On Thy Secret

“The secret of the Lord is -with them, that fear Him.,

and He “wiil show them. His covenant.” — Pa. xxv. 14.

My Soul! thy God has some mighty Secret to confide to thee! What is this, which (a mystery to the world) is to be conveyed in whispers into the ears of His people? ‘’’’He will shovj them His Cryoenant /”

Listen this night to this blessed “secret.” Thou hast pondered it oft before. But its wonders never diminish by repetition.

The Autlif/r of it is God — the Eternal Father! He framed its articles before the foundation of the world. It is an inverted order of truth that would represent the atonement as the cause of God’s love: that love was rather the originating cause of the atonement

—” God SO loved the world!” How runs the Covenant-Charter? — “All things are yours! Ye are Christ’s!” “Christ is God’s /” The initiative — the first overture of covenant mercy — was with Him. It was the insulted Sovereign who first dreamt of clemency towards the rebels — the injured Father who first thought of His ungrateful children! Wondrous secret! — that from all eternity the Heart of God was to us all Love!

Think of the Surety of the Covenant! It was the adorable Son of the Father! He voluntarily closed with the Covenant stipulations: “Lo, I come! I delight to do Thy will, O my God!” He ceased not until, all the terms being fulfilled, He could claim His stipulated reward: “I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do!” And still He lives, and reigns, and intercedes under the blessed title of “Mediator of the Everlasting Covenant!”

Think of the Almighty dispenser of the blessings of the Covenant. — It is the Spirit of all Grace — the third person in the ever-blessed, co-equal Trinity! Think of the Heirs of the Covenant. They are all who, by simple faith, are willing to appropriate its inestimable blessings! Think of the Security of the Covenant. There is nothing but contingency in other things — all is certainty here: “I will be unto you a God, and ye shall be to me a people!” Sure! it has the rock of Christ’s Deity to rest upon, and a Triune God pledged to make good all its provisions — “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my mouth!” Think of the Perpetuity of the Covenant: “I will betroth thee unto m.Q forever /” Think of the rich Inheritance of the Covenant. Oh! here is the mighty secret of unfathomable love: “If children, then Heirs — Seirs of God:’ “Heirs of God!” — all within the compass of Omnipotence to bestow! “God,” says Bishop Beveridge,” thus

speaks, I AM that I AM! — He puts His hand to a blank that His people may write under it what they please that is for their good: — He simply saying, in the general ‘I AMP “My soul! art thou an heir of God? Canst thou look upwards to the throne of that Great ‘•7 J.m,’* and say “-My OodV Happier words — a more glorious assurance — cannot thrill on an archangel’s tongue! With such a Portion, surely I am independent of all others. Let that amazing “secret” form the last thought of this day; and, as the Almighty is even now whispering it in my ears, I may close my eyes, repeating —

“I WILL BOTH LAY ME DOWN IN PEACE AND SLEEP, FOK THOU, |X>BD, ONLY MAKEST ME DWELL IN SAFETY 1”