prefented to us by his fervants the prophets? And if the Heathen philofophers, in fome detached paffages, have fentiments not altogether unworthy of him, history honestly tells us how they obtained them. They travelled, and they are generally faid to have travelled into Phoenicia or Egypt, to the confines of that people who alone thought rightly of God, because to them only he had made himself known by a revelation. If such a description as we have in the fortieth chapter of Ifaiah, from the twelfth verfe to the end, had been known only of late years, recovered, we will fuppofe, out of the ruins of Herculaneum, there is little doubt but it would have engaged the attention and admiration of the learned world. For the moft admired writings of antiquity, upon a candid comparison, are unfpeakably inferior to it. The inimitable fublimity of the prophets is natural, just, and unforced, and flows from the grandeur of their fubjects, because they were influenced by him, who alone can speak worthily of himself. A fong fo vaft, a theme fo high, With them, the whole compass of the creation is but as duft upon the balance, in refpect of the great Creator. His purpose is fate, his voice is power. He fpeaks, and it is done. Thus he called the universe into being; and thus, as the great Lord and proprietor of all, he ftill maintains and governs it, directing the frame of nature, and every particular event and contingence, to the promoting of his own glory, the last and highest end of all his works. The principal of these is, the exhibition of his perfections in the perfon of his Son. The prophecies we have already confidered, announce this event, with a gradual increase of clearness and precifion, as the period of accomplishment is fuppofed to draw nigh. We lately heard the command to proclaim his approach from the hills and the tops of the mountains. Here the prophet begins to contemplate the effects of his actual appearance. The earth is confidered as involved in a ftate of grofs darkness; but the fun, the Sun of Righteoufnefs is about to arife, and to fill it, by his beams, with light, life, and glory. Thefe effects, indeed, will not extend to all, for many will love darknefs rather than light. But But he will not shine in vain. There will be a people prepared to receive him, and to rejoice in his light. They fhall arife as from fleep, as from the grave, and his light reflected upon them, shall cause them to fhine likewife. Darkness shall ftill cover those who reject him; yea, their darkness will be increased. But the glory of the Lord fhall be feen upon all who believe, and their numbers, from age to age, fhall be enlarged. Nations fhall come to him, and kings fhall be fubfervient to the fpreading of his kingdom. Such is the scope of the paffage before I fhall briefly confider a few of the leading particulars contained in it. us. I. As the fun is the fource of light to the natural world, fo is MESSIAH to the moral and fpiritual world. Light, and its opposite, darkness, are figuratively used in fcripture. The latter is applied to a state of ignorance, fin, and mifery, as in the following texts. He that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth*. If we fay that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. Caft ye the unprofitable fervant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping * John xii. 35. ↑ 1 John i. 6. and and gnashing of teeth *. The former, therefore, fignifies true knowledge, holiness, and happiness. Ye were fometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. When I fit in darknefs, the Lord fhall be a light unto me‡. Light is fown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart ||I felect but one inftance of each kind; an attentive reader of the fcripture will meet with many expreffions of a like import. But there is likewife an intermediate ftate. Light advancing from the early dawn to the perfect day. This twilight, no less than day-light, is from the fun. Such was the ftate of the Old Testament Church. MESSIAH was the fource of their knowledge, hope, and joy; but he was (if I may fo fpeak) below the horizon, as to them. Though believers, under that difpenfation, were a people faved of the Lord, they were trained up under types and shadows, were influenced by a fpirit of comparative bondage and diftance, like children under age, and rather longed for, than actually poffeffed the gracious liberty which the children of God enjoy under the gospel. But the fun arofe, and the fhadows vanished, when the Son of God incarnate dwelt and converfed with men, honoured his temple with his perfonal prefence, and superseded all the Levitical facrifices, by the one offering of himself upon the crofs. The law was given by Mofes, but grace and truth came by Jefus Christ. But more especially we date the beginning of his visible kingdom from the day of Pentecoft, which followed his ascension. Then he fignally beftowed the gifts, which, as Mediator, he had received for men, and by the power of his Holy Spirit, authorized and qualified his fervants to go forth and preach falvation in his name. Then the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was taken away, and his righteousness was openly fhewn in the fight of the Heathen. Abraham, Mofes, Elijah, and other fervants of God, had been highly favoured and highly honoured; but we are affured by our Lord himself, that none born of woman had been greater than John his fore-runner-and yet he added, the leaft in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the New Teftament, or gospel church, is greater than be*. The apoftles were happy in the peculiar privilege of attending on his perfon; yet he * Matt. xi. II. told |
