Rather, the whole mystery of grace in the gospel, yea, creation itself, with all its consequences, is a result of the purpose of God to make, in the person of Christ, the most illustrious display, before all intelligent creatures, of the glories of the Divine nature, by man's redemption.

II. As IT WAS CARRIED ON UPON EARTH With His incarnation commenced that active ministry of which the apostle is here speaking as "more excellent" than that of Aaron, above which it is one great object of this Epistle to exalt it. The main intention of this earthly ministry of Christ was to make atonement.

1. It was the life of a sinless Being, and so was altogether unforfeited; it was that which He had to give to God, in exchange for His people, who are therefore called "the purchased possession" (Ephesians 1:14); the law of God had no claim upon it, except as He voluntarily subjected Himself to its curse for us.

2. While it was human life, it was life taken into union with Deity; and so it was not only of infinite value, but this Priest as well as Victim possessed in Himself infinite ability both to lay it down and to take it again.

3. But let us look at the effect of this atonement which Christ, as our High Priest, made for the sins of men, in reference to the covenant of which we are treating. The blood of Jesus Christ is represented by Himself, and throughout this Epistle, as the ratification of the covenant.

III. AS IT IS COMPLETED IN HEAVEN (Hebrews 6:20).

1. His intercession above gives efficacy to His offering of Himself on earth.

2. His mediatorial dominion. He holds the reign of universal empire. Heaven, earth, and hell — all things in all worlds — obey His sovereign will.

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

(Bp. Butler.)

(W. B. Pope, D. D.)

1. Their promises were included within the narrow compass of Judea; our promises are blazed all the world over.

2. Their promises were published by men, by the patriarchs, prophets, which were but servants; ours by Christ the Son of God.

3. They according to God's promise had the graces of the Spirit as we have, yet not in such abundant measure as they be now poured out in the time of the gospel.

4. Their promises were dark and obscure, covered under the veil of many ceremonies, and shadowed out by temporal things; our promises are more clear and evident.

5. Theirs were at the delivery of the law with a condition, "Do this and live. Cursed be he that continueth not in all things," &c. Ours "Believe and live."

6. The sacraments, whereby the promises were confirmed unto them, were more hard and difficult: the cutting off the foreskin, the preparing of a lamb for every house; ours are more easy and familiar: the sprinkling of a little water, or the dipping in the water, the procuring of bread and wine.

7. Their promises were of things to come: there should come a Lamb that should take away the sins of the world; ours are of things already come and exhibited. This Lamb is come, and hath offered up Himself on the altar of the cross for us.

(W. Jones, D. D.)

(H. G. Salter.)

(H. Spurstowe.)

1. What is charged on the first covenant, and that is faultiness, by which we are not to understand any sinful faultiness, but defectiveness and imperfection only; for it was not faulty in the matter and substance of it, as it was instituted and ordained by God, but therefore called faulty because it was obscure, was not so surely ratified, and not attended with that virtue, power, and efficacy which the new covenant is accompanied with.

2. Wherein consisteth that defectiveness and imperfection of the first covenant which is here complained of.(1) In its ability to justify and save us, because of our inability, through the weakness of the flesh, to answer the demands of it (Romans 8:3). The law was not properly weak to us, bat we were weak to that.(2) The legal covenant required exact obedience, but afforded no spiritual assistance for the performance of what is required: but the covenant of grace, the new covenant, is called a ministration of the Spirit; and under the gospel we are said not to serve in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit. Now, says the apostle (ver. 8), Almighty God finding fault with the Jews for the breach of the former covenant, declared by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31), that the covenant He would make with all true Israelites for time to come should vet be like that which He made with their fathers in Egypt, which they continued not in the observation of (wanting those assistances from the Holy Spirit to enable them thereunto, which are procured for us by Christ); accordingly "I regarded them not, saith the Lord," but gave them up for their sins into the hands of their enemies.

3. How Almighty God makes the imperfection of the old covenant, and the Israelites' instability therein, the reason of His making a new covenant with us, in which grace and assistance is offered to enable us to obey and persevere in obedience.From the whole note —

1. That the grace and glory of the new covenant are much set off and manifested by comparing it with the old.

2. That nothing but effectual grace from Christ will secure our covenant obedience one moment: what greater motives or stronger outward obligations to obedience could any people under heaven have than the Israelites had? But they quickly turned out of the way; therefore, in the new covenant, is this grace promised in a peculiar manner.

(W. Burkitt, M. A.)

1. The author speaks in a very disparaging way of the Old Testament sacrifices, saying that they could never take away sins (Hebrews 10:11), nor perfect those offering them as to the conscience (Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 10:1, 2), and that they were carnal ordinances and useless (Hebrews 7:18): His language implies that Old Testament saints were burdened with a conscience of sin (Hebrews 9:9, 14; Hebrews 10:2, 22), consequently that they were oppressed by the sense of the inefficacy of their sacrifices to remove sin, from which it seems to follow that they had no clear light as to any connection of these sacrifices with another the virtue of which they conveyed. To the same effect is the view that the transgressions under the first covenant were left outstanding and only removed by the sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 9:15). All this, however, bears directly only on the question before him of the value of the Old Testament sacrifices in themselves, and whether they effected a true objective atonement. Old Testament saints felt they could not do so, and hence they were burdened with a sense of sin which, among ether things, manifested itself in a bondage from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15).

2. Again, when the author says that blood of bulls could never take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), and on the other hand that it sanctified in reference to the purity of the flesh (Hebrews 9:13), it is certainly very far from being his intention to draw a distinction between one class of offences called "sins" to which the Old Testament sacrifices were inapplicable, and another class that might be named ceremonial defilements which they did remove, and so to erect a general theory of the Old Testament constitution to the effect that it consisted of two spheres, one of ceremonial observances and external government, within which sacrifices had a real validity, and another the sphere of true spiritual relations to God, within which they had no force. The sacrifices were offered for sins (Hebrews 5:1, 3; Hebrews 9:7; Hebrews 10:8, 11), and if they could have effected the purpose for which they were offered, the worshipper would have had no more conscience of sins (Hebrews 10:2), a condition which the offering of Christ brings about (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:17). The Old Testament sacrifices could not go further than to purify the flesh.

(A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)

II. IT IS THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO TAKE DEEP NOTICE OF GOD'S COMPLAINTS OF THEM. Want hereof is that which hath laid most churches in the world under a fatal security. Hence they carry themselves as though they were "rich and increased in goods, and had need of nothing," when indeed "they are wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." To consider what God blames, and to affect our souls with a sense of guilt, is that trembling at His word which He so approves of. And to guide them herein they ought carefully to consider —

1. The times and seasons that are passing over them. For in a due observance of the times and seasons, and an application of ourselves to the duties of them, consists that testimony which we are to give to God and the gospel in our generation. That Church which considers not its especial duty in the days wherein we live is fast asleep, and it may be doubted whether, when it is awaked, it will find oil in its vessel or not.

