Amidst many other precious promises, connected with redemption, which God the Holy Ghost, influenced the mind of Jacob to speak of, and which were addressed to each tribe of his. family, as their respective households hereafter to be formed, became more, or less interested in them; this of the text, to his Son Judah appears eminently conspicuous. Standing as it were, on the very brink of the invisible world, and beholding the great objects, now about to be fully realized to his view, which by faith, he had so long walked in the personal enjoyment of; the dying Patriarch, breaks out into an holy fervour of joy in the contemplation; and exclaims, the Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the People

be.

What Jacob himself understood, of the glorious events comprised in this prophecy, is not difficult to discover. The Almighty Shiloh, of whom he spake, had been clearly revealed to him, as the covenant God-man his Redeemer, long before. This, the Prophet Hosea, who lived a thousand Years after Jacob, confirms by the most possitive assurance. He found him (saith the Prophet) in Bethel, and there he spake with us, even the Lord God of Hosts, Jehovah (that is in a covenant-way) is his memorial. * Evidently alluding, to that memorable period, in the Patriarch's life, when God revealed himself

*Hosea 12. 4. 5.

self to him at Bethel, as the God which had entered into covenant with his Father Abraham, and now appeared to confirm it personally to Jacob, that in his seed, all the families of the earth should be blessed.

And that the Patriarch himself, considered this vision of God to him, at that time, in this sense, is as evident, from the dying testimony he gave of it to his Son Joseph. God Almighty appeared unto me said Jacob at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. † that is, blessed him with covenant mercy, covenant assurance, of redemption, hereafter to be completed, in the Person, of the promised seed. So that it was not, God blessing him, simply in the abstract of his providence, but in a way of grace, in that very way indeed, of the covenant-engagement of redemption, into which Jehovah had entered.

And hence the Patriarch, connecting in his mind, his first knowledge of redemption, manifested to him at Bethel, with the last intimations of it, under the Spirit's influence, now dying as he was in Egypt and gathering up into one mass of particulars, the whole of those precious discoveries, which God had made of himself, in a Covenant-way through all the intermediate stages of life; added this testimony more to all, that he had before received, and pointed to this leading character, by which, it should be known, when the Redeemer would be manifested.

1

Speaking under the immediate inspiration of God the Holy Ghost, he comforts his Children, in the moment of his departure, and through them, the Church at large, with this delightful assurance, that the Sceptre which God would establish in the family of his Son Judah, should not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until this long promised, long expected Shiloh, in whose Almighty hands, all the concerns of salvation were placed, should come, and unto whom the gathering of the People should be.

Suffer me to pause one moment, over this view of the Patriarch's life, just to remark, that early, and latter manifestations, of the Lord Jesus, to his People in a Covenant-way, are not confined to Jacob's history. Blessed be God thousands since his day, have known by heart-felt experience, the sweetness of both seasons, and have been enabled therefrom, if not with equal strength, at least with equal satisfaction, to set to their seal that God is true.

First intimations of grace, are very precious things to the soul. And so are the last tokens of divine love. It is difficult to say, which are the sweetest. Perhaps, from the nature, and unexpected manifestation of the blessing to the heart, the former will be most prized. Yet the latter certainly make up in fulness and in value, what is wanting in beauty. It should seem, that when

when through a life of some considerable extent the man of grace, can sit down with Jacob, and recount the manifestations of God's love, in a Covenant-way, marking his path in a multitude of instances, as he hath gone along, that such views must afford, the highest comfort to the soul.

But do you my Brother, determine the point for yourself, you who know much of the Lord's dealings with your soul. I trust there are not a few here present who if called upon, can bear large testimony to the faithfulness of a CovenantGod, as a tried, and approved God, all the way through.

And shall I venture to say to all such, that I hope you do not write those mercies, which are certainly the most precious of all mercies on water, but that their remembrance live in the warmest place of your heart. Treasuring up such records, will enable you under the Spirit's influence when dying, to comfort those around you, as he did, with the assurance of God's unchanging love. And certainly this effect you will find from it, to your own consolation: for the believer, who hath all along through life, accustomed himself to mark down, the mercies of God to his soul, will not want a mercy to praise him for in his death. And I believe I may venture to add, that many followers of

Jesus,

Jesus, have begun the life of glory, in the very moment, when grace hath been consummating; and ere the praises of a faithful Covenant-God hath ceased to move, upon the trembling lips of their dying body; the soul, hath caught the note of the saints above, and joined in the everlasting song, of salvation to God and the Lamb.

But to return from this digression. What I am chiefly interested in, at this time, is to consider, the accomplishment of this illustrious prophecy of Jacob, in the text, as referring to the Person, and Offices, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in him, having its completion.

In the prosecution of this service, the arrangement I mean to be guided by, as far as God the Holy Ghost shall be pleased to enable me, will be, in the first place, to prove, that the period in this memorable prophecy, so many ages predicted, before its proposed accomplishment, hath at length arrived, and long since expired; and in the Advent, and Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, hath been fulfilled, and is now fulfilling in the earth: that the Sceptre did not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until the Shiloh came: and by departing, in that very season, when Christ was manifested, this prophecy was then so accomplished, as never can be accomplished in any other. When