said that "no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." Praise, true praise, then, is the song of the redeemed alone.

3

And we here see that this glorifying of Jesus is intimately connected with ordering our conversation aright. No man can really glorify the Lord, unless he be walking in the light of the Lord. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God: "2 therefore "be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet. i. 16). "Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.' "Seeing" then "that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless."5

And then, to animate and encourage His people to "overcome, and keep" His "works unto the end," He says unto them, “I will shew you the salvation of God." And who can estimate "the exceeding and eternal weight of glory " that is comprehended in these words! "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you," ,"8"That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent Me. And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given me for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." This is

1 Rev. xiv. 3.

4 Rev. iii. 11.

7 2 Cor. iv. 17.

2 Isa. xliii. 12.
52 Peter iii. 11, 14.

8 John xiv. 20.

31 Cor. vi. 20.
6 Rev. ii. 26.

9 John xvii. 21-24.

a portion of our blessed Lord's last prayer for His people before He suffered. "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind," says the Apostle, "be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." "Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." And then, and then only, shall we realize the full meaning of this precious promise of our Lord's, "I will shew him the salvation of God." And may the Lord the Spirit carry home His words with holy power to all our hearts for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

SECTION III.

The security taken by God that the preaching of the Gospel shall not failthe Everlasting Covenant, and the Mediator thereof-the Gentile interested therein, as well as the Jew-an Exposition of Isaiah xlii.

Having seen in the second passage of Scripture, to which I have had occasion to refer, that it was God's purpose, notwithstanding the rejection of His Christ, that the Gospel should be preached to every creature; I come now to the third passage referring to this Dispensation, i.e., Isaiah xlii. : in which we shall see, that God has taken security, if I may so say, that, notwithstanding the opposition of every adversary, the preaching of the Gospel shall not fail: for He has chosen His own Divine Son, in Whom failure was impossible, as the Mediator of an everlasting Covenant; in which Gentiles were to be interested, as well as Jews.

Briefly, then, I would notice, that the first 3 verses of this chapter relate to the first coming of the Lord-the fourth verse looking forward to the end and purpose of it;

11 Peter i. 13, 8, 9.

verses 5 to 8 relate exclusively to this Dispensation; verses 9 to 11 are exhortations grounded on the approach of the second Advent; which is described in verses 13 to 18: while verse 21 is interposed between the after statements in verses 19 to the close of the chapter, (as is frequent in many such Scriptures; some of which I shall hereafter have to refer to,) to shew the true foundation of all the blessings secured by the everlasting Covenant to those who are interested in it, i.e., the substitutional obedience of Christ for His people.

The Chapter opens thus :-" Behold My Servant, Whom I uphold; Mine elect, in Whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him. He shall bring forth judgment unto the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth." That these words relate to the first coming of Christ is rendered certain from the fact of their having been so applied by the Evangelist Matthew: who tells us that when "the Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him;" "when Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence: and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all; and charged them that they should not make it known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold My Servant, Whom I have chosen; My Beloved, in Whom My soul is well pleased: I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory. And in His Name shall the Gentiles trust." Now the Evangelist having told us that this passage was then fulfilled, or fully accomplished, has hereby taught us that it related exclusively to Christ's first coming for at His second coming, as we shall see, He will do exactly the reverse!

1 Mat. xii. 14-21.

In these verses then are set forth the qualifications of Jehovah Jesus for the work, which He undertook to perform on behalf of His believing people. "Behold My servant, Whom I uphold." Yes: this is He, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." "1 "Behold" then "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." "This is My dearly beloved Son," ȧyаπηтòs, "in Whom I am well pleased." Twice were these words spoken of Him by the Father from heaven; once after His baptism, on His entering upon His public ministry;3 and again when He was glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration. And although "all the fulness of the Godhead" "dwelt in Him," "in a bodily form," σwμатiкws: yet was He "meek and lowly in heart," as this Scripture also tells us, even when "coming unto" "the daughter of Zion," as her "King," "sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."

"Mine elect, in Whom My soul delighteth." "For every High Priest," says the Apostle, "taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God." "And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest: but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee." And to this office He was elected from all eternity; as He tells us in the Book of Proverbs, "Jehovah possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting," literally, "from eternity I was anointed," i.e., I was ordained to be "the Mediator of the New Covenant" from everlasting; "from the beginning, or

ever the earth was." Hence the infinite security of it: which it is the object of this passage to set forth because it is an "everlasting Covenant," ratified by "the blood" of the " Surety" of it. And all therefore who are interested in it, are elected together with, and in Him, as it is written :"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies," πovpavíois, "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." And hence His people are said to be, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience," after the manner of Christ Himself, "and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."4

"I have put My Spirit upon Him." And " God," we are told, "giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.' "For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." Hence on His departure out of this world to the Father, He promised to send the Spirit to His disciples, to "guide" them "into all truth." And when He fulfilled His promise, Peter told the astonished multitude then assembled together at Pentecost, that "being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." But as the Spirit was given Him in the Covenant of redemption, in order, as our text asserts, that "He should bring forth judgment unto the Gentiles," who are equally interested in it with the Jews, He promised that the Spirit should be in all His believing people also, as "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Nay, “in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this,"