eternally saved by his blood in such a way as this? no, no; you have “neither part nor lot in this matter.” As sure as God lives, you are under the law as a covenant, and therefore under the dominion of sin, and the curse of the broken law is upon you; you are “condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on you." And to you, God says, " What hast thou to do to make mention of my righteousness, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.' And therefore consider your danger in time, besore you come in before the awful bar of God, lest, when you arrive there, he tear you in pieces, when there is none to deliver you out of his hand. But I turn me again from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, and go on to, the IV. Fourth use of this doctrine, by way of

encouragement to convinced and awakened sinners, and to doubting and trembling believers.

We have a commission “to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort them that mourn in Zion, to strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, to say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; we bring to you good tidings of great joy,” tidings that may make your hearts triumph, and leap for joy within you, as the babe leaped in Elizabeth's womb, at the salutation of Mary. Here, I say, is the best news that ever was heard to law-condemned sinners, that Christ, as our blessed Surety, has brought in everlasting righteousness, by which he has magnified the law, and made it honourable.

There are these following topics, or grounds of Encouragement and Consolation, springing out of this doctrine.

1st, Is the law magnified by the Surety, which was broken by the sinner? Hence it follows, that the great Lawgiver is satisfied and well pleased, as it follows in the text, The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; that which displeased and provoked the majesty of God, was the breach of his law, but since the law is again magnified, surely he cannot but be a well pleased Deity.

Upon this ground it is, that such declarations are issued out, Fury is not in me,” I was angry, but mine “anger is turned away: As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" Oh sirs ! that which scares you from coming back to God is the apprehension, that because of the breach of the law, God is implacable, and will never be reconciled. But we tell you,

for

your encouragement, that a God in Christ is well pleased for his

righteousness' sake, because he hath magnified the law, and made il honourable

. “God was Christ,” not pursuing the world as it an avenging enemy, but " reconciling the world to himself.”

, And, therefore, let not an evil heart of unbelief turn you away from the living God, as though he were not well pleased for Christ's righteousness' sake. It was not for naught that that proclamation was made three times with an audible voice from heaven, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” O it is glorious encouragement to a lost sinner, hanging over the mouth of hell, that God is well pleased in his Christ.

2dly, Is the law magnified and made honourable? then it follows, that the great bar that lay in the way of our salvation is removed. Upon the first Adam's violation of the holy law, mountains of wrath were rolled in the

way

of salvation; the way was so filled with briers and thorns, woes and curses, that it became altogether impassable for any of Adam's race. Hence came that horror and despair that was seated in the hearts of our first parents immediately after they had sinned. The sight of the cherubim, and the flaming sword turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life, had a dismal signification: Well, but Christ, the second Adam, has magnified the law, and made it honourable, and therefore it must needs follow, that all these impediments and bars in the way of our salvation are now removed, and the way is clear to every soul that has a mind to enter in by faith, John x. 9 : “ I am the door; by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." All legal impediments arising from law and justice, in the way of sal. vation, are now taken out of the way, and there is a free call to every man to enter in and be saved; in which case no. thing can hinder but unbelief, which is a refusing to enter in by Christ, and they that do so, how shall they escape ?

3dly, Is the law magnified and made honourable? Then here is encouragement, that "sin is finished, and transgression ended." The very essence of sin lies in a transgression of the law. Well, but if the law be again magnificd, then where is sin? It is surely buried in the obcdience of Christ to the death, by the righteousness of the Surety. The guilt of it is

and the power and dominion of it is broken in every believer, and the very beginning of it shall be destroyed, ere it be long. So that I may say, to believers under the covert of Christ's righteousness, as Moses said to Israel, with respect to the Egyptians, that were pursuing them for their lives, Exod. xiv. 13: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show

you to-day, for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see

taken away,

them no more again for ever." Poor believer, thou art afraid of these innumerable sins, which compass thee about, lest they pursue thee, and take away thy life; but stand still, and see the salvation which God has wrought; all thy sins are buried for ever out of God's sight, and shall be buried out of thy sight also, in the Red sea of a Redeemer's blood, and under the covert of his law-magnifying righteousness, by which he hath made an end of sin.

God

4thly, Is the law magnified and made honourable? Then the hand-writing of the curse that was against us, and contrary to us, is cancelled and discharged. Upon the footing of the righteousness of Christ, which magnifies the law, it is, that that gracious declaration is issued out, John iii. 17: “ sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." Christ has retired the bond that lay in the hand of justice, and had it discharged in his resurrection from the dead; and upon this ground it is declared, that "there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." And if you ask the reason of this interlocutory, here it is: Christ "hath magnified the law, and made it honourable:" therefore the penalty of the law cannot take place against any soul under the covert of his righteousness. No, no; "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

hy him.

