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chaunting, while they contemplated the holiness and happiness of his kingdom, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men?" Who, like him, was entrusted with all the grand variety and boundless extent of the Divine power? Who, like him commanded the winds and seas, and they obeyed him? Who, like him, had the power to cure every disease by a word? When did the evil spirits acknowledge their inferiority in the same manner as they did to him, and promptly depart, as at his bidding, from the bodies of the possessed? When did the dead rise up from their graves, as at his command? All nature, animate and inanimate, acknowledged him, as its Lord. Angels, from above, ministered to him; hell from beneath, submitted to his power; the sea and the air paid homage to him; the sun refused to shine when he hung upon the cross; earth shook to its centre when he expired; and the voice of God, from heaven, audibly proclaimed him to be his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased.

8. After such a display of Divinity, we shall be prepared to receive his own testimony concerning himself. No one of the children of men was ever less ostentatious, less assuming than Christ; for he was the model of lowliness and humility: yet he did not esteem it arrogance to maintain, constantly and plainly, that God was his Father; that he was his only Son; that he had dwelt in heaven before he came upon earth; that the Father had put all things into his hand; that, after suffering death, he should rise again on the third day, and ascend into heaven,-there to dwell with the Father for ever, to sit at his right hand, and to be the intercessor for sinful man.

Now if we take a view of the prophecies concerning him, and the actions of his life, and compare them with his declarations, they will be found in unison with each other. His declarations are uniformly confirmed and supported by both the prophecies and the acts.

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4. Immediately upon his ascension into heaven, the extraordinary inspiration of the Spirit, which had long ceased, broke forth with irresistible power, and enlightened the world. Prophecy again revived, in order to speak of him; miracles were generally performed by his disciples in his name; myriads were converted to the Christian faith; the men so converted became witnesses of the truth and power of the Gospel, and cheerfully sealed their testimony with their blood; from the rising to the setting of the sun, Christ was worshipped and glorified: to him each dying believer has intrusted his soul, as to the only hope of mankind; and to him, for 1800 years, throughout the whole church, has every eye been directed, and every tongue been vocal, as their Master and Teacher, their Sacrifice and Saviour, their Lord and God.

Now we ought to observe that it is not on any single fact, any solitary testimony, that we found our persuasion of the high dignity and unrivalled glory of Christ, as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world; but on the whole united testimony of prophets, of miracles, of the declarations of Christ, of the effusion of the Spirit, and of the conduct of his disciples. It is upon the union and harmony of all these, forming a continued chain, an extensive mass of evidence, that we fix the foundation of our faith. All these concur, from century to century, from one region of the globe to another, to bear witness to Jesus: prophet answers prophet; earth replies to heaven; angels join their testimony with that of men; all with one consent pointing him out as the Son of God, the only Saviour of sinners?

II. It is necessary to prepare the mind, by previous reflection on the vast and decisive mass of evidence which proves the dignity and glory of Christ, for approaching in a proper frame to the consideration of the question, on what account the Son of God became incarnate and suffered on the cross. And, indeed, these two views of the subject serve strongly to illustrate each

other; for if we consider the dignity of the Son of God, the high expectations raised of his approach, and the Divine testimonies given of his glory, we may be assured that the end which he came to accomplish must have been of the very first importance. On the other hand, if we contemplate that end, as it is made known to us in Scripture, its vast importance and immense magnitude, -no less than the redemption of man, the expiation of sin, the restoration of a fallen world,it will evidently appear to be such as none but a Divine person could undertake. Its importance justifies the high-raised expectation which the long continued series of prophecy had inspired, and explains the propriety of all the illustrious testimonies which were given to the dignity and glory of Christ. The Saviour of man could not be less than Divine.

Accordingly we are told by the Prophet when he comes to speak of the sufferings of Christ, that they were inflicted not on his own account: he had "done no violence, neither was guile found in his mouth;" but his sufferings were undertaken for our salvation. He was to be wounded for our transgressions; he was to be bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement by which our peace was to be effected was to be laid upon him, and by his stripes we were to be healed. His soul was to be made an offering for sin.

