his glory; and whenever Adam opened his eyes, and looked abroad through the creation, he faw the glory of God fparkling, as it were, in every creature he caft his eyes upon. Well, the enemy's defign was to defpoil and rob God of his glory. There is a queftion put, Mal. iii. 8. " Will a man rob God ?" will a creature adventure to rob his Creator? And yet this wickedness is perpetrate. God is invaded, and his glory is in a great meafure taken away, I mean his declarative glory, for it is impoflible his effential glory can be invaded.

I will tell you of feveral things relative to the glory of God, which were attempted to be taken away, and quite obfcured and fullied by the fin of man.

1. There was an attempt made to rob God of the glory of his fovereignty, as the great Lord and Lawgiver of heaven and earth. Man, when he finned against God, and brake the law in compliance with the motion of the enemy, what was the language of the deed? It was, "We ourselves are lords, and will come no more unto thee;" we will make our own will a law: "Let the Almighty depart from us: for we defire not the knowledge of his way."

2. There was an attempt to rob him of the glory of his wifdom. The wifdom of God was impeached by the fin of man as a piece of folly, namely, in giving a law to man, that was not worthy to be obferved. Sirs, depend upon it, every fin you are guilty of, charges God with folly, and exalts the will and wifdom of the creature, above the will and wisdom of God expreffed in this holy law. And what a capital crime is it for poor men to charge God with foolishnefs!

3. By fin there is an attempt to rob him of the glory of his power, in regard the finner gives a defiance to the Almighty, and, upon the matter, fays, he is not able to revenge his quarrel on us, the arm of his power is withered. That is the language of fin. And then,

4. There is a robbery upon God's holiness, which is one of the most orient and bright pearls of his crown. When the holy law is violated and tranfgreffed, the language of that action is, God is like ourfelves, he approves of our ways. Again,

5. There was an attack upon his juftice, and a denying his rectoral power and equity. God fays, "The foul that finneth fhall die, that he will by no means acquit the guilty." Well, but the language of fin is, "God will not require it," or he may be pleafed or pacified with this or the other petry

atonement.

Not to infift: there was a defpifing of God's goodness. God gave man a great eftate; he gave him the whole earth, VOL. III. $

and

and would have given him the heavens alfo, if he had continued in his integrity; but yet all that goodness of God was trampled under foot by the fin of man.

Also, there was a denial of the faithfulness of God in the threatening that was denounced against the fin of man, "In the day that thou eateft of it, thou fhalt furely die." But the language of fin is, God is not true to his word, he will not furely do it; faid Satan, "Thou fhalt not furely die." Thus you fee there was an attempt made to rob God of the glory of all his perfections at once.

Secondly, Let us inquire a little into the goods that were ftolen from man by fin and Satan. Here we may fee a melancholy fcene. The glory of the human nature was quite marred by fin. Man was made the top of the creation; but by fin he was brought below the very beafs that perifh, fo that, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the afs his mafter's crib, but my people know not me, faith the Lord; and they do not confider" their obligations to me.

Sin, it robbed man of his light and fight. You know what befel Samfon when he was taken captive by his enemies, they put out his eyes; so when we fell into the enemies hands, they put out our eyes, and all mankind have been born blind fince that time. Again, fin hath robbed us of our very life, and laid us among the congregation of the dead.-All mankind are a dead and putrified company, "dead in trefpaffes and fins," Eph. ii. 1.-And then, fin hath robbed man of his Jiberty unto any thing that is fpiritually good; and ever fince we have become captives to the devil, the world, and our lufts. Again, fin hath robbed us of our wifdom, and brought us to prefer folly to the wifdom of God. Every man by nature is playing the fool. Who but a fool would spend his money upon that which is not bread, and his labour upon that which profiteth not?-Sin robbed us of our righteoufnefs, and rendered us a company of guilty criminals before God, and brought us under the fentence of the broken law, condemned already, John iii. 18.-Sin robbed us of our beauty, of the heautiful image of God, confifting in holiness and conformity to the great Creator, and it hath brought the hue of hell upon all mankind, lying among the pots.-Again, fin hath robbed us of our health. Man was a healthy creature both in foul and body before the entry of fin; but fin hath robbed us of that, fo that," from the crown of the head to the fole of the foot, there is no found part about us.”—Sin hath robbed us of our peace, and fet us at war with God, with ourselves, with one another, and at war with the whole creation.—Sin hath robbed us of our beautiful ornaments that God put upon

at

at our creation, and stript us naked, as it is faid of Laodicea, Rev. iii. 18.-Sin hath robbed us of our treafure, infomuch that we are become beggars, poor, and naked.-In short, fin hath robbed us of our God, io that we are become "without God in the world." There is a robbery for you that cannot be paralleled! You fee what was taken away from God and man, by the fin of man.-I might likewife tell you that fin robbed man of that paradife of pleasure in which God fet him at his creation. No fooner had man finned through the inftigation of Satan, that old ferpent, but he was turned out of the garden of Eden, Gen. iii. 24. and a flaming fword placed, that turned every way, to keep him from having accefs to the tree of life in the midst of the garden.-Sin hath robbed us of hea ven, and made us heirs of hell and wrath.-In short, sin hath difordered and disjointed the whole creation. Whenever man finned, there came fuch a load upon the earth, through the curfe of God, that ever fince the whole creation hath been crying in pain, feeking deliverance from that dead weight that hath been lying upon it. So that, I fay, by the fin of man there is a robbery committed, there are goods ftolen from God and man, and the good creatures of God.

