But Christ? The Deity in him provided a communicable fulness, though this created nature never subsisted apart from the divine person, or there would be two persons, as well as two natures. agreeable to eternal counsels, this divine person took into personal union with himself, created nature, which was the first of all God's works. And the names of Father, Son, and Spirit were worn to this grand end, and which is the greatest of all God's works. The union of the two natures in one person, this is heaven's masterpiece. All that Deity could communicate to creatures, or meant to bestow to intellectual beings, all centered in this adorable person, now our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But God never designed his glory should be confined to the glory man, but run out through him to millions of millions of created spirits, who should be partakers with him of the grace or favour of Jehovah in him, through all eternity to come. Angels, and archangels, cherubims, and seraphims, have their bliss from him, who was, and is, and is to come, Jehovah Jesus. For he is the fulness that filleth all in all. God to shew there was none like the God-man in creation, either angelic or human, withheld his support from them, (morally considered) and they necessarily fell off into transgression, but the God-man remained immutable, being personally considered, Jehovah; and so was a proper Head to represent all the beloved of God, angels or men. For the three in one, determined in sovereignty, to uphold by grace, the angelic hosts who were viewed in the Son of God, and were upheld in him as their covenant Head; while those who kept not their first estate, were handed over to punitive justice, to be punished according to the demerit of their crime. The church of God, also, stood fast in their glory Head, being viewed in him, and beheld in the personal glories and dignities of the God-man, as the husband of the spouse, the Lamb's wife; and when in Adam their head, they fell into sin and degradation, the relationship with Christ could not be dissolved; for having married his church, he took her for better for worse, and was determined to share alike with his bride, and so eventually came down into her condition, sin only excepted. He was born of a virgin, made under the law, that he might redeem his people from the curse of the law; and having satisfied divine justice, by fulfilling the precept, and bearing the penalty, he cried with a loud voice," It is finished!" and he then went up where he was before. He did all this for a peculiar people only; namely, the election of grace. This election of grace are the objects of eternal favour, who were chosen out of the pure mass of creatureship in the mind and will of God, eternally so, predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of his grace, who made them accepted in the Beloved. They were interested in him in his primeval glory, and viewed in his personal excellencies then, as the God-man, ages of ages, for ought I know, before he came after them here below. The union subsisting betwixt Christ and his church was such, that nothing could separate; nor sin, nor death, nor hell. "For having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.” "He is of one mind, and none can turn him." Blessings for ever on his name. Glory eternal crown his brow. Supercreation grace, then, brought Jesus below; his righteousness wrought out under law here, certainly justifies the church of God from all charges of law, for he fulfilled the law, and made it everlastingly honourable. He went to the end of it, and in so doing, he met the approbation of heaven ;-" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus;" the law being satisfied, justice has no more claims. But I do not think this gives a title to heaven; but the heavenly relationship, the conjugal union, in supralapsarian grace, this gives the plea for admission into the kingdom and glory of our Lord. For a deliverance from captivity only would never reinstate or give a right to an inheritance, unless some further claim could be supported; not but the righteousness of Christ is meritorious to that degree that no future demand can be made by law; for God is just, while he justifies the believer in the righteousness of Christ. But the best robe is what the church will wear when the mediatorial throne shall be given up, and God be all in all. Then the church will have been brought up to her original standing, as angels are; and who can tell whether angels or men will sound the highest note of praise then. "O might I bear some humble part, In that immortal song; Wonder and joy shall fill my heart, Fearful I should be tedious, I break off the subject at present; but if these thoughts be deemed worthy insertion, shall endeavour to continue them at a future period. Grafton Street, Dec. 14, 1829' FRAGMENT. A. B. In all matters of pleasure and joy, the more the union is, the more is the delight. The presence of a friend yields more content than the absence, and the embraces more than the presence: so in outward delights, those of incorporation are more than those of adhesion; as it is more natural to delight in our meat, than in our garments, the one being inward union to increase our strength, the other outward, and only to protect it. This is evident in spiritual joys and pleasures, which arise from union with Christ and the truths of the gospel, which are more united to our souls by faith, than by sense, and have an answerable joy, 1 Pet. i. 8. Our union with Him and his truth here, is, that our joy may be full; but our union not being so close, our joy is not so full as it will be hereafter; here our Master's joy enters into us, but then we shall enter into it, where our souls will enjoy a fulness to all eternity. ORIGINAL ESSAYS. LXI. THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER DELINEATED UPON EVANGELICAL PRINCIPLES. THE SECOND ESSAY. WHEN God plants a man in a spiritual state of being, he then separates him for ever from the spirit and doom of the world. Every real christian is clothed with a character that is drawn out of the internal sanctity of heart which he possesses, as a member of the mystical body of Christ. It would be exceedingly singular, if after such an important change of state as that which took place when he was called out of darkness into marvellous light, if he should remain the same man in his public walk or connection in life, as he was prior to it. However the good man may be conceived of by his neighbours and his relations, he is certainly a far better man than he was before in the sight of God, angels, and good men. Indeed he himself is not ignorant that there is something within and upon him that he never deserved, and for which he cannot be sufficiently grateful to Almighty God. Having received through faith the righteousness of Christ for justification, and being a partaker of holiness, he cheerfully ascribes the honour of his complete salvation alone to divine favour. From the first moment when divine light dawns upon the guilty sinner's mind, until the day when he will see Christ in unclouded vision, there is