[Sidenote: Of the Being of God.] “There was a time, my dear child, far,
far back in eternity, when no one lived but the Great God, when no angel
waved his wing, and no star glittered in the sky.
“This ever‐living God did not need angels or worlds to make Him happy.
He was quite glorious without them.
“This great Being was _one_ God; but there were three persons in the
Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Of these,
there was none higher or greater than the other; they were all equal in
power and in glory.
[Sidenote: Of the Creation of all things.] “This Great God resolved on
making angels and worlds; and He just said, ‘I wish them to be,’ and
they were all made by the word of His power. And it was not a few that
He made, but a very great many. He made large armies of angels; and such
a number of stars and worlds, that they cannot be counted.
[Sidenote: Of our World.] “Among these crowded worlds which you see in
the dark sky at night, there was a very little one—so little, as
scarcely to be seen or noticed amid those around it.
“This little star was called ‘_the Earth_;’ and God loved it very much,
and the Three Persons in the Godhead resolved to do something very
wonderful with regard to it. God put a happy and holy creature into it,
called _Man_; and He made him after His own image, and placed him in a
beautiful garden.
[Sidenote: Of the Covenant of Works.] “While there, God entered with man
into what is called a _Covenant of Works_.”
“What does a _covenant_ mean?” inquired Emma.
“I shall tell you, my child,” said her grandmamma. “It is an agreement,
or bargain, between two people. In the garden of Eden, the two parties
were God and Adam; their covenant or agreement was this;—God said to
Adam, ‘If you do what I ask you, you shall live and be happy. If you
disobey me, you must “surely die.”’
[Sidenote: Of the Fall.] “God told him not to eat of the fruit of one of
the trees in the garden; but though Adam had all the rest of the trees
in Eden to eat of, he forgot God’s command, and took of the forbidden
one; and he was driven out of his happy home, and became a lost and
ruined creature.”
“How sad for poor Adam,” said Emma, “to be banished from his beautiful
garden!”
“Yes,” said the other; “and sadder still to be banished from his God,
with nothing before him but certain death!”
“But how was it, grandmamma,” inquired Emma, “that Adam did not die all
at once? How did he continue to live after God had said that, if he
disobeyed Him, he should ‘surely die’?”
“I was just going to explain this to you, my dear,” said Mrs Allan. “Our
first parents could not have lived for one moment after their ‘Fall,’ if
it had not been for another and more glorious covenant the Bible tells
us of.”
“And what was the name of that covenant?” inquired Emma, eagerly.
“It was called _the Covenant of Grace_,” replied her grandmother. “I
shall try, my dear child,” continued she, patting her grandchild on the
head, “to make this very great and glorious subject as simple as I can
to you; and after you hear me, you will, perhaps, be able to explain it
to others.”
Little Emma was again very attentive, and her grandmamma proceeded:
[Sidenote: Of the Parties in the Covenant of Grace.] “I want to see,
before I begin, if my little scholar remembers what I have just been
telling her,—who the two parties were in the _Covenant of Works_?”
“God and Adam,” replied Emma.
“Yes, dear, you are right. And in this new covenant or agreement I am
going to speak about, there were two parties also. Do you think you
could tell me who they were?”
“Was it God and Adam again?” inquired the little girl.
“No, my child,” said the old lady. “Man, having broken the first
covenant, could no longer enter into terms with God. There was some one
who came in the place of guilty man. Can you tell me who this was?”
“It was the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Emma.
“Quite correct,” replied her grandmother. “God was angry with man, and
could no longer speak with him. But Jesus said, ‘_I_ will come in the
room of those lost sinners, and speak to God _for_ them.’ So God and
Jesus made a covenant together. It was as if Jesus said to God, ‘O my
Father, if Thou wilt pardon these poor sinners, I will leave my glorious
throne, and come down to the earth, and die for them, and wash their
guilty souls in my precious blood.’ And then God promised, and said, ‘I
_will_ pardon them! They deserve nothing but wrath; but, for the sake of
what Thou art to do and suffer, as their Redeemer, I will shew them
“_Grace_.”’ Hence this new covenant between God and Jesus was called
‘_the Covenant of Grace_.’”
