Page images
PDF
EPUB

We proceed now to his works. Certainly, the Son himself informs us how perfectly he reprefents the Father in this refpect; faying in general, that what things foever HE doeth, thefe alfo doeth the Son likewife. The Father created the univerfe: the Son laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of his hands. AH things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.-The Father preferveth the world by his providence: The Son uphoideth all things by the word of his power. -The Father hath fet up the princes and magiftrates, who hold authority amongst men; all the powers that be are ordained of God: "Tis by the Son that kings reign, and princes decree juftice.— The Father faved and redeemed the Church: The Son is our righteousness, our wifdem, our redemption.-The Father hath elected us; fo likelike hath the Son. I know (faith He) whom I have chofen.-The Father loved us, and delivered up his Son to death for us: The Son gave himfelf a ranfom for our fins.-If the Father raised up the Son; the Son alfo raifed again his own temple, when the fury of the Jews had beaten. it down. If the Father quicken the dead; even fo the Son quickeneth whom he will:—and the laft judgment, the punishment of the wicked in hell, the glory of the faithful in heaven, and whatever refers to it, all is the work both of the one and of the other. It is the fame with all the actions and operations of the Divine Nature if we read the fcriptures with attention, we shall not fee any of them attributed to the Father, which are not likewife afcribed to the Son. And as for that right, and fovereign authority over all things, which accrueth unto God from these transcendently great qualities and ope

rations;

rations; this glory alfo fhineth in the perfon of the Son, as it doth in the person of the Father. If the Father be the judge of the earth, king of ages, and monarch of the world; the Son is, in like manner, the Lord of glory; the head of the armies in heaven; the prince of men and an-gels; the judge of all flefh. If the name of the Father be great and dreadful; that of the Son is above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. If all creatures, fuperior and inferior, owe supreme homage to the Father, and caft themselves down before Him, adoring his majefty with the profoundest reverence of which they are capable; fo it is clear, that before Jefus every knee fhall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; the Father himfelf prcclaiming, when He bringeth him into the world, Let all the Angels of God worship Him.·

Thus ye fee, dear brethren, that the Lord Jefus is truly the image of his Father, fince he poffeffes, and perfectly difcovers in himself, the nature, the properties, and the works of the Father-an admirable, a fingular, a truly Divineimage; poffeffing the whole form of its original, without any variation; faithfully and naturally reprefenting all its features in their true and juft greatnefs, measure, and nature. It is confeffed, there are among men, fons that bear fome refemblance to their Fathers: but there are none, in whom fuch refemblance is comparable with that of the Son of God to his Eternal Father. If our Sons reprefent our nature and manners, it is always with fome difference, which a clearfighted eye will eafily obferve; and after all, there are none who entirely exprefs the lives of their fathers, with every one of their actions K 3

and

and operations; fo that this relationship has furnished our illuftration of a perfect image, only by comparison, and for want of a better. Whereas the Son of God is a complete image both of the nature and the acts of his Father; all the works of the one, whether small or great, (if we may fo fpeak on these lofty subjects) being also the works of the other: and fince it is in Him that God manifefteth himself to us, it becomes us to have Him ever before our eyes, and to feek the true knowledge of God in Him alone, for there we fhall fee HIM as he is.

But fhall this view of the Divine glory be idle and fpeculative? It must not, it cannot be. God doth not fet before us this full-wrought table of his perfections, exhibited to the life in his Christ, that we should unprofitably feed our eyes therewith; but that we should imitate him, each according to the ability given him; fhould exprefs in our fouls fome draughts of that perfect goodness and fanctity, which shine fo gloriously in him; and become every one of us, progreffively, a pure and lively image of our Lord. Confider how he was obedient to the Father, charitable to men, lending help to the afflicted, compaffionate to finners, mild and kind to enemies. THERE is, Chriftian, the pattern of your life. Follow these facred examples. Serve God, like him; patiently bearing all that he layeth on you, marching courageoufly where he calleth you. Love men, as he loved them; chearfully employing all that you are, or can do, for their edification; communicating your goods to the poor, your light to the ignorant, your affiftance to the oppreffed. Let not their evil withhold you from being good. If they offend you, pardon them, and pray for them. Be of

one

one mind with the Lord, who faid, they know not what they do. Be not irritated by their malice, nor feduced by their flattery, so as to be turned afide from the duties which ye owe them. Finally, dread not the hatred of men, nor the powers of this world. Let us not disturb the work of his grace by fears and diffidence; but affured of his infinite goodnefs and power, let us rely on his promises, and rest upon his good providence, quietly and comfortably to finish this short journey which we have begun; waiting till this holy and merciful Lord, after having afforded us guidance and confolation in this defert, fhall raise us up on high to the mountain of his holiness; where at a distance from evils, from dangers, and from fears, we fhall glorify him eternally, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the true and only God, blessed for ever.

WE prefent to our readers the following communication which we have just received. We think it needlefs to folicit for it a good reception. Let it speak for itself. But this we must say, that we should rejoice to receive future and frequent. favors from the fame quarter. EDITORS..

ON PERFECTION.

1 JOHN iii. 6.

Whofoever abideth in him, finneth not; whosoever finneth, hath not seen him, neither known him. ABUNDANT and diverfified are the testimonies of God's word, that Jefus Chrift alone,

is the object of divine complacence, and the only one, among men, to whom he has given unqualified approbation; This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleafed. As this declaration, completely strips men of all ground of boasting in themselves, so it graciously opens a door of hope, to the moft guilty; for God FULLY PLEASED, was in Chrift Jefus, reconciling the world to himfelf; and he made Him, who knew no fin, to be fin for us, that we might be made the righteousnefs of God in him. In the Gofpel, this precious truth is exhibited, and by this truth, the Eternal Spirit produces in the heart, that faith which is connected with falvation, and accompanied by thofe fruits of righteousness, which abound in the believer, to the glory of God. The fame grace which thus difcovers a righteoufnefs to truft in, even that one obedience revealed in the Gospel, muft in the very nature of things, engage our heart and attach our affections to the commandments of that law, of which it is fo glorious fo complete a fulfilment. But then, if this testimony were admitted, there would be nothing left to encourage the efforts of pride, or vigorous ftrivings of self-sufficiency; this would fink all into the common line of condemnation in themselves, and fhut them up to the neceffity of obeying the divine injunction, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the

Lord.

A wilful rejection of this truth and its confequences, has led many to avow the fentiment, and profefs the attainment of that, which denominates this paper. One of them once told me, "on the fifteenth day of August, nine years ago, on a Sabbath-day, about three o'clock in "the afternoon, fix weeks after I was justified,

་་

"when

« PreviousContinue »