is said, "The Lord hath sworn and will not repent," we do not obtain the idea that any thing was left at uncertainty. The Father did not say to his Son, Thou shalt have a mystical bride, provided the woman shall be willing to follow thee. No, the promise is, she shall be willing in the day of thy power. "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death." Mr. B. represents me as saying, "The covenant of grace is unconditional."This is quite a mistake, which I shall show in its proper place. I do not even say, that the covenant of redemption is unconditional. But this we say, (and we desire to be understood,) that the covenant of redemp tion, seeing it is made between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, has none of its conditions fulfilled by us. Therefore it was said in the Sermon which is animadverted upon in the Letter now before us; "1t, (i. e. the covenant of redemption,) did not depend on any conditions to be performed by man. The Son did not engage to become a Saviour, provided the children of men should consent to receive him in that character; the Father did not engage to give his Son some of the children of men, as the reward of his dying love, on condition they could be persuaded to accept of him for their Saviour; but he promised him, that he should see of the travail of his soul; that his people should be willing. In his covenant with his Father, Christ did not engage conditionally, that he would keep believers from falling, provided they were willing to be kept; but he engaged, that of all the Father should give him, he would lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. In this blessed covenant, which is the spring of all our hopes, the Holy Spirit became engaged, without conditions to be performed by men, to renew and sanctify the hearts of all those whom the Father gave to the Son. In this covenant there were no parties, except the Divine Trinity. If God is faithful and true, and cannot deny himself, then true believers cannot, any of them, be finally lost." Sermons pp. 108, 109. So we

Believing is a condition of the covenant of grace, but not of the covenant of redemption.

wrote then, and so we believe now. And we see nothing in Mr. B's. strictures upon the Sermon, which is calculated to change our opinion. He has brought texts to prove, that salvation is promised to sinners on condition of their believing. This we are not at all disposed to controvert: but what is this to the point? This does not prove that God has made no promise to his Son, that he shall have a seed to serve him, except a promise which is suspended on conditions to be performed by men. The promises made to the Son, are on conditions to be performed by him, and not by them. And since these conditions are considered as being already performed, the promises are now made to him in the most unconditional language: "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Psal. cx, 3. "A seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted to the

Lord for a generation." Psal. xxii. 30. "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul." Isa. liii. 10, 11. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. lv. 11. "I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Jer. xxxii 40. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." John v. 25. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." John vi. 37. These, and many other such promises, most properly belong to the covenant of redemption, and they are so many explicit declarations of the full purpose of the triune Jehovah, to fulfil the covenant, and cause all the good contained in it to be realized. They are more particularly expressive of the faithfulness of the Father, in granting to his Son all those blessings for our wretched world, which he promised on condition of his becoming a sinoffering for us. These promises which have just been introduced, are limited by no conditions to be performed on the part of sinners. It is not, "thy people shall be willing," provided they will do something to make themselves willing; and a seed shall serve him," if any can be found which will consent to serve

him but to the Redeemer the promise is absolute; that he shall have a willing people,-that he shall have a seed to serve him. And to him the promise is absolute, that this people, which is made willing, shall be kept by the power of God, and that they shall not depart from him. There is no promise of the Father to the Son, that his people shall not have their transgression visited with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes; but in connexion with this, there is a "nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." They are accepted. in the Beloved, they are preserved in Christ Jesus If they sin, they have an Advocate with the Father. This safety of the real disciples of Christ, is, in the first place, secured by the Father's promise to him, and by his engagement to the Father. If therefore we have not misunderstood what we call the covenant of redemption, we have found an unshaken rock, on which to build our hopes of the infallible connexion between grace here, and glory hereafter.

Let us now see how the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, can be proved by the covenant of grace. This is in scripture called the covenant of promise, and the covenant of peace. The existence of such a cove nant not being disputed, we shall not need to spend any time to prove that it does exist. Neither shall I dispute against the covenant's being conditional. I have always viewed the covenant of grace as conditional ; and the covenant of redemption also. In the covenant of redemption, the conditions are all fulfilled by the sacred Three in One, for the covenant is between them alone: But as the covenant of grace is established with men, there are conditions required on their part. Men are required to repent and believe, as conditions of be ing forgiven and saved. Salvation is not promised to all men, nor to any man, unconditionally. Some suppose, that conditions on the part of sinners, imply something meritorious in them. This is a mistake, for there can be conditions in a covenant of grace, as properly as in a covenant of works.

Conditions in a covenant do not always imply uncertainty. We have seen that the conditions in the covenant of redemption, did not imply any uncertainty, for

it was absolutely certain that those conditions would be most exactly fulfilled. Therefore sinners were saved during the space of four thousand years, on what the Saviour had undertaken to perform, but had not as yet, by actually performing it, fulfilled the conditions of that covenant, without which none could consistently have been saved. We are ready to grant, that a covenant made between God and man, has not the same reasons for being immutable, as a covenant between the Persons of the Godhead; for we know it is a very possible thing for man to break covenant with God. This was proved by what took place in the garden of Eden. But it is possible for a covenant between God and men, to be stable. God can establish our hearts. As the covenant of grace grows out of the covenant of redemption, and is the fruit of it, there must be a harmony between the two covenants.

One thing which the Saviour engaged in the covenant of redemption, was to make a propitiation for the sin of the whole world, so as to open the door of mercy to all. This lays a foundation to send his ministers into all the world, to preach the gospel to every creature. These ministering servants are to unfold the plan of reconciliation, and call on all who hear them, to fall in with it. They have full power to promise on the part of their Divine Master, that those who repent shall be forgiven, and that those who believe shall be justified and saved. As repentance and faith are the exercises of our hearts, they may be said to be conditions performed by us, which bring us into the bonds of the covenant. But tho' repentance and faith are conditions, by which we take hold of the covenant of grace, the very existence of these new dispositions in us, is the covenant of redemption going into effect. Such promises as these are now fulfilling; "He shall see his sced." "A new heart will I give them." That also is now verified, which is spoken of the risen and ascended Redeemer, Acts v. 31; " Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” The covenant of redemption could not be fulfilled, without the giving of repentance to those who were given to Christ, as a seed to serve him. But God does

not see fit to send a message to this seed, while in their im penitent state, to inform them, that they are among the number which Christ is to save. He does not send them the names of those who were given to the Re deemer in the covenant of redemption; but he sends them the covenant of grace which God establishes with men, and invites them to accede to its most reasonable terms. And until by the special influence of the Holy Spirit, they are enabled to fall in with this, they cannot know that they were particularly included in that covenant which was made between the Father and the Son, before the foundation of the world.

Now, to make the covenant of grace to correspond with the covenant of redemption, there must be a promise made to every believer, that he shall have grace and strength given him, to enable him to persevere unto the end. We have seen that the covenant between the Persons of the Godhead, makes it certain, that, of all those given to the Son, and who come to him, not one should be lost. It would be in perfect consistency with this, that the covenant of grace should contain promises to believers themselves that they shall have a sufficiency of grace, to enable them to hold out to the end. Such promises, it is evident, this covenant does contain."My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor. xii. 9. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever." Psal. cxxv. "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Isa. xxvii. 3.

1.

But it will be asked, Does not the covenant of grace require perseverance from us, as a condition of our salvation, after we become believers? We do not hesitate to say, it does. Living by faith and a continuance in well-doing, are as necessary conditions of salvation, as believing, in the first instance, is a necessary condition. But strength to fulfil these conditions, must come from God, and this strength he promises; therefore the conditions will be complied with by all true believers. Believers are not told by name, that they are interested in the covenant: but just so far as they have evidence, that they possess the character of believers,