world.

The Redeemer is thus before our view, as the Lord of providence that providence, according to which, he in a most holy, wise, and powerful manner preserves all creatures, and governs all their actions. While as the MAKER, the HEIR, the POSSESSOR of all things, he upholdeth all things by the word of his power —as the WONDERFUL, the COUNSELLOR, the PRINCE OF PEACE the government of all things is laid upon his shoulder. The lot of every man, be he king or beggar, is cast by Christ. With him is the number of our months, and he appoints to each one of us the place and the bounds of our habitation. Our times are wholly in his hand-our bodies, our souls, our relatives, our circumstances, our supplies are ever in his keeping our all lies entirely at his disposal. By him is our course in life shaped out; the aspect of every day, the complexion of every hour is of his appointing -and all the events that can possibly befal us or ours, whether they be prosperous or adverse, are sent by Christ's providence, and are under Christ's control.

Now, the same wisdom which thus authoritatively judges, and absolutely ordains what is best for every individual, extends in the same manner to the varied and complicated affairs of families, communities, countries, the world. "The kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations." "Who would not fear thee, O King of nations, for unto thee doth the judgment appertain ?" Statesmen may weave the curious web of their crooked policy. Men-slayers, under the false name of heroes, may lay down their plans of conquest. Despots

may take counsel together, and the people in tumult may rage and imagine vain things. But there is One who sitteth high in the heavens above all, and He, serenely looking down upon the apparent confusion ruling in the whirlwind, and directing the storm-is leading all insensibly and unconsciously to fulfil his purposes, and do his good pleasure. "The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord, that standeth for ever-the thoughts of his heart unto all generations." How refreshing and sustaining to a Christian mind, to turn its views from the petty, creeping concerns-the grovelling, clashing interests—the fierce party contests of mere worldly politicians and to regard all the great occurrences that have of late years taken place in our own country, or in foreign lands-—and all the judgments that may at any time be abroad among the nations, and all the mighty changes that shall yet ensue throughout the globe, as simply the results of the administration of that Son of Man, whom the princes of this world crucified, though he was the Lord of glory. And bearing, as we do, the name of Christians, and appearing, as we do, in his courts, to pay him weekly homage, may we not fitly take into our mouths the language of the Psalmist- "Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth feared and was still. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Vow and pay

unto the Lord your God; let all that be round about him, bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth.”

2. The Father hath given to the Son all judicial authority in the Church on earth, as well as in the world. Indeed he has been appointed to rule the world, in order that he may the more fully and prosperously rule the Church, by overruling every thing in the world for the Church's final triumph-for the Church's ultimate good. Hence it is said, that God "gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church;" and if he thus employ his wisdom and power in governing the world for the welfare of the Church, considered as in the world and as part of the world, it will follow (since the greater necessarily includes the less) that he exercises the judicial authority in a still more peculiar manner, as the Head of the Church, which is his body, his fulness, his chosen and beloved domain. The world he governs as

a monarch his subjects. The Church he governs as a Father doth his family; and the thought of its being Christ the Saviour, who, as the head of the world and of the Church, orders every thing in his lot, is to the Christian the most consolatory and cheering that can well be conceived. Are you, my believing friend, smarting under some severe, and perhaps unlooked for calamity? Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is come to try you, as if it were some really strange thing that has happened to you. It is sent, not by a stranger, but by a friend, yea, by your best friendby one who loves you better, because more wisely,

than you love yourself-by one who laid down his life for you, and who, therefore, in whatever else he may do regarding you, can surely never mean to do you any hurt, but will surely do you good. Let faith only look, and whose form and figure do you perceive in the midst of the burning fiery furnace? It is one like unto the Son of Man. Whose voice do you hear out of the dark cloud? It is his who said, "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save the lost-is come, not to destroy men's lives but to preserve them.” And if to such an one as this Son of Man the Father hath given authority to exercise judgment also, "because he is the Son of Man,"-can his judgment—the judgment of the meek, the merciful, the suffering, the dying Son of Man-ever be but in accordance with the dictates of infinite goodness and infinite grace?

But Christ's government of his Christian people has especially respect to the condition of the Church militant universal-to the affairs of every visible branch of it, and of every particular congregation of which it is composed. He is the judge, and from his decision there lies no appeal. The key of the house of David-the symbol of royal government-is laid upon his shoulder, so that he openeth the gate of heaven to his friends and none shall shut them out-and he shutteth the gate of hell upon his foes and none shall open it. This Son of Man has still power on earth to forgive sin, or to pronounce that sin remaineth. Under whatever form of polity his Church may be governed here below among his professing peoplewhether the rule and discipline thereof be committed

to one man, as among Episcopalians, or to a select body of men as among Presbyterians, or to the collective body of Church members, as among Congregationalists-Christ must ever be acknowledged as the alone Supreme and infallible Head, to whom the governors and the governed are alike accountable, and by whom they are and shall be judged.

The habitual realization of this momentous truth ought to regulate aright the conduct both of Christian pastors and the Christian people. Ministers and other office-bearers in the Church, remembering their own liability to err in judgment, and feeling their deep responsibility to Him from whom they derive their commission, ought to avoid all uncharitable harshness and undue severity in the judgments which they may be called to pronounce respecting any of the flock over whom the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers. And if this be the bounden duty of those who bear rule in the Church, how peculiarly unbecoming must a censorious spirit be in persons who are there invested with no judicial authority whatever. For them to sit in judgment upon their fellow-Christians in matters either of discipline or government, of faith or of practice, exhibits an utter ignorance of the laws of Christ's house, and a spirit and temper altogether at variance with the disposition which Christ's word inculcates when it says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." It is a travelling out of their own sphere-it is acting as busy bodies in other men's matters"-nay, it is an impious invasion of that sovereign right of judgment which is the exclusive prerogative of the Lord Christ. And to every such intruder

66