23, 24. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord.' It is neither wisdom, nor might, nor riches, that is our glory; but our interest in Jehovah only.

This I say is in the presence of Christ only.

Now Christ may be said to be present with a people two ways.

(1.) In respect of the dispensation of his gospel amongst them, the profession of it, and subjection to the ordinances thereof. The gospel of Christ is a blessed gospel, a glorious gospel, in itself, and unto them that embrace it. But yet this profession separated from the root from which it ought to spring, is not the glory of any people; Christ is not their glory, who are his shame. Empty profession is the shame of Christ in the world; and shall not be others' glory. The apostle tells us that this may consist with a litter of unclean lusts, making them in whom it is abominable to God and man; 2 Tim. iii. 4, &c. If the bare profession of the truth would render a nation glorious, oh, how glorious were this nation! So would have been the people of old, who cried, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.' But when men profess the truth of Christ, but in their hearts and ways maintain and manifest an enmity to the power of that truth, and to all of Christ that is in reality in the world, this is no glory.

(2.) Christ is present with a people in and by his Spirit, dwelling in their hearts by his Spirit and faith, uniting them to himself. I do not distinguish this from the former as inconsistent with it: for though the former may be without this, yet where this is, there will be the former also. Profession may be without union, but union will bring forth profession. There may be a form of godliness without power: but where the power is, there will be the appearance. also. Now when Christ is thus present with a people, that is, they are united to him by his Spirit, they are members of his mystical body, that is their glory. Be they few or many in a nation that are so, they are the glory of that nation, and nothing else: and where there is the most of them,

there is the most glory: and where they are diminished, there the glory is eclipsed. Christ mystical, the head, and his body is all the glory that is in the world. If any nation be glorious and honourable above others, it is because of this presence of Christ in that nation. Christ is the glory of his saints, Isa. iv. 2. in him they glory, Isa. xlv. 25. and the saints are Christ's glory; 2 Cor. viii. 23. They are the glory of Christ, and he glories in them, as God of Job, to Satan: Seest thou my servant Job?' chap. i. 8. He doth as it were glory in him against the wickedness of the world; and Christ in them, and they in him, are all the glory of this world. So Zech. ii. 8. Christ was in the pursuit of the collection of his people from their dispersion : what seeks he after; what looks he for? he goes after the glory; even to find out them who are God's glory in the world.

Now this is the glory of any people upon a threefold

account.

[1.] This alone makes them honourable and precious before God. So says God of them, Isa. xliii. 1. 'I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine;' those are they of whom I spake: what then? ver. 4. Thou art precious in my sight, thou art honourable, I have loved thee;' how doth God manifest his valuation of them? ver. 3. Why he will give all the world, the greatest, mightiest, wealthiest nations for them, ver. 5. all is as nothing in comparison of them, who are his portion, and the lot of his inheritance. The Lord keep this alive upon your hearts, that that may be in your eyes the glory of this nation, on the account whereof it is precious to God, and honourable in his sight.

[2.] Because this presence of Christ makes men comely and excellent in themselves, with what eye soever the world may look upon them. The whole world out of Christ lies in evil, under the curse of God, and defilement of sin: in all the glittering shows of their wealth and riches, in the state and magnificence of their governments, the beauty of their laws and order (as they relate to their persons) they are in the eye of God a filthy and an abominable thing, a thing that his soul loatheth. Curse and sin will make any thing to be so: but now Christ is to them and in them beautiful

and glorious; Isa. iv. 2. Christ is so in himself, and he is so unto them, and makes them to be so. There is through him beauty, and excellency, and comeliness, every thing that may make them lovely and acceptable. That the world looks not on them as such, is not their fault, but the world's misery: it looked on their master Christ himself, the brightness of his Father's glory, who is altogether lovely, the chiefest of ten thousand, with no other eye; Isa. liii. 2. They are so in themselves, and are so to Christ; being exposed indeed to many temptations, oftentimes they are made black and sully by them: but yet they are comely still; Cant. i. 5. The ways whereby they are made black, for the most part we have expressed, ver. 6. when the sun shines on them, and they are made keepers of the vineyard, it comes upon them. Prosperity and public employment oftentimes so sully them, that they are made black to the reproach of the world: but yet to Christ who forgives, and washes them, they are comely. Yea, this is all the excellency that is in the world. Sin with honour, with wealth, with power, with wisdom, is a deformed and contemptible thing: it is grace only that is beautiful and glorious: it is the gracious only that are excellent in the earth; Psal. xvi. 3.

[3.] This alone makes any truly useful unto others; and that either for preservation or prosperity.

1st. Here lies the preservation of any nation from ruin. ́Isa. lxv. 8, 9. Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.' This is the blessing in the cluster, the hidden and secret blessing, for the sake whereof, the whole is not destroyed. The remnant left by the Lord of hosts, Isa. i. 9. that keeps the whole from being as Sodom or Gomorrah. If Elisha, a servant of the Lord, told the king of Israel in his distress, that if he had not regarded the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, he would not so much as have spoken to him; how much more will the Lord himself let a people know in their distress, that were it not for the regard he hath to his secret ones, he would not take the least notice, as to relief, of them or their concernments? Sodom could not be destroyed until Lot was deli

or things, which their various contexture in our public affairs may possibly have raised in them. I know how vain, for the most part, expectations of prevailing in such a desire, by naked requests are. But sick men must be groaning, though they look for no relief thereby. Wherefore committing it into that hand, wherein lie also your hearts and mine, I shall commend it for your use unto the sovereign grace of him, who is able to work all your present works for you, and which is more, to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. So prays,

Your servant in the work of

Our Lord Jesus Christ, and his gospel,
JOHN OWEN.

SERMON XIV.

Upon all the glory shall be a defence.—Isa. iv. 5.

THE HE design of this chapter is to give in relief against outward perplexing extremities from gospel promises, and the presence of Christ with his people in those extremities. The next intendment of the words in the type, seems to relate to the deliverance of the people of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the presence of God amongst them upon their return; God frequently taking occasion from thence, to mind them of the covenant of grace, with the full ratification and publication of it by Christ, as is evident from Jer. xxxi. and xxxii. and sundry other places.

As to our purpose, we have considerable in the chapter: The persons to whom these promises are given; the condition wherein they were; and the promises themselves that are made to them for their supportment and consolation.

First, The persons intended are the remnant, the escaping, the 'evasion of Israel,' as the word signifies, ver. 2. they that are left, that remain, ver. 3. who escape the great desolation that was to come on the body of the people, the furnace they were to pass through. Only in the close of that verse, they have a farther description added of them, from the purpose of God concerning their grace and glory; they are written among the living, or rather written unto life; 'every one that is written,' that is, designed unto life in Jerusalem.

As to the persons in themselves considered, the application is easy unto this assembly: Are you not the remnant, the escaping of England? Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Are you not they that are left, they that remain from great trials and desolations? The Lord grant that the application may hold out, and abide to the end of the prophecy.

Secondly, The condition that this remnant, or escaping had been in, is laid down in some figurative expressions concerning the smallness of this remnant, or the paucity of them that should escape, and the greatness of the extremities they should be exercised withal. I cannot insist on parti