place in the world of glory; he sits at the right hand of God; he is the centre of the glory that shall be revealed; his presence constitutes to the redeemed the principal charm of heaven. It was his own desire "that those whom the Father had given him may be with him where he is, and may there behold his glory." It is only in him that the Deity is visible: "No man hath seen God, nor can see; he dwells in light which no man can approach the only-begotten Son has declared him." Deity requires to be shaded and softened, by putting on the veil of our nature, before it can be suited to our feeble perception: the glory of the Lord must shine in the face of Jesus Christ. We read concerning the redeemed inhabitants of heaven, that "they hunger no more, nor thirst any more; because the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, feeds them with the bread of life, and leads them to fountains of living water:" a description which implies that Jesus Christ is himself the source of celestial beatitude.

4. But, in the fourth place, there is yet another order of beings to whom "the Lamb of God" presents an object of peculiar attention and profound admiration. The holy angels,-that innumerable company of spirits who "excel in strength,"-are represented as deeply interested in the service and glory of the Redeemer. From its infancy, they watched with anxiety the fortunes of the rising church. They announced the birth of Christ with exulting strains; they ministered to Christ in the scenes of his temptation, his agony, and his burial;

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they cheered his apostles with the first tidings of his resurrection, "He is not here, he is risen." Even after his ascension, they still lingered with a compassionate concern among his sorrowing disciples, and assured them of his final return: Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus shall come again in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." And in that day of his final return, "when the Son of Man shall come in his glory," there shall be "all the holy angels with him." Accordingly, among the glories which accompany the manifestation of God in the flesh, the apostle enumerates this, that "He was seen of angels:" and he represents the Father as introducing the Son into the world with this proclamation, "Let all the angels of God worship him." It is not improbable that those glorious beings are themselves, in some respect, involved in the blessings of that stupendous plan, by which "things in heaven" are gathered together in one centre with "things on earth." Angels may probably be secured in that felicity, to which saints are promoted, by the mediation of Jesus Christ : and certainly the former are described as taking part with the latter in the songs of praise to the Lamb. "I heard," says John, "the voice of many angels round about the throne, and their number was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."

5. Finally, there is a Being of another order, a Being infinitely exalted above any of those already

mentioned, whose attention is deeply engaged by the object presented in the text:-God himself is concerned, supremely concerned, in the contemplation of "the Lamb of God." To Him the Redeemer is an object, not indeed of admiration, since the Divine Being can admire nothing, but of infinite complacency and satisfaction. On two conspicuous occasions in the ministry of Jesus Christ, at his baptism and at his transfiguration, -did the Eternal Father proclaim, by a voice from heaven," This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear Him!" In every part of revelation we find the Son of God represented by the Father as the object of his dearest, his most intense interest. 66 Behold," says he, "my servant whom I have chosen! mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth!" "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth take counsel against the Lord, and against his Anointed; He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion: be wise, therefore, ye kings; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish!” In the opening of the epistle to the Hebrews, we read that "God hath appointed his Son, who is the brightness of his glory, the heir of all things;" and that, "to the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom: and Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the

work of thy hands: they shall perish, but thou remainest!" It seems as if the divine mind were concentrated as if all the Deity were busied and intent-in the scene of redemption and the person of the Redeemer! It seems as if the Great Eternal could find no other medium in which he might pour out the whole treasury of his perfections, satisfy his infinite conceptions and desires, display and harmonize all his various attributes-his holiness, his justice, his mercy, and his love,-than Jesus Christ, "the power and the wisdom of God!" Here he shines in his complete and blended glory, at once the "just God," and the justifying Saviour of him that believeth in Jesus Christ. Here, doubtless, is presented an object the most glorious and delightful in the universe of God! There is reason to believe that, in a moral (that is, in the highest) point of view, the Redeemer, in the depth of his humiliation, was a greater object of attention and approbation, in the eye of his Father, than when he sat in his original glory at God's right hand; the one being his natural, the other peculiarly his moral elevation.

Encompassed by so great a cloud of witnessessummoned by so many powerful voices-let us all more earnestly than ever attend to this incomparable object: so shall we be prepared for the trials of life, the agonies of death, the solemnities of the judgement, and the felicities of the eternal world; so shall we inherit the unsearchable treasures of grace and glory.

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XIV.

THE ADVANTAGES OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT, CONTRASTED WITH THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM QF JESUS CHRIST.*

[PREACHED AT BRIDGE-STREET MEETING, BRISTOL, SEPTEMBER, 1822, FOR THE SOCIETY.]

BENEFIT OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY

2 SAM. vii. 16, 17.—Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

THESE words, you are aware, are part of the message which the Lord addressed to David by the mouth of Nathan, at the time when David meditated the raising of a temple to the Lord. He was not indeed permitted to execute that design, but the Lord accepted him "according to all that was in his heart ;" and commissioned the prophet Nathan to assure him, that his throne and kingdom should be confirmed, without interruption or termination, to his lineal successors, without ever again suffering such an instance of the departure of divine favour as that which had occurred in the removal of the

family of Saul from the throne: " Thy throne shall be established for ever." This promise was verified to the successors of David in so extraordinary a manner, as compels us to regard their history as an

* Printed from the Notes of the Rev. Thomas Grinfield.