blessed be his name, so he does; he leads us into all truth; works faith in us; sheds abroad the Father's love in our hearts; and I believe that love, joy, and peace, are the first fruits of the harvest of glory; and the holy spirit himself is the earnest of our eternal inheritance; and he is to abide with us for ever, as a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Thus we see the Holy Spirit's love; as it is written, "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit;" mark that! the love of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love," Gal.

v. 22.

Thus, my friends, we have gone through the second head. I will next shew you the stability of this covenant; and then proceed to consider the third head.

This blessed covenant is signed and witnessed by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; ratified by the sevenfold sealer and seal of heaven; confirmed by the oath of God, and by the blood of Jesus Christ the immutable testator; and thus it is made sure to all the seed, Rom. iv. 16. How sweetly are the elect secured from the wrath of God, blessed with eternal love, and a sweet foundation laid for a strong consolation in all our troubles! First, they are secured from wrath; as it is testified, "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me; for, as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke

thee." Oh blessed and sweet security! His loving kindness too is as strongly secured; "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee." It is true, the elect may be tossed in the storms of affliction, and be almost drowned at times in distress; but their situation can never alter the covenant. "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and thy foundations with sapphires." This, I think, means all the attributes of Jehovah, which are engaged in behalf of the elect, and who are secured in this covenant; for it immediately follows, " In righteousness shalt thou be established," Isaiah liv. 9-14. Thus the covenant is signed and witnessed by three immutable and unchangeable witnesses; sealed and ratified by divine veracity; and confirmed by the oath of an immutable God, who can never be perjured. Eternal life is promised by him who cannot lie; and confirmed by the efficacious blood of him who is without variableness or shadow of turning, James i. 17. Surely then these immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to falsify his word, are sufficient to afford us the most solid ground of comfort; as it is written, "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew 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 a 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 stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered; even Jesus, made an high-priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec," Heb. vi. 17-20.

Having offered you my thoughts on this divine love from the eternal source, I shall now proceed to the south pole, which is before us, namely, to everlasting. This is a natural inference drawn from the length of this love mentioned in my text. doing this I will hereafter touch on the benefits of this covenant, and their being a free donation, as well as of their eternal duration.

In

I know the Arminians affirm that we may be children of God to-day and children of the devil to-morrow: but this is rendering God worse than ourselves; for I, who am evil, could not deal so in a natural sense with my children. If what they affirm be true, the length of God's love mentioned in my text, which is said to pass knowledge, is but four and twenty hours long at best. But I leave those liars, and their lies, to the father of lies, and proceed to speak of what God says, for we know that he is true, though every man be a liạr, Rom. iii. 4. It plainly appears in scripture that the everlasting God chose the elect in his Son Christ Jesus, and that the covenant was sealed

by the eternal Spirit in heaven; and it is as plain that everlasting love moved them to it; therefore the covenant is called an everlasting covenant, and we shall find all the blessings of it to bear the same date.

I will therefore consider them distinctly, and only take notice of them as I find God hath mentioned them.

First, then, as God remembered us in our low.. estate, he hath promised not to forget us; but to remember us for good, and to establish us; as it is written, "Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance," Psalm cxii. 6. Therefore there is no fear of being forgotten before the Lord.

And, as all the elect were condemned by the law, the Lord Jesus has brought in an eternal righteousness to justify them; as it is written, He shall make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24.

But you will say, We are dead in law, and dead in sin. I know that we are all in that state; but in this covenant the elect are pre-ordained to eternal life; as it is written, "And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," Acts xiii. 48. Thus the elect are quickened here, and brought to live by the faith of the Son of God; and their eternal life, which is given us of God, is hid with Christ, as our head, in God; as it is written, I give my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my.

hands, John x. 28.

"He that believeth on me hath everlasting life," John vi. 47. There we see the blessings of this everlasting covenant bear the same date as the covenant doth. But to proceed.

The Almighty knew how the devil, the god of this world, would blindfold us in order to lead us to the bottomless pit, and that Satan would send many blind guides to lead us on from one dark mountain to another, that we might follow the devil's doctrine, and so be damned at last. I say the Lord knew this, for known unto God are all things; therefore in this covenant he has promised to be an everlasting light to all his people; as it is written, "But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory," Isaiah lx. 19.

In this covenant God hath provided a righteousness for the elect, though by nature they were ungodly. This righteousness was wrought out for the elect by Christ; as it is written, " By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous,' Rom. v. 19. This righteousness God accepted of our surety, he being made of God unto us righteousness, 1 Cor. i. 30. This righteousness God also imputes freely without any pre-requisite in us; as it is written," Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works," Rom. iv. 6. The Spirit of God brings this righteousness near to us in a preached gospel, and reveals it to the eye of