2. The temptations which are prevalent, and which unavoidably we are exposed unto. Every age and time hath its especial temptations. And it is the will of God that the Church should be exercised with them and by them; and it were easy to manifest that the darkness and ignorance of men, in not discerning the especial temptations of the age wherein they have lived, or neglecting of them, have been always the great causes and means of the apostasy the Church.

III. GOD OFTEN SURPRISETH THE CHURCH WITH PROMISES OF GRACE AND MERCY (Isaiah 7:13, 14; Isaiah 43:22-25). And this He will do —

1. That He may glorify the riches and freedom of His grace.

2. That none who have the least remainder of sincerity, and desire to fear the name of God, may utterly faint and despond at any time, under the greatest confluence of discouragements.

(John Owen, D. D.)

1. In God's condescension to man.

2. In the sure prop that man hath to rest on God for happiness.

1. God's condescension to man is manifested four ways.(1) In that God being the most high supreme Sovereign over all. vouchsageth to enter into covenant with His servants.(2) In that God being a Lord hath power to command what He pleaseth, so as He need not covenant or capitulate with them, saying, Do this and I will do that; yet doth He enter into covenant.(3) In that being mot free, and wholly depending upon Himself, He need not bind Himself to any (Job 9:12; Job 34:19; Daniel 4:35), yet by covenant He binds Himself to man.(4) In that God being the Lord God of truth (Psalm 30:5) He binds Himself to perform His promise, as if there might be some tear of His failing therein (Hebrews 6:17, 18).

2. The sure prop that man hath to rest of God for happiness by reason of His covenant is manifested two ways.(1) In that God who is good and doeth good (Psalm 119:68) doth covenant to make man happy. God is as a deep, full, open, overflowing, everdowing fountain, so as that might seem sufficient to make us go to Him for everything that may tend to blessedness. But the covenant which God maketh to bring us unto happiness doth much more embolden us to go to Him, and make us confident of receiving from Him what He hath covenanted to give.(2) By covenant God hath caused a special relation to pass betwixt Him and us. He and we are confederates. This is a sure prop. As God is faithful in Himself, so His covenant is most sure. It is a covenant of salt for ever (Numbers 18:19). Go ,'s confederates may thereupon have strong consolation and confidence (Deuteronomy 7:9; Hebrews 6:18).

II. THE COVENANT OF GOD WITH MAN DOTH DIRECT US IN FOUR SPECIAL POINTS.

1. To know what God expects of us; namely, whatsoever is in the covenant to be performed on our part, which we must be careful to observe as we do desire to receive any benefit from the covenant.

2. To understand what we may expect from God; namely, whatsoever on God's part is covenanted.

3. To acquaint ourselves with the covenant of God, that thereby we may know what privileges and blessings belong unto us. A wise heir will search after such evidences as give him a right to his lands and goods.

4. To be careful in observing our own undertakings, and as conscionable in performing the covenant on our part, as we are desirous to partake of the benefit of the covenant on God's part. This is laid down as a ground of Levi's blessing, theft they kept God's covenant (Deuteronomy 33:9). This God expressly requireth (Exodus 19:5). We cannot expect that God should keep covenant with us unless we he careful to keep covenant with Him (Psalm 25:10). Great is that loss which followeth upon breach of covenant, yet that is not all, God's wrath and vengeance will also follow thereupon. Sole vengeance hath been executed on breach of covenant with man (2 Kings 17:4, &c.; Ezekiel 17:15). How much sorer vengeance may be feared on breach of covenant with God (Jeremiah 22:6, 9; Jeremiah 34:18-20; Hosea 8:1; 1 Kings 11:11).

(W. Gouge.)

(A. Saphir.)

1. In the different consideration of the Author of the one and the other, which are in the first God's supreme sovereignty, and in the latter His rich mercy.

2. In the procuring cause of them, which was of the former God's mere will and pleasure, of the latter pity and compassion.

3. In the manner of making the one and the other. The former was without a mediator; the latter with one

4. In the time: the former was made before man had sinned; the latter after his transgression.

5. In the occasion of making the one and the other. The occasion of the former was to try man's faithfulness in that integrity wherein God made him. The occasion of the latter was to show the necessity of man's continual dependence on God.

6. In the confederates or parties with whom the one and the other was made. The former was made with all mankind; the latter with the elect only.

7. In the particular good that was promised. In the former a reward was promised upon fulfilling the condition by man himself (Romans 10:15). In the latter was afforded —

(1)A Surety for man (chap. 7:22).

(2)Ability to do what God would accept (Ezekiel 36:27).

(3)A better reward in man's communion with Christ (John 14:3; John 17:23, 24).

8. In the duties required by the one and the other. Perfect obedience was required by the former; faith and repentance by the latter.

9. In the order of God's accepting. In the former God accepted the person for the work; which is thus expressed, "If thou do well, shalt thou not be accepted?" (Genesis 4:7). In the latter the work is accepted in reference to the person.

10. In the ratification. The former was ratified by word, promise, and seals. The letter was further ratified by oath (Hebrews 7:20) and blood (Hebrews 9:16, 171.

11. In the issue of the one and the o her. The former was violable. It might be forfeited, and was forfeited. The latter is inviolable and shall never be broken (Jeremiah 33:20, 21).

12. In the matter of the one and the other. These two covenants do so far differ in the very matter and substance of them as they can no more stand together' than the ark of God and Dagon (1 Samuel 5:3, 4). The apostle doth so far oppose works and grace in the case of justification and salvation as they cannot stand together (Romans 11:6). This difference betwixt the covenant of works and grace giveth evidence of God's wisdom in working by contraries and bringing light out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6) and good out of evil, as He brought "meat out of the eater" (Judges 4:14). For man's sin and misery that fell thereupon caused this better covenant. This is an especial instance to prove that "all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28).

(W. Gouge.)

1. In their Author, and that considered in the same respect: namely, as He is our Creator and Lord, and as He is our Redeemer and Father, for so was God of old called and acknowledged (Deuteronomy 32:6).

2. In the procuring cause, which was the bee grace and rich mercy of God (Luke 1:54, 55, 72, 78).

3. In the same ground and meritorious cause of both, which is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 13:8).

4. In the same promises, which are remission of sins, reconciliation with God, and everlasting happiness (Exodus 34:7; Leviticus 8:15; Psalm 91:16).

5. In the same duties required, which are faith (Genesis 15:6) and repentance (Ezekiel 33:11).

6. In the same ground of stability, which is the continual abode and operation of the Spirit in God's confederates (Psalm 51:11, 12).

7. In the same general end, which is the praise of the free grace of God (Exodus 33:18, 19; Exodus 34:6).

8. In the same persons with whom the covenants are made, which are sinners by nature but elect of God (Psalm 33:12; Psalm 89:3).

9. In the same word of faith, whereby the one and other covenant is revealed (Galatians 3:8; Hebrews 4:2).

10. In the same substance of sacraments and the same spiritual food (1 Corinthians 10:3, 4).

(W. Gouge.)

1. In the time. The old was before Christ, the new since (Hebrews 1:1, 2).

2. In the manner of delivering. The old was more obscurely delivered under types and prophecies, the new more clearly (2 Corinthians 3:13, 14).

