Head of the covenant of grace. He is caput electionis; and He is caput fœderis, in whom all the elect are fœderati, entered into covenant with God. Fallen man was unmeet to enter into covenant immediately with the holy God. All the promises of God are in Christ (2 Cor. i. 20). 2. He is the Purchaser and Procurer of the covenant. We read of the "blood of the testament" (Heb. ix. 20; Isa. liii. 10). 3. He is the Sum and Substance of the covenant. Take Christ out of it, and it will be but an empty thing; He is its Alpha and its Omega, its very pith and kernel. 4. He is the Messenger of the covenant (Mal. iii. 1). He published it of old by the prophets (1 Pet. i. 11), and afterwards in His own person (Eph. ii. 17); when He was ascended, by the apostles (Mark xvi. 15); and still by the ministry instituted by Him to continue to the end of the world (2 Cor. v. 18, 19). 5. He is the Surety of the covenant (Heb. vii. 22). He undertakes on God's part that all that He hath promised shall be made good to the believer. (1.) By His Word (John v. 24). (2.) By the shedding of His blood. His blood was poured out to ratify the covenant. (3.) By the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. One end of these is to confirm the covenant; they are both outward seals of the covenant. (4.) By His Spirit. The Spirit is a sealing as well as a sanctifying Spirit (1 Cor. ii. 12). And Christ is a Surety on our part. He undertakes that we shall close with the covenant, and that we shall walk according to it (Eph. iv. 11-13; 2 Cor. iv. 13; Rom. i. 4). CONCLUSION.-1. The whole business of our salvation centres in Christ Jesus. Who can express the strong, rich comfort which springs out of this to all that have an interest in Christ? 2. Let the unbeliever be warned that the covenant of peace is built on Christ. He that hath not Christ hath not the covenant; out of Christ, out of the covenant (Eph. ii. 12).-Ralph Robin son: Sermons, pp. 462-479. He who is promised as the chief matter, the mediator, surety, scope of the covenant, is by a metonymy called "the covenant.' "I will give Thee for a covenant;" that is, I covenant to give Thee to the people. Jesus is granted in the covenant to bring us to God. To which blessed and glorious purposes He is exhibited I. AS THE LIGHT OF LIFE (Luke ii. 32; John i. 4, viii. 12). There is a light that serves to kill and destroy, to bring death and condemnation to light: the light of the law, that killing letter concerning which the apostle says (Rom. vii. 9, 10). But Christ brings life and immortality to light (2 Cor. iv. 6; John xiv. 8, 9, xvii. 3). II. AS THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is His name (Jer. xxiii. 6). To this end He is given to us1. As our propitiatory sacrifice (1 John ii. 2; Rom. iii. 25). 2. As a merciful and faithful High Priest (Heb. ii. 17, ix. 24; Exod. xxviii. 12, 29; Heb. xii. 24; 1 John ii. 1, 2; Rom. viii. 33, 34). Not only a righteous, but a merciful High Priest, that is provided with a sacrifice, and hath a heart to offer (Heb. v. 2). No dignity to which He is exalted can make Him forget His friends (2 Tim. ii. 13). III. AS OUR LORD AND KING (Zech. ix. 9; Isa. ix. 6). God hath more care of His saints than to leave the government of them on their shoulder. He is a King to gather them, to govern them, to defend and save them (Matt. i. 21). Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King, IV. AS OUR HEAD AND HUSBAND (Eph. i. 22, 23; 1 Cor. xi. 3). Believers are joined to the Lord (1 Cor. vi. 17; Col. ii. 19). They are married. to Christ (2 Cor. xi. 2). From this union follows:-1. A communication of influences (Col. ii. 3, i. 19). This fulness of Christ is ours, and for us (John i. 16; Col. iii. 3). 2. A complication of interests. Christ and His saints are mutually concerned. They have nothing but through Him; their whole tenure is in the Head; and whatsoever is His is theirs-His God His Father, His merits, &c.-R. Alleine: God's Covenant Grant, pp. 24-36. The word "covenant" stands in the centre of this passage (vers. 5-8), and we may well conclude, on a consideration of the whole context, that the idea of covenant is central also in meaning. In (ver. 5) we are reminded of God's creative, providential, and sustaining energy, as manifested in the material universe and in the region of human souls. From this elementary truth we are led on to the deep secret which God is ever unfolding in His revelations of mercy and saving love. The whole passage teaches us I. THAT JEHOVAH, WHO IS THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE, IS ALSO THE KING OF GRACE. Ver. 5 sublimely expresses His supremacy over nature and man, and is suggestive-1. Of what He teaches us in astronomy ("He that created the heavens and stretched them out "). 