an eternal separation takes place between him and the men of this world. The interest that it hath pleased Almighty God to confer upon him in his love, is revealed to him in regeneration; and, by effectual calling, he is separated from the world, and he practically exhibits the fact, that the holy alliance subsisting between the great Head of the church and his person, is not earthly, but heavenly; and as it is divine in its origin, so also it is spiritual in its nature and tendency, and endless in its duration. No one can have a sovereign and indefeasible right in the creatures, but God alone; and as man never had a private right to dispose of himself agreeably with the notion now so prevalent in the world, but was always subject to the command of his Maker, so no one can have a supreme claim upon the saints, but Jehovah alone. The perfection, independency, sovereignty, and justice of God, are peculiarly seen in the election and redemption of the church in and by his Son Christ Jesus, so also they are made known to his favoured children when they are brought near to himself to partake of the Spirit of adoption. This relationship to God is the most near, and at the same time the most honourable that he has constituted. We are expressly taught that we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Whatever is the nature of that patrimony that the Father gave to Christ, as " heir of all things," and "head of the church," it was not given to him as a private person, but it was conferred upon him as the Lord of the supernatural world, and to his members in him; for he hath received authority or power "to give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him ;" and it is as Lord of Zion that he exercises such power and authority. If then it is true that we stand upon the same principle of grace or love as our holy head Christ Jesus does, what a wonderful Father is God to us, and to what dignity hath he elevated us. This consideration that our alliance to the person of the Son of God is not of an earthly but a heavenly kind, is supporting to the mind, nourishes hope, kindles the affections, purifies the heart, and kills sin. The men of the world form a very wrong opinion of godly people; we are judged by them to be a pest to society, and that we disturb the order of families, and sow discord wherever we go. It is very singular, that these people will not allow God to do what he will with his own; but he will never ask leave of his frail creatures who he shall take to heaven, nor will he beg permission of them when he shall take from amongst men the objects of his choice, and bring them into his fold. If when God enters a family to effect his own purpose of grace by sanctifying one or more persons in that family, the marvellous grace displayed to such persons should become the innocent occasion of breaking the peace that existed there before, it is not that there is any direct tendency in the grace manifested to produce such an effect, but the line of distinction between nature and grace is so conspicuous, that the enmity of heart in those who are unrenewed, which before in this form of its operation laid dormant, is now publicly roused into activity, and it opposes the will of God, and detests his image, as it is seen in his dear children. There is nothing of this kind that takes place in our day, but what has been done in ten thousand instances in ages long since gone by. When God was pleased to accept the person of Abel, and the offering which he carried to him, because Cain did not stand in the same relation to God as Abel did, neither his person nor service was approved. This was the innocent occasion to excite his enmity against his righteous brother, and he arose and slew him. How awful is the enmity of the human heart against God. The favoured subjects of the Redeemer's kingdom are not only ransomed from death by his invaluable sacrifice, but what he did for them is wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Here we perceive what is the will of God concerning of us. The relationship hinted at above must be kept in view, for as the church in Christ is differently thought of by God, so is she distinctly cared for from the rest of the world, and he has made provision for her accordingly; God having graciously chosen her for his own heritage, he has also determined that she shall not live like his enemies, but she should bear the image of the King of saints, and be acknowledged before him amongst the sons of men. It is well known that the children of the king of this realm possess nobler blood and inherit greater dignity than any other persons in this country; and it is not less true in the spiritual world, that the children of the KING of kings are elevated by him to a dignity and glory that none else will possess. Seeing, then, that these things are so, what wisdom has God shewn in the methods which he has adopted to raise them to possess spiritual purity through Jesus Christ his Son. The power of the Spirit has ever been employed through the mystery of redemption, to impart heavenly purity to the saints. It is grace, rich, and free, that turns away the heart from the love of vice, and disposes any man to detest his own unrighteous character, and heartily to love his Maker's. It is no small favour that is revealed to men, when the yoke they natively love is broken, and the weight of it is grievous and intolerable. For any man to resign the love of this present world it is wholly a supernatural action. There are many who talk about it, but the christian man alone resigns upon principle the spirit of it. Since it required a supernatural visitor to acquaint Lot of the destruction of Sodom, and to take him out from that wicked city, we are not to suppose that any natural man can cease to love the world. Let grace be for ever honoured for accomplishing the determination of God, through the atoning sacrifice of Calvary. When the christian man publicly resigns the love of this present evil world, he does not do it to make an ostentatious shew of himself, nor with that sour spirit with which many an ascetic has left the world for a mountain, a cell, or a cave. No.; he is taught the evil spirit of it, and he is assured that it cannot afford the pleasure which it promises; he discerns the sinfulness and imperfection of the principles, the best principles, which it can bestow upon its most devoted lovers. When in unveiled beauty we see the face of God in the mirror of truth, we immediately feel the heart divorced from the love of the world, however fondly it may have been cherished before by us. A sight of Christ crucified for sin will more effectually withdraw the affections from things that are naturally evil, than any thing else can possibly do. I have long since been brought to a decision upon this important point; for when first I saw and felt something different to what I had before seen and felt, I determined, if possible, to emancipate myself from the principle that governed my bosom, and controlled all my actions. "But as soon can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots, as those who have done evil learn |