“I should like to hear more,” said Emma, “about this glorious Being who
loved man so much as to die for him. Why is He called by the name of
_Redeemer_?”
[Sidenote: Of the Person of the Redeemer.] “Jesus is called ‘Redeemer,’
because He ‘buys back’ the lost souls of men. No one but God, in our
nature, could do this. If the highest angel in heaven had tried to save
us, he _could_ not. Jesus Christ was both God and man. He had lived from
all eternity ‘_with_ God, and _was_ God.’ He took upon Him our nature,
and was born a little babe in the stable of Bethlehem. How sweet for
little children to think that Jesus was once himself _a little child_!”
[Sidenote: Of the Humiliation of Christ.] “How wonderful!” said Emma,
“for the great God of heaven to come down to dwell with man on the
earth—to be called the ‘Man of Sorrows’—to be poor and hated, and have
‘nowhere to lay His head,’ till He laid it on the Cross, and there died
a cruel death!”
“Wonderful indeed,” replied her grandmamma. “Can you tell me, my dear
child, what became of Jesus after He died?”
[Sidenote: Of His Resurrection and Exaltation.] “Yes,” answered Emma; “I
think He was laid in a grave in the middle of a garden in Jerusalem. A
stone was put at the mouth of it, and soldiers were made to watch it.
But after lying dead three days, He rolled away the stone, and came
forth alive.”
“You are right, my child,” said Mrs Allan. “By this, God the Father
shewed that He had accepted the work of His dear Son—that the wages of
sin were all paid, and that His holy law was satisfied and honoured.
After remaining forty days on the earth, Jesus went up among rejoicing
angels to heaven.”
“And where is the Lord Jesus now?” inquired Emma.
[Sidenote: Of the Intercession of Christ.] “He who once was ‘despised
and rejected of men,’” said her grandmother, “is seated on a very
glorious throne in the skies, where blessed spirits without number adore
Him. But He has not forgotten poor sinners on earth. He is engaged in
praying to God for them; and whatever He asks on their behalf, His
Father is ready to give; for Him He ‘heareth always.’”
[Sidenote: Of the Second Coming of Christ.] “And is there not a day of
awful glory drawing near,” said Emma, “when Jesus shall appear in the
clouds of the sky, seated on a ‘great white throne’? How dreadful to be
found, on that great day, on the left hand of the Judge! Will there be
no chance of His being merciful to these miserable wicked, and of making
another ‘_covenant of grace_’ with them?”
“No, no; impossible, my child!” replied her grandmother. “God’s
holiness, and righteousness, and justice, and truth, could not admit of
mercy _then_. Jesus is now seated on a throne of _Grace_, and entreats
sinners to come to Him and be saved. But when once seated on His throne
of _Judgment_, the time of grace is at an end. Those who there seek Him
for the first time will never find Him. God has said, ‘Then shall they
call on me, but I will not answer.’”
“I should like you,” said Emma, “to tell me what you mean by ‘seeking
Jesus.’ I fear I may never yet have sought Him in earnest.”
“I shall be happy, my dear child, to explain this and many other things
to you; but as it would take me too long to‐night, I shall wait till
next Sabbath, when, if God spare me, I will speak to you about some more
of these solemn truths. I am old, and must soon stand before that great
throne; but I have long sought and found Jesus the _Saviour_, and I am
not afraid to meet Jesus the _Judge_!”
The little child knelt down on her grandmother’s lap, to offer up her
evening prayer. The aged Christian entreated earnestly that Jesus would
early give her an interest in His “covenant of grace,” that she might be
found at last on His right hand, at the great day, an heir of glory!