2. Of what He teaches us in geology, botany, and related sciences ("He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it"). 3. Of what He teaches us in the history of nations ("He that giveth breath," &c.; comp. Acts xvii. 25). So also is He supreme in the empire of souls-in the work of redeeming as well as of creating. His glory in this respect cannot be shared by another (ver. 8). He is the Originator of all saving methods, and the Source of all spiritual fulness. II. THAT HIS PURPOSES IN THE DOMAIN OF GRACE ARE EQUALLY REAL AND SURE AS THOSE IN THE SPHERE OF NATURE. He disdains not to make a covenant with the people. His gracious intentions are not capricious, hap hazard, accidental, or in any way partaking of the nature of after-thought. They are of the nature of a covenant -a divine purpose, treasured up and unfolded in the course of the ages. Modern science loves to trace the invariability of natural laws. Christian theism, also, accepts the teaching as proof of the divine veracity. In nature and in grace we learn of a covenant-keeping God. Indeed, the one is but an illustration of the other. (See Jer. xxxi. 36, xxxiii. 25, 26; Isa. lv. 10, 11.) III. THAT THE DIVINE COVENANT IS SPECIALLY ATTESTED. God would have us know, beyond all mistake, that He is covenanting with us. 1. The earlier forms of pledge were given in the special selection of the Jewish nation to bear testimony for Him. 2. The crowning pledge of His covenant is afforded us in the gift of Christ. Only in Him do the words of vers. 6, 7 find their true fulfilment. IV. THAT THE DIVINE COVENANT HAS RESPECT TO ALL NATIONS AND PEOPLES. For the blind and selfrighteous Jew of ancient times, or the hard and unsympathetic dogmatist of modern times, to regard the covenant as expressive of an exclusive compact by which a vast portion of mankind was to be shut out from God's pitying favour, is to mistake its significance. This is to turn a sublime truth into a keynote of caprice and unworthy favouritism. It is 66 a covenant of the people, a light of the Gentiles" (ver. 6), that is here indicated. So the earliest form of the promise was comprehensive, and looked onward to an all-inclusive plan (see Gen. xii. 3). We see in Jehovah's covenant, then, a basis of redemption for all men, an offer of saving help to every sinner of every race.—William Manning. THE GREAT NAME. xlii. 8. I am the Lord: that is my name. The names and titles of the Almighty, which convey ideas of overwhelming greatness and glory mingled with awful mysteriousness, are most worthy of our best attention. I. THE NAME BY WHICH GOD HAS GRACIOUSLY REVEALED HIMSELF. Our translators have only retained the word JEHOVAH four times out of 6855 instances in which it occurs in the original Hebrew. Seldom, if ever, used by the Jews after the Babylonish captivity; on account of their great reverence for the Divine Being, they substituted Adonai-Lord; and their example was followed by our translators, who, out of respect to this feeling, have almost invariably rendered it Lord, always, however, directing it to be printed in capitals, to denote that the original word is JEHOVAH, and to distinguish it from every other name. Its derivation and meaning. The incommunicable name. Ps. lxxxiii. 18 accords with this declaration. In two instances we have God's own interpretation of this great name (Exod. iii. 14, xxxiv. 6, 7, more fully interpreted). In the former instance He announced Himself to Moses in the glory of His self-existent and eternal majesty, as "I AM ;" in the latter, in the glory of His grace and goodness the most ample and particular description of the Divine character, as given by Himself, in the sacred records. It also denotes God's special relation of love and care to His people. The Covenant name. He is the God of all flesh, but He is the JEHOVAH of His people (Ps. lxviii. 