nt of all, acts according to the principles of
eternal rectitude, and who in infinite wisdom can cause immortal beings,
bound by immutable laws, to act so as freely to perform his holy will.
His own example is the direct operation, not of creatures, nor of laws,
nor of dispositions, but of the I AM himself, as the infinite, eternal,
and unchangeable Spirit, presented to the creatures of his power, for
their guidance and direction.

I. God himself has entered into Covenant engagements. The dispensations
of God in Covenant are peculiar to Himself. No change whatever is
produced on him when he transacts with his creatures, or on their
behalf. His relations to them are constituted wholly by his doings that
affect them; He himself is immutable in his being and purposes. When he
acts, he is not moved; when he accepts, no transformation of character
is produced upon him; any new relation in which he stands comes wholly
from the effect accomplished on the creature. He makes known his will,
not as due to the present, but as the same from eternity. He acts in
creation and providence; but his creatures alone are affected. He
becomes engaged to some of them, not by any alteration being produced
upon his views or enjoyments, or state or character, but by the
manifestation of what he is. He accepts of those as united to
Him--viewed by them through his grace as possessed of a certain glorious
character. From eternity his sovereign purposes regarding the salvation
of man, were, but not by any change in the Trinity, or in the Unity of
the Godhead, defined in Covenant.

First. The Eternal Three-in-One entered into confederation in the
Covenant of Redemption. We are warranted from Scripture to receive this
Covenant as a fact. It might not have been; but according to God's will,
it was. The purpose of God to save sinners is from eternity. The
covenant is due to that. In an order of nature wonderful to contemplate,
the former precedes the latter. God willed that the Father should be the
God of grace. God willed that the Son should be the Mediator between God
and men. God willed that the Holy Ghost should dispense his influences
for carrying into effect the purposes of mercy. These purposes stand
from eternity--the fruit of the Divine sovereignty--the conscious
resolutions of the Eternal--the conditions of a sure Covenant. The
reasons for the fulfilment thereof are the sovereign purposes, and the
purposes approved of by each person of the a