Mr. Dermott arose, and walked back and forth through the apartment, while the children sat silent and thoughtful.
At length he resumed his seat, and, addressing Anna, asked, "Can you tell me who has prepared for us a glorious home above the skies?"
"Christ," the child seriously answered; "Jesus Christ."
"Yes, he has ransomed us and become the way whereby we may return to our heavenly Father, whom we have offended. There can be no real comparison between the case I have given you and the abounding love and goodness of our Saviour, because, in the first case, I only referred to the well-being of Edward and his family, and the benefits to them in this world, while the blessings we may receive through the redemption of Christ, which will be hereafter explained, will last through all eternity.
"But I hope by this illustration you may be led to view the wonderful love of our heavenly Father toward our guilty race. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, says he did this 'according to the good pleasure of his will.'
"In some lessons which we have gone over, we have explained to you that when God created the world, he made his whole plan or decree concerning it; and, of course, the system of redemption, as a whole and in its minute details and application, was a part of it. Those savingly interested in this plan he calls elect. Edward's uncle could not know, beforehand, whether any of his relatives would accept his kind offer. But if he had possessed the power of foreknowledge, they would have been equally free to accept his offer.
"But, Walter, can you tell me what this new covenant is called?"
"The covenant of grace."
"What was the object of it? You may use your own words."
"To deliver men from their wretched condition, just as Edward's uncle intended to deliver him and his family from their poverty and distress."