3. In the extent. The old was restrained to a select people (Psalm 147:19, 20); the new is extended to all nations (Matthew 28:19).

4. In the mediator. Moses, a mere man, was made the mediator of the old (Galatians 3:19); but Jesus Christ, God-man, the Mediator of the new (ver. 6).

5. In the ratification. The old was ratified by the blood of beasts (Exodus 24:8); the new by the blood of the Son of God (Hebrews 9:12).

6. In the efficacy. The old comparatively was a ministration of death, thee new a ministration of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:7, 8).

7. In the kind of confederates. Under the old God's confederates were in their non-age, as children under tutors and governors (Galatians 4:5, 7).

8. In the kind of seals or sacraments. Under the old they were more in number, more various in rites, more difficult, more obscure, more earthly. By comparing the sacraments of the one and the other together, this will evidently appear.

9. In the manner of setting forth the promise of God. In the old it was set forth more meanly under temporal blessings (Deuteronomy 28:2); under the new, more directly under spiritual and celestial blessings (Matthew 5:3, &c.).

10. In the yoke that is laid o, the confederates by the one and the other. By the old heavy yoke was laid (Acts 15:10); by the new, an easy and light yoke (Matthew 11:30). So great a difference there is betwixt the new covenant and all other covenants, as it is styled a better covenant.

(W. Gouge.)

(T. C. Edwards, D. D.)

1. That a covenant shall be made, and a covenant-relation shall subsist, between God and every member of the New Testament Church.

2. That both parties, so related to one another, shall behave in a due and becoming manner, agreeable to the relation in which they stand.

3. That the relation itself and the due behaviour of the relatives on both sides shall be wholly the work of God.

II. WHAT IS MORE PARTICULARLY IMPORTED IN GOD'S PROMISING TO BE OUR GOD.

1. That God will graciously bring us to have a real and saving interest in Him as our God. Now, in order to our having such an interest in God, two things are necessary; both which are secured by this promise and both are accomplished in behalf of every one who is brought within the bond of this covenant.(1) That God make a gracious grant and offer of Himself to us. declaring us welcome to claim an interest in Him, and to look for the rest and happiness of our souls in the enjoyment of Him. Without such an offer it would be impossible that ever we should be interested in Him as our God. Such a happiness is incapable of being purchased by any creature.(2) It is likewise necessary that He enable us to accept this gracious offer, and really to choose Him as our God and Portion. There can be no covenant without the consent of both parties.

2. This part of the promise imports that God will do all that for us that any people has reason to expect or usually does expect from their God. He would be ashamed to be called our God, if He were not to act up to the character. And His allowing us to claim Him in that character may be viewed as an engagement that He will do for us whatever corresponds unto it.(1) Be will set you free from all spiritual bondage, oppression, and misery of every kind, and put you in ample possession of the glorious liberty of the sons of God.(2) He will guide and conduct you through this weary wilderness in every step of your journey towards the land of promise.(3) He will lead you forth against all your enemies, and make you completely victorious over them in due time.(4) In a word, He will bring you home in the event to the possession of a plentiful and pleasant inheritance.

III. WHAT IS IMPORTED IN OUR BEING TO GOD FOR A PEOPLE.

1. That God would gather into one all the members of the New Testament Church; so that in whatever place of the world they should have their residence, from whatever nation they should spring, whatever should be their kindred, tongue, or language, they should all be closely united one to another and constituted one body mystical.

2. That this dignified people, and every particular person among them, shall, in due tree, be enabled to dedicate themselves unto God, and cheerfully to acknowledge themselves to be His property.

3. That having made such a dedication of themselves to God, the Church and her members shall be preserved from ever attempting to alienate what they have devoted.

4. That God will graciously accept the dedication that we make of ourselves to Him and all those evangelical services which we perform in consequence thereof.Lessons:

1. From what has been said, we may see one very remarkable difference between the covenant of grace as it is exhibited in the gospel and actually made with every Christian in the day of believing, a difference, I say, between this and all other covenants. In all covenants there are mutual engagements entered into by both parties respectively; and something which they become bound to perform one to another on both sides. So far this covenant agrees with all others. But the amazing difference between this and every other covenant lies in this, that here one party binds Himself for the performance of the engagements of both.

2. We may see that all true Christians are really covenanters with God, however little relish some of them may have for the name.

3. From hence we may see that neither faith, nor repentance, nor sincere obedience, nor anything else wrought in us or done by us, can be the condition of the covenant of grace.

4. We may see from this subject that real Christians are the only happy person- in the world. All the things that men value or esteem, and in which they look for happiness, riches, honours, power, pleasure, they possess in a supereminent degree. They arc the only persons who deserve to be called rich, having an interest in God Himself, an infinite and inexhaustible good as their portion and inheritance.

(John Young, D. D.)

1. Well, the first characteristic of the mind, religiously considered, is activity. Mind is motion, mind is impulse, mind is vibration, mind is only God's thought; and His thought keeps for ever thinking. Mind, therefore, in its religious connections, must be for ever active. Be not afraid, therefore, to think, young men. Let your minds go forth continually in search of facts. Knock at the door of every phenomenon; press against the door until the fastenings of it yield to your pressure, and, passing in, you stand eye to eye in presence of its long-pent mystery. Wherever there is darkness, creep into it; and when you have entered within its gloom, kindle the torch of investigation and look around you, to discover the hidden wonder. Explorations, spiritually, are for ever in order. The proof of God is found, beyond all else, in your thinking; and the thinkers of the world are the perpetual evidences of the truth of the Bible when it declares that God made man in His own image. The human intellect is the offspring of the Supreme Intelligence. No less cause than this can be assigned as able to produce such a result. There was but one orb that could throw out such a beam. The primal relation of the human mind to the Deity was filial. Of this there can be no doubt. Nature alone is sufficient evidence. And what, pray, is the peculiar characteristic of filial connection? What is the initial attitude of the child's mind into which it grows continually as it advances in years?

2. There is but one answer: the attitude is that of reverence. Well, what shall we say, then, touching the proper attitude of the human mind to its Creator, if not this, that its attitude should be reverential? This conclusion we reach, you observe, not by following the line of any dogma, but by following the line of nature. Nature alone constitutes a perfect bible from which to read the commandment of duty. Your minds are the offspring of that Supreme Intelligence which they resemble. And if your minds are not in a reverential attitude toward God, they are in a state of transgression; not as touching any verbal statute, but as touching the great ineradicable principle of natural relationship. This reverence on the part of the human mind touching God refers not only to Him as to His nature, but to Him equally as to His creations and surroundings. The mind that rightly apprehends its relationship to the Divine Being reverences not only Him, but all that He has made. It apprehends Him in His divergence, in His distributiveness, in the varieties of His expression. Like the Hebrew, it apprehends Him in the beauty of the firmament. Like the Egyptian, it sees Him in the patience, the usefulness, and the cunning of animal life. Like the Greek, it admires the divinity as seen in the symmetry of outline and the loveliness of the human figure. Like the historian, it beholds Him in the progress of events and in the succession of forces, as they have been evolved from the various attempts at government. Nor does such a mind fail to see the evidence of its Master's presence in little things. In grasses, in flowers: in shrubs, in trees, in whatever there is of growth round about, the mind which is properly constituted reverentially apprehends Deity.

