Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

SERMON IV, V.*

CHRIST the People's Covenant.

MY

İSAIAH

SAIAH xlii. 6.

-I will give thee for a covenant of the people.

Y dear friends, if your ears be open, there are three things that you may hear this day.

1. You may hear what minifters will fay; but that is a matter of fmall moment; and it is but a poor errand, if you be only come to hear what a poor mortal, finful fellow-creature will fay to you. Little matter what we fay, if God himself do not speak in to your hearts. Therefore,

2. You may hear what God fays to you: this is matter of great moment; for God's fpeaking can make us both hear and live, though we were as dead as stocks, or ftones. He fpake the old creation out of nothing, and he can speak a new creation out of us, who are worse than nothing. Indeed it will be a wonder, if he do not fpeak terrible things in righteoufnels unto us, because of our fins; and really if he fpeak to us out of Christ, it will be dreadful. Therefore,

3. You may come to hear what God fays to Chrift, and this is the greatest moment of all. To hear what ministers say to the congregation, is a little thing; to hear what God fays to you, is a great thing; but to hear what God fays to Christ, is one of the greatest things that can be heard. God in his word speaks to the fons of men, and perhaps you have noticed that. But

he

*This was an Action-Sermon, preached immediately before the celebration of the Lord's fupper, at Dunfermline, Auguft 19. 1722. To which is annexed. The Substance of fome Difcourfes, after the Sacrament, upon the fame subject. The after-enlargements on this fubject, were mostly placed under their refpec Live general heads of method.

[ocr errors]

he fpeaks alfo to the Son of God, to his eternal Son; and perhaps that is what you have little noticed to this day. Why, what fays he to Chrift? Is it any thing that we the people are concerned with? Yes, what he fays to Chrift is of the greateft concern to us, and it is this, "I will give thee for a covenant, of the people." O, might the great and eternal Father fay to his great and eternal Son, who is one God with him and the eternal Spirit, Behold there is a company of people meeting in Dunfermline about a communion-table, with a view to the fealing of the covenant; but their work will be to little purpose, if they view not THEE, my beloved Son, to be the fpring, the fpirit, the life, the all of the covenant: their covenant will be but a poor bargain without THEE; and therefore, Behold, I will give THEE for a covenant of the people!" O a fweet saying as ever was faid in the world! and no wonder, for it is a part of a fermon whereof God himself is the Preacher, and Christ is the text, and the Spirit is the voice that conveys it. If we had much of this Spirit with us, we might fee how fweetly this glorious Preacher handles this wonderful text, from the beginning of the chapter: O how sweetly does he fpeak of him in the firft four verfes! and how fweetly does he fpeak to him from the fifth verfe and downward!

[ocr errors]

1. How sweetly does he fpeak of him?" Behold my fervant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my foul delighteth," etc. That Chrift is the fubject here treated of, you need not queftion, if you compare this first verse with Matth. xii. 18. where Chrift exprefly applies it to himself and now, when the Father here fpeaks of Christ, every word is a word of commendation; he commendst him for a good fervant in his mediatory work, " Behold my fervant whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my foul delighteth:" He commends him for a well-qualified Saviour; "I have put my spirit upon him, and he fhall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles:" He commends him for a meek Saviour;" He fhall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street," ver. 2.: He commends him for a tender-hearted Saviour; " A bruifed reed fhall he not break, and the fmoking flax fhall

he

[ocr errors]

he not quench; he fhall bring forth judgment unto truth," ver. 3. He commends him for an able Saviour, that will go through with his work, maugre all impediments; "He fhall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have fet judgment in the earth, ver. 4.; and the ifles fhall wait for his law;" the ifle of Britain not excepted, and not forgetting Scotland in the north end of it.

2. How fweetly does he fpeak to him, from ver. 5,6.! And here notice both the divine preface to this the fermon, and then the divine difcourfe.

part of (1.) The Preface, fhewing the glorious dignity of the Preacher, ver. 5. Thus faith the Lord." Here the glorious JEHOVAH is commending himfelf, as it well becomes him, and none but him to do. Who is it that is speaking? It is the Lord, the great Lord of heaven, earth, and mankind: it is the Lord of all the heavens, that is fpeaking; he that fpread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it: it is the Lord of all mankind that is fpeaking; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and fpirit to them that dwell therein.Why then, he is the God that hath authority to make the following covenant with the Meffiah, and give a commiffion to him. Therefore,

(2.) Notice the divine Difcourfe itself, and what he' fays to Chrift, ver. 6. "I the Lord have called thee in righteoufnefs, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people," etc. He had fpoken fweetly of him, and here he speaks as fweetly to him: and in this fpeech is opened up to us the great mystery of the covenant of redemption betwixt the Father and the Son from eternity; and the opening thereof in time makes it a covenant of grace to us. And here we may fee feveral parts of the indenture he binds and obliges himfelf unto.

