is there is no more offering for sin." Though the drift of this passage is to prove that the death of Christ, once endured, was sufficient to take away sin without being repeated, yet the argument is so wrought as strongly to imply, what is explicitly declared in the text, that all who by a union to Christ are once "justified," are forever delivered from condemnation. By this union men grow to Christ as "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones" and will He suffer His members to be torn from His bleeding side? At the time of this union they are "born of God,” and become “sons” and "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,' "to an inheritance incorruptible,-and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for [them,] who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Henceforth their title is, "NO MORE a servant, but a son."

Had not a seed been secured to Christ by such an absolute covenant, He might have entirely lost the reward of His death. He had no security for a single soul unless the covenant secured the whole. Remove now the immutable purpose and promise of God, and what hinders the whole body of believers on earth from apostatizing at once? The Church may become extinct in a single day. if things are left thus uncertain, what mean all the promises and oaths of God respecting the future glory of Zion?

But

When God came in time to enter into covenant with His people, He bound Himself to them indi

vidually as their everlasting God and portion, and engaged to take upon Himself the whole charge of their salvation. These promises were not conditional but absolute. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater He swore by Himself, saying, SURELY blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 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; that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail." The covenant which was afterwards made at Sinai, (called "the law," in distinction from the other which is called "the promise,") was conditional, and of course was broken. It was conditional, or it could not have been broken. This is the covenant alluded to in the following remarkable passage: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,-not according to the [CONDITIONAL] covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke: -but this shall be the covenant that I will make

with the house of Israel, [an ABSOLUTE one ;] Af ter those days, saith the Lord, I WILL put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and WILL be their God, and they SHALL be my people :-for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.-They SHALL be my people, and I WILL be their God. And I WILL give them one heart and one way that they may fear me FOREVER. 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." This passage is twice quoted in the Epistle to the Hebrews as comprising the tenour of the covenant established with the Christian Church, which is called by the apostle "a better covenant [than that of Sinai,]-established upon better promises."* And from this he infers that "by one offering" Christ has " perfected forever them that are sanctified," and that "the worshippers once purged" have "no more conscience of sins."

The same covenant is detailed in the numerous promises to the Church which are scattered through the Bible. "The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give GRACE and GLORY." "The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you ;—and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." Among these promises may be reckoned those which inseparably connect salvaChap. viii. and x.

66

tion with the first exercise of grace. When thou hast found" wisdom [once,]" then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off." "For whoso [once] findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord." "Whosoever [once] drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." "He that cometh to me [once,] shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me [once,] shall never thirst." "He that believeth [once] on the Son, hath everlasting life.” "He that [once] believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and SHALL NOT come into condemnation, but IS PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE." This is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and [once] believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day." "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward." Among these promises may be reckoned those which absolutely secure to every believer growth in grace. "The righteous-shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." "They go from strength to strength:-blessed is the man whose strength is in thee." Every branch that beareth fruit, He

66

purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit." Grace in the heart, as well as in the world at large, is compared to a little leaven gradually leavening the whole lump;-to a grain of mustard seed which grows up into the largest of herbs;-to seed which a man cast into the ground, which sprung up and grew night and day, he knew not how, bringing forth, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." "The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither." "He

shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Among these promises may be reckoned those which in particular cases assured good men of their final acceptance long before their death. To Simon Peter it was said, "Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards." To the eleven, "I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." To the church of Sardis, "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy."