science, and omnipresence: as are the daily vicissitudes of day and night, summer and winter, spring and autumn.

Our terraqueous globe on which we dwell, is poised by its own weight, and turns round as a wheel on its axis; and beside the small motion of it which causes the precession of the equinoxes, it has two great ones, viz. the one by which it turns round its own axis, in the space of twenty-four hours, or nearly, and thereby causing the continual succession of day and night; and the other, in an absolute motion of its whole mass in a large orbit round the sun, in the space of three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours, constituting the year; having that luminary for its centre in such a manner, that the axis always keeps parallel, inclined in the same angle to its path, and by that means causing the vicissitudes of seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. All which is stupendously great and wonderful. This glorious fabric, with all its contents and inhabitants, is perfectly known to Jehovah. And when he stretched out the vast expanse of the universe, and gave being to our globe, and birth to time, he had in view the God-man. In the intuitive knowledge of him, he made all things; and was pleased with the prospect of bringing in his first-begotten into the world, and commanding all his elect angels to worship him. Hence it is, he introduces the solemn contract between himself and the glorious Mediator, with an account of the display of his eternal power in the creation of heaven, earth, and man on it; to shew he could rest in none of these acts and works of his, but as he viewed them all in the person of his co-equal Son, who was to be incarnate; and as he considered them all, as created on purpose to illustrate and increase his glorious praise.

Verse 6. "I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." These words, which follow the solemn preface, in which the Lord God proclaims his absolute sovereignty over the whole creation, visible and invisible, which whilst it gives full proof of his eternal power and Godhead, yet when compared to his immensity, is less than nothing and vanity, are an address of the Father to the Son.

Jehovah the Father speaks to Jehovah the Son, as invested with and sustaining the office and character of Mediator; and are a record and memorial of their covenant transactions, and the great and grand manifesto thereof. So that the foregoing preface which is introductory to them, calls for and requires, our utmost confidence in the eternal covenant acts and transactions of the co-essential Three. And were also designed by the eternal Father as a ground of confidence, given by way of promise to the Mediator himself, that he should be upheld when the sins of all the elect should meet on him-when the curses of the broken law should be inflicted on him-when the furies of death and hell should surround him; he would then need all the support promised, and the Father would not fail to stand by and defend

"Thus saith God the Lord, he

him, and bring him off victorious. that created the heavens and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein; I; the Lord, have called thee in righteousness"-to work out and to bring in an everlasting righteousness-to bear the iniquities of my people -to sustain the utmost weight of my wrath due to the transgressions of mine elect. “And I will hold thine hand and will keep thee,” when all my vengeance due to sin shall break forth and be executed on thee. "And will give thee for a covenant of my people." In thee I will shine forth on my church, in all the meridian splendour of my love. I will bestow thee, my co-equal and co-essential Son, on my people, as the greatest expression of my love to them. I will give thee to become man, that thou mayest fulfil all my will, expressed and notified in those covenant acts which have been counselled and consented unto between us. Thou shalt be as their covenant head, and fulfiller of every part of the covenant transaction on their behalf. I will give thee with all the blessings of my love, and with all the benefits of thy free, full, complete and eternal salvation, to elect jews and gentiles. To be a light, teacher, purifier, guide, and Saviour to them. Thus the grace of the covenant is opened, and the office of Christ set forth; which is further enlarged on in the following words.

Verse 7. "To open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." As the great work which this divine Mediator was to perform in our nature, and in our world, was expressed by Jehovah the Father, "in giving Him to be a covenant for the people;" who by his obedience was to magnify the broken law, and by being made sin and a curse, was hereby to remove all the sins of his people out of the sight of law and justice, and from before the Lord for ever; so what he was to do in the souls of his people, whom he was to redeem by his most precious blood-shedding, is here most fully expressed and described. He was to open the eyes of the mind, which were shut by sin, and fast closed through it ever since the fall of the first man. He was to bring sinners, who were born, dead to God, and blind to spiritual things-who were in the prison-house under the power of sin and the devil, fast bound and fettered with the guilt, pollution, influence and strength of their sins and personal crimes, "out of prison;" and such of them too, as were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, "out of the prison-house!" This was to be, and this is, the glorious work of our incarnate God-Jesus. His ability to perform it, his love in executing it, his mercy diaplayed on such wretched objects, and his power put forth in their souls to produce these wonderful effects, will perpetuate his name and praise throughout all time, yea, even in and to the ages of eternity.

Thus we may clearly see, all which was to be done for us, and all which was to be wrought in us, springs from the grace of the ever

lasting covenant, from the free favour of the Three in Jehovah; and was engaged to be performed for us, and produced in us, by the glorious surety of this everlasting covenant, Christ Jesus.

The Father having thus sent his co-equal Son before us, with his love of him, delight in him, his call of him, his divine covenant transactions and covenant engagements with him; with an account of fitting and furnishing him with the gift of the Holy Ghost, to fill this divine Mediator with grace, that he might perform the glorious work of mediation to the everlasting honour of him who sent him ; closes with a solemn declaration of his immense and incomprehensible essence. And which is done to set the crown of crowns on the head of Jesus, the ever-blessed Messiah, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the alone Mediator.