The first piece of the indenture is, "I have called thee in righteoufnefs." Here is the vocation; he takes not this office of being Mediator upon him, without being called thereto; and God called him thereto in righteousness: he was rightly called; for the right of redemption fell into his hand: he was rightly called; for he was able for the work, and fit for it: he was rightly called;

called; for he was willing to the work, and voluntarily offered himfelf, "Lo, I come;-I delight to do thy will, O my God:" He was rightly called; for as God did him no wrong, fo he did himfelf right, and provided for the glory of all his perfections in this way.

The fécond piece of the indenture is, "I will hold thine hand;" that is another thing he fays to him: Go, fays he, and I will hold thee by the hand all the way; I will bear the expences of that hard fervice: Chrift goes this warfare on God's charges; he bears equal burden in the work of our redemption. We mifplace our love,

if we love not the Father as well as the Son: the three glorious perfons of the adorable Trinity had all one will to it, and they go hand in hand about it; "I will hold thine hand."

The third piece of the indenture, or the other thing he fays to Chrift, is, "I will keep thee;" I, fays the great JEHOVAH to the God-man Mediator, I will keep thee, when the fins of an elect world fhall all meet upon thee; when the curfes of the law, the terror of justice, the vengeance of heaven, and the fury of earth fhall invade, and encompass thee, I will keep and pre'erve thee, and make all thefe red-feas to divide and make way for thee to pafs through triumphantly.

The fourth piece of the indenture is in the words of our text, and it is one of the great and glorious things he fays to Chrift; "I will give thee for a covenant of the people, a light to the Gentiles," etc. Whatever be

..

their malady, I will give thee to be a fuitable remedy. Have they broken covenant? I will give thee to be a better covenant. But what of that, while they are ig norant? Why then, "I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles." But what though they have light,, if they have not fight too? for a blind man hath no benefit of the fun; why then, "I will give thee to open the blind eyes." But what though they have both light and fight, if they be ftill in a dark prifon, bound and fettered there? Why, I will give thee for this end, "To bring out the prifoners from the prifon, and them that fit in darkness out of the prifon-houfe." O but thefe are fweet promises made to Chrift, and in him to us; and the leading one, VOL. I.

M

that

[ocr errors]

comprehends the reft, is in thefe words, "I will give thee for a covenant of the people." Where, without critical divifion, you may notice thefe two things. gracious defignation and title that Chrift bears, a covenant of the people. 2. His glorious ordinance and appointment thereto, I will give thee for that end.

1. The

1. The glorious defignation and title of honour that he bears; he is called, a covenant of the people: and here he is defcribed by his relation to the covenant, and by his relation to us by this means. His relation to the covenant is fuch, that he is defigned, the covenant itfelf; he is the head and heart of the covenant; he is the foundation and cap-flone of the covenant; the bottom and top of the covenant; the Alpha and Omega of the covenant; the firft and the last etter of the covenant; the all in all of the covenant. The first covenanthead brake and fell; and he falling, all his feed fell. The fecond covenant-head ftands; and he ftanding, all his feed ftand in him; " My covenant fhall ftand faft in him."Again, his relation to us by this means. To whom is he a covenant? Even a covenant of the people, of the Gentiles. O good news to us poor Gentiles!

2. His glorious ordination and appointment unto this bufinefs; I will give thee:". and here alfo every word hath fome glory in it. Here is the glorious perfon ordaining him, in the pronoun I; I JEHOVAH do it: here is the glorious perfon ordained, in the pronoun THEE; "I will give THEE:" here is the glorious manner of the ordination, it is by way of free and gratuitous gift; “I will GIVE thee:" and here is the glorious reafon and moving caufe of the whole, even the fovereign will of God; "I WILL give thee." But the further explication of thefe particulars, I refer to the profecution of the doctrine.

..

OBSERV. That, by divine ordination, Chrift is the covenant of the people.

The only fcripture I name for the confirmation, is Ifa. xlix. 8. "Thus faith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee; and in a day of falvation have I helped thee: and I will preferve thee, and give thee for a co

« VorigeDoorgaan »