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tality in which the whole created humanity was made subject to vanity. How infinitely rich is this blessed hope! This is the "anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, entering into that within the vail where our fore-runner hath for us entered." Calmly leaning on this, Faith casts her longing eyes beyond the proud swellings of the Jordan of death, sees the inviting land of promise, lays hold of the earnest of the inheritance, and sings the triumphant song; "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

LECTURE. VI.

SALVATION IMPARTIAL AND UNIVERSAL.

ISAIAH xxv. 6, 7, 8.

And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast 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 off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it."

THE first subject of inquiry found in this portion of divine truth is to ascertain what the inspired author means by the mountain of which he speaks in our text.

The same Prophet in his 2d chapter speaks as follows; "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house, shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it." As the prophet here speaks of the establishment of the mountain of the Lord's house upon the top of the mountains, it seems to indicate the setting up of the divine power and government over the powers and polities of this world; the exalting of the mountain of the Lord's house above the hills signifies the exaltation of the divine economy and government over all the powers of the earth. The same in substance is found in the 2d chapter of Daniel, where the four great empires of the world are particularly characterised, their dissolution represented, and the kingdom of God set up and established. "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth"

This is explained as follows; "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

The gospel covenant is represented by mount Sion, in the epistle to the Hebrews; "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," &c. Here the same which is called a mountain is called the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. In the epistle to the Galatians the two covenants are represented by the allegory of Sarah and Hagar; "For this Agar is mount Sina, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage, with her children. But Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all." This is the same Jerusalem of which mention is made in the 21st of Revelations, as follows: "And I John saw the holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband." This mount Sion, this heavenly, new Jerusalem, this city of the living God is the mountain of the Lord's house which is to be established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, and unto which all nations are to flow. All nations will finally submit to the laws and government of the gospel, and be willing subjects of him who "shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth, of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end."

As the prophet informs us, that all nations shall flow to this mountain of the Lord's house, so in our text he says; "In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things," which invites us to the consideration of the universality of the grace of the gospel.

The divinity of this testimony is visible on the face of it. It is like every thing which belongs to the wisdom and goodness of God. There is no partiality in

it. Every thing contrived by man discovers its origin by its partiality; so whatever is revealed from God proves itself to be from him by its impartiality. This universal impartial language is the language which the Holy Ghost saw fit to use to express the extensiveness of the divine goodness. The promises of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, expressive of the gospel covenant are recorded in similar language. God certified the fathers, that in the promised seed all the nations and all the families of the earth should be blessed. These promises perfectly harmonise with the prophecy under consideration. In this mountain, in this seed, in this covenant, in this kingdom, in this city, in this government the Lord of host shall make unto all people a feast of fat things. The same universality is expressed in the 2d Psalm. "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Like unto this is the following in the 22d Psalm, " All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's;: and he is the governor among the nations." This word kindreds, is used by St. Peter in the 3d of Acts. "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with the fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." According to this divine declaration, all the kindreds of the earth are the children, and if children, then heirs of the testimony of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with the fathers. In prospect of these great and glorious things of the kingdom of God, the prophet David says, in the 64th psalm; "All men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doings." In the 72d psalm we find the following; "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth-men shall

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be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessedall kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him." Psalm 86th, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord; and shall glorify thy name, for thou art great and doest wondrous things; thou art God alone." In bearing such testimony as the foregoing, David was a man "after God's own heart." In addition to what has been quoted from the prophet Isaiah, the following may be mentioned; Chapter 52d, "Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." Chap. 53— "All we, like sheep, have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all-He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." Chapter 49th, "And he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation unto the ends of the earth." Time would fail us to recite all this kind of testimony from the prophets who spake of the coming of the Just One, and of the glory that should follow. We find in the New Testament many arguments and declarations corresponding with the promises of God and the sayings of the prophet on this glorious subject of universal grace. Jesus said, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved." The beloved disciple says; "We have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the saviour of the world." Again he says that "Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world." St. Paul bestows much argument to show that "where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded; and that as by the offence of one,

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