III. The third thing propofed was, to make it appear that cur glorious Immanuel, he makes a reftitution of what was taken away both from God and from man. He reftores unto God his due,

and restores unto man his lofs.

And, 1. He makes reftitution of glory to God, and that in the highest measure and degree, as was intimated by the angels, at the nativity of our Lord, Luke ii. 14. The first note of the fong of the angels is, "Glory to God in the highest," &c. It is just as if they had faid, Glory hath been taken away from God, by the fin of the first Adam and his pofterity; but now there is a higher revenue of glory to be brought in to the crown of heaven, than the whole creation in innocency could afford. Accordingly, our bleffed Lord he declares, when his work was finifhed, after he had gone through his course of humiliation, he comes to his Father, John xvii. 4. and he fays, Now, Father, "I have glorified thee on the earth." Obferve the phrafeology, for there is fomething remarkable in it, "I have glorified thee on the earth :" the earth was the theatre of rebellion where God was affronted, his law violated, and his fovereignty contemned; but, fays he, "I have glorified thee on the earth," where thou waft difhonoured. I ought to go through all the perfections of God, that were leafed by the fin of man, and tell how Chrift reflores glory to every one of them.

He

He reftores glory to the divine fovereignty, bowing his royal neck to take on the yoke of the law which we had broken. He was made of a woman, and made under the law, that he might magnify it, and fo maintain the honour of the great Lawgiver.

He reftores glory likewife to the divine quifdom; for Chrift himfelf, in his perfon and mediation, is juft" the wisdom of God in a mystery," even his "hidden wifdom, the manifold wifdom of God." O Sirs! never were the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge fo much expended as in the perfon and mediation of our Lord Jefus Christ.

And then, he reftores glory like wife to the divine power; for Chrift is "the power of God:" and when he went forth to the great work of man's redemption, he went forth armed with infinite power to manage it; therefore he is called "the arm of God, and the man of God's right-hand, whom he hath made ftrong for" the purposes of his glory. How gloriously was the power of God difplayed, when he came from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatnefs of his ftrength; fpoiling principalities and powers, who had spoiled God of his glory, and man of all that was valuable unto him!

He reftores glory to the holiness of God. This attribute was injured by the fin of man, but its glory is reftored by Chrift; and there is fuch a brightnefs of divine holiness thines in the perfon and mediation of Chrift, that when the angels look upon him, If. vi. they are dazzled, they are overwhelmed, not being able to behold it, they cover themselves, and cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hofts; the whole earth is full of his glory."

And then, he reftores glory to the divine juftice; for in the work of man's redemption, juftice gets a complete, and full fatisfaction, till it cry, It is enough. And the juftice of God manifefted in the execution of the penalty of the law upon the Surety, is laid- as the very foundation of the throne of grace, that we are called to come to for grace and mercy to help in the time of need, Pfal. lxxxix. 14. "Juftice and judgement are the habitation, or establishment, of thy throne," viz. juftice fatisfied, and judgement executed upon the glorious Surety.

Again, he reftores glory to the divine goodness. God was good to man, but man trampled it under foot: But Christ makes a higher difplay of the divine goodness than ever was feen by men or angels; for in his perfon, and mediation, and fufferings, the goodnefs of God breaks out like an ocean, in amazing streams of love, grace, and mercy. The love of God,

O how does it fhine in the giving his only begotten Son into the world!" Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his own Son to be a propitiation for our fins." And then for grace, grace is made to "reign through righteoufnefs unto eternal life, by Jefus Christ our Lord." And for mercy, it is "built up for ever." Thus, I fay, there is a reftitution of glory to the divine goodness.

And likewife there is a reftitution of glory to the divine faithfulness. The faithfulness of God engaged in the penalty, was trode upon by man and the devil; but the faithfulness of God is maintained in the execution of that penalty threatened against man in the perfon of our glorious Immanuel: and not only fo, but the faithfulness of God comes to be cftablished in the new covenant "in the very heavens :" for all the promises come to be " yea and amen in Chrift, to the glory of God." Thus you fee, that Chrift reftores what he took not away from his Father; he reftores "glory to God in the higheft," which he never took away."

2. Let us fee next what reftitution he makes to man; for man was robbed of all that was valuable to him, either for time or eternity.

Firft, The human nature was debafed by fm, and funk be low the beafts that perish. Well, but the Son of God comes and takes the human nature into a perfonal union with himfelf, and thereby exalts the human nature above the angelical nature: Heb. ii. 16. "Verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the feed of Abraham." And, chap. i. 5. "Unto which of the angels faid he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" And fee what follows, "When he bringeth in the firft-begotten into the world, he faith, And let all the angels of God worship him." Thus the glory of the human nature is reitored and advanced to a far higher pinnacle of glory and honour, than when it ftood in the firft Adam before his fall, adorned with all its embroideries, in a ftate of innocency. O Sirs, look up and fee your nature exalted, taken out of the dunghill, and ict on the the throne of God. The throne of God is called "the throne of the Lamb," because our nature is there in a perfonal union. with the great God.

But this is not all: he not only reflores the glory of the hu man nature; but, to all who believe in him, he reitores to advantage all the loffes we fuitain, either by the fin of the first Adam, or our own perfonal tranfgreflion; as will appear by running over the particular lolles mentioned upon the former head.

First, then, Did fin robe us of our fight and light, and leave

us