and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

These are the promises of God, of which mention is made in our text, and which our text says, the law is not against. It may be well now to enquire something respecting the extensiveness of these promises. What is the most natural sense of such language as this?" All the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth;" and such as St. Peter used, Acts iii. 25, "Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." Would any person, having the least knowledge of language, make use of such to express something concerning a very small part of mankind? The learned and pious divines who composed the Westminster Catechism did not make use of such language to express the covenant of grace in which they believed. Their words are the following; "God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of a state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation, by a Redeemer." Will any candid person say, that this language which the Westminster divines made use of to express their covenant of grace, and the language which God used to express his covenant of grace to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are of the same import? No one will pretend this. If it had been the intention of those divines to state the covenant of which St. Peter spoke in Acts iii. would they not have been likely to make use of such language as he used, and as is used in other parts of the scriptures on the same subject? There

can be no doubt of this. But the fact is, their covenant of grace is not mentioned in the whole of the divine oracles. It is a most humiliating thought, that the wisdom of God should have been thus totally neglected, and the wisdom, the partial, sensual wisdom of this world set in its stead. It is a matter of most painful reflection, that while the christian church have made no provision to teach youth the gospel covenant of the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, unwearied pains and innumerable means have been employed to instruct them, "and that right early," in this covenent of men's invention. But, by attending too much to the vain notions of men, we shall get away from our subject. We will therefore observe, that the language in which the covenant which God made with the fathers is expressed, is as extensive as any language that could have been used, unless more than the whole human family were to be comprehended: All nations of the earth, all the families of the earth, and all the kindreds of the earth, is universal; and all the partial creeds of men acknowledge it to be so by carefully and respectfully neglecting to use it.

Our next enquiry will seek to ascertain the blessing which is promised to all the nations of the earth in the covenant of God.

This question is settled by the testimony of the Apostle in our context; "And the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed." This blessing then is justification through faith. Of this justification the Apostle speaks to the Romans in language as extensive as that in which the covenant of grace was expressed to Abraham. His words are as follows; "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is

in Christ Jesus." Again to the Romans, the Apostle speaking of Christ, says; "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." The same author in a discourse at Antioch said; " And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again." The hearer is requested to notice, that according to the passages quoted, the promise to Abraham is called the gospel. This gospel was preached by God himself, and no doubt was preached truly, and as Abraham believed, and as we ought to believe at this day. We also see that the thing promised, which the Apostle calls "the inheritance," is jus tification through faith, the word faith meaning covenant; and moreover, that all that have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, are thus "justified freely by his grace, through the re demption that is in Christ Jesus." Should the trite objection, that this doctrine justifies men in sin, be moved in this case, we reply in the words of divine truth, which never speaks of justifying men in sin, but "from, all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses." St. Peter applies the blessing which God promised, in his covenant, to Abraham, as follows; "Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." One important object which we have in view, is to show the nature of the gospel salvation, which is salvation from sin and all its evils.

The hearer, is now requested to consider the terms or conditions of the promises, the covenant made with the fathers, which embraces the salvation of all the nations, all the families, and all the kindreds of the earth in Jesus Christ. If these promises were made on any conditions of obedi

ence on the part of the heirs of this inheritance, then unless these conditions are fulfilled we have no right to the promises. But blessed, forever blessed be the name of the God of Abraham, this covenant rests on no conditions of man's obedience. There is not a word in the promises made to the fathers, that intimates any condition on the part of those who were to be blessed. Our heavenÎy Father here manifests his own unchangeable, uninfluenced, unconditional good will and gracious purpose concerning all the sons and daughters of Adam. 66 God, willing more abundantly, to shew unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; for when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself." And the design of this oath was, "that we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us."

Corresponding with the unconditionality of the "covenant of promise," we may notice a passage or two from the prophet Isaiah and St. Paul. The evangelical prophet uses language in his 26th Chapter which corresponds in three important points with the language of the divine promises. 1st. It is universal.-2d. It contains the testimony of life; and 3d. The language is positive, not conditional. The passage reads as follows; " And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, of wines on the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it." In his

9th Chapter, speaking of the Messiah, he says;> "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end." No comments are necessary to show, that the language quoted from the prophet corresponds with that in which the "covenant of promise" is recorded.

That the salvation of the gospel is not according to the works of men, St. Paul's testimony to Timothy fully shows; "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." To Titus he says; "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." On the same subject, to the Ephesians he says; "Not of works, lest any man should boast.' The passage just quoted from the epistle to Timothy is remarkable for its clearness on our subject: "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works." If this salvation and calling were not according to the works, of those who were saved, then it must be according to something else. And this something must form a principle on which God could act with perfect consistency with holiness, justice and truth. The Apostle says; "But according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Thus it is plain, that God purposed in his grace, before the world began, to