SER M. In This sense it is, that St James ufes the XVII. word, when he ftiles the Gospel the per fect Law of Liberty, Jam. i. 25. And by This is easy to be understood That otherwife difficult expreffion of St Paul, Rom. viii. 15. Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to Fear, but ye bave received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; The meaning is, we have Now, through the reconciliation of Christ, free Accefs to God, not as Servants to a ftrict Mafter, but as Sons to a merciful and compaffionate Father. Which reconciliation itself, ought nevertheless to be always carefully fo underftood, not as if God was in Himself fevere and cruel before the interpofition of Chrift; but that God, of his own original and eternal Goodness, freely provided for us That reconciliation through Chrift, which his infinite Wisdom judged to be the properest Method of extending his Compaffion to us. Laftly, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty; not only from the Terrour of past Sins, thro' the Redemption of Chrift; but alfo Liberty from the Power and and Dominion of Sin for the time to come, SER M. thro' the affistance of his Spirit. In This XVII. sense our Saviour ufes the word, St Joh. viii. 36. If the Son (fays he) fhall make you free, ye shall be free indeed; free, in opposition to what is expreffed in the 34th verfe, Servants of Sin. St Paul in like manner, Rom. viii. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Chrift Jefus, hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death; free, from the Slavery and Dominion of Wickednefs; delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. THE words next following in the Text, But we all with open Face, are not to be understood by way of oppofition to what went before; For That takes away the Clearness of the Sense: But the Connexion is, by way of explication of, or Inference from, the words immediately foregoing: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, where the Gospel prevails effectually, There is Liberty; And We all,or, And therefore we all, all true Chriftians, do with open Face, not thro' an obscure Veil as the Jews, but with open face behold the glory of the Lord. THE SERM. THE phrafe, with open Face, fignifies XVII. as much as, clearly, plainly, and diftinctly; not in types and fhadows, not in obfcure glympfes and faint reprefentations, not in remote hints and distant prospects; but with a full and direct view, an immediate intuition as of the Subftance and reality of things present and actually before us. We behold the mystery of God in Christ, not as the children of Ifrael saw the brightness of Mofes's countenance thro' the Veil, (which is what the Apostle here alludes to ;) but with open face, as Mofes bimfelf is described to have seen the Lord: Exod. xxxiii. 11. The Lord fpake unto Mofes face to face, as a man speaketh unto his Friend: And Num. xii. 8. With Him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark Speeches; and the fimilitude of the Lord shall be behold. Thus to Us Chriftians, the Mystery of God's reconciliation to Sinners by the Method of the Gofpel, the Riches of the glory of this mystery (as St Paul stiles it,) Col. i. 27. even the mystery which had been hid from Ages and from Generations; is now made plain and manifeft: so plain and open, as to to be called by way of Eminence, 2 Cor. S ER M. iv. 2. The Manifestation of the Truth. WE all, with open Face, beholding the Glory of the Lord: That these words, the Glory of the Lord, are to be underftood, not in the literal, but in a figurative fenfe, to fignify the clear and glorious manifeftation of the Will of God by the Gofpel; is evident, as from the whole connexion of the Apostle's difcourse in this place, fo from the many other paffages of Scripture, wherein the Gospel is ftiled in like manner the riches of God's Glory, Rom. ix. 23. the riches of the Glory of this mystery, Col. i. 27. the Glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth, Joh. i. 14. the Light of the glorious Gospel of Chrift, who is the Image of God, 2 Cor. iv. 4. and ver. 6, the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God, Shining in our Heart. The words of that whole verfe, are very remarkable; God, who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness, (that is, who manifested his Glory originally in the firft Creation of Things,) the fame God hath shined in VOL. V. D d our XVII. SERM. our hearts, (has manifested his Glory XVII. the fecond time no lefs confpicuously in our redemption;) hath shined in our hearts, to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Beholding, as in a Glafs, the Glory of the Lord. That which he hereby intended to exprefs, is, that in Chrift, who is the Image of the invifible God, and the Great Revealer of his Will, we clearly and plainly behold the whole pleasure of God towards us. For, the Father, no man bath feen at any time; no man hath feen, nor can fee; but the only-begotten Son, which is in his Bofom, He has declared him; and has declared him fo plainly, that he who has feen me, faith our Saviour, has Seen the Father, Joh. xiv. 9. There is a phrafe, very like to This in the Text, used |