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"yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your "own selves; know ye not your own selves, how that "Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates," 2 Cor. xiii. 5. I speak not these things to admonish any minister of his duty, for I am not a teacher of God's teachers. Those whom the Holy Spirit hath put into the ministry, are well instructed in the duties of their calling. I rather speak these things, that my fellow lay-men may have clear, sound scriptural views of the arduous nature of the ministry, and may be filled with affection, and all due obedience towards their pastors, remembering the kind admonition which Paul hath given to pastors and people; to the latter, "We beseech you, bre"thren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish 'you; and to esteem them very highly in lave for their works sake ;" and to the former, “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are un66 ruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the "weak, be patient towards all men," 1 Thess. v. 12, 13 and 14. But I must briefly observe, 2dly. That God the Father is honored in the reception of Christ, as Christ hath himself said, "He that re"ceiveth me, receiveth him that sent me."

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Many have argued it as a proof of Christ's humility, that he gives more honor to God the Father than he takes to himself. But why have they cōmplimented him thus? Because they considered it indeed a proof of extraordinary humility? Nay ra

ther, but because they dared from this to deny the Essential Divinity of our adorable Lord. If Christ were not a divine character, little praise would be due to his humility; for many men of probity and virtue, possess that sterling honesty and ingenuousness of heart, that they can by no means stand easy on the pinnacle of another's greatness: and if he be a divine character, then how shall we account for this? Not surely as a denial of divinity, but as a declaration, that in his mediatorial and human natures only, and not in his divine, he is inferior to the Father as to any degree of divinity. The humility of Christ is voluntary, but with it, is connected the greatest good; yea without it no good can accrue to mau ; did he condescend to humble himself to the dignity of a man? it was to raise us to the enjoyments and privileges of the Sons of God. Did he submit to sorrow, punishment, and pain; to desertion from men, from angels, and from God? It was to prove that we deserved all these, yet that he suffered them instead of his people. But what doth the Father say of his Son? "When he bringeth in the first

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begotten into the world, he saith, And let the

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angels of God worship him," Heb. i. 6. Is this a mere let, a mere suffer this to be so, if angels will be willing to pay the homage? Nay-for lo, it is spoken in the imperative mood; a sovereign commandment couched indeed in terms of mildness and-love, because those bright spirits delight to adore the Lord Christ, and execute his commission

Now

among the various orders of his creatures.

we know of no intermediate creatures, between angels and the great God. If then angels think it not beneath their dignity to bow before Christ, to cover their faces with their wings as they approach his throne, and to " Sing the song of Moses the servant "of God," (that eminent type of Christ)" and the

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song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvellous "are thy works, Lord God almighty; just and "true are thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev. xv. 3. Shall God's people, inferior in dignity to Christ, refuse to pay due homage to their king? It is true, fallen augels rebelled against Christ, and rebelling fell; but will his people chuse the part, the lot, the rebellion, the punishment, the rage, the torment of devils and damned spirits, in preference to the glorious liberty of adoring Christ Jesus, and worshipping eternally before his throne?

Now if God said to the bright spirits above, let all the angels worship him; what saith he to man? Doth he say, hate him; persecute him; reject him, crucify him? Nay, rather, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Matt. xvii. 5. and for substance, Mark ix. 7. And why did God the Father claim such honour to be paid to Christ? first, because he poured upon Christ the unction of the spirit, for" Lo! the heavens were "opened unto him; and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." Matt. iii. 16, and 2d. because it was declared,

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well

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pleased." ibid ver. 17. Now a son, an only son, a well-beloved son is heir to his father's possessions. The possessions of God are divinity, eternity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, love, justice, and plenitude of Grace, with other adorable attributes, too numerous to be mentioned; perhaps too numerous to be ever known or fathomed to all eternity by any creature. But as God is an eternal spirit, so (to speak with the greatest reverence) hè can never die. Hence, if Christ possesseth an inheritance, it must be (to speak after our poor language) in his father's life time. But Christ is now possessing his inheritance, given him by promise, sealed to him by the Spirit, and above all meritoriously earned by his own blood: for in the eternal decree of God, the grant runs thus: "Thou art "my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of "me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine "inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the "earth, for thy possession. Thou shalt break “them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them "in pieces like a potter's vessel." And oh, may we be enabled to take counsel of the Holy Spirit, speaking through the words of the royal Psalmist," Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: "be instructed, ye judges of the earth; serve the "Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. "Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish "from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a

"little. Blessed are all they

"in him." Psalm ii. 7 to 12.

that put

their trust

18th. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. John xiii. 21.

Treachery in any cause deserves the most decided reprobation and abhorrence; nor does it unfrequently bring down deserved vengeance on its author's head. Thus, when one presented a brazen bull in friendship to the tyrant of Syracuse, that he might more ingeniously practise refined species of torture, the tyrant received it, but threw in the inventor, and having heated it, caused him to be the first sufferer by his own invention. But more awful is the fall of the person now before us; the traitor Judas stands not the mark of an earthly tyrant's vengeance, who at most, could only destroy his body, but the sad object of divine wrath, he dies not by the merciless hand of a merciless tyrant, but by that greatest tyrant to all true lasting spiritual peace, a heart desperately wicked, and as such, left of God to fill up the measure of his crimes; for " he departed, and "went and hanged himself." Matt. xxvii. 5. The apostles notice this in the Acts, and relate the event of Judas' fall. "Men, and brethren, this scrip"ture must needs have been fulfilled, which the

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Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake be"fore concerning Judas, which was guide to them "that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us,

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