expected to receive, from his redemption. And during his last sickness, his views seemed to be greatly enlarged on this subject, and rendered much more clear and affecting, than at any former period of his life. "All I have done (said he to Mr. Pawson and me, in the beginning of July last) is nothing; it is not worth mentioning, I have no foundation of hope or confidence whatever, but the mediation of the Son of God. O my dear friends, I never saw the blessed Redeemer of mankind in so amiable a light as I now do. Never did I see so clearly, or feel so deeply my need of him, and that I am wholly indebted to his sacrifice and intercession, for the acceptance of my person, and of my poor services. would become of me were it not for this Redeemer !

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II. This leads me to the second point, the saving knowledge of this Redeemer, of an interest in him, and of a title to eternal felicity through him.

1. This knowledge Job had, although under a comparatively dark and imperfect dispensation; I know, says he, that my Redeemer liveth. He knew by the revelation which God condescended to make to holy men, in those patriarchal ages, that he, who was to be the seed of the woman, and the seed of Abraham, and therefore his kinsman and Redeemer, then lived. He knew, therefore, his preexistence and divinity, that he was then the living one, who had life in himself, and was able to communicate life to others. He knew that he should stand at the latter day upon the earth, or the dust, as the Hebrew is. By the latter day, the patriarchs and prophets meant the days of the Messiah. Job here, therefore, professes his faith in the incarnation of the Messiah; that he should stand upon the earth or dust, viz. in a human body: that although he was God, he should be dust, "should lay his glory by,-should wrap him in our clay." He probably, too, spoke of his resurrection from the dead. Though dead and buried, he shall stand upon the dust, rising up out of it. His glorious coming may be also here foretold. Enoch, long before Job, had prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all." And the expression, in the latter day he shall stand upon the earth, is pretty similar to that of Zech. chap. xiv. 1, 4. “the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee, and his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives." "This same Jesus," said the angels, "that is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him go into heaven." Some think, too, that his final victory over all his and his people's enemies is foretold.

He shall stand upon the dust, upon his enemies, who shall be prostrate before him, and as dust beneath his feet; like a mighty conqueror on the field of battle, he shall keep the field when his enemies are all routed and slain, and he shall tread them down as the dust. "He shall put down all rule, and all authority, and all power. For he shall reign till he shall put all enemies under his feet;" even death itself, the last enemy that shall be destroyed, according to the prediction of the prophet. He will swallow up death in victory. O death, I will be thy pleague; O grave, I will be thy destruction?" Our resurrection, therefore, is also here foretold. Some indeed render the Hebrew the latter man, that is, the resurrection body shall rise up out of the dust, and stand above it; although the former man, our present body, is sown in corruption and falls into dust; that is, "as we have borne the image of the earthly," and by various infirmities, afflictions, and pains, return to dust, with the first, "so shall we bear the image of the heavenly," shall rise up out of the dust, stand above it, and put on immortality with the second Adam.

2. But what kind of knowledge was this which Job had of the Redeemer? Was it merely a historical or speculative knowledge? Did it imply no more than knowing that there is a Redeemer, whe shall stand in the latter day upon the earth? Yes, my brethren, it implied much more. It was a supernatural, spiritual, and experimental knowledge of him; such a knowledge as the Lord Jesus spoke of, Matt. xi. 27. when he said, "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father, and neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." It is such a knowledge as he promised, John xvi. 13, 14. saying, "The Spirit of truth shall glorify me: He shall receive of mine, and show them to you!" This knowledge St. Paul had received himself, for he assures us, that it had pleased God to reveal his Son in him, and this knowledge his fellow-apostles, and the first messengers of Christ had received, for "He that at first commanded light to shine out of darkness, had shined into their hearts, to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face, or person of Christ Jesus." Nay, and this knowledge all the true disciples of Jesus Christ had received in the first ages of Christianity, and do still receive, in every age; for, "I know my sheep," says Jesus, "and am known of mine." This knowledge of the Redeemer, is no other than that acquaintauce with him, which is recommended in this very book of Job, where it is said, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee."

And it differs as widely from knowing that there is a Redeemer, as the being acquainted with the king, differs from knowing that there is a king. Accordingly, Job's words may be, and are rendered by many learned men, I know my living Redeemer, that is, I am acquainted with him. Now this knowledge is of such importance in religion, that there neither is nor can be any religion without it. By it we are justified, for it is the foundation and source of justifying faith, according to Isaiah liii. 11. By his know ledge, that is, by their being brought to know him, shall my righteous servant justify many. By it we are sanctified; for love to him, and obedience to his will, flow entirely from it, as St. John testifies, 1st. Epist. chap. iv. 7, &c. And by it we are glorified; for It is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent." Now, when we have this knowledge, we can call him our Redeemer. We can say, each one for ourselves, I know my living Redeemer I know that my Redeemer liveth. It is true, he is in a sense the Redeemer of all, having assumed our common nature, and given himself a ransom for all, and his salvation being free for all: but he must be known by the spiritual and supernatural revelation of the Holy Ghost; or, according to Jeremiah's words, "God must give us a heart to know him;" or, in St. John's language; "must give us an understanding to know him that is true, that we may be in him that is true, even in God's Son Jesus Christ," according to our Lord's promise, John xiv. 20. In that day," when you receive the Spirit of truth, ye shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you." Then, having believed in Christ with a faith of the operation of God, we can testify with the apostle, "that. Christ liveth in us, and that the life we live in the flesh, is by faith in the Son of God, who hath loved us, and given himself for us."