4). If we would rejoice before the Lord, we must contemplate Him in the special relation of love and care. Our comfort very much depends upon the views we cherish of our God. The splendour of His attributes cannot of itself awaken joy. Trusting in Him, through Christ, as our JEHOVAH an unchangeable Lord of purpose and promise-gives comfort, and we can view His glorious perfections with holy, chastened joy, that softens down to adoring love. For, Heb. vi. 17, 18. Our hearts can only find satisfaction in union with a Being such as God has revealed Himself to be. II. THIS GREAT NAME IN UNION WITH SOME OF ITS OLD TESTAMENT COMBINATIONS. 1. JEHOVAH TSIDKENU (Jer. xxiii.6). Jesus is not only the righteous Lord, but the Lord our righteousness. This short sentence, only two words in the Hebrew, comprises the whole Gospel. As sinners need a righteousness in which to stand before the Holy One, Christ's Gospel is the grand provision for the restoration of righteousness in fallen and sinful men (2 Cor. v. 21; Rom. iii. 25, 26); personal righteousness, obtained only by faith (Rom. iv. 5, v. 1, x. 3, 4). 2. JEHOVAH-SHALOM - Jehovah is peace (Judges vi. 24). The Lord speaks peace unto His people. He who is our righteousness is also our peace (Eph. ii. 14; Rom. v. 1). Our legacy (John xiv. 27). 3. JEHOVAH-NISSI-Jehovah is my banner (Exod. xvii. 15). Material warfare an emblem of the spiritual. (1.) The Church of God is a Church militant; ever at war with the kingdom of darkness. The world must be conquered for Christ. The banner of King Jesus is not placed in our hands for us to be calmly indifferent, but to inspire us with an absorbing ambition for its increase of glory. Victory is sure. (2.) Our Christian life is a battle. Not only troubles to meet and pass through, but active enemies to resist and overcome. There is no furlough and no discharge. Yet we need not fear. 4. JEHOVAH-JIREH-The Lord will provide (Gen. xxii. 14). Let this memorial of the past be our watchword for the future. The Lord will provide for us in wisdom according to our necessities (Phil. iv. 19). He has done so, and He will (Rom. viii. 32). 5. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH--The Lord is there (Ezek. xlviii. 35). Doubtless Ezekiel has another city and another promised land in view-the Gospel church and the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Church is called "the city of the living God." The Lord is there our joy and rejoicing-nor will He ever forsake His people. Of all the Church triumphant JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH is the chief glory and happiness. "God Himself shall be with them, and dwell "This is their supreme delight, CONCLUSION.-This Infinite Jehovah is anxious to become your Covenant Friend, and Guide, and Portion.Alfred Tucker. THE RIGHTS OF GOD MAINTAINED. God is jealous of His honour (Exod. xx. 2-5). The injunctions against idolatry have been repeatedly violated by all the nations of the earth: in ancient times by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and even the Israelites; in somewhat later times by the Persians, Greeks, Romans; and every modern nation known to us is either now idolatrous or has been rescued from idolatry through the influence of Christianity. To the corrupted mind of man idolatry has peculiar charms: it gratifies his desire. for outward signs; it meets his craving after the material and the visible. The text is of vital interest to ourselves, inasmuch as every impenitent sinner and every unfaithful follower of Christ dishonours God and is chargeable with a kind of idolatry. Mark I. THE IMPORT OF GOD'S NAME. “I am Jehovah, that is my name." 1. It means the Being that exists. Of every other being, animate and inanimate, it can be affirmed that there was a time when it did not exist; but of Jehovah no such affirmation can be made (Ps. xc. 2; Isa. xl. 14). 2. It implies that He is the fountain of all being. A false philosophy affirms the existence of other beings independent of God, and maintains especially the eternity of matter. But such views are irrational and absurd (Jer. x. 12; Isa. xl. 26). Nor may it be affirmed that these passages imply no more than that God worked on pre-existent matter (Heb. xi. 3; H. È I. 353-359). 3. The word signifies that God is also the preserver of being. He made all things for Himself-not to be abandoned to themselves and fate; but to be watched over and sustained, that the end of their creation might be fully answered (H. E. I. 362-365). 4. The name Jehovah indicates that God is the God of Providence. It is admitted that God operates by law; but it is as certainly His power that upholds the worlds as it would be were there no law of gravitation. The laws of nature, so called, are but the modes in which God works. Miracles show that those laws are under His control (Ps. cxlviii. 