3. The third characteristic of mind that has a special religious relation is humility, and the exceeding excellence of this trait will be more clearly apprehended when it is set in contrast with its opposite, arrogance. This arrogance of intellect is as old as studentship, and as offensive as human pride. Its results are beyond expression deplorable. Its tendency is to make men self-opinionated, domineering, and insulting. It has been the mother of oppression. It has dictated persecutions beyond number. It has driven the sword of war even to its hilt into the white bosom of peace, and often made the Church, which is by nature a dispenser of the mercies of God, an engine of the devil. Its culmination is seen in the assertion of infallibility. He who lays claim to such powers of judgment advertises himself as the colossal arrogance of the world. The worst phase met with to-day is the arrogance of what is known as Radicalism. There is a class of men whose whole philosophy is that of negation. Their wisdom consists in denial. They deny the existence of God, they deny the exaltation of Christ, they deny the truth of the gospel, they deny the intelligence of piety, they deny everything that faith credits or the converted soul believes. Their sole object seems to be to undermine and pull down every structure which Christian faith and hope have builded. A more self-conceited and arrogant set of men never lived. They fulminate their scepticism as if they spoke with the authority of a god. A scientific supposition is made to subserve the purpose of a fact. Their speculations arc announced as if they were demonstrations. They are all kindred in the fashion of their behaviour. Their utterances are monotonous. He who has heard one of them lecture has heard all. He who has read one volume has mastered their entire system, if such vagaries of thought can be called a system. Bring them all together, strip them of their various names and their personality, lump them in one embodiment, and they represent a solid mass of self-conceit. That such men can have any lasting influence on the thought and morals of the race is preposterous. They are simply an accident of the times. They simply represent human eccentricity. I have now discussed the relations which mental activity, the quality of reverence, and the quality of humility hold to religious development. If you desire religious growth, you must keep your bodily organs thoroughly healthy, your mind active, reverential, and humble. One more thing alone remains to be said.

4. And this one thing which we need, we need beyond everything else: it is the love of the truth. Truth is the soul of form. It is the spirit which lurks in all substance. It is the genius which lives in law. It is the inspiration of love. It is the crown and glory of man's noblest effort. In seeking it men have passed their lives. To behold the brightness of its /ace, men have walked bravely into the darkness of death. In order to know truth you must first desire it — desire it with your whole heart, desire it for its own sweet sake. In order to find it you must free your mind from all prejudice, from all vanity, from all pride. You will look for it on a throne, and you will find it in a manger. You will look for it in honour, and you will find it in shame. You will look for it among the wise, and you will find it among the ignorant. You will look for it under the royalty of a crown, and you will find it on a cross. You will search the letter, and you will find that the letter does not include it. You will search for it in creeds, and after forty years of belief, you will discover that your creed does not contain it. You cannot stamp it on the pages of a pamphlet any more than you can tie the wind to the tree tops, But he who searches for it actively, reverently, humbly, and because his soul loveth it, will, somewhere, sometime, find it; not all at once, nor in the way he expected, but little by little, and in the way of surprise. As he finds it, so shall he find delight. It will be sweet to his soul. Peace, too, shall come with it — the peace which passeth understanding — the peace that makes man a marvel unto himself.

(W. H. H. Murray.)

II. TRUTH THUS WRITTEN IS MOST INCORRUPTIBLE. Man may write his interpolations in connection with God's truth on paper or parchment, but not on souls.

III. TRUTH THUS WRITTEN IS MOST CONVINCING. The arguments of Butler, Paley, &c., are powerless compared with the argument of a true life.

IV. TRUTH THUS WRITTEN IS MOST LASTING. Paper, marble, and brass will decay, but not souls.

(Homilist.)

II. THE SEAT OF SANCTIFICATION. This is, in general, the soul of man: the mind and heart. In both these this blessed principle has its throne, and exerts its paramount, though not undisputed, dominion over the whole man. The body of the believer, itself, experiences the benefit of the sanctification (Romans 6:13; Romans 12:1). Divine grace, in the renewed mind, is a pervading principle, that, like leaven, to which it is compared, never ceases its operation, till it have assimilated to itself all with which it comes in contact. It attacks not one vice, and spares another; corrects not one evil habit, and tolerates the rest. The law of the new creation is nothing less than God's law; and whatever in thought, word, or deed, whatever in tempers, habits, and dispositions, consists not with perfect love to God and man (which is "the fulfilling of the law"), that the renewed man instantly detects, by a kind of spiritual instinct before unknown; an antipathy of nature, as true to itself, as uniform in its actings, as that of water to fire, or of darkness to light. The two cannot exist together in peace. The man now hates sin; strives against it in all its shapes — against corrupt reason and passion both. Satan and his allies in man — the lusts of the flesh and of the mind — are driven into corners; they cannot tyrannise as before; but they yield not easily. The words of the promise lead us to distinguish two parts in this great work, the sanctification of the human soul.

1. The enlightening of the understanding, expressed by putting God's laws into the mind.

2. The engagement of the affections, expressed by writing them in the heart. Both these go together when the man is born again of the Spirit. The soul is sweetly but powerfully drawn to choose what the judgment has been taught to approve. There is given, not the rule only of obedience, but the spirit of obedience; there is a taking away the stony heart out of the flesh, and giving a heart of flesh.

III. THE AUTHOR OF SANCTIFICATION. "I will put... I will write." God, then, is Himself the agent in the establishment of His law in the hearts and minds of His people. None beneath Himself is equal to this great work. The outward means which He uses as preparatory and auxiliary to this great work, are endlessly diversified.

1. The mercy which distinguishes one man from another is not the result of holiness foreseen in the subjects of it. The terms of the covenant of grace run directly counter to such a notion. Sanctification is promised in it to sinners, as a free gift.

2. Holiness is connected with mercy, as the effect with its cause. The revelation of mercy to unrighteousness is God's great means for winning the sinner from his enmity, to love and delight in Him. I will sanctify, saith He, for I will be merciful. These two can never be disjoined.

3. Sanctification is never perfect while the believer is in the body. The conflict between the flesh and the spirit continues to the end, with various success; but, upon the whole, the actings of corruption get weaker, and the habit of grace strengthens in the soul. Still, the spark of evil is not extinguished. Satan lives, and, if permitted, can easily re-kindle it into a flame.

4. The law of the Ten Commandments is still the rule of life to the believer. From the law, as a covenant, we are eternally delivered, through Christ. As a means, therefore, of meriting life, we have nothing whatever to do with the terms of it. Eternal life is given us in Christ (1 John 5:11). But we are therefore "delivered from the law," "that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:2, 4, compare Romans 7:6). The law of Christ is indeed a law of love; but still this " new commandment" is "the old commandment which ye had from the beginning" (1 John if. 7).

