Page images
PDF
EPUB

BOOK X.

1

56 Vicegerent Son! to thee I have transferr'd

59

The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. John, v. 22. Nor is it to be wondered at that he should have so great power lodged in him; for the Father now, in his own person, judges no man; but has given the administration of all judgment to the Son, before whom all men are bound to appear, and by whom they are to be assigned to their final and eternal state.

that I intend

Mercy colleague with justice, sending thee

Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Psalms, lxxxv. 10.

But not creative power alone we praise;

The time must come, when, scorch'd with

ardent heat,

The elements shall melt: one dreadful blaze,
From nature's funeral pile, the eye shall greet;
Both earth and heaven their destiny must meet,
That awful hour which bids them cease to be:

Yet mercy shall o'erspread the judgment seat,
In that dread hour, from doubt, from terror free.
Redemption's glorious plan shall fix our hopes on
B. B. W.

thee.

62 And destin❜d man himself to judge man fall'n. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man. John v. 27. God will accomplish to him all those glorious predictions which represent him as possessed of universal and perpetual dominion, and coming in the clouds of heaven in that day when the judgment is set, and the books are opened. Let us labour to secure an interest in him; treating him with that submission, duty, and obedience, which becomes at once the divinity of his nature, and the dignity of his office.

85 Of high collateral glory:

97

[ocr errors]

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev. iii. 21. But even this most expressive promise was not equal to all the purpose of a Saviour's love; that nothing, therefore, might be wanting to enkindle the most generous ambition, he has been pleased to speak of our sitting down with him upon his throne, as he is set down on his Father's throne. And who then will ever scruple to suffer with him, when thus assured of reigning with him in everlasting glory.

the voice of God they heard

Now walking in the garden, by soft winds

Adam no longer courted an interview with his Maker, but dreaded his approach; and, on hearing his voice in the garden, he hid himself with Eve in a thicket. But the criminals could not escape the search of omniscience. The God of love appeared in judgment, and in an awful

1

manner demanded, "Adam where art thou?" Trembling and fearful, he replied, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." The Judge, in the language of meekness, said, "Who told thee that thou wast naked? hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?"

In this trial, how condescending, tender and benevolent is the Almighty!

137 This woman, whom thou maďst to be my help, And the man said, The woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Gen. iii. 12.

161

thus abash'd reply'd. The Serpent me beguil'd, and I did eat.

Eve, in her confessión, simply told the truth. "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat." The enquiry being ended, judgment was passed, beginning with the serpent, who was "cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;" a sentence which has taken place in the most literal manner, as there is nó creature in the world more generally dreaded and detested. 184 Saw Satan fall like lightning down from Heaven,

I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven. Luke x. 18. And he said unto them, I know that it is and must be so: for I myself saw Satan the great prince of the demons, falling like lightning from heaven on his first transgression, and well remember how immediate and dreadful his ruin was; and I foresee in spirit that renewed, swift and irresistible victory, of which this present

187

success of yours is an earnest, which the preaching of the gospel shall shortly gain over all these rebel powers, which even in their highest strength and glory, were so incapable of opposing the arm of God.

and with ascension bright

Captivity led captive through the air ;

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive. Ps. lxviii. 18.

192 And to the Woman this his sentence turn'd.

"He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." In this declaration was conveyed, in obscure terms, the promise of the Messiah, who as the seed of the woman, should crush the head of the old serpent, or destroy his usurped dominion over the souls of men, and procure their eternal salvation.

197 On Adam last this judgment he pronounced.

Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen. iii. 17, 18, 19.

215 As when he wash'd his servants feet,

He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. John xiii. 5.

Let us turn our eyes to him whom we justly call our Teacher and our Lord; for surely, if anything can effect a cure, it must be actions and words like these. The great Heir of all things, invested with universal dominion, and just returning to his heavenly Father to undertake the administration of it-in what a habit, in what an attitude, do we see him! Whom would a stranger have taken for the lowest of the company, but him who was high over all created nature? Blessed Jesus, it was not so much any personal attachment to these thy servants, as a regard to the edification of thy whole church, which engaged thee to this astonishing action; that all thy ministers, that all thy people, in conformity to thy example, might learn a readiness to serve each other in love!

216 As father of his family he clad

Their nakedness with skins of beasts,

221

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. Gen. iii. 21.

but inward nakedness, much more Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness, He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteIsa. lxi. 4.

ousness.

251 For Death from sin no pow'r can separate.

For the wages of sin is death. Rom. vi. 23. For eternal death is the proper wages of sin, and is all the gain which its wretched slave will have to show from the hand of his tyrannical master in the great day of future account.

« PreviousContinue »