will of God, they have a tendency to confirm our views of his goodness, and the power and compassions of the great Redeemer.

SERMON XLIX.

THE CHORUS OF ANGELS.

REVELATION v. 12.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!

It was a good report which the queen of Sheba heard,

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in her own land, of the wisdom and glory of Solomon. It lessened her attachment to home, and prompted her to undertake a long journey to visit this great king, of whom she had heard so much. She went, and she was not disappointed. Great as the expectations were which she had formed from the relation made her by others, they fell short of what she saw and heard herself, when she was admitted into his presence. Good, likewise, is the report of the Gospel. It has a powerful effect upon those who receive it by faith. It is abundantly sufficient to convince them of the comparative insignificance of all that they most admired and esteemed in this world. From that hour they become strangers and pilgrims upon earth. They set out, in the way God has prescribed, in hopes of seeing Him who is greater than Solomon; and the report they have heard of him is their subject, their song, and their joy, while they are on their journey, and their great support under the

difficulties they meet with on the road.

What then will it be to see him as he is? As yet, the one half is not told them: or, at least, they are not yet capable of conceiving the half, or the thousandth part, of what they read in the Scripture, concerning his wisdom, his glory, and his grace. We weaken, rather than enlarge, the sense of such a passage as this, by our feeble comments. We must die before we can understand it. To the bulk of mankind, "Wait the great teacher death," is cold, is dangerous advice. If they are not taught by the Gospel while they live, the teaching of death will be too late. Dreadful will be the condition of those who cannot be convinced of their mistakes, till repentance and amendment will be impracticable. But death will be a great teacher indeed to a believer; he will then know more by a glance, and in a moment, of the happiness he is now expecting, than by all he could collect from the inquiry and experience of a long course of years, in this world.

The scenery of this chapter, if attentively considered, is sufficient to snatch our thoughts from the little concernments of time, and to give us some anticipation of the employments and enjoyments of heaven. Come, all ye that are wearied and burdened with afflictions and temptations, look up, and for a while, at least, forget your sorrows! The Lamb is upon his throne, surrounded by a multitude of his redeemed people, who once were afflicted and burdened like yourselves; but now all tears are wiped from their eyes. They have a song pecuKarly their own, and are represented as taking the first and leading part in worship and praise. The angels cannot sing their song, they were not redeemed to God by his blood; but they are interested in the subject. Their highest views of the manifold wisdom of God are

derived from the wonders of redemption. Therefore they join in the chorus, "Worthy is the Lamb that was "slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and "strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." If you have an humble hope of bearing a part in this immortal song, will you hang down your heads like a bulrush, because you have the honour of following your Lord through many tribulations to his kingdom?

The number of the angels is expressed indefinitely, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, myriads and millions, to intimate to us that, with respect to our capacities and conceptions, they are innumerable. Their number is known to him who "telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all

by their names," and to him only. The Scripture intimates a diversity of ranks and orders among them, "Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers;" but, as to particulars, there is little said that might gratify our curiosity. It is enough for us to know, that the highest of them, and that all of them, worship him who is clothed in our nature. My text expressly informs us, that the object of their worship "is the Lamb that was slain." Not that the humanity of Christ, which is but a creature, is, simply and formally, the object of their worship; but they worship him who has assumed the human nature into personal union with himself; "God manifest in "the flesh," God in Christ. Though the world censure or despise us for "honouring the Son as we honour the "Fathert," we have here a good precedent, as we have, in many places of Scripture, the warrant of an express command. Whether men are pleased or not, we will,

Psal. exlvii. 4.

↑ John v. 23.

we must, worship the Lamb that was slain. To animate our devotion, let us thankfully consider, why he was dslain, and how he was slain.

S

"For

It is by

I. Why he was slain. The redeemed say, "us." "He loved us, and washed us from our sins "in his own blood*." They were sinners and enemies; they were slaves to sin and Satan; yet he loved them, and died to redeem them. virtue of his blood and death that they are now before the throne. Nothing less than his death could have made them duly sensible of their misery; nothing less could have relieved them from it. He was lifted up upon the cross, that, by the powerful magnetism of his dying love, he might, in the hour of his grace, draw their hearts to himselft. This was the design, this was the effect, of his sufferings. A crucified Saviour, though a stumbling-block to the self-righteous, and foolishness to vain reasoners, was to them the power and the wisdom of God for salvation. They looked unto him, and were enlightened; they trusted in him, and were not ashamed. By faith in his name, they obtained peace with God, they renounced the ways of sin, they warred the good warfare, they overcame the world; and were at length made more than conquerors. For his sake they endured the cross, and despised the shame. They met with bad treatment from the world; but it was from the world that crucified him. While they were bere, their characters were obscured by their own imperfections, and by the misrepresentations and reproaches of their enemies. But now their reproach is removed, and they shine, each one like the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." What an immense constellation of

* Rev. i. 5.

† John xii. 32.

Matth. xiii. 43.

suns! This their full salvation was the joy set before bim, for the sake of which he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And now they see him as he is, they ascribe all their victories and honours to him, and unite in one song of endless praise to the Lamb that was slain.

II. Their praises are heightened, when they consider, How he was slain. He did not dié a natural death; "He was slain." Nor did he fall like a hero, by an honourable wound in the field of battle. The impression which the death of the late general Wolfe made upon the public, is not yet quite forgotten. He conquered for us; but it cost him his life. But he died honourably, and was lamented by his country. Not so the Lamb of God. He died the death of a slave, of a malefactor. Cruelty, malice, and contempt, combined to give his sufferings every possible aggravation. And, after he was slain, very few laid it to heart. The world went on as it did before, as though nothing extraordinary had happened. But on this dark ground, the perfections of God were displayed in their fullest lustre; and they are the perfections of the great Redeemer, and therefore distinctly ascribed to him by the angels in the words which follow-" Power, and wisdom, and riches, " and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

Though each of these words have a distinct sense, a nicety in defining them, and stating their precise meaning, is of less importance than to feel the combined efficacy of them all, to impress our hearts with sentiments of reverence, confidence, and love. The fulness' of expression may teach us, that every kind of excellence is the indubitable right and possession of the Lamb that was slain. He is worthy to have them all attributed to him in the most absolute sense, and conse