5. The security of the believer in Jesus. God has put His hand to the work, and who shall let it?

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

II. THE BOOK OR TABLES WHEREIN THEY MUST RE WRITTEN ARE THE MIND AND HEART OF MAN. There is the spring and original of all rational and moral operations, of all thoughts, affections, and inward motions. There is the directive counsel and imperial commanding power. There is the prime mover of all humane actions as such. This is the subject fit to receive not only natural but supernatural truths, and doctrines, and all laws. There divine characters may be imprinted, and made legible to the soul itself. This is the most noble and excellent book that any can write in.

III. THE SCRIBE OR PEN-MAN IS GOD; FOR IT IS SAID, I WILL GIVE OR PUT, I WILL WRITE. He that said so was the Lord. And it must be He, because the work is so curious and excellent that it is far above the sphere of created activity. He alone can immediately work upon the immortal soul to inform it, move it, alter it, and mould it anew.

IV. THE ACT AND WORK OF THIS PENMAN IS TO WRITE, AND WRITE THESE LAWS AND WRITE THEM IN THE HEART. HOW He cloth it we know not. That He doth it is clear enough. His preparations, illuminations, impulsions, inspirations, are strange and wonderful, of great and mighty force. For in this work He doth not only represent divine objects in a clearer light, and propose high motives to incline and turn the heart, but also gives a divine perceptive and appetitive power, whereby the soul more easily and clearly apprehends, and more effectually affects heavenly things. The effect of this writing is a divine knowledge of God's laws, and a ready and willing heart to obey them, and conform unto them, a power to know and do the word of God. This is that work of the Spirit which is called vocation, renovation, regeneration, conversion actively taken, without which man cannot repent, believe, obey, and turn to God.

1. The laws. The laws of God are written in the heart, not the inventions, fancies of men, nor natural, nor mathematical, nor moral philosophy; much less the errors and blasphemies of seducers and false prophets.

2. The heart of man is by nature a very untoward and indisposed subject, and not capable of these heavenly doctrines. It is blind and perverse, and there is an antipathy between it and these laws. As it hath no true notions of the greatest good, so it hath no mind to use the means, which conduce to the attaining thereof. This defacement of so noble a substance is the work of the devil and sin.

3. Concerning God's writing His laws in the heart of man, you must know —(1) That they are not written there by nature. If they were, what need God write that which is already written?(2) He writes nothing in this heart but His laws and His saving truths. Therefore that which is not written without in the Scripture He doth not promise to write within the heart, and whosoever shall fancy any doctrine received in his heart to be written by the hand of Heaven, and yet cannot find it in the gospel, is deceived and deluded.(3) Before these divine doctrines can be written in the heart, all errors, lusts, false opinions, must be raised and rooted out of the soul, and it must be made like blank paper.(4) God doth not write His laws in our hearts by enthusiasm, rapture, and inspiration, as He wrote His word in the hearts of the prophets and apostles; but He makes use of the word, and the ministers of the gospel, and the instructions of man, as also of the outward senses, as of the eye and ear, and also of the inward, and of reason, and of all the powers He bath given man to do anything in this work. And whosoever will not use these means and exercise this power by reading, hearing, meditation, conference, prayer, let him never expect or think that God will write these things in his heart.(5) The effect of this writing of God is not only knowledge, but also a love of the truth, light, and integrity, power and dominion over sin, and the powerful sanctifications and consolations of the Spirit. And whosoever doth not find these in his heart, let him not think that God hath written His laws in his heart. For He writes with power, and leaves a permanent tincture of holiness, and a constant habitual inclination to that which is good, just, and right.(6) God doth not write these laws perfectly and fully in man's heart whilst he is in the flesh; for He proceeds in this work by degrees. Therefore seeing God hath ordained means, and commanded them to be used, no man must neglect them whilst this mortal life continues, for these truths are not written in any of our hearts further than we use these means, which were given not only for the first inscription of these laws, but for the increase and perfection of our Divine knowledge.

(G. Lawson)

(Sarah F. Smiley.)

(J. Parker, D. D.)

(T. Watson.)

(J. Spencer.)

(Theodore Monod.)

(T. Thompson, M. A.)

(Andrew Murray.)

(C. Clemance, D. D.)

1. Realize God as your God. Claim the relation of a child; live as if you were one; and God will so own the relation that you can hesitate no longer.

2. Live on God as a God to you — and this in two ways.

(1)Live on Him for all your need.

(2)Live on Him for all your happiness.Under this twofold aspect God revealed Himself to Abraham (Genesis 12:1) for the encouragement of His faith, in the long-continued trial of it.

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

1. His people owning God as theirs.

(1)They yield themselves to His authority.

(2)They separate themselves from an evil world.

(3)They devote themselves to His services.

(4)They live on Him for protection and happiness.

2. God owning them as His people. Consider the terms of endearment under which He speaks of them. He calls them His children; the sheep of His pasture, for whom the Shepherd bled. Such is the preciousness of His purchased people in His eyes.

(1)How infatuated are the enemies of God's people! How great is the folly (to say nothing of the wickedness) of hating those whom God loves!

(2)How glorious is the character, how exalted the privileges, of the saints!

II. God's own engagement to establish this RELATION BETWEEN US AND HIM. "They shall be to Me a people." These words clearly express a resolve of God in this matter. He Has so ordered the covenant of grace, that it is a sure covenant to all who have once embraced it. "They shall be to Me a people." His word is passed for the effectual accomplishment of His grace; and, therefore, His own Divine character and glory are involved in it. If God be able to do what He has resolved to do, this relation cannot fail to be made good between Him and them. This doctrine is a precious cordial for the fainting soldier in the day of battle. It strengthens his weak hands; confirms his feeble knees; animates him under all the terribleness of conflict.

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

(1)As He is in Himself, in His revealed nature and character.

(2)As He is to us, in His purposes towards us, and the interest which we have in Him.

II. The universality of this knowledge of God BY HIS COVENANT PEOPLE. "All shall know Me, from the least to the greatest." There is not one true child of God under the gospel but has his measure of it. He discerns the perfections of God, as they are displayed in the work of redemption; that "mystery which, in other ages, was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His apostles and prophets (and by them to the Church) through the Spirit." The "least" of God's covenant' people, as well as the greatest, has now a satisfying, soul-quieting acquaintance with God; such an understanding of the method of peace with God, through Christ, as even prophets, and righteous men of old, the most spiritual of their day, desired in vain. Yea, often the poor and ignorant and weak in intellect of this world are, in the sovereignty of Divine grace, pre-eminently "rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him."

III. A SUPER-HUMAN SOURCE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. "They shall not teach," &c. This is certainly not said to disparage God's appointed ordinance of public preaching, or mutual exhortation. It was under this very gospel covenant that He first gave the command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." But the believer does not so learn of man as that He receives the truth in that uncertainty, or sense of possible error, which attaches to every mere word of man. There is a revelation of God to His children, a knowledge of Himself by His Spirit, that is, like light, its own witness. The man who has it is sure that he has it, and that it is of God. Lessons:

1. Do we possess such superior light and knowledge of God to any which the saints of old enjoyed? O, then, let the superior effects of this knowledge be clearly discernible in our conduct. To see God indeed is to be like God.

2. Be satisfied with no knowledge of God to which you have yet attained. Though, like Paul, you had been caught up into the third heaven, yet should your prayer be, with Paul, "That I may know Him"; yet should your language be, as his was, "Not as though I had already attained." Still have you reason to say, "Now I know in part."

3. Learn to live on God in the use of ordinances. This is a very different thing from that pernicious conceit of living above ordinances. That is the privilege of heaven alone. God can indeed supply the place of means, and, in particular cases, He does so; acts independent of them; to teach us to trust in Him, in the dearth of them. But, ordinarily, it is otherwise.

4. This promise of the covenant, like the preceding, has its complete fulfilment only in an eternal world. The knowledge of God which the believer now has is real and delightful; all the things that can be desired are not to be compared unto it. But the sweetest part of its enjoyment is, that it is an earnest of what shall be.

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

1. It especially regards Him as a reconciled God in Christ.

2. But more than this; the knowledge of God implies a knowledge of Him as our God in covenant; a God who has pledged His very perfections to bring His people safe to glory; who will not have them to judge Him by their feelings, nor by their providences. Who can unfold the knowledge of God which springs from the consideration of Him as a pitying Father? "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." To know God implies a knowledge of Him as a God all-sufficient; My brethren, how long you and I have been learning this lesson, and how little we know of it after all!

II. Observe, in the second place, here is a positive word of certainty THAT ALL GOD'S PEOPLE SHALL KNOW HIM, "from the least to the greatest." This was no small part of the work of our adorable Immanuel. It is sweet and pleasant to look at Him as bearing the very name of the Word of God, because He is the revealer of God. He does indeed tell us the secrets of God's heart; He brings to light those perfections in Deity which we could never conceive to have existed but for His work. The work of Jesus is glorious throughout, and there is no part of His work which ought more to endear Him to our hearts than this, inasmuch as He disclosed more of the Father, and brings us into more intimate acquaintance with the character of God, than could have been devised by any other means. But it is not this that secures the infallible teaching of all God's Israel; it was the covenant "ordered in all things and sure." But there is a point connected with this that I would not overlook, and that is, the way by which the Holy Spirit (for it is His especial work), brings the knowledge of God into the soul. "I will give them a heart that they may know Me, saith the Lord." It is not, "I will give them knowledge," but "I will give them a heart." Now this was communicated in regeneration. Oh the wonders of redeeming love, flowing out from the heart of God by Christ Jesus! Oh what a beam of light is that which the Holy Spirit brings into the conscience, developing God our Saviour in Christ Jesus!

III. But observe, WHAT ARE THE BLESSINGS OF THIS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. I hardly know where to begin or where to end. It is true wisdom: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of Him is understanding." Here lies also the secret of peace, "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." Whence is it that the careworn brow marks thy countenance? If thou weft only conversant with the great secret, "Casting thy care upon Him that careth for thee," thou wouldst find out the blessed lesson, of living above the region of disappointment, and finding peace in believing, '' Acquaint thyself with Him, and be at peace." In a word, this true knowledge of God has in it the material of all holiness. Whatever there is of love, whatever there is of hope, whatever there is of obedience, whatever there is of careful walking, whatever there is of watchfulness unto prayer, whatever there is of making a conscience of one's deeds, whatever there is of walking secretly with God as in the sight of God — it is all involved in one truth, a true, real, personal, experimental knowledge of God in Christ.

1. Be thankful, then, for the least measure you have of the true knowledge of God.

2. Covet earnestly the most. The true secret for a heavenly walk with God is a real acquaintance with Him.

3. Do not quarrel with the way by which God makes Himself known to thee. I remember the expression of a child of God who, feeling her heart too much attached to some earthly object, prayed that God would take away the idol, whatever the idol might be. In the course of a week He took away her husband.

(J. H. Evans, M. A.)

I. THE CHARACTER OF THAT KNOWLEDGE WHICH SHALL EMINENTLY DISTINGUISH THIS PERIOD.

1. It is the knowledge of God, of things divine, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

2. This knowledge is communicated to the ignorant as the fulfilment of a gracious promise by the agency of the Divine Spirit (Isaiah 54:13).

3. This knowledge of the Lord, by which the period referred to in the text shall be eminently distinguished, shall be very generally diffused among all ranks and descriptions of men.

II. THE MEANS WHICH OUGHT TO BE USED BY US FOR HASTENING THIS PERIOD. It is said in the text, that when this happy era is come, they shall not teach, or, as it is expressed in the prophecy, they shall teach no more, every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord"; which seems plainly to intimate, that certain means, which are now very properly used for advancing this period, shall then become unnecessary.

(Wm. Schaw.)

(H. W. Beecher.)

II. THE CONDITION IN WHICH IT SUPPOSES THEM TO BE. Throughout this covenant no mention is made of anything in man but guilt and ruin. The promise in my text obviously assumes such to be his condition. Man is in himself all unrighteousness, as it is written, "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). Sorely there is nothing more suited to respire hope in the breast of an awakened sinner than the consideration of this truth. My sins, such an one may say, are exceeding great; but, thanks be to God, He who best knows them speaks to me of mercy I But it is long, in general, before an awakened sinner, though again and again God discover to him the vanity of all attempts to bring any deservings of his own, can be persuaded to go quite without hope or plea of any kind but this — Lord, I am a sinner, and Thou art a free Saviour. We dare not believe that grace is indeed so free, so unbounded, to those who will go to God in Christ.

III. GOD'S ENGAGEMENTS RELATIVE TO THIS CONDITION. "I will be merciful... I will remember no more." In these words God promises the removal of all kinds and degrees of sin.

1. Freely. "I will be merciful." This is both the reason with God for blessing, and the method by which He works upon the souls of His people; winning them from their natural enmity and distrust of Himself, by the effectual revelation of His mercy to them.

2. Eternally. "I will remember no more." Guilt makes the soul of the sinner fearful; he is ever recurring to the memory of his past sins, and he fears God does the same. He has had some momentary glimpses of mercy; but when the present sense of it is gone, conscience is afraid again; he is ready to suspect God of yet harbouring some latent feeling of resentment; fears the reconciliation has been partial, and that wrath, so deeply deserved, is ready to break out afresh on fresh provocation. But oh, blessed be God, this is indeed the way of men; but His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. Those whom He forgives freely, He forgives entirely, forgives eternally.

(Francis Goode, M. A.)

(W. R. Bradlaugh.)

(K. Arvine.)

(H. R. Burton.)

I. THE PARDON.

1. Its source. This is indicated by the expression, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness." The source, then, of the promised pardon is the mercifulness of God. We mean, of course, its moral source, for its legal source is the atonement of Jesus Christ.

