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right to our homage and subjection, viz. one by na ture, and another by purchase. And therefore as our obedience is new in other respects, so in reference to the superadded obligation upon which it is founded.

7thly. From what was said, we may see the honours and the safety of such as are in a state of friendship with Christ. Their honours are high indeed, being so nearly related unto him who is in the form of God, and thinks it no robbery to be equal with him. By virtue of their intimate and ineffable union with him, they are made like unto him. Is he a Son? They are the younger children, Rom. viii. 29. Is he the essential image of God? They are adorned with his moral, Eph. iv. 24. And as they have borne the i mage of the first Adam in their bodies, they shall also bear the image of the second, 1 Cor. xv. 49. Does he sit on the Father's throne? They shall sit down with him on his, Rev. iii. 21. Is he the Father's Fellow? They are called his fellows, Heb. i. 9. Does he sit at his Father's right hand? In the final judgment they shall sit on his, Matt. xxv. 33. Does he exist in the Father? They are in him, 1 John v. 20. and he in them, Eph. iii. 19. Wondrous are his own words respecting this point, John xvii. 20, 21. For them I pray that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they all may be one in us." Is he the heir of all things? They are joint-heirs with him, Rom. viii. 17. Is he a prophet? So are they, Isa. liv. 13. Is he a priest and a king? They are a royal priesthood, even kings and priests unto God, 1 Pet. ii. 9. Rev. i. 6. What celestial honours these! In what an honourable manner does Christ speak of his people! Of Abraham he says, "my friend," Isa. xli. 8. Of Lazarus," our friend," John xi. 11. And speaking to his disciples, John xv. 15. He says, " Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." How intimate the fellowship following this friendship! The sceret of the Lord is with

his friends, to shew unto them his covenant, Psal. xxv. 14. The Father and the Son come unto such, and make their abode with them, manifesting themselves unto them in another manner than to the world, John xiv. 23. The intimacies of this fellowship cannot be told, they are so many, and so great. God lifts up the light of his countenance upon his friends, and they, in the exercise of prayer, let him see their countenance, and hear their voice, Cant. ii. 14. He pours out his Spirit upon them; they, their hearts before him. They confess sin, and he pardons it. They walk in his fear, and he fills them with the comforts of the Holy Ghost: joys with which a stranger cannot intermeddle. And hence they can say, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. The Father and we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John iii. 7.

But such as are in a state of friendship with Christ, are not more honourable than safe. Individuals and societies, from a sense of inherent weakness, enter into alliances with others, that they may be preserved from the common enemy. But O! what must be their safety, who are the confederates of God's own Son! Though in themselves a feeble folk, their ally is the mighty, the Almighty God. In him they may make their boast, and loudly glory in his name Immanuel, "God with us," Matt. i. 23. God in our nature, God on our side. And if God be for us, who shall be against us? Rom. viii. 31. who shall meditate mischief, and prosper in their attempts?" Take counsel together, says the prophet, and it shall not stand, for God is with us," Isa, yiii. 10, in which e evidently alludes to the name Immanuel, mention. ed, chap, viii. 14. and viii. 8. "Speak says he to the enemy, and it shall not stand, for IMMANUEL, i. e. with as there is a God." Many and mighty are the adversaies of the saints, but greater is he who is for them, han all they in conjunction, who are against them, 2 Chron. xxxii. 7. There are only two ways in which

