are to be redeemed. He is, on this account, called the Mediator and the
Surety of the covenant. Whatever he did as Mediator or Surety, must,
therefore, have been done in connection with the covenant. His death was
the condition of the covenant. It was stipulated, as the condition of
his having a seed to serve him, that he should make his soul an offering
for sin; that he should bear their iniquities; that he should pour out
his soul unto death. In reference to this, the blood of the ancient
sacrifices was called _the blood of the covenant_, while of his own, the
Saviour testifies, this cup is the new testament in my blood. The blood
of Christ was not shed by accident, it was not poured out at random or
on a venture. No: he laid down his life by covenant. The terms of the
covenant must, therefore, define the designed extent of the objects of
his death. If all mankind are included in the covenant,--if the Surety
of the covenant represented, in this eternal transaction, the whole
human race, then the atonement of Christ must have been indefinite. But
if the children of the covenant, as is admitted, are only a given
specified number of the human family, then must the atonement of the
Mediator be restricted to _them_. There seems no evading this inference.
To give the designed objects of the Saviour's atonement a greater
extension than the covenant of grace, is to nullify its character as the
stipulated condition of the covenant, and to render nugatory and
unavailing the consolatory address by which the heart of many an
awakened sinner has been soothed. 'Behold the blood of the
covenant.'"[427]

Secondly, and lastly. In the Everlasting Covenant, provision was made
for Covenanting under the last or present dispensation.

This was practically acknowledged by believers in the apostolic age. The
common fund that was raised from the contributions of the Church
assembled and addressed by Peter on the day of Pentecost, was devoted by
solemn vows. From what was said by that Apostle to Ananias and Sapphira
his wife, this appears. "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to
lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it
not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine
heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." "How is it that ye
have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?"[428] If a promise
or vow to