The Saviour was man, that as man lost his divine favour, man might regain it; that "as by one man's "disobedience many were made sinners, so by the "obedience of one many might be made righteous;" "that as man did approve, so man might condemn, "sin in the flesh;" that "as by man caine death, by 66 man might come also the resurrection of the dead;" "that as in the first Adam all die, even so in Christ, "the second Adam," who was likewise the Lord from heaven, may all be made alive;" that through sympathy, compassion, a fellow-feeling of our infirmities, he might propitiate for our faults, intercede for our welfare, pity and aid us in our distresses; be tender of our good, sensible of our necessities; "in "all things it behoved him to be made like unto his "brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful "High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make "reconciliation for the sins of the people; for in that "he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able "to succour them that are tempted." In a human form he became visible, audible, familiar; less amazing and more obliging. He became a copy for us in behaving, in moderating our appetites, in governing our passions, in employing the powers of soul and body, in passing through all conditions, and accommodating ourselves to all events. So lively a pattern, with such power and to such effect, could never otherwise have been exhibited. O what a comfort it is to think that we shall be judged by such a person! And with what propriety was he appointed to recapitulate (as the apostle has it) and reconcile all things in heaven and earth, thus allied as he was to both parties; Son of God, brother to us; that so he might dispense God's grace, and purchase our peace!" Lord, to "whom" else, then, "shall we go? shall we go? Thou hast"thou only canst have-"the words of eternal life." 356 DISCOURSE XXV. THE EXISTENCE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE REVELATION, VII. 11. All the angels stood round the throne. AMONG the festivals of our church, we find one celebrated at this season of the year in honour of the holy angels. To justify such her appointment, and point out to you the many advantages to be obtained from it, is the design of the following discourse; in which some thoughts shall be offered on the existence of angels, their nature and condition, the perfect obedience paid by them to God, and the kind services rendered to man. And, first, respecting the existence of angels. It is needless to trouble you with the opinions of the Heathen concerning beings of this kind; because they could utter nothing but what was either merely conjectural, or else derived to them by tradition from an original revelation. We have better guides; we can go to the fountain head. Conjecture is useless where certainty can be had; and tradition is of no account when the revelation itself is before us. Nor does it seem at all necessary, by a long series of texts to demonstrate that there are such beings as angels. They who have ever looked into the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, can have no doubt upon this head. The fact is clear: our business shall be to convince you that it is interesting. For it may be said, perhaps, to what purpose discourse to us concerning the inhabitants of a world future, remote, and of which our ideas are very confused and indeterminate? Let us rather attend to the world in which we live, and to them that dwell therein. It would be perfectly right so to do, if the world in which we live were the only one with which we were connected, and death the final period of our existence. But no one person, I dare say, who now hears me, seriously imagines this to be the case. And if there be another world which is to receive us for ever, after our departure hence, the existence of its inhabitants, with whom we are to spend an eternity, becomes a speculation both pleasing and important. The state of our being, you say, is future. It is so to-day; but before to-morrow it may be present to some: a very few years must render it present to all. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the change is effected: every connexion with this world is dissolved, and we become at once citizens of another, and members of a society altogether new. it is remote. That by no means appears. not be "far from every one of us." lived always in the darkness of a prison, and only heard of the world we now enjoy, might fancy, from You say It may A man who had all which his own experience taught him, that it must needs be remote; whereas, nothing more would be requisite to convince him of his mistake, than to open the doors of his prison-house and lead him forth to liberty and the sun. Could a child in its mother's womb be made sensible it was to be born into a new world, it might entertain the same prejudice respecting the supposed distance; but when the appointed time for its birth came, a single instant would show that it was only a prejudice. The spiritual and eternal world, into which we are, at a destined hour, to be born, may be, like its Divine Maker and King, near us, and round about us, in a manner of which we are not aware, nor shall be till we enter it; till we burst the intervening shell, and all the glories of the invisible system present them selves to view. But our ideas of this future world are confused and indeterminate. Not more so than those conceived by the man in prison, or the child in the womb, could it conceive any, of the present world in which we live; not more so, than the ideas formed of things not seen, by comparison with things seen. We have the divine assurance of God's word that such a world exists; and the pictures there drawn of it, if we considered them as we ought to do, must make us impatient to behold the original. But the truth is, that whatever ideas of a future and invisible world may be, at certain times, impressed upon our minds, they are presently effaced by a tide of business or pleasure, and stand therefore in need of being continually refreshed and re |