they can be supposed to perish, viz. either by the hands of their enemies, or through their own internal weakness. But against both of these they have all the security that the faithfulness and power of Immanuel can give them. Underneath them are the everlasting arms, Deut. xxxiii. 27. I will put my fear in their hearts, says he, that they shall not depart from me, Jer. xxxii. 40. The most formidable of their enemies, or ra ther those under whom all the rest take their station, are, Satan, the world, sin, death, and the grave. But all these Immanuel hath conquered in his person, and therefore over his friends they shall not triumph. As for the first, he spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in himself, Col. ii. 15. Respecting the second, he expressly says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world," John xvi. ult. Concerning the third, the scripture teaches, that the strength of sin is the law, 1 Cor. xv. 56. but that sin shall not have dominion over the friends of Christ, they not being under the law, but under grace, Rom vi. 14. Touching the two last, Immanuel's promise stands recorded, Hos. xiii. 14. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death: O! death, I will be thy plagues; O! grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." In the faith of this, the friends of Christ may adopt the apostle's words, and sing, “ O! death, where is thy sting? and where thy victory, grave?" 1 Cor. xv. 55. Sure as he felt the sting of death, they never shall. Sure as he burst the bands of the grave, they also shall. He died, Rom. yiii. 34. they shall only sleep in him, 1 Thess. iv. 14. Because he liveth, they shall live also, John xiv. 19. Over the devil, the world, sin, death, and the grave, they shall obtain a complete and an eternal victory through Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 57. They shall not only be conquerors, but more than conquerors through him that loved them, Rom. viii. 37. In conclusion of this particular, permit me to repeat his own emphatic words, John x. 28, 29, 30.

"I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them me, is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one."

8thly. What was said concerning Christ, may strike terror into his enemies. The salvation of his people is not more certain, than is their utter destruction. That God in whose form he is, and with whom he is altogether equal, has engaged to make his enemies his footstool, Psalm cx. i. He has said, "I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him," Psalm lxxxix. 23. If his soul delight daily in his Son, Prov. viii. 30. Isa. xlii. 1. O! how must his holy indignation burn against all those who have no pleasure in him! If he have ever a place in his bosom, and a seat upon his throne, what must be the end of those who will have none of him? Sure as the Son glorified the Father, the Father will glorify him. Enemies may now take counsel against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. But he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Yet a little, and he shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure," Psalm ii. 2-5. After all his other messengers, he sent unto men his Son, saying, "They will reverence my Son," Matt. xxi. 37. But if instead of revering, they ridicule him, what can be expected, but a certain fearful looking for of judg ment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries? The sword of justice shall be awakened the second time, so to speak, and smiting through the loins of his enemies, it shall be bathed in their blood. It was awoke against the Surety, but against his despisers, it shall awake to sleep no more: no more to return into its scabbard. Nay, the Son himself, though mediator by office, will appear as in person against his ir reconcilable enemies. Having refused to bow to the sceptre of his grace, they shall be broken with his iron

rod: he shall dash them in pieces like a potter's véssel, Psalm ii. 2. The great day of his wrath is hastening on, and who shall be able to stand! He will come with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, Rev, i. 7. Those who reproached him as an impostor, who ridiculed his atonement, and thought him to be only a man, shall all be made to know that he is God, God the Judge. They trode him under foot, and counted the blood of the testament wherewith he was consecrated an unholy thing. But ah! what a turning of the tables at the final judgment! Then he will tread them in his anger, trample them in his fury, and as with their blood stain all his raiment, Isa. lxiii. 3. Now the day of his grace is despised; but that of his vengeance shall quickly come. Now he prays sinners to be reconciled unto God; but then as a lion he shall roar against his enemies and prevail. Now he entreats sinners to come unto him, and they will not. Then he will command them to depart from him, and they shall. For from heaven he shall be revealed with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thess. i. 8.

9thly and Lastly. Permit me to put a close to all that has been said, by tendering a few directions, which under divine influence may be useful at such a time as this.

1st. Be serious in your enquiries after truth. Truth is in herself a reality, standing in opposition to fic tion and to falsehood. She is therefore to be sought with seriousness. Such as scorn, shall never find her. For what have fools to do with celestial truth? If mathematical truth demand a painful investigation: if, to contemplative minds, moral truth be the object of enquiry: if historical truth engage the minds of many, with what assiduity should we seek after the knowledge of evangelical? When inen never seek after her, no marvel they continue strangers to her. When the scorner, says with haughty Pilate, What is truth? it is but just

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