by the coming of Christ. But our interest in it is not only as great as theirs was in the days of old, but, I had almost said, greater : for in the mention of this part of the covenant in the New Testament there is this remarkable difference: in the Old Testament God says, " I will be their God ; " but in the New Testament he says, " I will be a God unto themf." This seems to convey a stronger and more determinate idea to the mind. We all know what it is to be a friend or a father to any person : but oh ! what is it to be a God unto him 1 This none but God can tell : but the least it means is this ; that, what- ever situation a believer may be in, all that infinite wisdom, unbounded love, and almighty power can effect, shall be effected for him. Of the believer therefore now, no less than in former days, it may be said, " All things are yours : whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is God's g."]
3. That whatsoever God at any time has done for the most favoured of his saints, may be expected by us now, as far as our necessities call for it —
[Of all the circumstances related in the Old Testament, scarcely any one was so particular and so exclusive as this which we are considering. Who besides him was ever called to sacrifice his own son ? Who besides him was ever stopped by a voice from heaven in the execution of such a command, and directed to another offering which God himself had pro- vided? Yet behold, this very event was made the foundation of the proverb before us ; and from this, particular and exclu- sive as it was, all believers are taught to expect, that God will interpose for them in like manner, in the hour of necessity ! If then we may expect such an interposition as this, what may we not expect ?
But let us take some other events, to which nothing parallel exists. The passage of Israel through the Red Sea ; the striking of the rock, in order to supply them with water in the wilderness ; and the feeding of them with daily supplies of manna for forty years : can we expect any interpositions like these ? Yes : and an express reference is made to these in the Holy Scriptures in order to raise our expectations to the highest, and to assure us that we shall receive from God every thing that our necessities may require. Were " the depths of the sea made a way for the ransomed to pass over ? " With similar triumph may all the " redeemed of the Lord hope to return and come to ZionV What was done " in the ancient
' Heb. viii. 10. s 1 Cor. iii. 21—23.
h Isai. li. 9 — 11. Cite the whole.