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will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips," Psalm lxxxix. 30-34. "Behold [then, saith the Saviour,] I, and the children whom

the Lord hath given me, are for signs, and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion," Isaiah viii. 18.

And now the prophet puts forth a riddle to the world, when he says that Christ" was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living," Isaiah liii. 8; yet "he shall see his seed." And blessed be his name, he has got a glorious offspring out of the spoils of death, as saith the Psalmist; "Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death," Psalm lxviii. 20. And this is the seed that shall serve Christ, and be counted to him for a generation, Psalm xxii. 30. And that seed shall all one day appear in the blessed image of the second Adam; as it is written, And as we have born the image of the earthy Adam, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly: for, as is the earthy Adam, so are his seed also that are earthy; and, as is the heavenly Adam, such are they also that are heavenly, 1 Cor. xv. 48, 49. And this is another blessed effect or result of God's eternal love.

Christ too in this eternal covenant is called the first-born; "I will make him, my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." And God promised to be to Christ, in human nature, his Father,

his God, and the rock of his salvation, Psal. lxxxix. 26. God having promised to be the Father and God of Christ, this blessing was transferred to the elect when the Saviour had finished the work of redemption, and was risen again from the dead; as it is written," Go, to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." God therefore is become our God, and we are heirs of him, as our eternal portion; as it is written, “And, if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," Rom. viii. 17. In this covenant Christ and his elect brethren are said to be of one; as it is written, "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren," Heb. ii. 11, 12. The glorious result of all this is to bring many sons to glory, Heb. ii. 10. another blessed effect of God's

But I proceed.

This therefore is everlasting love.

up from ever

As God's servant, Christ was set lasting to serve under the law, and to redeem them that were under the law; and then to gather together in himself all the elect sheep, as their chief shepherd; as it is written, "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth," &c. As a shepherd he was appointed to redeem and gather in the sheep that were given to him; as it is written, "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and I lay down my life for the

sheep." And again, "This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." It appears plain in the word of God, that Christ received the sheep, their names, and the number of them before all worlds; as it is said, "In thy book were "In thy book were all my members written when as yet there was none of them." This appears very plain; for God calls them sheep before they were either redeemed, or called, or born. "He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young," Isaiah xl. 11. And this fulfils the ancient prediction, " And unto him shall the gathering of the people be." "I will [says God,] set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd," Ezek. xxxiv. 23. This doctrine will be proclaimed on the judgment-seat; as it is written, " He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats.-Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," Matth. xxv. 32-34. This also is another blessed effect of everlasting love.

Thus God has shewn his everlasting love to the elect in appointing them such a glorions head, set up from everlasting; in whom he has given them eternal life, and eternal union with him as an

husband, an honourable discharge by him as a surety, peace by him as a mediator, adopting grace in him as an everlasting father, and an eternal portion with him as an elder brother. So much for the eternal and unchangeable love of God the Father.

But my dear hearers may object and say, Your text treats only of the love of Christ. I answer, When we speak of the love of Christ we do not exclude the love of the Father, nor of the Spirit, for it is one love. The glorious Trinity loved the elect from everlasting. But of each of these in particular.

Of God the Father's love I have treated already; I next proceed to speak of the love of Christ.

The Saviour manifested his love to the elect, in undertaking their cause, accepting their names and persons, and substituting himself in their room and stead from everlasting; in vailing his infinite Deity in flesh and blood, suffering shame, reproach, and ignominy, to procure our eternal salvation in time; and, lastly, in laying down his life to redeem us from all evil; as it is written, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," John xv. 13.

The dear Saviour had much to suffer; the floodgates of wrath were opened on him, the floods of death compassed him about, and also the floods of temptation. All these met together on the dear Redeemer's head; and our frail nature, and the infirmities of it, with which he was compassed about;

shrunk back at the thought of the approaching tragedy. "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." However, love was strong as death, and stronger too; for many waters could not quench his love, neither could the floods drown it, Song viii. 6, 7.

Is this the eternal love of Christ to his elect? It really is; then "who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?-Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us," Rom. viii. 35-37.

I next proceed to shew that the love of the Spirit appears from the same date; I mean from everlasting.

The Holy Ghost shewed his eternal love to the elect, in bearing witness to this everlasting covenant; as it is written, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one," 1 John v. 7. He not only appeared a witness of the covenant, but the seal and sealer; as it is written, "And I saw, in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within, and on the backside, sealed with seven seals," Rev. v. 1. Thus the Spirit undertook to bear witness to the covenant, to ratify it, and to reveal to all God's elect the glorious benefits arising from it; as it is written, "He shall take of the things that are mine, and shall show them unto you," John xvi. 15. And,

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