deemer, in converting one wandring Sinner to the Wisdom of the Juft, or shall any way farther the common Edification of the Church; I shall be content to be cenfur'd by those who have a more comprehenfive Genius (whofe Thoughts run deeper, and whofe way of Writing is finer) while I have the Honour of being ferviceable to the true Interest of Souls.

I have one thing more to fay, viz. That I have made very little alteration in the Copy that was fent me by him who took the Difcourfe in Short-hand; and have only added what I had not time to deliver when the Sermon was preach'd.

MADAM, May that God who has touched you in the most fenfible part, and fnatcht from you the Delight of your Eyes, afford you the Light of his own Countenance, and the Comforts of his free Spirit: And that the little living Images of him that is Dead, be a Bleffing to you that furvive, are the earnest Wishes of

may

Job XIX. 25, 26, 27.

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall ftand at the latter Day upon the Earth.

And tho after my skin Worms deftroy this Body, yet in my Flesh fhall I fee

God:

Whom I shall fee for my felf, and mine Eyes Jhall behold, and not another; tho my Reins be confumed within me.

T

HERE is something very aweful and inftructive in the fad Solemnities of a Funeral: for it is as if the Dead spake to the Living, and a Voice fhould iffue from the Coffin and the Grave, faying, Man in his best Pfal. 39.5. Eftate is altogether Vanity. And indeed the true Design of a Funeral Difcourfe is not extravagantly to commend the Dead, but feafonably to advise and inftru&t the Living; to G 2 which

which excellent purpose the Words I have just now read, are most admirably adapted: tho, I confefs, there needs a much abler Person than my felf, to open and apply a Text fo copious, in the narrow limits of an Hour; there being in the Words fuch a variety of matter, as might easily furnish out feveral Sermons. But as God fhall affift, I fhall endeavour to explain them as clearly, and improve them as pertinently as I can.

This Chapter, of which the Text is a part, contains Job's Anfwer to Bildad the Shubite; wherein he deplores the Miseries of his Life, and represents the Troubles he sustained, in the most elegant manner, and in the most affecting and melting Strains. Upon which, in Ver. 23. he cries out, O! that my Words were now written! O! that they were printed in a Book! That they were graven with an Iron Pen and Lead, in the Rock for ever! Whether he means what he had before fpoken in anfwer to his Friends; or the Words of the Text which immediately. follow this Wifh, is not easily determined: if he intends the former, then the Text is brought in as a reafon of his Courage and Confidence in the Goodness of his caufe; for fays he, I know that my Redeemer liveth: q. d. Whatever Cenfures I may pass under, whatever ill Thoughts you may conceive in your Minds against me, I have one above who will plead my Caufe, Job 16. 19. For my Record is on high. If the latter (as fome think) then it fhows how much he was affected with the Knowledg he had of the Meffiah, and the expectation and good hope that fprung up in his Soul thereupon. Therefore it is obfervable, that Job does not utter fuch heavy Complaints, after this Confeffion

of

of Faith in the Lord his Redeemer, as he had done before: For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth. And tho after my skin Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh fhall I fee God: Whom I Shall fee for my felf, and mine Eyes fhall behold, and not another; tho my Reins be confumed within

me.

These Words contain a Profeffion of Job's Faith, and in them we may take notice of these two General Parts.

First, The immediate and prefent Sense of his Mind, with refpect to the promised Seed, the Lord Jefus Chrift:

Secondly, The Expectation which he had confequent hereupon, both with regard to the Redeemer and to himself.

First, The immediate and prefent Sense of Job's Mind, with refpect to the promised Seed, our Lord Jefus Chrift, in thefe Words, For I know that my Redeemer liveth. Wherein it will be necessary to confider thefe Four things.

ift, The Object of his Faith, which he expreffes under the Notion of a Redeemer. 2dly, The A&t of his Faith, I know.

3dly, His Propriety and Interest in this Redeemer, I know that [my] Redeemer liveth. 4thly, A further Illuftration of the Redeemer's Character, He liveth.

I fhall briefly touch upon each of these, and then pass to the other general Head, which I principally aim to difcourfe from, as being molt agreeable to a Funeral Solemnity. But,

ift, We are to confider the Object of Job's Faith, which he expreffes under the Notion of a Redeemer. By Redeemer I understand God the Son, the perfonal Aoys, which was to be incarnate; which may be proved from the Propriety of the Hebrew Word Goel, which tho fometimes applied in the Old Teftament to God abfolutely or effentially confidered, yet it most properly agrees to Jefus Chrift; for it fignifies not only the act of claiming and redeeming, but alfo the Office and Relation: it fignifies to claim or redeem by a right of Propinquity.

By the Law of Ifrael, the Right of Redemption lay in the next Kinfman, who was to purchase the Widow's Land, and to marry her Perfon; which was typical of what Chrift fhould do in the Fulnefs of Time: Who, that Heb. 2. 16. he might be allied to us, took hold of the Seed of Abraham. By which means he had a right of Propinquity as Man, who had before a right of Propriety as God. Chrift is Bone of our Bone, and Flesh of our Flesh; and hath redeemed his Church with his Blood, which is both the Right and Price of her Redemp

tion.

Redemption fuppofes Slavery and Bondage. We are all by Nature Slaves to Sin and Satan, odious to the Holiness, and obnoxious to the Juftice of God: But the Redeemer rescues us by Purchase as well as by Power, and hath

'Emλaußáva, in its firft and proper fenfe, fignifies to take hold of; and in this fenfe it is used in this Epiftle, Chap. 8. 9. Ἐπιλαβομένο με τῆς χειρός αυ'', in the Day that I took them by the Hand.