which I had with thee before the world was:' Then did the ancient prophecy receive its full accomplishment, "the Lord said unto my Lord;" he who formerly spared not his own Son, who apparently delighted in his degradation and grief; who doomed him to all the ignominy and all the agonies of the manger and the garden and the cross, now delights to honor him; takes him from prison and from judgment; introduces him amidst a choir of adoring angels to his presence, and assigns him the highest throne in his dominion; " sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool:" with his rod of iron this Jesus has already ground to powder the head of the old serpent, and his feet shall ere long tread on the neck of every opposer of his reign. Again, "God hath highly exalted him," and what greater glory can be conferred on the Son, than he now participates; the midst of the throne is his residence; the brightest crown in heaven adorns his head; and the sceptre of unlimited empire is put into his hand; " and given him a name above every name;' other exalted spirits are called lords, but the Son as Mediator is LORD of these lords; others are called kings, but he is KING of kings; others are dignified with the appellation of gods, but the man Christ Jesus is "God over all; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven;" the tallest cherub that walks the streets of the heavenly city feels honored in doing

honor to Jesus; his glory consists in bending the knee, and laying all his glory at the feet of the Son; the spirits of just men made perfect will, if possible, soar above the angels in expressions of humility and gratitude and praise; " and things on earth;" the church militant mingles her tribute of homage and thanksgiving with the church triumphant; while believers exult in his righteousness, they submit to his rule; while they consider remission through his sacrifice their most exalted privilege, they consider obedience to his law their most incumbent, reasonable service;" and things under the earth;" even hell is a part of the empire of this prince, and all its hopeless inhabitants are the reluctant subjects of his control. In his hand as Mediator" the keys of hell and of death" are now deposited; impenitent souls are doomed to the bottomless pit, and infernal spirits, obtaining a momentary respite from their flames, ascend only at his permission; "and every tongue shall confess," while every knee is low in expressions of humility, every tongue is loud in ascriptions of praise, "that Jesus Christ is Lord;" that he is justly invested with all power in heaven and earth; that his throne is for ever and ever, and his dominion from generation to generation; and all is done to "the glory of God the Father;" in honoring the Son, they honor the Father, whose image he bears, and at whose authority he sits enthroned; in every act of adoration they

recognize the Father's agency in thus highly exalting him, and the Father's command, that all the saints, and "all the angels of God should worship him."

4. In the name, and by the appointment of the Father, will Jesus descend at last to judge the world. It appears strictly proper, nay,absolutely requisite, that as the Son was made a public monument of scorn, of insult and suffering, his glory should be vindicated in a manner equally open, and by the same authority which had ordained his humiliation. Upon his ascension from mount Olivet, and his entrance into heaven, his manifestation was only partial; his glory darted around a few admiring apostles, and the host of attending angels: myriads of the human family being absent were not spectators of the scene; myriads of them were not yet in being, and could not attest it; and no doubt the powers of darkness, whom he had lately driven from the field, and spoiled of their usurped dominion, retired from the unwelcome sight and endeavored to shut their eyes against the surrounding radiance. An exhibition of the Son, as Mediator,more public, and with a blaze of glory more unclouded, seems therefore both becoming and necessary; and such an exhibition has the Father ordained for him. "Behold, he comes, and every eye shall see him; he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels;" he who once prepared a loathsome manger, now erects

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for him "a throne, a great white throne," illumining with its glory the whole creation of God: He who once delivered him to death even the death of the cross, now presents him with a crown, a crown infinitely surpassing in splendor all that ver adorned the head of a mortal: He who formerly refused a solitary ray of his countenance, leaving him to exclaim "my God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me," now beams upon him with the most endearing, elevating smiles of his love, and announces in the hearing of assembled worlds, "this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; let all the hosts of God worship him :" He who formerly gave him up to cruel hands, to be condemned, to be scourged, to be crucified, now commits to him all judgment. "The Father loveth the Son and hath committed all judgment into his hand; he hath appointed a day," he who appointed the day when the glories of his divinity should be shrouded in Bethlehem's manger,hath appointed another day when they shall burst forth to the admiration of the universe, "in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." After the judgment is finished, after all the unbelieving are consigned "to their own place," and the heirs of salvation are brought to inherit the kingdom prepared for them, the Father will everlastingly set forth

his Son as an object of adoration and grati tude and love to the innumerable, extatic hosts of heaven: There collected in one vast assembly, and encircling one radiant throne, angels elect, and elect, ransomed men will mingle their hearts and their voices in one unceasing, eternal HALLELUJAH to him "that was once slain," but "now sitteth on the throne, even to the Lamb for ever and ever."

This passage, thus imperfectly explained, affords,

1. A most refreshing, encouraging assu rance of the Father's love; of his cordial compassion to our misery, and most tender solicitude for our salvation. We are generally disposed to think that love to man dwells exclusively in the bosom of the Son; we often paint in our imagination the Father as an object of terror; we consider him in the character of an indignant judge, armed with vengeance against our transgressions, and utterly unwilling to pardon.But this is equally an uncomfortable and unbecoming view of Jehovah. Behold him, christian, from eternity, in his pure, unmeritted, unasked, disinterested good will, proposing the restoration of man from the miseries of his apostacy; behold him in the immensity of his grace ordaining "a Son, an only, beloved, begotten Son" your surety, to lay down his life for your redemption; behold him executing without reserve upon Jesus your substitute, all that was denoun