If there appears any difficulty in receiving this testimony concerning the end which the Saviour was to accomplish, let us reflect that it was a transaction entirely of its own kind, nothing similar to it being to be found, according to which we may measure its propriety or explain its nature. Let us also bear in mind, that heavenly subjects are not to be judged of by worldly ideas, or tried at the bar of human reason. And hence arises the difficulty of comprehending those parts of Revelation which relate to heavenly things. From the ignorance of our minds and the imperfection of our faculties, the Revelation must necessarily be accommodated to worldly ideas. It must be an approximation

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to truth, rather than truth itself. It must select some earthly analogy, and give an imperfect explanation of heavenly subjects, by a reference to the earthly subjects with which they best admit of being compared. Thus, in speaking of the proper nature and dignity of the Saviour, and his relation to God, the term "Son of God" is used; because the idea of a Son conveys the nearest resemblance of that mysterious union, that intimate connexion, which subsists between Christ and the Father. But yet the term is inadequate to convey to us perfect conceptions. The union is of an infinitely higher and closer nature than earthly words can describe, or human imagination can conceive. And a great part of the errors of man arises from this source, that he judges of God by earthly ideas, and tries his ways by the scanty conceptions of worldly reason. Vain and foolish proceeding! Every thing relating to God, every thing relating to the ways of God, mocks all the efforts of man's understanding. We cannot form a clear judgment of any one of his attributes, or fully comprehend any of his actions. His ways are in the great deep, and his judgments past finding out. Let us, then, when we approach our present subject; one which treats of the very highest and most solemn transaction between God and man: one, confessedly, which has no parallel by which it can be judged, and must therefore rest solely upon its own basis: let us diyest our minds of all narrow, partial, grovelling ideas derived from the earth on which we tread, and the poor fallen creatures by whom we are surrounded, and elevate our thoughts to the majesty of God, the sublimity of his attributes, and the glory of his Son. Then we shall see that such was the awful holiness of God, that he thought it right to display that holiness in the most illustrious manner, by making his own Son suffer death as an expiation for sin. Such was his infinite mercy that he withheld not from us his only Son, but gave him up to be the propitiation for our sins. He treats him as the representative of the human race. The Son takes

upon him their nature: he bears in his own body their sins: he voluntarily suffers for their sakes: and God, in accepting what he suffered, accepts them also; pardons, for his sake, their transgression; receives them into his favour, as the redeemed of his Son; and blesses them with infinite and eternal blessings, on account of their relation to him. With him they are raised from death; through him they are translated to heaven. Sanctified by him, their prayers are heard and their imperfect repentance accepted. Through him all mercy, life, and pardon, in a word, all blessings, are dispensed to sinful

man.

In addressing you, my beloved brethren, I must address you as sinners in the sight of God. In this point we all agree: we all like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. It becomes us, then, seriously to inquire in what mode it will please God to pardon our sins, and restore us to his favour. Here the question is not what steps we may think the most proper to be taken in order to make our peace with God, but what is the way which he has been pleased to appoint for that purpose. The declarations of his will, not our reason, must here be consulted. We know so little of the nature of God, his infinite purity, and the heinousness of transgression in his sight, that we are very inadequate judges of what may be requisite for the pardon of sin. Think not, then, that it is sufficient to repent, and endeavour to avoid sin for the future. Undoubtedly, repentance is absolutely necessary; and a hearty desire and unceasing endeavour to avoid all sin in future are absolutely necessary also. But the question still is, whether God does not require something to make your very repentance acceptable; something to satisfy the justice and holiness of his nature; something on account of which he may deem it consistent with his attributes to receive you into favour. Now the whole scope of Revelation is intended to shew, from the very highest authority, that this is the case; that the merits and death of his only Son form the consideration on account of

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