certain king made a marriage for his son, Matth. xxii. 2. And thus likewise runs the tenor of the covenant of wedlock, as God the Father speaks to his elect; "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee," Isaiah lxii. 4, 5. Thus the elect were chosen as the king's daughter-in-law from eternity, Psal. cxxxii. 13. They are espoused in time, 2 Cor. xi. 2; and the marriage shall be consummated in bliss, when the mystery of God is finished; as it is written, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready," Rev. xix. 7. And then she shall be clad in gold of Ophir, and be brought with joy and rejoicing to enter into the king's palace, Psalm xlv. 15.

This mystery was exhibited by Eve's existing in Adam before she was extracted from him; so our life was hid with Christ in God. And when Eve was taken out of Adam, she was a help-meet formed for him; so the elect are created anew in Christ Jesus. When Eve was formed God brought her to Adam; so no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him. When she came to Adam he received her as God's gift; so the elect

are given to Christ. Adam and Eve are said to be one; so also are they that are joined to the Lord one spirit. Adam said, Man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; so Christ came forth from the Father, leaping upon the mountains. And, when some of the Saviour's followers said, "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee; he answered, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren," Matt. xii. 47, 48. Thus Christ left his father and mother, and clave to his wife. Adam had one wife brought to him and no more; so Christ says, "There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number; my dove, my undefiled is but one," Song vi. 8, 9. When Eve fell, Adam was in the transgression, though he was not deceived; so when the elected spouse fell Christ was not deceived, yet he was made sin, and was numbered with the transgressors, Isaiah liii. 12. When Adam and Eve fell, their marriage was not made void; so the fall of the elect did not break the bond of God's everlasting covenant, but rather paved the way to display eternal love towards the miserable. It appears that both Adam and Eve were chosen vessels; and, when they fell by eating the apples, they fell into soul travail, and were shortly after born again. Eternal love raised them up under the same tree where they fell; as it is written, "I raised thee

up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee forth that bare thee," Song viii. 5. This mother according to Paul, Gal. iv. 26, is the heavenly Jerusalem; and the heavenly Jerusalem is the covenant of grace and God's elect in it; both typified by Sarah and her son Isaac. To Adam and Eve was the first promise of the covenant of grace revealed; and by the application of the promise were they brought forth from black despair to hope in God's mercy through Christ.

I shall conclude this head with the apostle's mystery," For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church," Eph. v. 29-32. This therefore is another blessed effect of God's everlasting love. But,

As a surety, Christ was set up from everlasting; as it is written, "But this with an oath; by him that said unto him, The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. By so much was Jesus made a surety, of a better testament," Heb. vii. 21, 22. First, Christ, as a surety, was to pay the debt of perfect obedience to the preceptive part of the law for his elect; as it is written, "He will mag

nify the law, and make it honourable," Isaiah xlii. 21; "so by the obedience of one [Jesus Christ] shall many be made righteous," Rom. v. 19. As. a surety, he was to pay the penal sum of suffering for his elect, by dying in their room and stead; as it is written, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death," Hosea xiii. 14. And thus it behoved Christ to suffer these things, because he had undertaken our And by his precious blood he blotted out our transgressions as a thick cloud from the book of God's remembrance, agreeable to the following text, "I will remove the iniquity of the land in one day," Zech. iii. 9. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" Rom. viii. 33. This is another blessed effect of everlasting love. But

cause.

Christ was set up from everlasting to be a mediator between God and the elect; as it is written, "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

Christ as our mediator, appeased the wrath of God, removed the curse of the law from us by his death, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in an everlasting righteousness. He ap

pears both our peace-maker and our peace; as it is written, He is our peace, who hath made peace for us by the blood of his cross, Col. i. 20. Thus we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son. This is another blessed effect of God's everlasting. love.

Christ was also set up from everlasting to be a second Adam, or an everlasting Father; as it is written, "And his name shall be cailed Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," Isaiah ix. 6. And, as a Father of the elect family, he received the promise of eternal life, together with the promise of the Spirit of God, for all those who are called his seed agreeable to the following scripture; "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever," Isaiah lix. 21. Thus God shewed his eternal love to the chosen seed in Christ before the world was. But in this covenant he made a parental reserve for himself; as you read, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant