9:24).—On righteousness the soul stands as on a sure rock; with
the difference between this present age of boasted enlightenment and these coming ages of everlasting truth.
10. It thinks of the EVERLASTING righteousness (Ps. 112:9; Dan. 9:24).—On righteousness the soul stands as on a sure rock; with righteousness is it clothed as with a garment; by righteousness it is protected as by a breastplate (Eph. 6:14). There is nothing more enduring than righteousness. No ages can alter or weaken it. Jehovah's own righteousness is everlasting. He cannot cease to be "the righteous God who loveth righteousness." And what less than an eternal righteousness can be theirs, who have by faith identified themselves with him who is Jehovah Zidkenu, "the Lord our Righteousness"? When the Lord would tell Israel the sure tenure by which they are to hold their heritage hereafter, so that it cannot be lost, he says, "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their RIGHTEOUSNESS is of ME, saith the Lord" (Is. 54:17). We get the righteousness simply in being willing to take it upon God's terms —that is, freely; and having got that righteousness, we find that it not only secures our persons but our possessions also, throughout the everlasting ages. For just as God and we have become indissolubly one, so we and our heritage can never be parted. All that can be included in that word "heritage" thus becomes eternally ours— gladness within as well as glory without—for "the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever."
11. It thinks of the EVERLASTING mercy (Ps. 103:17, & 136:1).—That the mercy of our God is "abundant," we see in the cross, and taste in our own experience. "Abundant mercy" is the name which the apostle gives to it (1 Pet. 1:3). Less than this cannot be implied in the gift of God's own Son; nor would less than this meet our case. But the continuance of this overflowing plenty is what we need to be assured of. We need not only to be able to say, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good," but to add, "for his mercy endureth for ever." Mercy, continued in the same abundance as when it first took hold of us— flowing onward, inexhaustibly, for ever and for ever—this is what we