to the believer who is accustomed to seek his all in God, and to " live altogether by faith in the Son of God, who loved him, and gave himself for him ! "]
2. As his covenant God and Father —
[God, in the new covenant which he has made with us, has stated this as an inseparable provision of that covenant, that he will be " the God of his people," and " a God to them0." Whatever he is, he will be for them: whatever he has, he will, as far as they are capable of receiving it, impart unto them. He will not merely be a Friend, or a Father, to them : no ; he will be a God : and all that a God can be to them, or can do for them, he will be, and do. All this he pledges to them by covenant, and by oath ; " that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for him to lie, they might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hojoe set before themp." Well then may they who have laid hold on this covenant, rejoice in him. The Jews, on account of their external relation to him, " made their boast of Godq:" and they had reason so to do. But how much greater reason has the Christian to do so, who has laid hold on that better covenant, which " is ordered in all things and sure," and which shall never wax old, or decay !]
3. As his everlasting portion —
[It is not here only that God will be the portion of his people, but for ever in the eternal world. Such he was to Abraham; " I am thy shield, and thy eternal great reward r." And such he will be to every believer; as it is written, " My flesh and my heart fail ; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for evers." In that tabernacle that is above, God will dwell in the midst of his people, and be their God, and will wipe away all tears from their eyes*. It is his pre- sence that will constitute the felicity of heaven : there will be no sun or moon there ; for God himself, and the Lamb, will be the light of that world ; and all created enjoyment will vanish, like the light of the glow-worm before the meridian sunu. Justly in this view of his privileges does David say, and justly may every believer say, " The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup : the lines are fallen to me in plea- sant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage31."]
Address —
1. Let all avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded them —
0 Jer. xxxi. 33. with Heb. viii. 8. P Heb. vi. 17, 18.
i Rom. ii. 17. r Gen. xv. 1. * Ps. lxxiii. 26.
4 Rev. xxi. 3, 4. » Rev. xxi. 22, 23. x Ps. xvi. 5, 6.