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How astonishing was the effect of that brazen serpent which, by Divine direction, Moses lifted up in the wilderness! If they who had received the most deadly wound, looked upon it, they were healed. But there is, if possible, more cause for gratitude than for wonder, when we consider, what we are taught, that those things were transacted for our benefit, and " are written for our example," "to bring us to Christ." We are the people so wounded even by the most venomous and deadly of all serpents, our sins. Christ is the Saviour, shadowed forth in that transaction: He took the form of the sinful creature man, and was raised on the cross for the healing of the nations: he is exalted "to be a light of the Gentiles," and "for salvation unto the ends of the earth." This he expressly declared in his discourse with Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This manner of expression, Look and be saved; believe and you shall be justified; hear and your soul shall live; is affectingly expressive of that grace and free mercy by which we are saved in Christ. He is truly "the Author of eternal life" for with his own right hand and his holy arm hath he gotten the victory. He has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; he has subdued our deadly enemies; redeemed us from misery and death; and led captivity captive. As by the offering of himself he delivers us from the punishment of sin; so does he by his Spirit rescue and preserve us from its dominion. He sanctifies the heart; he works in us to will and to do what is pleasing to God; he becomes not only the Author, but also the Finisher of that faith by which we are justified; and helps us to do those good works which shall finally be rewarded in heaven. Whatever a Saviour should do to recover a lost world, Christ has done. We may now draw nigh in full assurance of faith; and if, with a lively trust in him, we look, we shall be saved. The part required of us is to justify God's wisdom in the appointed Ransom, and submit to his righteousness; to lay down the weapons of our hostility; to withdraw from the enemies, who hold our souls in bondage, and to choose the Lord, as the Captain of our salvation. To obtain the victory over sin and death, we are to become soldiers of Christ; to "fight the good fight of faith" under the banner of him who is already victorious.

III. Such is the Saviour who calls us, and such and so free the salvation he offers. And who are the happy people to whom this gracious invitation is addressed? To whom does the Lord say, "Look unto me, and be ye saved?" Even to the whole of the human race. The invitation, is to “all the ends of the earth :" which is a well known Scripture phrase, including all the nations and people of this terrestrial world. Christ" tasted death for every man;" and sends his " gospel to every creature" of Adam's fallen He would have all men come to the knowledge of the truth, and be saved in him with an everlasting salvation. His language is, Every one

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that thirsteth, come to the waters of life. And "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come." Christ, as our Prophet, says this; and "the Spirit of Christ,” by whom the prophets spake, and the holy scriptures were written, says the same; and the church too, by her doctrines, her creeds, and her ministers, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, calls all men every where to "repent and believe the Gospel ;" to look unto Christ and be saved. Yes, "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."

When a man is convinced of sin, and first awakened to a sense of his spiritual state of guilt and condemnation; when he reflects on the goodness and other perfections of the Father of mercies; how abundant and unnumbered are the benefits that God daily bestows; and how astonishingly he has "commended his love to us ;" and how often and how long he has besought us to turn to him and live; and on the other hand, how insensible we have been to his goodness, how ungrateful for his mercies; how hardened to the voice of warning and of invitation,-despondency is natural. Will the Lord be merciful to one who is so unworthy? Can this heart so prone to sin; so chained to the world, and by nature so opposed to God and his righteousness, be renewed and reconciled through Christ? Is it I who am so lovingly invited to look unto him and be saved? Can I, the most sinful of God's creatures, who for years have trodden under foot the Son of God, and in my conduct counted his sanctifying blood an unholy thing-can I hope, dare I believe, that his call is still to me? Others may be saved; but who has sinned as I have sinned? These mercies are not--they cannot be for me. Such thoughts naturally and often oppress the awakened soul; and bow down the spirits of the humble believer: they almost "quench the smoking flax," and break the tender reed already bruised. But while thus there is life, there is hope; no humble and contrite soul will the Lord despise; none who look unto him with faith, will he reject. To doubt whether you are included in this invitation is to limit the Holy One-to set bounds to his love, and to impeach the veracity of his word. "The promise is to you and to your children, and to them that are afar off."

IV. And to remove all doubts and fears respecting your being included in this gracious invitation to look and be saved, hearken to the reason given : "For I am God, and there is none else." Were the Person who

invites you to look and live, but a fallible creature, a finite being, of limited capacity, you might well distrust his power to effect so great a work. "Thus saith the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." But the Person who here invites you is mighty to save; for he is the Omnipotent Jehovah; he is the only Saviour, the only Lord.

the only God. Should the mightiest angel in heaven offer to become your Saviour, and invite you to look unto him for pardon, and peace, and life immortal, well might you doubt, and question his power to save: for "who can forgive sins but God only." Who can cleanse our soul from the defilement of sin, create us again unto good works, and raise us to life immortal, but that "One Lord, by whom are all things, and we by him?" He, against whom sins are committed, and he only, can remit the penalty. What created being, however high in dignity, would presume to annul the mandates of Omnipotence! to stop the course of divine justice! to say, of his own authority, to him who has sinned against God, "Thy sins are forgiven thee: go in peace:" "look unto me, and be saved!" This is the proper language of "God," and of "none else."

So too, if we are saved, the spirit of our mind must be renewed, and our bodies be raised from the dust, new and glorified, and capable of immortality. And who but God can effect this new creation? Who but God is the resurrection and the life? To renovate the soul, and to raise our bodies from the dust, is evidently as great a work, and requires as great a power, as the first creation.

