Abraham's seed, and heirs of the promise of everlasting inheritance," Heb. ix. 15. As it is written, "The justified shall live by faith." In what? In Christ's second coming to claim and give the promised rest. "His work shall be before him, his reward shall be with him." "For he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry," Heb. x. 34-39. "This is the thing hoped for, for we are saved by hope," Rom. viii. 24. The Sinaitic covenant failed to accomplish God's purpose of election through man's fault, yet even it accomplished wonders. It would have converted the whole world had it not been that it, like the law, was "weak through the flesh." Still the failure on man's part could not possibly frustrate the secret and revealed ultimate purposes of God. Hence the promise of

THE "NEW" COVENANT.

Jeremiah xxxi. 31 defines what we are to understand by this "new" covenant. "Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." (Hence the ten tribes must yet return, and so Paul quotes this promise as still future, Rom. xi. 26, 27, compared with Isa. lix. 20.) Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which (my covenant) they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. (Ezekiel's two sticks shall have then become one rod under one shepherd, and "my servant David shall be as a prince among them," Ezek. xxxiv. 24, 31; see also chap. xxxvi. 24, 25, 26. Hence the dry bones, as the whole house of Israel, shall have one King over them all, chap. xxxvii. 22, cujus regni non erit finis.) After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more, every man his neighbour, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all KNOW me." This also explains, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and from henceforth ye have both known him and hath seen him, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord (by open vision); for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. "As I live," said the Lord to Moses, "the whole earth shall be filled with my Glory." Faith then shall be changed to sight. But this is not all; as the ordinances of heaven cannot depart, neither shall "the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before me for ever." Even "the city shall be built to the Lord (Messiah

66

is Lord and prince, and hence Ezekiel's temple), and that from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the Corner, &c., all shall be holy unto the Lord,-it shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more for ever." How many glorious things are spoken of Jerusalem! Read Psalms ii., xlv., lxxii., lxxix., lxxxvii., lxxxix., and cxxii. Read Isaiah on "the sufferings of Christ, chap. liii., and the glories which are to follow," so beautifully described in the last chapters of his book. Jerusalem is even to be called by a new name, viz., “The Lord is there." Hence we, like Abraham, said Paul, seek for a city, viz., "the ONE to come," Heb. xiii. 14. The first advent of Christ had for its object the promulgation of this new covenant. It was ratified by his blood. His second advent is thus as necessary to its absolute fulfilment, for then "all Israel shall be saved." The Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost as its first fruits. What shall be the glory when it shall be fully realised? "It shall be as life from the dead;" so Paul. The Son of man, in his state of humiliation, had power on earth to forgive sins, but it shall come to pass, that "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved," even at the last hour, before the just judgment shall have commenced. It is thus clear, that this new covenant was, after all, at its first promulgation, only a simple announcement, viz., "The kingdom of heaven is at hand;" that is, God was "taking out of the nations a people for himself." "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you (ultimately) the kingdom." The spiritual blessings now bestowed are only a foretaste of the glory which is to follow, and these, as a foretaste, give an assurance, that the full blessings of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham shall be infallibly bestowed. "His seed shall yet be as the sand of the sea for multitude." "I am the God of Abraham, this is my name for ever, and my memorial unto all generations." "They shall look on him whom they pierced, and mourn." My Redeemer in the latter day shall stand on the earth, and mine eye shall see him, said Job. Abraham saw that day afar off, and was glad. Christ's feet shall yet stand on the mount of Olives. "I will make the place of the soles of his feet glorious." "I shall be satisfied when I awake," said David, "with thy likeness." "We shall see him as he is," said Paul, "and every one that hath this HOPE in him purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure;" "whom having not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of (the hope of) glory," 1 Pet. i. 8. Is he not the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace? Cujus regni non erit finis! This view is so infinitely sublime, that it is no marvel that secularists like Hennell and Renan say our

Lord was an "enthusiast." I use that word in a good sense for to conceive such thoughts, and to work them out successfully as Christ did, could not possibly have been effected by any other than a superhuman and supernatural mind. "Let

us then date our era from Christ's birth, and build temples to his name," &c.; as Hennell and Renan have said, for "never man spake as this man."

CHRIST A PROPHET.