2. We have also the fulness of this act of mercy indicated in the expression, "their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." This oblivion of transgression is a feature of the Divine pardon much emphasised in the Scriptures, with a view, no doubt, of duly impressing men with the fact of its absolute entirety. Nothing can be more emphatic than the prophet's declaration regarding God's dealings with the sins of Israel — "And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Absolute oblivion is the prominent idea of this graphic figure. That which is cast into the depths of the sea cannot be commemorated. An incident in connection with the laying of the Atlantic cable furnishes a striking illustration of the insuperable difficulty of marking spots in mid-ocean. When the first Atlantic cable was being laid it broke in mid-ocean, and the severed pieces dropped into the bottom, and the vessel was compelled to return to England to procure the means of recovering the broken end. Before, however, leaving the spot, means were adopted to mark the place, so that on their return the lost end might be found. So a suitable buoy was constructed, and every precaution taken to render its foundering or drifting impossible, as they supposed. But on the vessel's return the buoy laid down with such care was found, but, as careful astronomical observations showed, it had drifted over five hundred miles away from the spot where it had been originally moored. The broken end of the cable was never recovered. Thus is strikingly illustrated the impossibility of erecting memorials in mid-sea. God, therefore, by representing Himself as casting our sins there, would tell us how completely He forgets them, and how certain it is that He will never charge us with them again.

II. THE INTUITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ASSURED BY THE BETTER COVENANT. The knowledge of God forms a very important part in the Divine redemption. It is, so to speak, the Alpha of the whole process. Our Lord represents it so — "And this is eternal life, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). The knowledge, however, referred to here, is introductory to the blessings of salvation, whereas that of the text is the outcome of the blessing realised. We come to the blessing through the knowledge in the one case, but in the other we come to the knowledge through the blessing. In the first instance the knowledge is our schoolmaster to the blessing; in the second the blessing becomes our schoolmaster to the knowledge. The knowledge of God obtained through experience of His pardon is the grandest of all knowledge of Him. It is also the only infallible knowledge. An eminent minister, recently addressing a number of young ministers starting for the mission-field, said, "You will never lack a theme, for your mission is to tell of Him whom you know better than you know any one else besides." Never was uttered profounder thought or one more true. Those who know God know Him better than any one beside, better than they know their most intimate friends, better than husband knows his wife, or wife her husband, better than children know their parents, or parents their children. We may be deceived in our nearest and most intimate friends and relations, much as we may know respecting them. But God cannot deceive us. The nearest friend may fail us, but God cannot fail us.

III. THE DIVINE KINSHIP ASSURED BY THE NEW COVENANT. The relation to His people indicated by this expression I take to imply fatherhood. When God promises to be our. God, He promises to be our Father, and the pardoned soul apprehends Him in this light. In short, it is the pardoning act that reveals God to the soul first in this light. In this transaction he discovers God becoming his God as a father, for this act of pardon is, above all, a fatherly act. Our Lord has shown us this in that inimitable parable of the prodigal son. In nothing is God so intensely a father as when He forgives. And the child never understands his own father, never has the fatherly attribute so deeply revealed to his heart, as when he has had occasion to experience the joy of his father's forgiveness. Again, this relationship is in itself a guarantee of the fullest and most devoted service on their behalf. If the statement, "I will be to them a God," is equivalent to the statement, "I will be a Father unto them," then we know what it must mean as regards undertaking and acting for them. Some light is thrown upon this by the words already quoted — "God is not ashamed to be called their God." To this is added, "for He has prepared a city for them." This preparing of a city for them is given as a proof that He is not ashamed to own Himself as their God. As if it should be said, "He is not ashamed to avow Himself their God, for behold on how grand a scale He discharges the obligations of that relationship." We have no need to be told what the title "father" signified to the child: care, love, guidance, support, and all without stint.

IV. THE ASSURANCE WHICH THE BETTER COVENANT GIVES OF A LOVING, CHILDLIKE SUBJECTION TO THE DIVINE WILL. Parental government is by means of laws wrought in the heart; magisterial, by laws without. The parental relationship of God, fully and deeply realised by the believer, quickens the filial disposition, inducing such a humble, yet cordial, assimilation to the Divine will, comparable only to the " putting of the Divine laws into the mind and writing them upon the heart." Let us try and get at the meaning of these peculiar expressions regarding the law, "the putting it into the mind" and "the writing it in the heart." Now, the mind and the heart represents two sides of our nature, the intellectual and the emotional. Here, then, we have guaranteed to us the fact that the law, the sanctifying principle, shall take possession of these two ruling sides of our moral nature, exerting upon them an influence both subduing and formative.

(A. J. Parry.)

1. The greater excellence of the Christian pardon. The Jewish religion had its pardon, or something that passed for pardon; the superiority, however, of the pardon held forth by the gospel is indicated by the expression, "and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Contrast this statement with what is said respecting the method of dealing with sins under the old covenant — "But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year" (Hebrews 10:3). In the one case we have the forgetting of sins, in the other the remembrance of them. The ancient pardon, then, was not really such, but only a kind of reprieve annually renewed, a kind of suspension of the sentence, not the removal or abrogation of it. It was in the nature of a "ticket-of-leave" transaction.

2. The greater excellence of the knowledge of God assured by the new covenant. The knowledge of God acquired under the old covenant was preceptive knowledge, and, like all such knowledge, it needed constant prompting, it needed that every man should say to his neighbour, and every man to his brother, "Know the Lord," for they resembled boys learning a lesson, they continually forgot it. A prophet would arise, saying to the people, "Know the Lord," and they would learn the lesson; but no sooner did the prophet's voice cease than the people forgot the lesson, and wandered after false gods. Then another prophet would arise, and repeat the oft-taught lesson, "Know the Lord." But the more excellent knowledge of the better promise needs no such prompting. In the ease of this knowledge," they shall not teach every man his neighbour," &c., it is a knowledge in the heart, not in the memory, for the memory may fail, but the heart never.

3. The greater excellence of the relationship between God and His people. It is better in this, that it is individual and spiritual, whereas the corresponding promise of the old covenant was national and temporal. The promise as it related to Israel is given very graphically in Deuteronomy 26:17-19. There is something inexpressibly grand in the abounding sweep of this promise. If we consider it in the light of the history of God's dealings with the ancient people, we shall obtain some notion of its meaning. But rich and abounding as its meaning may be, it embraces only the nation, and that in relation to temporal things. The greater excellence of the corresponding promise of the new covenant is that it realises these blessings in a spiritual sense, and to every individual in the wide world that comes within the scope of its conditions.

4. Next, we notice the greater excellence of the formative principle of the new covenant. The superiority claimed here consists in this — that the laws are "put into the mind" and "written in the heart." There is an implied contrast with the corresponding provision of the old covenant. The latter had its laws, but they were inscribed, not in hearts, but on tables of stone. The other consists of an inward principle or motive, the subject of it animated by love, yielding willing obedience from a heart glowing with loving, grateful enthusiasm. This difference in the spheres of their respective laws involves a wide difference in their respective effects upon the course of the lives affected by them. There is a great difference between the sailing vessel and the steam-boat. The one is propelled by influences external to itself, and is, therefore, dependent upon them for the progress it makes; the other is propelled by a principle working within, and is, therefore, independent of external influences, moves without them, and often against, yea, in spite of them. The latter illustrates the method adopted in the new covenant. Hence its greater excellence. It implants the principle of action, the motive power, within, so preventing its subject from becoming a creature of circumstances, and his obedience a mechanical routine, making it rather a thing of the heart and of the affections. The gospel, in this respect, works according to the analogy of nature. In nature, the formative law of everything is within it.