3. This knowledge of the Redeemer, and of redemption in and through him, our departed friend received, the first time he ever saw or heard Mr. Wesley, which was April 14, 1754. Mr. Wesley had just recovered from a consumption which had threatened his life; and on the preceding day had returned from Bristol HotWells. The next day, being Easter-day, he preached in the chapel in West-Street, Seven Dials, and under the sermon then delivered, God brought Mr. Mather to a saving acquaintance with the Redeemer, and set his soul at liberty from all slavish and tormenting fear, removing his sins as far from him as the east is from the west. The change wrought in his soul was even manifest in his countenance. His load of guilt and distress was gone: he could

praise a pardoning God; and instead of fear and anguish of spirit, he was put in possession of a peace that passeth understandingBut the knowledge which Job had of this Redeemer, inspired him with a lively and joyful hope of immortality, and that both for soul and body, a hope which afforded support and comfort when nothing else could.

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III. This is the third and last particular to which I was to call your attention." Although after my skin," says he, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."

1. After my skin, which is already wasted and gone. They destroy, so it is in the Hebrew, (that is, they that are appointed to destroy it, the grave and the worms in it, chap. xvii. 14.) this body, the word body is not in the original:-This, this skeleton, this shadow, chap. xxvii. 7.—This, that I lay my hand upon; like our departed friend, the last time I saw him, putting his hand on his weak and withered limbs; and saying, you see how I am shrunk, and how my flesh is wasted and gone,-this, that you see, call it what you please, I expect that it will very shortly be a feast for worms, and will turn to dust in the grave. Yet out of my flesh, as the original may be rendered, or in the state of separate spirits, I shall see God, For the spirit of man, in a state of separation from the body, has eyes, wherewith to see God, although not eyes of flesh. It is pleasing to observe, that even the Old Testament saints in their twilight dispensation, before "life and immortality were brought to light (as they have been) by the gospel," expected after death, to see and be bappy with God and their Redeemer in the separate state. "As for me," says the Psalmist, Psal. xvii. 15. "I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." "Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel," says Asaph, Psalm lxxiii. 24, 25. " and afterwards receive me to glory: My heart and my flesh faileth, but thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

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"The dust shall

return to the earth as it was," says Solomon, Eccles. xvii. 7. " and the spirit to God who gave it." "He, the righteous man that perisheth, while no man layeth it to heart," says Isaiah, chap. lvii. 1, 2. " and who is taken away from the evil to come, shall enter into peace, even while his body rests on its bed, each one walking in his uprightness." Blessed be God, under the New Testament dispensation we have clearer light, and fuller assurance. We know, on the testimony of Jesus, that even" they that kill the body, cannot kill the soul:" that those disciples of his that can

say, To me to live is Christ, will find that to them to die will be gain that when they are absent from the body, they shall be present with the Lord and as soon as they depart, they shall be with Christ in paradise, as sure as Jesus received the penitent thief thither.

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2. But it is probable that Job also expected, that in his flesh hè · should see God. He, with the other enlightened believers, under the Old Testament dispensation, looked for the resurrection of the body also, which expectation they might deduce from some particular revelation, made to them in those ages, or from some such general declarations as were delivered by God to Moses at the bush, when he styles himself the God of Abraham, and of other holy men that were now dead, implying, as our Lord teaches, that they were not so dead, even with respect to their bodies, but that they should live again. For God is not the God of the finally dead; but only of the living. But from whatever source they derived this hope of a resurrection of the body, it is plain they entertained it. "All the days of my appointed time," says Job, “ will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee. Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." Thy dead men shall live," says Isaiah to the church of God," together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." " Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth," says Daniel," shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." It is true, Daniel might speak this of those saints that should rise at, or immediately after, the time of Christ's resurrection. For his language is pretty similar to that of the evangelist when he relates that fact.* Or he may refer to those martyrs who shall rise at the beginning of the millenium, or at the time of the restoration of the Jews. But our blessed Lord, the Word made flesh, hath given us more light and greater assurance on this subject, than they could have in that obscure dispensation; and we know, on his testimony, "That all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." For, 62 as in Adam all die, so in Christ," in this sense at least, shall all," without exception, be made alive."

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See Matth. xxvi. 52, 53.