Verse 8. "I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.' The word, LORD, or JEHOVAH, is expressive of the incommunicable nature of the Godhead. It is declarative of the self existence, immensity, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence of God; which exceeds, and will for ever exceed, the utmost conception of all his intellectual creatures. The whole universe, with all contained in it, is but as the drop of a bucket to the boundless ocean, or, as a single grain of sand to the whole creation of God; yea, less, infinitely less than this idea can possibly convey to our minds, when all in the whole, and throughout the whole universe, is viewed by Jehovah as compared with his own being, life, self-existence, blessedness, perfections, and infinity. He, as Jehovah, claims in the scripture before us, the entire right, rule, and sovereignty over all the whole empire of created nature, as his own incommunicable prerogative. He informs us, that "he delighteth in mercy." That he hath raised up a glorious Mediator, beloved, called, chosen, and qualified by him to his work and office. And declares him worthy to wear the crown, and sole royalty due to him in his office-character and capacity. He being one essentially in the unity of the self-existing essence, with himself and Spirit. "I am Jehovah," saith the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another." None shall sustain the office of being the head of the whole election of grace; of manifesting forth all my love to them; of being the foundation, center, corner-stone, beauty and lustre of the whole creation of being the medium of union and communion, between me and mine elect; of being the mediator of reconciliation; of wearing the honour and glory of being the Saviour of sinners, the conqueror of sin, Satan, the world, death, and hell-but the God-man, who is my fellow, he, and he alone, shall wear the glory of the mediatory office. "My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.'

May the Lord the Spirit raise in our minds the most exalted ideas and conceptions of the person, work, office, mêdiation, love, mercy, and fulness of the God-man, Christ Jesus. As he is the Father's

ALL, O! that he may be our all. As God had him in view when he made the world, may our views of him raise up our hearts and affections above the world. Amen. Even so be it, O Lord. Amen and Amen.

(For the Spiritual Magazine.)

RESIGNATION.

How refined and superior is that system of philosophy taught by Jesus Christ, when contrasted with that of the most accomplished sages of antiquity! What they recommended, He practised, yea, and infinitely more. That resignation upon which they dwelt with so much rapture, is far exceeded by those who live under his influence, and enjoy his instruction, who alone can teach to profit. Oh! what are the doctrines and fine-spun sophisms of Zeno, Seneca, or Epictetus, when once compared with the "gracious words" which fell from his lips who is designated most emphatically, "the only wise God our Saviour!" Come then, O ye who wish to tread the ways of wisdom, and study that system of which Jesus is the teacher: come, and regulate all your actions by his precepts, and let your lives be conformed to his.

Do we speak of christian resignation? and what is this feeling? Not that indifference so strongly advocated by those who in ancient times inscribed and dedicated their altars to the unknown God ;" not that insensibility the followers of Zeno so passionately admired and cherished; but that uncomplaining submission, that ardent love, and that divine faith, produced and nourished in the heart of the true believer, by the efficient agency of the Holy Ghost. This leaves every merely human feeling far behind, raises the soul above the influence of worldly sorrows, and enables those who are under its benign influence to adopt as their own, the language of the bereaved and impoverished patriarch, "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!"

This resignation to the arrangements of the divine will is supernatural. It is a plant that grows not in the garden of nature. Worlds cannot purchase it, and devils cannot altogether remove it. Observe yonder suffering individual: once in a situation of great prosperity he lived" as becometh the gospel of Christ," and caused the widow's heart to sing for joy; but now he is hurled from the summit of greatness, and confined in the chamber of affliction. Here he meditates on days that are past, and groans for anguish of spirit, when he remembers that all his prospects, once so fair, are ruined, that his gold and silver are exhausted, and that he must shortly leave his beloved family, where it too often appears that "friendship's nothing but a name." Their future interests pass in rapid succession before the eyes of his mind, and forgetful of himself, he is absorbed in thinking of them. In this state of distressing anxiety death approaches him, his children stand around his couch, his afflicted partner supports his

drooping head, and the tears they shed tell the anguish with which they contemplate his removal. The dying father weeps, and prays, but does not complain; the dying saint hears his voice who is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and language, the most consoling, drops from his lips: " Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widow trust in me." Now does his heart leap for joy, and now with his departing breath he says to those so dear to him, "I die; but God shall surely visit you!" Here it is that faith and resignation triumph. Here is displayed a principle derived from a divine agency, nourished by heavenly truth, and guided by scriptural rules.'

That affliction is the common lot of man, all will concede; 'God,' it has been observed, ' never had but one Son without sin, and none without sorrow.' Afflictions are common, but resignation is not common. A stoic can bear affliction, but it is the true christian that triumphs over it. A stoic can endure calamity in sullen silence, but it is the privilege of a saint to say with Paul," We glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience."

It is reasonable. Praise is comely for the upright. Are we afflicted? are we ready to say, "all thy waves and thy billows go over us?" Well, this is all we have to endure, our race will soon be run, the laurels of victory will soon adorn our brows, and we shall soon enter into that place where pain and death shall be done away, and where our perfection and bliss shall be commensurate with the existence of our adored Lord. We are so prone to cleave to earthly things, that were it not for trouble, we should often forget those undying and refined pleasures we are predestined to enjoy at the right hand of God. The Lord sends afflictions after us, to act as mementos of the solemn fact, that "we have here no continuing city:"

"Our hearts are fastened to the world,

By strong and various ties;

But every sorrow cuts a string,

And urges us to rise."

The holy oracles furnish us with sufficient reasons for encouraging a spirit of uncomplaining acquiescence in the arrangements of our heavenly Father. Is he wise? then he knows what is best for us.Good? then he will assuredly give what is most beneficial.-Mighty? then he is able to supply all our necessities.-Faithful? then he hath said, "be not dismayed, for I am thy God." Oh! for grace to welcome all our Father's will without murmuring! Surely we should not complain of his dispensations if we knew why he sent them; then where we cannot understand let us adore in silence, and patiently wait for the full accomplishment of the promise," what ye know not now, ye shall know hereafter."

Resignation is honourable to God, and beneficial to us. Thus the saints of the Most High have experienced it in every age of time. When the judgments of God were denounced against Eli and his family, the good old man submissively answered, "It is the Lord, let VOL. VI.-No. 63.

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