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with God; and fo Spake as never Man before Spake, even the Words of eternal Life.-His whole Conduct was one continued Act of Love to wretched Man; and his Character was that of Wisdom, Meeknefs, and Patience itself. He neither bruifed the broken Reed, nor quenched the Smoking Flax; but preached the good Tidings of the Gospel to the Poor, proclaimed Liberty to the Captives, comforted all that mourned, and bound up the brokenhearted. Ifai. lxi, 1.

He was the eternal Son of God, a Perfon in whom dwelt all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily; and he proved himself to be fuch by Signs and mighty Wonders.-He knew all things, even the Heart of Man; all Nature was obedient to him; and the Powers of Darkness fled before him.

He reconciled fallen Man to his offended God; bore the Weight of his Father's Anger to the whole human Race; and washed away the Sins of the whole World by his Blood.To this End he became, in the Language of the Prophet, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief. When was Sorrow like unto his Sorrow, when the Iniquities of the Sons of Men lay upon him, and his heavenly Father had well nigh forfaken him; and he thereby made Atonement for the Guilt his Creatures had contracted, and redeemed us from Death, not temporal, but eternal?- By his meritorious Sufferings he likewise purchased for his faith

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ful Servants Manfions of Blifs in his Father's Kingdom; that they might be Kings and High Priests to God, and dwell for ever with him in the bleffed Regions of eternal Glory.Thus was he a Saviour and mighty Deliverer, not in a temporal, but a fpiritual and most glorious Senfe, by delivering Men from Evils, to which the moft grievous Sufferings are not worthy to be compared, and by purchafing for them inconceivable Blifs, in Comparison of which all the Glory and Magnificence of this prefent World are as nothing.—Infinite Love could not exert itself imperfectly; temporal Enjoyments were a Purchase unworthy the Sufferings of the Son of God; nothing less could be the End of his Sufferings, than the averting the Fury of an angry God, and the Purchase of the most perfect Happiness which the Redeemed were capable of enjoying.But of this more hereafter.

And when he had thus effectually perfected our Deliverance, he then entered upon his own Kingdom, which was likewise not of this World, but a better. He afcended up into Heaven, and is fat down at the Right Hand of God, Angels, Principalities, and Powers being made fubject unto him.-He is not only, in the Language of one of the Prophets before quoted, become one King to both Jew and Gentile, but to all the Hoft of Heaven.-All Power is given unto him in Heaven and Earth; and of his Kingdom there shall be no End.-Worthy is VOL. II.

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the Lamb that was flain to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour, and Glory, and Bleffing; and as every Creature which is in Heaven, and on Earth, and under the Earth, and fuch as are in the Sea, and all that are in them, are become fubject to him, they ought always to fay, Beffing, and Honour, and Glory, and Power, be unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

Thus we fee in how wonderful and complete a manner the Predictions of the Prophets are fulfilled in him; and may from hence obferve how great an Harmony and Agreement there is between the Old Teftament and the New; and how neceffary one is to clear up the Difficulties, and explain the dark and myfterious Sayings, of the other. A fufficient Proof of itself, to confiderate and unprejudiced Man, that the fame Spirit dictated both. But to return.

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Such is now that Saviour, who was of the Jews; fuch is the bleffed Jefus, in whom we believe, and in whofe Name we truft; by whofe Blood our Guilt is washed away, by whose Merit our Defects are fupplied, by whose Spirit we are fanctified, and by whose Grace we ftand.-Such is our Mediator between God and us, who receives our Prayers, and offers them up to the Father; who is daily and powerfully making Interceffion for us; who showers down Bleffings from above on his faithful Servants; who will govern,

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fupport, and cherish all that come to him; and who invites us and all Mankind to Glory inexpreffible and inconceivable, and which shall never fade away.

And what then can remain for mortal Men, but to embrace the Offers of Love unmeafurable? To poffefs our Souls with the deepest Senfe we can of that Goodness, which no Heart can fufficiently conceive, or Words express; and to pour out our Hearts before him in repeated Acts of Adoration, Praise, and Thanksgiving?What Treatment can we fhew to thofe among us, who attempt to deprive us of the Comforts of this bleffed Hope, but the utmost Deteftation and Abhorrence? An Abhorrence adequate in fome measure to the Cruelty of a Defign, which, if successful, would rob us of every thing that ought to be most dear and valuable to us in Heaven or in Earth. And with what Earneftness should we apply to our Lord, to guard us against all Temptations to defert or forfake him, and to keep us fteadily and unmoveably united to him?

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And let us therefore hold fast the Profeffion of our Faith without wavering; let us labour to fhew our Sense of the Love of our dear Redeemer by a moft grateful Affection for him; and let us remember, that he has given us this Rule to judge of our Love by, that whoever loves him fincerely will keep his CommandSERMON

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