er, and consider,
and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's
house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord;
and worship thou him."[174] In terms applicable in every age, as their
Lord and Master, he said to his disciples, "Whosoever therefore shall
_confess_ me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which
is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven."[175] And he having both died
and risen, and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and
living, claims the individual parts of the exercise as homage to his
name. "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. For it is
written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and
every tongue shall confess to God."[176]

Believers engaging in personal Covenanting, act as being not without law
to God, but under law to Christ. As the _servants_ of God they thus
transact with him. Jacob, as well as others who have vowed to God
without being condemned, being represented as God's servant,[177] must
in such acts have served him. Addressed individually as well as
collectively in these terms, "Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and
Israel, whom I have chosen," those yield obedience, when in their
practice is fulfilled the prophecy, itself a command, "One shall say, I
am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and
another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself
by the name of Israel." That the churches of Macedonia Covenanted with
God is manifest from the words,--"This they did, not as we hoped, but
first gave their ownselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of
God."[178] But in writing to the Thessalonians--one of those churches,
an apostle describes them, as in that, and in consequent performances,
serving God. "They themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we
had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, to _serve_ the living
and true God."[179] Nor without entertaining an enlightened apprehension
that in that exercise he served God, could the Psalmist performing it
say,--"O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of
thy handmaid."[180] Moreover, every believer is a good _soldier_ of
Jesus Christ. Each one of them is called by His authoritative command,
as well as by the effectual influences of his Spirit. "He is Lord of
lords, and King