The Psalmist asks, “Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way?” and replies, “By taking heed thereto according to Thy word” (Ps. cxix. 9), so that he may come to say, “O, how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day” (ver. 97). “Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me” (ver. 98).
“Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; they are the rejoicing of my heart” (ver. 111).
“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple” (ver. 130).
The 19th Psalm also says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. . . . By them is Thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Ps. xix. 7, 8, 9–11).
The Lord Jesus also said of the Father, “for I know that His commandment is life everlasting” (John xii. 50).
CHAPTER V.
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
Having in the former pages noticed the manner in which the institutions of previous revelation have pointed to and been completed by the Gospel of Christ, let us now set forth some of the leading characteristics of that religion which Jesus, so long foretold and typified, came to introduce amongst men.
We must bear in mind that it was a New Covenant with men, which He came to establish. The former Covenant had grown old, and was about to decay; and it had been declared in prophecy, “This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. xxxi. 33 and 34).
He who came to establish this new Covenant, and teach it to men, was none other than the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made (John i. 1–3); who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and “the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. i. 3).