covenant as profelytes of the Gentiles, but by the special grace of God.

The Apostle, having thus eftablished the dignity of that Person whom he styles the Word, proceeds to declare the manner of his appearance in the world. That he might more effectually accomplish the work of grace and peace to men, The Word was made Flefh. Notwithstanding the dignity of his nature, he did not confine himself to the feat of happinefs in heaven; nor was he fatisfied to be present with us merely in spirit; but he condescended to visit us in person; and, that he might answer the great purposes of divine counfels, he was pleased to affume our nature, and to fojourn among us in a human form.

Of this Incarnation prophetic notices had been vouchfafed from earliest times. Το cheer our firft Parents in the midft of their defpondence on finding fin and death through their tranfgreffion introduced into the world, it was gracioufly fignified, that the Woman's Progeny fhould bruife the Serpent's head. And in the long feries of continued revelation the fame great mystery of godliness was foretold, under the feveral circumftances of the Nativity, the Time, the Place, the Family, and the Parent.

d John i. 10-13,

e Gen. iii. 15.

His Nativity itself is thus declared by Isaiah the great Prophet of the Gospel, together with thofe titles which diftinguished him above the moft exalted of the earth; "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given. And the government fhall be upon his thoulder; and his name fhall be called, Wonderful, Counfellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace'." The Time was marked in the dying prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob; which declared, that the fceptre fhould not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh," or the Perfon fent, "fhould come .' The Place had been exprefsly fignified by the Prophet Micah; " And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall come a Ruler, who fhall rule my people Ifrael 1." His Lineage from the house of David was frequently implied, and occafionally expreffed, in the Pfalms and in the Prophets. Thus Ifaiah fignified; " And there fhall come forth a Rod out of the ftem of Jeffe, and a Branch fhall grow out of his And the Spirit of the Lord fhall rest

roots.

f Ifa. ix. 6.

h Micah v. 2.

g Gen. xlix, IO.

upon

upon him." fied his fupernatural Parentage; "Behold, a Virgin fhall conceive and bear a Son; and she shall call his name Immanuel *." Though coming into the world in a human character and perfon, yet his miraculous birth should be a teftimony of his being fuperior to the fons of men.

The fame Prophet alfo figni

To exprefs this affumption of our nature the Apostle adds, He dwelt among us, xai éσxńνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν: wherein is an allufion to the manner, in which the divine presence was manifefted unto Ifrael at the first promulgation of the Law. As God fojourned of old in the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the people of Ifrael faw the glory of the Lord'; fo under the New Covenant, the Word of God fojourned in the Tabernacle of a human body, and the Apostle testified in the name of all his Brethren, And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. While he dwelt among us in a human form, his divinity was not shaded from the observation of those, who looked upon him with the eye of faith. Though he did not appear in all those terrible splendours,

which invested the Father when he delivered the Law, yet he had graces to invest him, which abundantly teftified him to the world for the brightness of his Father's glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon. This glory the Apostles beheld at his Baptism and at his Transfiguration, at both which times the Divine radiance broke upon him, and a Voice from heaven proclaimed, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed." They beheld it in his Miracles, when at his word the maladies of human nature fled; when the powers of death and hell furrendered to him their respective prifoners; when multitudes in the wilderness were fed by a few loaves and fifhes; when the winds and the feas were subject to his control. They beheld it even in the temporary fhade of his Paffion, when all Nature in agony feemed to fympathize with him, when the fun was darkened, the earth trembled, the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened; which drew this confeffion even from a Heathen Witnefs, "Truly this Man was the Son of God." They beheld it at his Resurrection, when he was declared the Son of God with power, when the earth again trembled, and Angels again came to minister unto him. They beheld it at his Afcenfion, when he was taken up from

them

revelation,

them triumphantly to heaven, to be for ever feated with his Father on his throne. Even after his afcenfion they occafionally beheld his glory communicated to them by a special Thus St. Stephen faw it at his martyrdom: St. Paul faw it at his converfion and St. John, who teftified all this, was admitted to behold him refeated on his Father's throne, and reinvested in that glory, which he partook with him before the creation of the world.

:

But the great and prominent advantage of our Saviour's ministry, when he dwelt among us in our nature, was, that he was Full of Grace and Truth. In these two effential points the Gospel far excelled the Law. For that the Apostle intended to pursue the allufion taken up before, and to mark the fuperiority of the Chriftian over the Mofaic Difpenfation, is evident from the text which fhortly follows, The Law was given by Mofes; but Grace and Truth came by Jefus Chrift. To this clause of my text, as equally defcriptive of the miffion and of the character of Chrift, our principal regard is due on this occafion. Whether considered by himself, or contrafted with the Minifter of the Legal Covenant, the Word of God was full of Grace and Truth.