these Sections teaches how that same covenant is administered by Christ to his people.

The doctrine of our Standards and of Scripture may be stated in the following propositions :

1st. At the basis of human redemption there is an

eternal covenant or personal counsel between the Father, representing the entire Godhead, and the Son, who is to assume in the fulness of time a human element into his peTBon, and to represent all his elect as their Mediator and Surety. The Scriptures make it very plain that the Father and Son had a definite understanding (a) as to who were to be saved, (6) as to what Christ must do in order to save them, (c) as to how their personal salvation was to be accomplished, and (cZ) as to all the blessings and advantages involved in their salvation, (e) as to certain official rewards w^hich were to accrue to the Mediator in consequence of his obedience.

(1.) The Scriptures expressly declare that the Father has promised the Mediator tlie salvation of his seed on condition of the travail of his soul. Isa. liii. 10, 11, 42 ; vi. 7 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4.

(2.) Christ makes constant reference to a previous commission he had received of his Father (John x. 18; Luke xxii. 29), and claims a reward conditioned upon the fulfilment of that commission. John xvii. 4, 5.

(3.) Christ as Mediator constantly asserts that his people and his expected glory are given him as a reward by his Father.

2d. The promise of this covenant was — (1.) All needful preparation of Christ for his work. Heb. x. 5 ; Isa. xlii. 1-7. (2.) Support in his work. Luke xxii. 43. (3.) A glorious reward {a) in his own theanthropic person as Mediator. John v. 22 ; Ps. ex. 1. (6.) In committing to his hand the universal administration of all the precious graces and blessings of the covenant. Matt. xiii. 18; John i. 12 ; vii. 39 ; xvii. 2 ; Acts ii. 33. (c.) In the salvation of the elect, including all general and special

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provisions of grace, such as regeneration, justification, sanctification, perseverance and glory. Tit. iii. 5, 6 ; Jer. xxxi. 33; xxxii. 40; Isa. xxxv. 10; liii. 10, 11.

3d. The condition of this covenant was (1) that he should be born of a woman, made under the law. Gal. iv. 4, 5. (2.) That he should assume and discharge in behalf of his elect, all the broken conditions and incurred liabilities of the covenant of works (Matt. v. 17, 18), (a) rendering that perfect obedience which is the condition of the promise of the old covenant (Ps. xl. 8; Isa. xlii. 21 ; John viii. 29; ix. 4, 5; Matt. xix. 17), and (6) suffering the penalty of death incurred by the breaking of the old covenant. Isa. liii. ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. iii. 13 ; Eph. v. 2.

4th. Christ as mediatorial King, administers to his people the benefits of his covenant, and by his }>rovidence, his word and his Spirit he causes them to become severally recipients of these blessings according to his will. These benefits he offers to all men in the gospel. He promises to grant them on the condition they are received. In the case of his own people he works faith in them, and as their surety engages for them and makes good all that is suspended upon or conveyed through their agency. In the whole sphere of our experience every Christian duty is a Christian grace, for we can fulfil the conditions of repentance and faith only as it is given to us by our surety. All Christian graces also involve Christian duties. So that Christ at once purchases salvation for us, and applies salvation to us ; commands us to do, and works in us to obey; offers us grace and eternal life on conditions, and gives us the conditions and the grace and the eternal life. What he gives us

lie expects us to exercise. What he demands of us he at once gives us. Viewed on God's side, faith and repentance are the gifts of the Son. Viewed on our side, tliey are duties and gracious experiences, the first symptoms of salvation bfegun — instruments wherewith further grace may be attained. Viewed in connection with the covenant of grace, they are elements of the promise of the Father to the Son, conditioned upon his mediatorial work. Viewed in relation to salvation, they are indices of its commencement and conditions siiie qua non of its completion.

The present administration of this covenant by Christ in one aspect evidently bears a near analogy to a testament or will executed only consequent upon the death of the testator. And so in one passage our translators were correct in so translating the word dcaOi^xrj, Heb. ix. 16, 17. But since Christ is an ever-living and constantly-acting Mediator, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever, this word, which expresses his present administration, should in every other instance have been translated dispensation, instead of testament. 2 Cor. iii. 6, 14; Gal. iii. 15; Heb. vii. 22; xii. 24; xiii. 20.

In the authorised English version of the New Testament, the covenant of grace is frequently designated a testament; and it is generally admitted, that the original word signifies both a covenant and a testament. There is, at least, one passage in which it is most properly rendered testament, namely, Heb. ix. 16, 17. Some learned critics, indeed, have stienuously contended against the use of that term even in

* Confession, ch. xi., 2. t The Larger Cateciiism, Quest. 73.

this passage ; but the great majority allow that the common translation is unexceptionable.*