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quity, upon this footing; yea, glorifies the law and justice also, more than if he would pursue the quarrel against thee to the lowest hell through eternity.

6thly, Is the law magnified and made honourable? Then hence it follows, that the condition of the covenant of grace, properly so called, is already fulfilled. Since the fall of Adam, God never entered into covenant with man himself directly and immediately: no, the covenant of grace is made with us in Christ, as our Surety, Head, and Representative. As the covenant of works was made with the first Adam, as our natural and federal head, and with us in him; so the covenant of grace

is made with us in the second Adam, as our spiritual Head, and the condition of the covenant was fulfilled

And if

you ask me, . What is the proper condition of the covenant of grace? I answer, · It is just this, that Christ should be made under the law, and by his obedience to the death magnify it, and make it honourable.' Upon this condition eternal life, and all the appurtenances of it, were promised to him and his seed. Now, when any of the lost race of Adam believes in Christ, they do not, by that act of faith, fulfil the condition of the covenant of grace, but only take hold of the condition of it, fulfilled by Christ, and, in so doing, they become "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus.” . And so they may travel through the large field of the covenant, and pluck this, and that, and the other blessing of the covenant, saying, “This is mine, and that is mine, and the whole of the covenant is mine, because I have the condition of the covenant in my new spiritual Head, Jesus Christ, he has magnified the law and made it honourable.' Oh! with what courage might the believer go to work, in laying claim to the covenant, and the blessings of it, if he had but this view of matters, in the light of the Lord ?

7thly, Is the law magnified and made honourable by Christ as our Surety? Then it follows, that whatever was lost in the first Adam, is now recovered by the second Adam. By the first covenant, if we had continued in it, we had a title to God as our God, a title to his favour and fellowship, a title to the creatures, all things being put under our feet, and a title to a happy eternity, after the course of our obedience in this world had been fulfilled. By Adam's fall we lost all this, and more than I can name. But all is again recovered in the new covenant Head, by his magnifying the law and making it honourable; and the soul united to him, has all its lasses repaired with advantage, in him ; we have God in him as the Lord our God, for God is in Christ, our God, and our Father. “I ascend,” says Christ “ to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” We have the image of

a

God fully restored in him, and going on gradually in us. We have a complete stock of knowledge, in him, “ who of God is made unto us wisdom, and a beam of that knowledge that is in the Head shines into the heart of every believer. We have a complete righteousness in him, and we are made the righteousness of God in him. We have a complete holiness of nature in him; for, for our sakes he sanctified himself, that we' also might be sanctified through the truth; and, through the holiness of Christ the Head, God looks upon all the members, and says, “ Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee.” We have a perfect and complete heaven of glory, and eternal life in him; for he that believes in the Son hath everlasting life: and this we are assured of by the faithful word of the Trinity, 1 John v. 11: “ This is the record that God hath given to us, eternal lise: and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath life.” Thus, I say, all that we lost in the first Adam is regained in Christ, the second Adam, and all upon this ground, that the second Adam, as our Surety, has magnified the law and made it honourable ?

8thly, Has Christ magnified the law, and made it honourable? Then the intercession of Christ for us, in heaven, goes upon a solid ground, and shall be prevalent on our behalf. Why, it goes upon the ground of that everlasting righteousness which he has brought in, by which he has magnified the law, and made it honourable. Hence he is called Jesus Christ the

“ righteous," i John ii. 1, 2: “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.” Believer, do not fear, that thy case, committed to the hand of thy Advocate, in the high court above, shall miscarry: no, he never lost a poor man's cause, for the Father always hears him. Thy Advocate is not only well skilled in the laws of the court, but in pleading thy cause: he pleads it upon the footing of a law-magnifying righteousness, and therefore he must prevail in thy behalf.

9thly, Has Christ magnified the law, and made it honourable? Then there is good ground of boldness in coming “ to the throne of grace, for mercy and grace to help in time of need.” Why, believer, that righteousness which magnifies the law, and makes it honourable, is imputed to thee, and by faith thou shouldst go with this surety-righteousness upon thee; and this is the ground of thy confidence in all thy dealings with God. We are ready to think, O my prayers will be rejected of God, he will never hear them, because I cannot order my cause before him: I cannot reach this or the other frame or enlargement of heart.' Why, believer, that is but a [remnant] of the old legal Adam in thee, that ima.