DISC. tion; nor could any one person accomplish

V.

them all, without being equally remarkable for lowliness and meekness, glory and honour. The modern Jews, fenfible of this, have framed to themselves two Meffiahs; one, Ben Jofeph, of the tribe of Ephraim, defigned to be poor and contemptible, and to undergo great indignities; the other, Ben David, of the tribe of Judah, who is to be victorious, to conquer all the earth before them, and to live for ever in temporal grandeur. This idle dream, contrary to the tenor of the whole Old Testament, and unknown to their expofitors before Chrift came, fhews us, that blindness hath happened to Ifrael not for want of light, but because they have shut their eyes against it till they cannot now open them, to behold the brightness of it's fhining; to view Jefus of Nazareth, as the end of their law, and the accomplishment of their prophecies. To an unprejudiced person, acquainted with that law, and those prophecies, the fight of the lowly Jefus, entering Jerufalem in great humility, and in still greater,

V.

greater, bowing his head and expiring on DISC. mount Calvary, is a no less ftriking evidence of his being the Meffiah, than his glorious refurrection from the dead, and triumphant ascension into heaven. The Scriptures must needs be fulfilled, in one refpect, as well as the other. Thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and thus it behoved him to humble himself, in order to his fuffering. Through pride Adam fell, and therefore by lowliness must Christ be exalted. "An haugh

4.

ty fpirit goeth before a fall; but before " honour is Humility"."

In this state of meekness and lowliness, was Chrift to gain a complete victory over the enemies of man's falvation. The warfare was new, and it is no wonder that the weapons employed in it should be uncommon. Other warriors prepare their horfes and their chariots, their bows, their fpears, and their fhields. But Meffiah difarms his followers, in order that they may overcome. For thus our prophet goes on;

P Prov. xviii. 12.

"And

DISC. And I will cut off the chariot from

V.

Ephraim, and the horse from Jerufalem,

" and the battle bow fhall be cut off: And
"he shall speak peace unto the heathen.”
Could a plainer declaration have been made,
that the conquefts of Meffiah were not to
be of a fecular nature; that his kingdom
was not of this world? "If my king-
"dom were of this world," faith he him-
felf, "then would my fervants fight"."
But lo, he taketh from them the weapons
of war.
Was there a fhield or fword feen
among the thousands of the Ifrael of God?"
No fhield, but that of faith; no fword,
but that of the Spirit. Like their great
leader, they encountered their adverfaries
with patience, and overcame by fuffering.
So far was the advent of Chrift from car-
rying with it any appearance of war, that
the nations at the time lay hufhed in the
tranquillity of an univerfal peace. "He
fpake peace to the heathen," as well as
to his own people the Jews. The waves
of this troublesome world ceafed to tofs

John xviii. 36.

themselves,

V.

themselves, and a delightful calm feemed DISC. to forebode the approach of those halcyon days, when the Prince of Peace should make his abode amongst us; like the stillnefs of that hallowed night, on which the angelic choir defcended, to fing" Peace " on earth;" peace with God, by the pardon of fin; peace with ourselves, by the anfwer of a clear confcience; peace with one another, by mutual charity. O divine Peace, how lovely and how pleasant doft thou appear! How happy and heavenly is the kingdom of Meffiah, where thou art to be found! Who would not wish to fee, who would not labour to promote the full accomplishment of the last clause of the prophecy we have been confidering, in the extenfion of this kingdom and dominion of Chrift" from fea to fea, "and from the river to the ends of the "earth;" that fo all the nations of the world might remember themselves, and turn to the Lord Jefus, as many did at the first preaching of his Gofpel. And let the daughter of Zion lead the way, restored

to

V.

[DISC. to her pre-eminence among the churches. We will not envy her the honour, as the formerly envied us Gentiles, but rather rejoice and fhout with her, in the day when she shall be led to acknowlege her King; the King of Righteousness, Salvation, and Peace; the once lowly, but now highly exalted Jefus of Nazareth; who, as at this time, came to vifit us in great humility, and fhall come again, at the appointed hour, to judge the world; when we shall behold him, glorious as Jerufalem herself can wish, riding upon the heavens in power and majefty unutterable, amidst the acclamations of faints and angels.