which that great transaction turns, and on which the hope of the world hangs. Ther. Be more particular, Aspasio. Asp. The first covenant was made with Adam for himself and us. Breaking it, he lost his original righ. teousness, and became subject to death; was at once a bankrupt and a rebel. Now you cannot suppose that the Almighty Majesty would enter into a fresh covenant with an insolvent and attainted creature: it pleased therefore the Second Person of the adorable Trinity to undertake our cause, to become our surety, and put himself in our stead. With him the second covenant was made: he was charged with the performance of the conditions, thereby to obtain pardon and righteousness, grace and glory, for all his people. I have made a covenant with my Chosen One," is the language of the Most High and the terms were (you will permit me to repeat the momentous truth) not your worthiness or mine, but the incarnation, the obedience, the death of God's ever-blessed Son. Ther. Has man then no office assigned, no part to act, in the covenant of grace? Asp. He has; but it is a part which my friend seems. very loth to discharge. His part is to accept the blessings fully purchased by the Saviour, and freely pre sented to the sinner: his part is not to dishonour the Redeemer's gracious interposition, and infinitely suffi cient performance, by hankering after any merit of his own: his part (why will you constrain me to reiterate in this manner!) is not to bring money in his hand with the ten brethren, but with an empty hand, and like an Psal. lxxxix. 3. It is generally allowed that this psalm, in its sublimest sense, is referable to Christ; and, in its full extent, is referable only unto Christ: if so, I think it would be more significant and emphatical to render", My Chosen One.' This will furnish out a very clear and cogent argument to prove that the covenant of grace was made with our Lord Jesus: just such an argument as the apostle uses to convince the Galatians, that the promises of the covenant were made to the same divine Person, Gal. iii. 16. From both which premises this important conclusion follows; that justification and every spiritual blessing are the purchase of Christ's obedience, are lodged in him as the great proprietary, are communicated to sinners only through the exercise of faith, or in a way of believing. See Zech. ix. 11, impoverished Lazarus, to take hold of God's cove nant.'* Ther. If this be the nature of the new covenant, I must confess I have hitherto been ignorant of the gospel. Asp. And from hence arises your present distress; from hence your averseness to receive comfort. You are a philosopher, Theron, and have been accustomed to examine nicely the proportion of objects, rather than to weigh them in the balance of the sanctuary. Here you find all proportion swallowed up and lost. This quite overthrows all your conclusions, drawn from the fitness of things. Here man is nothing, less than nothing, while grace is all in all: and should we not, however unwor. thy in ourselves, magnify the grace of our God? Ther. Most certainly. Asp. How can this be done, but by expecting great and superlatively precious blessings from his hand? Alexander, you know, had a famous, but indigent philosopher, in his court. Our adept in science was once particularly straitened in his circumstances. To whom should he apply, but to his patron, the conqueror of the world? His request was no sooner made than granted: Alexander gives him a commission to receive of his treasury whatever he wanted. He immediately demands, in his sovereign's name, a hundred talents.t The treasurer, surprised at so large a demand, refuses to comply, but waits upon the king, and represents the affair; adding withal, how unreasonably he thought the petition, and how exorbitant the sum. Alexander hears him with patience; but as soon as he had ended his re monstrance, replies, Let the money be instantly paid; I am delighted with this philosopher's way of thinking: he has done me a singular honour, and shewed, by the largeness of his request, what a high idea he has conceived, both of my superior wealth and my royal munificence.' Thus, my dear Theron, let us honour what the iaspired penman styles, the marvellous loving-kindness of Jehovah.' From the King, 'whose name is the Lord of Hosts,' let us expect, not barely what corresponds * Isa. lvi. 4. + About ten thousand pounds. with our low models of generosity, much less what we suppose proportioned to our fancied deserts, but what is suitable to the unknown magnificence of his name, and the unbounded benevolence of his heart: then we shall cheerfully and assuredly trust, that Christ Jesus will be made of God to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, aud redemption;' that He who hath given himself for us, will give us of his Spirit, and will give unto us eternal life.t Ther. Yes, upon condition that we fight the good fight, and finish our course of duty. Henceforth,' says the apostle, after this is done, there is laid up for me,' and for other victorious soldiers, for other faithful labourers, a crown of righteousness.' Asp. To such persons the crown will assuredly be vouchsafed; but is it vouchsafed on account of their successful warfare, or persevering obedience? If so, Israel may vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand,' not the Redeemer's interposition, hath saved me.'s Not to repeat what has already been alleged in opposition to this opinion; not to produce what might farther be urged from a variety of scriptural testimonies; I shall only desire you to observe what the apostle himself adds in this very place: there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.' But is this the pay proportionate and due to his own services? Is it what he claims and demands on the foot of duty performed? The very title. of the reward implies the contrary: it is a crown of righteousness,' because purchased by the meritorious. and consummate righteousness of Christ. The action. of the Judge declares the contrary: which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.' It is, you see, an act of favour, the issue of unmerited bounty; what neither saint, nor martyr, nor apostle enjoys, but only by way of gracious donation. Eph. v. 2. t John iv. 13. Ibid. x. 26. 2 Tim. iv. 8. The word arodwret, as it stands in the present connexion, is, I think, very properly explained by a late pious professor of divinity at Glasgow: Profitetur fiduciam suam de gratuita mercede, quam Deus gratis promisit omnibus I would fain have my Theron form more honourable apprehensions concerning the mercy and the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will bestow what you suppose he exacts: He is really a benefactor, where you would represent him as a task-master. The Lord will give grace as well as glory.' He knows you have neither strength nor merit, therefore he will supply your want of both from his own unfathomable fulness. Ther. Ah! my Aspasio! you do not know my state. I have not only no merit, but great guilt; was by na. ture a child of wrath; have been by practice a slave of sin; and, what is worse, am still corrupt, have still a carnal heart. And has not such a wretch forfeited all title to the divine favour? Nay, does he not deserve the vengeance of eternal fire? Asp. That we all deserve this misery is beyond dis pute. I am truly glad that we are sensible of our de merit; here our recovery begins. Now we are to be. lieve, that the Lord Jesus has satisfied divine justice, has paid a glorious price, on purpose to obtain for such ill-deserving, such hell-deserving creatures, all pardon, all holiness, and everlasting happiness: ac. cording to the import of that charming scripture, 'when we were enemies' (and what is there in an enemy to be. speak favour, or deserve benefits?) we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.'t You have great guilt; but is this a reason why you fidelibus, et ut justus judex, juste simul et ex gratia rependet, non ex merito ullo nostro, sed priora dona sua gratuita posterioribus gratuitò cumulando. Dicsoni, Expos. Analyt. * I believe, no one experienced in the spiritual life will suspect that Theron speaks out of character. Conscience, when once alarmed, is a stubborn and unceremonious thing. It pays no deference to wealth, ft never stands in awe of grandeur, neither can it be soothed by the refinements of education, or the attainments of learning; and we generally find, that a most unaccountable propensity to self-worthiness strongly possesses the new awakened convert. He is perpetually raising objections, founded on the want of personal merit, notwithstanding all our remonstrances to quiet his fears and remove his jealousies. It is truly a hard task for a mind naturally leavened with legal pride, to come naked and miserable to Christ; to come, divested of every recommendation but that of extreme wretchedness, and receive, from the hand of unmerited benignity, the free riches of evangelical grace. + Rom. v. 10. should be excluded from the blessings of the covenant? Contemplate the state of that forlorn and wretched outcast described in the sixteenth of Ezekiel. An infant in its blood: this represents a sinner, who has nothing to excite love, but all that may provoke abhorrence. Yet what says the Holy One of Israel? When I saw thee,' not washed and purified, and made meet for my acceptance, but polluted in thy blood;' loathsome with defilement, and laden with iniquity; then, even then, I said unto thee, Live: I spread my skirt over thee, and thou becamest mine.' This is the manner of his proceeding, not barely to one nation, but to all his people; not in one period of time only, but through all generations. You are still corrupt; one that is sensible of his corruption, and acknowledges his sinfulness! Then you are the very person for whom the Saviour's righteousness is intended, to whom it is promised. You are a governor of the county hospital, Theron; you have been industrious in promoting, and are active in supporting, that excellent institution; where medicine with her healing stores, and religion with her heavenly hopes, act as joint handmaids to charity. What are the circumstances which render any persons the proper objects for an admission into your infirmary? Ther. Their poverty and their distemper. Without poverty they would not need, and free from distemper they would not prize, the benefit of our modern Bethesda. Asp. Apply this to the case under consideration. The whole world is in a state of spiritual disorder. Christ is styled, by the inspired writer, The Lord our healer. The gift of his righteousness, the balm of his blood, and the influences of his Spirit, are the sovereign restoratives. And sure it cannot be a fanciful persua sion of our health, but a feeling conviction of our dis The words are peculiarly emphatical, not only doubled, but redoubled; to denote at once the strangeness of the fact, yet the certainty of the favour. When I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.' Ezek. xvi. 6. t Exod. xv. 26. |