8; H. E. I. 3530-3538). 5. The sublimest feature in His Providence is that which was exhibited in the redemption of mankind. The name Jehovah leads us to this point. God is the Saviour of the world, since for a sinful world there could have been no preservation without redemption. In Christ the character of God as the merciful I AM is clearly manifested (John i. 14). II. THE GLORY WHICH BELONGS TO HIM. My glory will I not give to another," &c. The term glory is sometimes used in Scripture in reference to the visible symbol of Jehovah's presence the Shekinah; at other times it denotes the manifestation of His power and wisdom in creation; and at other times again it is employed in a more general sense to set forth the attributes and perfections of His character. But in the text the word is equivalent to honour, worship, adoration. What, then, is the glory which belongs exclusively to God? 1. The glory of the creation of all things (Rev. iv. 11). 2. The glory of the world's redemption. The work to be achieved was not simply the redemption of mankind, but their redemption in a way consistent with the law of God. But achieved it was, and achieved by God Himself; no angelic being aided in the enterprise, and "of the people there was none with Him." 3. The glory of the application of redemption to the case of each individual believer in Christ Jesus (Eph. ii. 8; Tit. iii. 5, 6). Where is boasting then? It is excluded. 4. The glory of the advancement of mankind in knowledge, holiness, and peace. The human race is certainly improving; and it is to Christianity we are indebted chiefly for our civil privileges, and for all our social and domestic comforts. To whom is the glory of our national greatness due? Το Him by whom kings reign, to whom the wise owe their wisdom, and from whom every good and every perfect gift descends. Christianity, moreover, is the means which God employs for the world's regeneration; for though other instrumentalities may be brought into operation, they are but subordi nate. III. HIS DETERMINATION TO MAINTAIN HIS RIGHTS. "I will not give my glory to another," &c. This declaration may be viewed as corrective― 1. Of the sin of idolatry. He has not given His glory to the gods of the heathen, nor will He permit their devotees to give it them. But there are forms of idolatry practised by the Christian professor. What is the worship of the Virgin Mary, of saints and martyrs, of relics and of pictures, but idolatry? And what is the inordinate love of the creature but idolatry? What is covetousness but idolatry? What is the grasping after wealth which prevails but idolatry? (1 John ii. 15). 2. Of the sin of pride. The proud man takes God's glory to Himself. Perhaps one reason why Christians are less useful than they might be is that they fail to give God the glory due unto His name, and would fain reserve a measure of praise for themselves (1 Sam. ii. 30). This is 3. Of the sin of unbelief. allied to pride. It scorns to be indebted for eternal life to grace; it will not submit to the righteousness of God. It robs God of His claims to our confidence and love; but God will not give His glory to another, and never will the terms of mercy be other than they are (Mark xvi. 16).-Thorny Smith: Sermons by Wesleyan Ministers (1852), pp. 172-187. THE PHILOSOPHY OF PROMISE xlii. 9. Behold, the former One may observe, in reading Scripture, the general principle that God usually gives a promise of that which He means to bestow. Before Christ came the Father was continually speaking of His coming. Love meets man as a heralding fragrance before the actual bestowal of blessing. Why are covenant blessings the subject of promises? I. IN ORDER TO DISPLAY GOD'S GRACE. To display-1. The freeness of His grace. The promise to which the text specially alludes is to open the blind eyes, &c. The blind referred to were not born in the days of Isaiah. God promises before we know our need or seek His face. There are many con things are come to pass, &c. II. TO AROUSE OUR HOPES. Religious inquirers should find the promises of God unspeakably precious. Some come to Christ easily, others with great difficulty; but there are promises enough in the Scriptures to call forth and stimulate hope in all (Heb. vii. 25). Christian believers, |