II. THE SUPERIOR CERTAINTY OF THE PROMISES OF THE NEW COVENANT. The utmost assurance that these promises will be fully realised in the experience of every one who accepts Christ's salvation is given us in the fact that they are called by the term "covenant." In verse 6 the promises and the covenant are referred to separately; in verse 10 there is but one word " covenant." The term promise is merged in the term covenant. This substitution of covenant for promise indicates the element of certainty belonging to the latter. But it may be asked, were not the promises of the ancient religion established upon a covenant? Certainly, they were, but those of Christianity upon "a better covenant." The promises of the ancient religion were ratified by the blood of goats and calves, but Christ ratified the better promises of the "new covenant" by the sacrifice of Himself. His own declaration on this point is, "This cup is the New Testament in my blood," that is, the new covenant ratified by the shedding of My blood. In short, we have the promises of the gospel resting upon the atonement of Christ.

(A. J. Parry.)

1. This appears, first, in the treatment of sinners by God, inasmuch as He spares their forfeited lives.

2. Why did God institute the ceremonial law if there were no ways of pardoning transgression? Does not a type imply the existence of that which is typified?

3. If there were no forgiveness of sin why has the Lord given to sinful men exhortations to repent?

4. If you will think of it you will see that there must be pardons in the hand of God, or why the institution of religious worship among us to this day?

5. Furthermore, why did Christ institute the Christian ministry, and send forth His servants to proclaim His gospel? For what is the gospel but a declaration that Christ is exalted on high to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins?

6. Now, you do not want any more arguments, but if you did I would venture to offer this. Why are we taught in that blessed model of prayer which our Saviour has left us, to say, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," or, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us"? It is evident that God means us to give a real, true, and hearty absolution to all who have offended us. If, then, our forgiveness is real, so is His; if ours be sincere, so is His; if ours be complete, so is His; only much more so, inasmuch as the great God of all is so much more gracious than we poor, fallen creatures ever can be.

7. The best of all arguments is this: God has actually forgiven multitudes of sinners. We have read in Holy Scripture of men who walked with God and had this testimony, that they pleased God; but they could not have pleased God if their sins still provoked Him to wrath; therefore He must have put their sins away.

II. THIS FORGIVENESS IS TANTAMOUNT TO FORGETTING SIN. This is a wonder to me, a wonder of wonders, that God should say that He will do what in some sense He cannot do; and yet that it should be strictly true as He intends it. God's pardon of sin is so complete that He Himself describes it as not remembering our iniquity and transgression. He wishes us to know that His pardon is so true and deep that it amounts to an absolute oblivion, a total forgetting of all the wrong-doing of the pardoned ones.

1. You know what we do when we exercise memory. To speak popularly, a man lays up a thing in his mind: but when sin is forgiven it is not laid up in God's mind.

2. In remembering, men also consider and meditate on things; but the Lord will not think over the sins of His people. The record of our iniquity is taken away, and the judge has no judicial memory of it.

3. Sometimes you have almost forgotten a thing, and it is quite gone out of your mind; but an event happens which recalls it so vividly that it seems as if it were perpetrated but yesterday. God will not recall the sin of the pardoned. "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." "No more!" Let those words go echoing through the chambers of despair: "No more!" Is there not music in the two syllables? God will never have His memory refreshed. The transgressions of His people are dead and buried with Christ, and they shall never have a resurrection.

4. Furthermore, this not remembering, means that God will never seek any further atonement. The apostle saith: "Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." The one sacrifice of Jesus has made an end of sin.

5. Again, when it is said that God forgets our sins it signifies that He will never punish us for them. How can He when He has forgotten them?

6. He will never upbraid us with them — "He giveth liberally and upbraideth not." How can He upbraid us with what He has forgotten? He will not even lay them to our charge.

7. Once more, when the Lord says, "I will not remember their sins," what does it mean but this — that He will not treat us any the less generously on account of our having been great sinners.

III. FORGIVENESS IS TO BE HAD.

1. Through the atoning blood. Why does God forget our sin? It is not on this wise? — He looks upon His Son Jesus bearing that sin.

2. Next remember that this forgetfulness of God is caused by overflowing mercy. God is love: "His mercy endureth for ever"; and He desired vent for His love.

3. How does God forget sin? Well, it is through His everlasting love. He loved His people before they fell; and He loved His people when they fell. "I have loved thee," saith He, "with an everlasting love"; and when that great love of His had led Him to give His Son Jesus for His people's ransom, it made him also forget His people's sins.

4. Again, God forgets His people's sins because of the complacency He has in them as renewed and sanctified creatures. When He hears their cries of repentance, when He hears their declarations of faith, when He sees the love which His Spirit has wrought in them, when He beholds them growing more and more like His dear Son, He delights in them. His joy is fulfilled in them.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

1. The object of Divine forgiveness, denoted by the following terms — "unrighteousness, sins, and iniquities."

2. Notice the manner in which the forgiveness of sins is here expressed, or the cause to which it is ascribed; and this is said to consist in the Lord's being "merciful" to our unrighteousness. Even our best services and most spiritual dispositions, fall so short of the Divine requirements, that they need much mercy to cover their defects; how much more our unrighteousness, sins, and iniquities.(1) The mercy of God is the origin of our forgiveness, and it is according to His abundant mercy that He saves us.(2) Divine grace extends to sin of every description and degree, and to all unrighteousness.(3) This mercy is exercised in a way perfectly consistent with the claims of justice, and the rights of moral government. There is a meritorious as well as an efficient cause of forgiveness: the former is the complete satisfaction made for sin by the death of the Redeemer, the latter the free grace of God through Him.

3. Divine forgiveness is farther expressed, by "remembering our sins and iniquities no more." The pardon of sin is not only full and free, but final and irreversible.(1) God does not remember our sins, so as to aggravate or mark them with severity; for if Thou, Lord, markest iniquity, who shall stand? On the contrary, if there be any extenuating circumstances, He kindly notices them. He knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust.(2) He does not remember our sins, so as to suffer His wrath to kindle against them. Anger there may be and must be towards sin, but not against the penitent believer.(3) He will not remember sin so as to punish for it, but will deal so mercifully with us, that it shall be as if He had utterly forgotten it. This is not a denial of His omniscience, but an expression of His unbounded goodness.

II. INQUIRE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THE BLESSING OF FORGIVENESS,

1. Those and those only who have a sorrowful remembrance of sin themselves. The more sin grieves us, the less likely it is to ruin us; and that sorrow for sin which follows upon the discoveries of pardoning mercy, is the best evidence of a renewed state.

2. Those who so repent of sin as not to allow themselves in any known evil; and to whom the remembrance of sin is so bitter, that it becomes their first wish to be delivered from it.

(B. Beddome, M. A.)

(Bp. Huntington.)

(J. Trapp.)

(T. Adams.)