pearing before God, as if he was an inexorable Judge, and not a tender Father. This dread is owing, not to any particular offences which pain their consciences, but to a false reliance on the merit of their own righteous

ness.

May such persons be brought to understand the import, and believe the truth of the glorious proclamation made from heaven, for the full relief of guilty, dying creatures.

"In this mountain (on which Jesus was slain, an offering for sin) shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; a feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees, well refined." Such a soul-satisfying repast are "the spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus." And to crown them all, as it follows, "He will destroy in this mountain (by the death of Christ) the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations," (in that. dreadful darkness, which our dissolution brings with it.) "He will swallow up death in victory," Isa. xxv.

Acquaint thyself with this almighty conqueror, and the last enemy shall no more appal thee. After the example of Jacob, Moses, David, and St. Paul, thou shalt express thy confidence, when thy flesh is failing.

"He who liveth, and behold he was dead, and is alive again, and liveth for evermore, and hath the keys of death and hell," will not disappoint thy unfeigned dependance upon the blood of his cross. If the full use of thy reason is preserved, thy faith shall cheer thy heart. The time would fail, but to name the multitude who have triumphed under most afflictive mortal diseases....who then have testified, "there is a God that giveth songs in the night." I myself have seen whole families comforted for their great loss, by the dying behaviour of a beloved husband or wife, son or daughter. And surely, for our own sakes, we should wish to die in peace, when our tender affections will otherwise greatly distress us, and the taking final leave of dearest rela tions add much to our sufferings.

May the reader and writer of these lines feel, and those around us see, that even when we are dying, we are saved out of the hands of death. How shall we then magnify the Horn of Salvation, and confirm the faith of those who have believed in his name! Our memory shall thus in the noblest manner, be engra ven on the hearts of relations and friends, who will be taught to connect with our departure, a lively idea of their blessedness, “who die in the Lord."

CHAP. XXI.

ON THE COVENANT OF GRACE.

THE reader may understand, from what has been offered, how well that grand title of Horn of Salvation, becomes the Lord: since he redeems his people from the curse of the law; from the dominion of satan; from the power of this evil world; from their innate corruption; from death itself, and the grave.

This salvation of sinners, in number as the drops of dew, we are authorized to affirm, is the grandest manifestation of the glory of God, Ephes. iii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 12. A scheme of divine beneficence, reaching in its saving efficacy from the first offence in paradise, to the day of Christ's second appearance.........promised to Adam, and afterwards established with Abraham and his seed, by a covenant and oath from God.

Thus supremely great is the idea which Zacharias teaches us to conceive of this affair, by declaring that the Horn of Salvation was raised up.

"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant: The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we

being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life."

Observe, the coming of Christ is called mercy to the fathers: by parity of reason it must be so to all the faithful before his birth, no less than to them. Accordingly, the scripture saith, "His blood was shed for the remission of sins which are past," and "for the redemption of transgressions which were under the first testament." Nor was it unknown to the fathers, or the faithful, that they were to be saved in the Lord: for though the Jews in general, like Christians, grovelling in earthly pursuits, only expected a Messiah who would exalt their depressed nation to the height of temporal dominion; yet the spiritual seed always looked for a spiritual Redeemer. "They saw the promises (of Christ) afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, counting themselves pilgrims and strangers here below."

So deeply were the fathers indebted to God for his grace, that they serve as examples of obedience to the Christian church. Yet neither Abel's righteous works, nor Enoch's walk with God; neither Noah's dauntless courage in standing forth a preacher of righteous

ness to the world of the ungodly, nor Abraham's most illustrious faith, could have preserved them from perishing. Notwithstanding their good qualities, they must have died. in their sins, had they not found redemption in the blood of Christ. Through him they obtained every excellency which adorns their names; the precious faith in which they lived and died, with the crown of glory at the end of their warfare. All was dispensed to them on the Saviour's account, through their relation to him; for pretensions of any kind to such favours from their own obedience, they had none. They were sinners ready to perish, when God was pleased to choose and call them by his grace; at their best estate polluted; and in exalting them to paradise, mercy rejoiced against judgment: for at all times "the wages of sin was death, and eternal life the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Zacharias, therefore, by calling the redemption, mercy to the fathers, plainly teaches, in harmony with all scripture, that the salva-tion of those who for goodness stand at the top of their species, is still all of grace. Boasting is excluded: no idea of human merit is to be found; the whole glory of delivering them, as much as others, from the