"Lift up your ravished eyes, Ye citizens of heaven: Dearly we're bought, highly esteemed, Alive to that to come; Our life in Christ is hid, Who soon shall call us home: CHAPTER XXI. THE MERITS OF CHRIST. The fifth cluster which grows upon the tree of life, is what Christ has merited by His sufferings. The sufferings of Christ we may consider in a twofold way; one was to satisfy divine justice, and the second, to merit for us all blessings. He has purchased the church by His precious blood—“ Feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood (Acts xx. 28). The church also is called His "purchased possession" "Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." And as Christ has purchased his church, so His blood was meritorious. Christ has merited everlasting life for His people. In the fall we forfeited it, but Christ by His sufferings has merited it for us; and so, it is in His power to give eternal life. We had no right to a heavenly inheritance, but for His sufferings. Nearness of position, also He has merited for us. By nature we were strangers and enemies to God, and are now made nigh by the blood of Christ-" But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ ;" "redeemed them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.' The gift of the Holy Ghost with his gracious assistance and comfort has He also merited. "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name." If Christ had not suffered, we could not have enjoyed the blessed Spirit-" Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." Forgiveness of sins flows through the same channel-" In whom we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." In one word, all we have, and all we shall enjoy to all eternity, is merited by Christ. By nature we have no right to the least of God's mercies. What plea can we make with God? Could I expect, or challenge heaven upon my own obedience, or upon the ground of my righteousness? Could any fallen man dare say to God, I have done this or suffered that, therefore I claim heaven, and thy mercy is due to me? Oh no, poor sinner; if we have no more than we deserve, it will not be heaven or mercy, but hell and wrath. A stranger has no right to an inheritance; but if he is adopted into the family, then he has a legal right, and his title is good, and adoption denotes free favour. This is the case with a child of God, being adopted into the family, he may go humbly to His Father, and say Lord, show me mercy, give me the Holy Spirit, forgive all my sins, give me eternal life, and a right to thy kingdom. If the Lord should ask, Who are you? and what right have you to all these things? the poor sinner would reply, Lord, I have nothing of my own to show but the blood of thy beloved Son, the dignity of His person, and His active and passive obedience; it is His merits alone that I plead, and not my own. And you may be sure, poor soul, that you will speed well with such a plea. The Lord is faithful and just; He has promised thus much to His Son, to do these things things for the redeemed, according to the agreement in the eternal council-"When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." The Father will never forfeit His promise to His Son. Christ cannot be disappointed, after His sufferings and bitter agonies. You may depend upon it there is nothing so safe and secure as those blesings that depend upon Christ's merits. Christ himself is God, equal with the Father As God He will bestow those blessings on His people for whom as Mediator He intercedes-"Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." "The Father dearly loves the Son, For no mean cause He sent Him down, "The blessings from his death that flow, Only because we slightly know, And meanly value Him. "Oh could we but with clearer eyes, Could we his person learn to prize, CHAPTER XXII. COVENANT. HAVING considered five clusters-viz, Satisfaction, Remission, Reconciliation, Redemption, and Merit, we will now endeavour, God willing to consider a sixth, namely, The confirmation of the Covenant. The death or blood of Christ is the confirmation of it. We read of a two-fold confir mation of this covenant. 1st. God the Father confirmed the Covenant with an oath, "For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath." 'My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips; once have I sworn, by my holiness that I will not lie unto David." of 66 The second confirmation was the blood of Christ. Hence it is called the blood of the everlasting Covenant. "Now the God peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant." It is also called the blood of the New Testament- "For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many, for the remission of sins." It is the death of Christ which gives force unto it. "And for for this cause He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which were called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." In this place the Covenant is called a testament, or a last will, wherein estates and legacies are bequeathed, and cannot be enjoyed till the testator dies; but after that, the will or testament is of force; all those who are concerned in it, may come and demand the legacies bequeathed to them. The apostle calls it the blood of the everlasting Covenant. I will first prove from the Scriptures that the covenant is everlasting, and second that all the blessings in it are everlasting, or eternal. I. The word of God is very plain; "Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David," Isa. lv. 3. This chapter begins with a Gospel invitation. The characters described are those who hunger and thirst after the bread and water of life, the poor and needy, who have no money, or money's worth, who are taught by the Spirit of God their worthlessness and emptiness. To these the Lord said, He would make an everlasting Covenant with them; that is, that He will manifest the Covenant to them which He has made in Christ for them. Therefore He draws their attentionHearken, Come, and Hear," For I, the Lord, love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt-offering, and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them," Isa. lxi. 8. "And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Jer. xxxii. 40. "And I will betroth thee unto me forever." Hosea ii. 19. "Which Covenant He made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and unto Israel for an everlasting Covenant." Psal. cv. 9, 10. "This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our Guide even unto death." II. All the things in the Covenant are styled everlasting. 1st, God is an everlasting God, "But now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God." 2nd. "Christ is the everlasting Father," Isa. ix. 6, and a Priest for ever. "Whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an High Priest for ever." 3rd. The Holy Ghost is the eternal Spirit, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God;" and the promise is, that He should abide with us for ever. "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever." O, 4th. The mercy of God is everlasting. Read the 132nd Psalm and here you will find the everlastingness of God's mercy, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and his mercy endureth for ever. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations." 5th. "The goodness of God is everlasting, it endureth continually," Psalm lii. 1. 6th. The kindness of God is everlasting. "With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer." 7th. The righteousness of the Covenant is an everlasting righteousness." Dan. ix. 24. 8th. Pardon of sin in the Covenant, is everlasting. "I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sins no more.' Jer. xxxi. 34, Micah. vii. 9. 9th. The grace of God in a sinner's heart is everlasting. It is called an abiding seed, "For his seed remaineth in Him," 1 John iii. 9. And incorruptible,,' 1 Pet. i. 23. "A spring of living water," John iv. 10-14. 10th. The joy is everlasting. "Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads," and none shall take it from them; Isa. li. 11, John xvi. 22. "Who hath 11th. So is the consolation, of the Covenant. given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace." 12th. So is the life of the Covenant. "He that believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This is the promise which He hath promised us, even eternal life." The perpetuity of the Covenant, may be considered in a twofold respect. |