He was the prophet "like unto Moses." Moses revealed God as just by his all-perfect law. Christ revealed God as the loving Father of the human race. The prodigal had been fed on husks (secular wisdom). He repented and returned. The father's eye had never left him. He saw him a far way off. He even ran to meet him. Yea, he embraced him, “fell on his neck and kissed him;" and why so? "For this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and now is found!" He then put the best ring on his finger, also gave him the best robe. The fatted calf was killed for him, that all might along with God rejoice! There is joy in heaven over every sinner who repents. God's sworn will and pleasure is, that "all men" should be saved. The Jew, like Peter, swears "I know not the Man;" they look for a conquering king, hence they curse, as Peter once did, Christ's very name. I have often heard them do so, and seen them spit upon the ground when I was arguing with them; but the day shall come when they shall, as Peter did, joy in their risen Lord, and shall go forth with joy to proclaim Christ's glory and his fame, Isaiah lxvi. 19, 20. "I would rather," said Mr Grant, late minister of Liberton, "that the heathen should remain unchristianised than that they should be converted by a set of heterodox missionaries." There was some truth in this coarse remark. Each sect falsifies its opposing sect-no two of them agree. A Brahman sees this clearly, and naturally says the gospel is a lie. Christ's last prayer was for "unity," that the world, through their "loving unity," might verily believe! The seamless coat of Jesus has been torn into shreds. No marvel that our missionaries make so little progress. It will be very different when the converted Jews shall fill their place.

CHRIST A PRIEST.

I have already shewn that a change in the order of priesthood was a nullification of the ceremonial law. Christ is a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. He reigns even now on God's throne as king and priest, and he will yet reign

on earth. "The counsel of peace" is thus betwixt both offices. To his people he shall speak peace. "I bring near my righteousness in the sight of all people," said the Lord," and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever." The wilderness shall then blossom as the rose, Isa. xxxii. 15, 16. The most important declarations of Christ were the following, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world:" John xii. 47; and "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread (receive my word), he shall live for ever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world," John vi. 51. Ah! there is a height and depth in these words which infinitely surpass all human thought. (Calvinistic divines have narrowed their meaning.) They connect all past time with all time future. Hence infant salvation. Yea, the possibility of salvation to all among the heathen, "who by continuance in well-doing seek for glory, and honour, and immortality "-eternal life, Rom. ii. 7; and Peter said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him," Acts x. 34, 35.

CHRIST A KING.

The gospel means good news. This news proclaimed "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Christ sent forth the Seventy to declare this universal truth. He came to promulgate the new covenant, as I have proved. He came to his own promised land, but the chosen people received him not-the king and priests not only rejected but crucified him, although he was in truth their veritable Christ. Had he been accepted, Jeremiah's prophecy would necessarily have been out and out fulfilled. It was not so. Hence Jerusalem was destroyed, and shall so remain until the "times of the Gentiles" shall have run their course. Then shall the promise be literally fulfilled. Meanwhile "a little while," Hag. ii. 6, and Heb. xii. 26, and particularly ver. 28, "wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved," &c., "the one to come," Heb. xiii. 14. Until then the "holy places" shall be to all peoples a "burdensome stone," a quæstio vexata to all who shall intermeddle therewith.

Man cannot alter one tittle of God's revealed word. The millennial kingdom is to be set up at Christ's appearing, and his kingdom, according to Daniel, and as declared by Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 1. I only speak of the time, not the manner of the kingdom, which God has put in his own power, Acts i. 7.

JEREMIAH'S PROPHECY CONTINUED.

The learned Bushnell has denied the personality of the devil. He might as well have denied the personality of Christ as the Logos. Bushnell's supernatural theory is inconsistent, it is based on the law of physical necessity. Christ established moral law-the royal law of liberty. Hence he, as the Logos, is our finite and yet infinite moral God. He is the likeness and very image of the infinite I AM. Satan in heaven had denied the Logos, He abode not in this truth. Christ saw him fall like lightning from heaven. No marvel that he narrowly watched Christ's every move on earth. Satan was present when God pronounced his "curse." He knew thereby that he might "bruise" Christ's "heel." He could not believe that a dead man could possibly "crush" his "head." Hence the temptation in the wilderness was a trial of Christ's absolute moral strength! He conquered not by physical law, but by that higher law whose moral force is truth. How marvellous it is to think that in the infant Jesus, while lying on his mother's breast, or sleeping in a manger, we by faith behold the Logos-the very Son of God! No marvel that the angels sang, no wonder that "wise" men from the east, miraculously led by his "star," worshipped and ministered to his need! Hence his wisdom in the temple. Hence the perfection of his laws (misnamed sermons). Hence his wise parables, yea, his deep paradoxes, all declarative of his divine mission! How could he else have so marvellously revealed the secret will of God! A life of Christ is still a desideratum. No mere man has ever portrayed his character in all its infinite fulness, for even the beloved John failed to reach perfection's "highest height." Paul saw much more of him than human language could express. In vision John saw his glory, and he fell down as dead! "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy;" who, then, is sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency, if any, can only be of God, who giveth to all men (who ask) liberally, and upbraideth not.

Jesus said, Behold an Israelite in whom there no guile ! Nathanael said, Whence knowest thou me? "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee !" "Rabbi, thou art the King of Israel-thou art the Son of God!" Again, in the Synagogue, he takes and opens the Book of Isaias, and, standing up, solemnly read aloud, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor"—that is, to proclaim the moral dignity of the poorest man! "The meek shall inherit the earth," Mat. v. 5 compared with Psalm xxxvii. 11,-"and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord;" and after humbly