XX. COVENANT.

'I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.'

Isa. xlii. 6.

THIS Word is found, with several meanings, one hundred and ninety-seven times in the Scriptures, but is in no other instance applied to the Saviour. Some MSS. read, the covenant of the age to come, or the everlasting covenant.' 'The word berith in the motto should not be translated covenant, but covenant sacrifice.'

The following remarks, as given by Calmet, may assist the reader in arriving at a correct understanding of the term.

'Grammarians remark that the alliance which we term a covenant is expressed in Greek by two words. 1. When both parties are equal, so that each may stand upon terms, or canvass the terms of the other, propose his own, agree, or disagree, &c. the word used is ZYNOHKH; but, 2. When the covenant is of that nature, when one party, being greatly the superior, proposes, and the other, willing to come to agreement, accepts his propositions; then the word used is 41А0HKH, which signifies an appointment—dispensation-institution, whereby the proposer pledges himself, but does not bind the acceptor, by the propositions, till he has actually accepted them."*

*Robinson's Calmet, art. COVENANT.

A great variety of covenants is recorded in the Holy Writings. We read of a covenant of works; of circumcision; of grace. The word is applied to the laws of God; the decalogue; the institution of marriage.

Our version of the Scriptures should have been rendered the Old and New Covenant.

But our great business now is to understand why this appellative was given to the Redeemer. It appears that a covenant is made between God and man, and Jesus is sent for its ratification. This coverant is not of works, but of grace. God is the author, and he will see it fulfilled. Christ is the Mediator. Hence we read, 'For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.'* Sin and unbelief cannot overthrow this covenant. 'If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself.' What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith [or promise] of God without effect?' Christ, as Mediator of this new covenant, came not to reconcile God to man, but man to God. ***'God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.'§

Jesus came as the Mediator of a new covenant. 'Called new,' says one, 'not in respect of its date, it being made from everlasting, but in the manner of its dispensation and manifestation. Not that it differed in substance from the old, for therein Christ was promised, his death and sufferings shadowed forth by the legal sacrifices. *** But this testament or

* 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. †2 Tim. ii. 13. Rom. iii. 3. §2 Cor. v. 19.

covenant is called new in regard to the manner of its dispensation, being ratified afresh by the blood and actual sufferings of Christ; being freed from those rites or ceremonies wherewith it was formerly administered; as it contains a more full and clear revelation of the mysteries of religion; as it is attended with a large measure of the gifts and graces of the Spirit, and as it is never to wax old or be abolished!'

But let us for a moment consider the greatness of the work to be accomplished by God in giving his Son for a covenant of the people. 'It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.'* He was

'to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.' Now hear the Son of God when he commences his great work: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.'†

What grand results are to flow from the mission of Jesus! Every understanding is to be enlightened; every prison-door to be thrown open, and every chain to be severed. Nations that have long sat in darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death, are to be brought into the light of the glorious gospel, and peace and joy are to fill the whole earth. Such will be the glorious consummation of all the dispensations of God!

Now let us bring into view the language of the motto: 'I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee.' Again, 'he shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.' How many touching instances may be found in the eventful history of the Son of God that would illustrate this language. The Father held his hand, and kept him amidst all the dangers and trials of his great work. See, for instance, the thrilling scene in the garden of Gethsemane! In the midst of his agony, an angel appeared strengthening him. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?' exclaimed the great Redeemer, when viewing his approaching sufferings; 'Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I into the world. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.' But our limits forbid our going farther. When we approach the great and all-absorbing subject of the character and mission of Jesus, and the sacred nearness existing between him and the Father, we want to write a thousand volumes. But we must wait. Heaven will reveal all the glories of the great Redeemer in a brighter and better world. 'Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth. *** Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice. *** Let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.'

XXI. COVERT.

'And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'

Isa. xxxii. 2.

THERE may be something very fanciful in the application of such a passage to Jesus, but as we designed to present as perfect a list of the titles as possible, we conclude to go on with the work, though we may sometimes wander into the regions of imagination.

This word occurs eight times, though applied to the Redeemer only once. It will be seen that it requires no labored criticism. The whole passage contains a variety of rich and pleasing imagery, designed to show the serenity and peace that shall ultimately be enjoyed under the reign of the Messiah. Cruden has the following:-1. An umbrage or shady place, 1 Sam, xxv. 20. 2. A thicket for wild beasts, Job xxxviii. 40. 3. Something made to shelter the people from the weather on the sabbath; or some costly chair of state wherein the kings of Judah used to hear the priests expound the law on the sabbath, 2 Kings xvi. 18. 4. Christ Jesus, the saints' shelter, defence or refuge, Isa. xxxii. 2.

David uses this figure in a very striking way when speaking of the confidence which he reposed in the Almighty-For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy