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the Seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hands, which be had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and faid, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy fin is purged *. It may here be observed, that the glorious Jehovah, here fpoken of, is Chrift; for fo the Evangelist applies the words. These things fpake Efaias, when he faw his glory and spake of him. What this evangelic Prophet faw, in vifion, was but the emblem of the glory of the Great Mediator, which shall beam forth in its full fplendour. It would encroach too much upon the limits of a Sermon to extract a moderate quantity of texts from this bleffed Prophet, to set forth the glory of Christ in the latter day. Read, at leifure, and at large, the fixtieth and fixty-first Chapters.

8. As the Prophets were like so many morning-stars to ufher in the blessed day-spring from on high, so when he came, he was, and is, the True Light which lighteneth every man which cometh into the world-the true Sun of righteousness, which arofe with healing in his wings.. How clear was the doctrine which he taught! He spake like himself, like him who had been brought up in the bofom of the Father, and in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily; the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his perfon. The three great effentials of religion, repentance, faith, and holiness, were fet forth in his discourses in very plain and clear language. All his figures and families were exceeding plain, yet ftrong and ftriking; nothing affectedly fine, or far-fetched; but usually taken from things in common ufe, and from the daily

* Ifa.. vi. 1—8..

↑ John xii. 41..

daily occupations which people were most familiar with.. As he came to die for the poor as well as the rich, the illiterate and ignorant as well as the learned, and the wife, and that the bulk of mankind were of the latter fort, fo he fpake in a ftile adapted to their capacities, and yet in fuch wife, as that the learned and the unlearned might receive inftruction from what he faid. In short, He fpake as never man spake, and the words which he spoke. were fpirit and life to such as received them; so that Peter might well fay,Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou haft the words of eternal life *.

9. As his doctrine dropped like the rain, and distilled as the dew, carrying light and life with it, fo his spotlefs life fhone with no lefs luftre. He might justly say, Learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart.-I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that fent me. "In his bleft life we fee the path" in which we are called to walk; no blunders, no flips, or falls, which needed any apologies: he always did thofe things. which were pleafing in the fight of his Father, and could appeal to his mot keen and sharp-fighted enemies, demanding, Which of you can convince, or reprove, me of fin? Thus was he holy, harmless, undefiled--the true Lamb of God, without fpot or wrinkle, or any fuch thing. But notwithstanding he was the true Sun of righteousness, yet he was, as it were, in a cloud, and shone through a vail. He was in the world, and yet the world knew him not; he came not in the oftentatious thew of ontward obfervation. He did not cry, or strive,

-

* John viii, 6—8.

or

or cause his voice to be heard in the streets. Nay, tho' multitudes flocked after him, and were astonished at what they heard and faw, yet very few were really converted through his min ftry-not even his Apoftles; that honour he was pleafed to referve for them, and, in that fenfe, made his fervants above their Lord.

10. AFTER his victorious conqueft of Death, Hell, and Satan, and triumphant Afcent, he gave gifts to men ; these men were truly converted themselves, and being endowed with power from on high, they did ftrengthen their brethren of mankind, and with great grace was their word accompanied ; and not only figns and wonders were wrought in the name of Jefus, but multitudes became true believers-were really converted to God, and great grace was upon them. Here the glory begun to shine, and it will shine to the perfect day; the little leaven will leaven the whole mafs of mankind; the small ftone cut out without hands will fill the whole earth. The falfe lights of every antichrift being extinguished, the True Light shall shine, and his mountain shall be eftablished upon the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it *. Then fhall the moon be confounded and the fun afhamed, perhaps all the hierarchies of men, whether civil or ecclefiaftical, ruhen the Lord of hofts fhall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients, glorionfly †. Then will the God-man be exalted above the heavens, and his glory above all the earth 1. What the Royal Singer of Ifrael spoke shall be accomplished:-All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy faints fhall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,

*Ifa. ii. 2. † Ibid xxiv. 23. ‡Pf. lvii. 5—11—108—5.

O may the fake!' When

and the fir

kingdom, and shall talk of thy power; to make known unto the fons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majefty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations *. bleffed Jefus haften the time for his mercies the heavens fhall fully declare the glory of God, mament his handy-work-When day unto day fhall utter fpeech, and night after night fhall fhew knowledge. May that bleffed time haften, when there fhall be no speech nor language-where the blessed voice of his truth is not heard! May the bleffed line go throughout all the earth, and the words to the end of the world! There may the blessed Sun of righteousness shine for ever †.

11. No doubt, it is unto this glorious period which those mysterious defcriptions of a Temple, and its fervices, refer in the latter part of Ezekiel, which I don't pretend, at least I fhall not attempt to explain. The vifion of the holy waters, no doubt, is a charming figure of the fame bleffed time, when the full dispensation of the Spirit fhall take place, and all fhall be baptized with them when it shall no longer iffue forth in small streams, but it shall sweetly overflow all lands, and fill the whole earth with an ocean of love t. To this bleffed time does Daniel refer, when he fays,-I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came in the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given unto him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, fhould ferve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which

* Pf. clv. 10, 11, 12, 13. † Ibid xix. 1-4. Ezek. xlvii. 1-7

which shall not pass away, and bis kingdom that which shan not be deftroyed *. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea.

12. The words of Habakkuk are too remarkable to be paffed; and though the Prophet fpeaks of a tranfaction already paft, yet the accomplishment, in its full extent, is yet to come. He was feelingly touched with a sense of the times in which he lived, and, therefore, cries out,O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years—in the midst of the years make known: in the midst of wrath remember mercy. He then adds, God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Parán. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praife. And bis

brightness was as the light: he had horns out of his hand : and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the peftilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He flood, and meafnred the earth: he beheld, whatever stood in his way, and drove asunder the nations: and the everlasting bills were fcattered, the perpetual hills did bow: bis ways are ever l. fting t. Now this remarkable paffage refers to the Almighty's pouring his judgments upon the Egyptians and the glorious deliverance of his afflicted Ifrael, and the glory which he got upon Pharaoh and his hoft; but the mystery respects a much greater conqueft, and the manifeftation of a nobler glory in all lands.-For yet a little while, and he will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the fea, and the dry land. And he will shake all nations, and the Defire of all nations shall come: ‡ and he will fill, not only the Temple, bnt the earth, with his glory-infomuch,

Dan. vii. 13, 14. † Habakkuk ii. 2-7. Hag, ii. 6, 7.

that

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