fent fituation of the unconverted and unholy may, with equal propriety, be inferred. You are in the horrible pit of unregenerate nature, and thence, under the hovering, fwelling, and, for what you know, renting cloud of divine wrath. In fuch wretched ftate, there is no curfe, threatening, or word of terror, in the whole book of God, but what are all pointed as arrows fettled in the bended bow of jehovah's justice, against your guilty, your devoted heads. As in this cloud, under which you now ly, there is nothing but wrath without mercy; fo that wrath is daily dropping upon you, though you know it not, while in the pit of a natural ftate. It falls on your food and raiment, on your profperity and adverfity; it falls upon you in your outgoings and incomings: it is particularly difpenfed, in that hardness, unbelief and impenitency of heart, with which you are bound under the means of grace; and difpenfed, in that untenderness, unfruitfulness and unholiness, in your lives, which without remorfe, at leaft without reformation, is your habitual difgrace and reproach and, if not delivered out of the horrible pit of an unregenerate ftate, this cloud will break, this wrath will fall, and, in falling, crufh you foul and body, down, down, down, to the more horrible pit of anguifh and despair. Did Jehovah, the Father, not fo much as fpare his own Son, when acting as a common person, but pour out his wrath to the uttermoft on him; and can it be imagined, that living and dying in the practical contempt of the gospel way of recovery, he will spare you? Awake, awake then, O finners; read the nature of fin and wrath in the fufferings of Chrift; and look for freedom from the one, and exemption from the other, through him, in whom only the Father is well pleafed. Are your eyes fhut as

to

to the views of your state, guilt and danger? fo far from being a promising fymptom, you may confider that one circumftance as a pregnant evidence, the cloud of wrath is dropping, and dropping faft, upon your fouls. Cry therefore to the Lord, that he may awaken and convince, wound and kill you, in order to your being effectually healed, and made alive; before the decree bring forth, and all poffibility of it be cut off.

PART II.

Of the REDEEMER'S Exaltation and Crown.

CHA P. I.

Of the Father's inclining unto him, and hearing

his cry.

SECT. I.

HE Father's inclining unto the Man Chrift

Tfeems, at firft fight, to be an expreffion of

his love to him, and of his loving him with a love, in kind and degree, infinitely furpaffing what angels or men are partakers of. "Then (faid the "Meffiah, namely, when Jehovah appointed the "foundations of the earth) I was by him, as one "brought up with him; and I was daily his de

light, rejoicing always before him," Prov. viii. 30. "Thou loveft me (faid he to the Father him"felf) before the foundation of the world," John xvii. 24. and to prove that the Father's love to him

did

did not ceafe, upon his being manifested in the flefh; it was, once and again, proclaimed from the excellent glory, That Jefus Christ was his beloved Son, Matth. iii. 17-xvii. 5. As the Father loved, fo, of courfe, he honoured him, and honoured him by bearing fuch witness to him, as procured him honour and efteem, worship and veneration, from faints, and fometimes from finners themselves. As the evidence of his Father's prefence, countenance and approbation, always accompanied his perfon, miniftry and miracles; fo they contributed much toward his authority being established, his report believed, and his caufe ef poused. "If I honour myself (faid he to the Pha"rifees) my honour is nothing, it is my Father "that honoureth me, of whom ye fay that he is

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your God," John viii. 54. and faid the apostle, "He received from God the Father, honour and "glory; when there came fuch a voice from the "excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in "whom I am well pleafed," 2 Pet. i. 17. Nor were these words whispered into the Saviour's ear, but spoke in an audible manner, that, by this expreffion of complacency, the Father might put honour upon him. For "this voice (faid he) which "came from heaven, we (namely, Peter, James "and John) heard, when we were with him, in "the holy mount," 2 Pet. i. 18. The Father kept a conftant eye upon the Man Chrift: from his conception to his birth, from his birth to his death, from his death to his refurrection from the dead, he never loft fight of him; but noticed him with peculiar approbation, attention and care, through all the different steps of his humiliation, in all the different periods of his fufferings; and did so as á loving father, even when laying his awful hand upon him as a tremenduous judge; did fo, as a faith

ful

ful God, even when, in refpect of comfortable prefence, he was far from the words of his roaring, and forfook him. "The eyes of the Lord (fays "the pfalmift) are upon the righteous," Pfal. xxxiv. 15. where it is more than probable the Meffiah was in the prophet's view; because, in the 20th verse of that pfalm, it is faid of the fame righteous perfon, "He keepeth all his bones, not one "of them is broken;" evidently alluding to the pafchal lamb, an eminent type of Chrift, concern❤ ing which the Lord faid to Mofes, "Ye fhall not "break a bone thereof," Exod. xii. 46. which was literally accomplished in the Meffiah, when "the "foldiers brake the legs of the firft, and of the o"ther which was crucified with him, and broke "not his legs," John xix. 32, 33. Nor are we left to mere conjecture, in the application of thefe Old Teftament paffages, to this New Testament occurrence; for the evangelift exprefsly informs us," These things were done, that the fcripture "should be fulfilled, A bone of him fhall not be "broken," John xix. 36. The Father not only kept his eye upon the Meffiah, but kept his hands about him, charged his providence with his prefervation, employed angelic minifters to wait upon him; and, in that way, fecured his harmless, holy, human nature, from every accident, evil and inconvenience, not included in his mediatory obligations to endure; and fecured him, even from fuch fufferings as were incumbent on him to bear, until the particular time fixed for that particular purpose, fo as it was impoffible for devils or men, to precipitate his death a moment before the period agreed unto in the council from eternity. "He

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fhall give his angels charge over thee, (faid the pfalmift) to keep thee in all thy ways; they fhall "bear thee up in their hands, left thou dash thy foot

"against

"against a stone," Pfal. xci. 11, 12. which was by the devil himself acknowleged to refpect Jefus. Christ, when, in tempting him, he quoted and applied it, Matth. iv. 6. Nor did the Father only preferve the Man Christ in a negative view, but actually miniftred affistance and confolation to him, in the manner and measure his circumstances, as a man of forrows and acquainted with griefs, requir ed. When the devil left him in the wilderness of Judea, "Behold, angels came and miniftred unto "him,” Matth. iv. II. and when he wrestled in the mount of Olives, under the wrath of his Father, "there appeared an angel unto him from "heaven, ftrengthening him," Luke xxii. 43. Moreover, the Father's inclining to him is expreffive of his being well pleased with his fervice; with the discharge of his truft, as Mediator; with the performance of his covenant obligations, as the kinfman Redeemer of finners: and fo much pleafed with him, that he beheld, does, and will behold others, with a pleasant countenance, for his name's fake. Not only has Jehovah, once and again, declared him to be his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased; but the apostle has assured us that, through grace, the Father “hath made us accepted in the Beloved," Eph. i. 6. in other words, hath accepted finners, because of his complacency in the mediatory interpofition of the Saviour.

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The Father not only inclined unto the Man Chrift, but heard his cry. Our Lord had always ready access to the Father; an immediate audience in the prefence chamber was always granted him, and he had an exclufive privilege of approaching

the