dise and glory. The world accounts the proud happy, and honours the covetous if they be prosperous. But true honour cometh from God. They who are partakers of the faith and hope of the Gospel, and have interest in the precious promises, are indeed the rich, the happy, the excellent of the earth, however they may be unnoticed or despised by their fellow-creatures. The honour of places likewise is to be considered in this light. Bethlehem, though but of little note among the thousands of Judah, was rendered more illustrious by the birth of MESSIAH, than Babylon or Rome. The Galileans were held in contempt by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as a mean and provincial people; but the places in Galilee, which our Lord frequently visited, or where he sometimes resided, are spoken of as exalted unto heaven, by the honour and privilege of his presence, though some of them were no more than fishing towns. And so at this day, if we have spiritual discernment, we shall judge, that a little village, where the Gospel is known, prized, and adorned by a suitable conversation, has a dignity and importance far preferable to all the parade of a wealthy metropolis, if destitute of the like privileges.

On the contrary, "Every mountain and hill shall "be brought low." MESSIAH came to pour contempt on all human glory. He detected the wickedness, and confounded the pride of the Scribes, and Pharisees, and rulers; and made it appear, that what is highly esteemed among men, ro inλov, the summit of their boasted excellency, is worthless, yea, abomination in the sight of God.* And by living himself in a state of poverty, and associating chiefly with poor people, he placed the

* Luke, xvi. 15.

vanity of the distinctions and affluence which mankind generally admire and envy, in the most striking and humiliating light. Such likewise was and will be the effect of his Gospel. When faithfully preached, it is found mighty, through God, to the pulling down strong holds, high thoughts, and every species of self-exaltation. When the convincing word touches the heart, it has an effect like the hand-writing which Belshazzar saw upon the wall.* In that day the lofty looks of man are humbled, and his haughtiness bowed down;† he dares no longer plead the goodness of his heart, or trust to the work of his hands. A sense of forgiveness and acceptance through the Beloved, received by faith in his atonement, lays him still lower; he now renounces as loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord, all that he once esteemed his gain, and is glad that he has nothing to trust or glory in but the cross.‡ Farther, every mountain that opposes the kingdom of MESSIAH, in due time must sink into a plain ;§ though the nations rage, and the rulers take counsel together, he who sitteth in the heavens will support and maintain his own work, and all their power and policy shall fall before it.

"The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth." He came to rectify the perverse disposition of the hearts of men, to soften and subdue their obstinate spirits, and to form to himself a willing people in the day of his power. The Jewish teachers, by their traditions and willworship, had given an apparent obliquity to the straight and perfect rule of the law of God, and deformed the beauties of holiness, binding heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, upon the con

* Dan. v. 6. † Isa. ii. 11. † Phil. iii. 7, 8. § Zech. iv. 7.

science; but he vindicated the law from their corrupt glosses, and made the path of obedience plain, practicable, and pleasant.

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"Thus the glory of the Lord was revealed." Not to every eye; many prejudiced by his outward appearance, and by the low mistaken views the Jews indulged of the office and kingdom of the MESSIAH whom they expected, could see no form or excellence in him, that they should desire him; but his disciples could say, "We beheld his 'glory." He spake with authority. His word was with power. He controlled the elements, he raised the dead. He knew, and revealed, and judged the thoughts of men's hearts. He forgave sin, and thus exercised the rights, and displayed the perfections, of divine sovereignty in his own person. But the prophecy looks forward to future times. After his ascension he filled his apostles and disciples with light and power, and sent them forth in all directions to proclaim his love and grace to a sinful world. Then the glory of the Lord was revealed, and spread from one kingdom to another people. We still wait for the full accomplishment of this promise, and expect a time when the whole earth shall be filled with his glory; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. It is to the power of his word that we owe the continuance of day and night, and the regular return of the seasons of the year. But these appointments are only for a limited term; the hour is coming, when the frame of nature shall be dissolved. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but not a jot or tittle of what he hath declared concerning his kingdom of grace shall fail, till the whole be fulfilled.

Those of you who have heard the Messiah will

* John, i. 14.

do well to recollect, whether you were affected by such thoughts as these while this passage was performed; or whether you were only captivated by the music, and paid no more regard to the words than if they had no meaning. They are, however, the great truths of God. May they engage your serious attention, now they are thus set before you!

SERMON III.

THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.

HAGGAI, ii. 6, 7.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

GOD shook the earth when he proclaimed his law to Israel from Sinai. The description, though very simple, presents to our thoughts a scene unspeakably najestic, grand, and awful. The mountain was in flames at the top, and trembled to its basis.* Dark clouds, thunderings, and lightnings, filled the air. The hearts of the people, of the whole people, trembled likewise; and even Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake. Then, as the apostle, referring to this passage, observes, The voice of the Lord shook the earth. But the prophet here speaks of another, a greater, a more important, and extensive concussion. Yet, once a + Heb. xii. 26.

* Exod. xix. 16-19.

little while, and I will shake, not the earth only, but the heavens.

If we really believe that the Scriptures are true, that the prophecies were delivered by holy men, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and that they shall all be certainly fulfilled; how studious should we be to attain a right understanding of passages and events, in which we are so nearly interested, that our hearts may be duly affected by them? But, alas! experience and observation strongly confirm the remark of the poet,

Men are but children of a larger growth.

If you put a telescope into the hands of a child, he will probably admire the outside, especially if it be finely ornamented. But the use of it, in giving a more distinct view of distant objects, is what the child has no conception of. The music of the Messiah is but an ornament of the words, which have a very weighty sense. This sense no music can explain, and when rightly understood, will have such an effect as no music can produce. That the music of the Messiah has a great effect in its own kind, I can easily believe. The ancients, to describe the power of the music of Orpheus, pretend, that when he played upon his harp, the wild beasts thronged around him to listen, and seemed to forget their natural fierceness. Such expressions are figurative, and designed to intimate, that by his address and instructions, he civilized men of fierce and savage dispositions. But if we were to allow the account to be true in the literal sense, I should still suppose that the wild beasts were affected by his music only while they heard it, and that it did not actually change their natures, and render lions and