And further, if we are saved, not only must our sins past be forgiven, and blotted out of all remembrance to our hurt; not only must we be created again in body and soul, before we can be "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;" but we must be justified, must be acquitted before God's tribunal, as righteous, through faith in the Saviour. We must be delivered from the guilt of sin, and entitled to the favour of God. And to effect this, the Saviour must fulfil all righteousness on our behalf. "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." And this none but a divine Saviour can effect. No mere creature can perform more than the duty which he owes to God: he cannot merit for another; much less for a whole race of beings. We cannot, then, be justified by faith in any mediator but Immanuel, "the Lord from heaven;" he only can be "our righteousness.' He is God, and he alone can forgive sin, cleanse the soul from its pollution, and merit on our behalf.

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Some have thought that the Saviour is called God and Lord, in a lower and subordinate sense, as though there were truly "Gods many and Lords many." But observe with what wisdom and care, and how decidedly, the Holy One of Israel has precluded such error. Several times in this chapter, he declares himself the only God. Others may talk of Gods many and Lords many: we preach to you a Saviour who is God, and there is none else; no God, no Jehovah, no Lord besides him. To worship or to acknowledge any other Saviour would be idolatrous. This is noticed in the words

immediately before our text: "They have no knowledge, (no right understanding of true religion,) that set up the word of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: Who hath declared this from ancient time? Have not I, the Lord? and there is no God else besides me: a just God and a Saviour, there is none besides me." In this chapter, by his prophet Isaiah, he repeatedly declares, what his apostles John and Paul so fully confirm, that "all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made, which was made." He it was, our Saviour and Prophet, who called Cyrus by his name more than a hundred years before his birth, and foretold of him what we read in this chapter. In the words following our text, which, as St. Paul shows, were spoken by Christ, he has sworn by himself; which would be the greatest idolatry, were he not the true God; and he declares by this tremendous oath, that all creatures ought to worship him, and to swear by his name: "I have sworn by myself; and the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear.

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It is also necessary, as was observed, that a Saviour, to be effectually such, should merit on our behalf; and it is noticed in this same passage, that this Lord is such a Saviour: it is here foretold that the language of his people would be, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” And it is declared, that "to him shall man come ;" and that "in him (the Lord,) shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." Here, in four short verses, the last of this chapter, we have comprised what is most essential in Christian theology. This Saviour is the one Lord, who claims universal adoration: he is our righteousness, cleansing us from sin, and meriting on our behalf. He is our strength; his Spirit works in us to will and to do; so that we are "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." To him men come: being raised upon the cross, he "draws all men unto him.” "All who are incensed against him, (as many in this world are.) shall (eventually) be ashamed." In this Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. They who have the faith of Abraham are counted for his seed, and are the true Israel of God; and they are justified with faithful Abraham. And they glory in the Lord: their language is, "God forbid that I should glory in any other."

Thus you see, how important and how very encouraging is this part of our text: this animating and most astonishing reason why you should look to this Lord, and to him only, for salvation: because he is "GOD :" because "there is none else," no other being in the universe-no other name given under heaven, whereby you can be saved.

The improvement from this subject-the effect it should produce upon

our heart and life—is sufficiently obvious. For if we have such a Saviour, who so graciously invites all to look unto him, how great must be the folly of neglecting so great a salvation; how unpardonable the sin of rejecting this counsel of God. Being a divine Saviour, he is omnipotent and infinitely meritorious. Is not he able to save, who is the only Lord, and besides whom there is no other God? Cannot he forgive sin, against whom sin is committed? Cannot he who formed you of the dust, breathed into your body the breath of life, and made you a living soul, renew your heart? Cannot he raise you from the dead, who is himself the resurrection and the life? Through him, who is "Jehovah, our righteousness," we may surely be justified he, who, "being in the form of God," condescended to assume our nature, and suffer and die for our sins; who had power not only to lay down his life, but to take it again; who rose from the dead for our justification, is certainly an all-sufficient Saviour. He who ascended into heaven to prepare us mansions of bliss; he who sent "the eternal Spirit" to aid us in doing the will of God; and now sits, our Advocate with the Father, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, must be able and willing to save to the uttermost. Hearken then to his Gospel; receive his truth,

and "your soul shall live."

But reflect on the hazard of neglecting this great salvation. How solemn is that oath, that he will rule the world as its King. Because he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself; the word has gone out of his mouth in righteousness, that all shall bow and do him homage. He must reign as Messiah; and in his mediatorial kingdom he will reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Will you, then, be subdued now by his love, or hereafter by his vengeance? Will you now, in a time accepted, submit to his righteous sway; or be among the last enemies that shall be destroyed?

How great a mercy to the wounded Israelites was that healing image which Moses lifted up to their view! "If a serpent had bitten any man," if he felt the deadly poison stealing along his veins and congealing the streams of life, we may easily conceive the eagerness with which he raised his eye to the sovereign antidote. He would have deemed it madness to delay his application to this unfailing remedy. But how much greater the folly of neglecting to look unto Jesus! of disregarding this his gracious invitation! The venom of sin pervades your whole moral system: it is a sickness which is unto death, not temporal only, but eternal. But here is an almighty Physician if he but speak the word you are made whole. For this purpose has he been lifted up, that he may draw all men unto him. And to you has the word of his salvation come. O, then, be not like "the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear; which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely." No music can be more charming to

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