still under the condemnation of the law; for God has never established in the world more than two dispensations-the law and the gospel. All mankind are under one or the other of these two.Unless, therefore, you embrace the gospel dispensation, you are still under the law. You may say you are not Jews, and were never under the law of Moses. True; but you are under the moral law of God, which demands unswerving obedience as the only title to life, and which threatens death and the curse to the least failure. The Romans and Galatians, to whom the apostle wrote his epistles which treat so fully on the doctrine of justification, were not Jews but heathens; yet they were under the law as a covenant of works, till they were freed from its curse by faith in Jesus Christ. "The promise, by

faith of Jesus Christ, is given to them that believe." Hence, if you do not believe and obtain the promise of an interest in the blood and righteousness of the Saviour, you will not only be condemned as sinners and transgressors of the law, but as those who judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.You will fall under a still more awful condemnation than that of the law the condemnation of the gospel. For "this is the condemnation:" the greatest cause of condemnation and the highest aggravation of sin-"that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." "If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth"--that is, after the truth has been made known to us by the gospel, "there remaineth no more

things we offend all; and there is no man that liveth and sinneth not.' But the scripture frequently connects the fear of the Lord with departing from evil, and with keeping his commandments. Hence when Abraham obeyed the most difficult command that could be enjoined on man, the Almighty declared it to be an evidence of his possessing this principle: "Now I know that thou fearest God." The same principle will create an earnest desire to do the will of God; to the observance of which is annexed the saving knowledge of the doctrine of salvation by Christ himself: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God."

4. Once more, the fear of the Lord is connected with the love of his goodness.

God is infinitely good, as well as infinitely great and holy and just. Oh how gloriously is his goodness displayed in the gift of his only begotten Son! In this unspeakable evidence of his love, we see his readiness to pardon sinners, and to become their reconciled Father and Friend. The fear of the Lord is therefore intimately connected with love for his mercy and goodness. It is promised in the prophecies of Hosea, that the people of God "shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days," under the gospel dispensation. This implies that they shall have such a view of the divine mercy, grace, and goodness, in their deliverance and salvation by Jesus Christ, as shall fill them with holy awe and reverential love. Such are the characters described in the text. Let us consider,

II. What are the privileges conferred

upon them.

The text declares that "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and that he will show them his covenant." The latter clause seems to be an amplification and exposition of the former. If therefore we can explain how the Lord shows his people, or, according to the marginal reading, makes them to know, his covenant, there will be no difficulty in understanding what is implied by the secret of the Lord being with them. Let us therefore consider what this covenant is; how the Lord makes those who fear him to know it; and what are the effects of this discovery upon their minds.

1. First, what is the covenant of which the text speaks?

In the general acceptation of the word, as used in the holy scripture, a covenant is a mutual agreement between two or more parties, with certain conditions, to which the parties consent. The covenant spoken of in the text, is the covenant of redemption, entered into between the persons of the blessed and adorable trinity, for the salvation of sinners of the human race. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, mutually engaged in the wonderful and glorious work of man's redemption from sin and misery. The Father's love is represented as the source of this redemption. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him, The should not perish, but have eternal life." eternal Son left his glory and became "God manifest in the flesh," that he might give himself for us, and by his death on the cross, obtain for us eternal

redemption. The blessed and Holy Spirit, in consequence of covenant engagements, enlightens the understandings of the elect, regenerates their hearts, leads them to Jesus for salvation, and seals them through the faith of Christ unto the day of redemption. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of your inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." Let us take a view of the covenant in its conditions and its promises.

:

(1.) The conditions of the covenant of redemption as made with Christ, were the following:

In the first place, Christ was to become the representative head of his people. The eternal Son of God, the second person in the ever-blessed and glorious Trinity, by virtue of the office he undertook in the covenant of redemption, was appointed to represent the persons, and to bear the names of the elect, before the eternal Father. In consequence of this covenant-relation to his people, he is called God's servant.

"Behold my servant, whom I up

mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

But, whatever

or of

your own

views you may have of your own sin, righteousness, you may be assured that you are more sinful than you think yourselves to be, and that your righteousness is more imperfect than you can imagine. But, Christians, it is not to yourselves that you are looking for a righteousness that will bear you out at the bar of your Judge. No! your refuge is in the righteousness of Christ by faith. Here you have ground for confidence, for peace, for comfort. In Christ are merits and righteousness on which you may rest for pardon, acquittal, justification, acceptance, and eternal life. Millions have already built their hopes on this foundation, and not one of them has ever perished: and in him there is enough for millions more. Continue to believe in him, to trust in him, to live to him, to obey his commands, and you shall have every thing that is good for you in time, and every thing that is glorious in eternity. He has redeemed you from the curse of the law, he will deliver you from the power of sin, he will be with you through life, he will support you in death, he will receive your departing spirit into paradise; and when he comes the second time with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God to raise the dead, "he will ransom you from the power of the grave, and change your vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."