: 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 juftice, 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 least 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, crush you foul and body, down, down, down, to the more horrible pit of anguish and defpair. Did Jehovah, the Father, not fo much as fpare his own Son, when acting as a common perfon, but pour out his wrath to the uttermost 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 ftate, guilt and danger? fo far from being a promifing 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. HE Father's inclining unto the Man Christ 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 lovest 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 flesh; it was, once and again, proclaimed from the excellent glory, That Jefus Chrift was his beloved Son, Matth. iii. 17.-xvii. 5. As the Father loved, fo, of course, he honoured him, and honoured him by bearing fuch witnefs 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, ministry and miracles; fo they contributed much toward his authority being established, his report believed, and his caufe efpoused. "If I honour myfelf (faid he to the Pha"rifees) my honour is nothing, it is my Father "that honoureth me, of whom ye fay that he is "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 fteps of his humiliation, in all the different periods of his fufferings; and did fo as a 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 verfe 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, concerning 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 first, 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 these Old Testament paffages, to this New Teftament occurrence; for the evangelift exprefsly informs us, "Thefe things were done, that the fcripture "should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall 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 harmlefs, 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, so 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 "fhall give his angels charge over thee, (faid the "pfalmift) to keep thee in all thy ways; they shall "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 Chrift, 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, required. 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 pleafed with his fervice; with the difcharge 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 apoftle has affured 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 Sa viour. SE C. T. II. The Father not only inclined unto the Man Christ, 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 |