to bring that "good" into operation? or, in other words, "How should man be just with God?" (Job ix. 2.) That was the old inquiry of Job, the Idumean patriarch; and it is graciously answered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament; so plainly, that "he may run that readeth" (Hab. ii. 2).

"The just," says the prophet Habakkuk, “shall live by his faith" (Hab. ii. 4), and accordingly we find that Abraham, the father of the faithful, "believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. xv. 6). Christ, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (John i. 29), is held forth by Jeremiah as "Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6), and the prophet Isaiah speaks to the same effect, on the same subject: "Surely, shall one say, In the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" (Isa. xlv. 24, 25), whilst the inspired Psalmist, exulting in this great salvation, exclaims, "Surely

his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven" (Ps. lxxxv. 9-11). Thus God "hath made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. v. 21). And so, believing in the Lord Jesus, we find rest to our souls, and bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Hence the urgency of the command," Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good."

And let your soul delight itself in fatness." The emblem of a feast is still here used; but the most costly viands for the palate, the finest discoveries of science for the understanding, or the most brilliant displays of literature for the imagination or the taste, are not for a moment to be compared to peace of conscience, joy in believing, and good hope through grace, with all the happiness arising from communion with Christ, and "being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and

praise of God" (Phil. i. 11). Here a human soul may delight itself with the fatness and luxury of a feast, spiritual and heavenly, from which there is no surfeit, and of which there shall be no end. The Asiatic sensualist proclaimed a royal reward for a new pleasure; here it is provided, imperishable and eternal, by the King of kings. "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John vi. 55). "I am the resurrection, and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John xi. 25, 26.) Amen.

B

III.

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT.

"Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."- ISA. LV. 3.

BORN under the curse of the broken covenant of works, we have all by nature a strong desire to depend for salvation on some work or merit of our own. The youngest child, that can speak and act for itself, and the most aged man, the heathen and the formalist, the peasant and the philosopher, are all possessed of the same natural disposition. They look for salvation from personal worth or excellence, and not of mere grace. They are all individually disposed to say of their personal title to heaven, what the proud Nebuchadnezzar said of himself and his kingdom, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?"

(Dan. iv. 30), unless, it may be, that some vague conception of God's natural mercy may flit across the mind. But the Word of God distinctly announces to all, that salvation is of pure grace, and that in the "everlasting covenant." "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."

May the Spirit of Christ be with us; may we incline our ear willingly to hear, may we come to God in Christ; may we hear with the hearing of faith, may our souls live spiritually and eternally; may we be received within the bond of the everlasting covenant, and may we enjoy the sure mercies of David, even of him who is David's Son and David's Lord!

The

"Incline your ear, and come unto me." Lord speaks to all he demands attention, and he demands faith. Men are so bent on some vain object, or frivolous pursuit of their own, that it is no small matter to get any one to give his serious attention to Divine things, to "incline his ear," and to know the things that belong unto his