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a disobedient, ungrateful, fallen creature, he is the fit object of thy just displeasure and severest punishment; but as a redeemed spirit, through the precious blood of thy Son, thou hast renewed him to the adoption of an heir of immortal life, and, in thy unfathomable mercy, allowed him to cry, ABBA, FATHER. O my brethren, that we did but encourage these glorious truths to sink deep into our hearts, and accompany all our thoughts! O that they might be ever with us, to oppose the malice of the foul fiend, and light us on our way to those blessed regions that are our proper home! When but for a moment we consider ourselves as born to be angels of light for ever! that God took the form of man, to render our happiness possible! that Christ died to help and assure our victory! what can retard us from running the race that is set before us? Surely no fleeting objects of this life, however dazzling, are worthy to be compared to the prize of our high calling! Reflect how little they have profited you already! that if they were ten times ten thousand more valuable, they all must perish. "The earth, and all that it inhabit, shall dissolve, and, like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a wreck behind;" but our spirits were made to live for ever. There is another body, a better country, prepared for us, a continuing city, whose building and foundation is of God, eternal in the

heavens. Thither, from this moment, let us direct our views, and look up. Let us labour to make our calling and election sure, and that we may not fall short of our hope of joining the blessed company of heaven, the departed spirits of those dear and perfected objects of our former just regards, of sharing delights that cannot be expressed, and escaping misery that strikes horror even in idea. Let us fall low before the footstool of God's throne, implore the needful grace of his Son to help us, nor faint in the arduous conflict; knowing we have an Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous, who is at the right hand of God-who is the propitiation for our sins-who has conquered sin and death-who has paid our ransom-by whose blood we are cleansed, and who will make us heirs of everlasting glory, if we are earnest in our love to him, and desirous to be his disciples. To him, then, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God blessed for evermore, be ascribed, as is most due, all praise, power, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen.

LECTURE VII.

SECOND SERMON ON THE CREED.

"And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord."

JOHN, XIV. 1.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

THE

HE subject of my discourse to you at this time, my brethren, relates to the second article of our Creed, or belief; a most important article, as it particularly concerns Christians; being the foundation of that faith, by which alone we expect to be saved from the dominion of sin in the body, which, if not subdued, will inevitably procure the death of the soul: whereas, by this faith we further hope to be so renewed here, as to become fitted for the inheritance of children of light hereafter. The particular words which afford matter for our present consideration are these: And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. But before I enter upon the main subject, it is proper you should observe, that as the first words, I believe,

declare the value we fix upon the whole confes sion of our faith, "which is commonly called Creed, from a Latin word (credo) signifying 1 believe, and of nearly the same sound; so this same profession of I believe, is not to be supposed as belonging to the first article only, where it is expressly placed, but to be carried on, through the whole body of the confession; and though but twice actually repeated, we must strictly apply it to every article of the whole Creed, as well as to each distinct part of every article; that is, as we say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, &c. so are we also understood to say, I believe also in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; as I believe in the Holy Ghost, so I believe in the holy Catholic church: thus declaring a full and implicit faith throughout the whole."

The article before us contains three separate parts or propositions, in which it equally concerns us to believe first, in JESUS CHRIST; secondly, that he is the ONLY SON OF GOD; and thirdly, that he is our LORD. As with God's help, I would willingly afford you the fullest instruction upon every fundamental part of your religion, I shall take the same method I have hitherto employed of assisting your thorough knowledge of this Catechism, by considering the strict meaning of all such words as form an article of our faith.. The two first, then, in this

sentence, are taken from the Greek language. The first (JESUs) hath a still more remote relation to the Hebrew tongue, Jesus signifying the same as Joshua; which words, in both languages, being used to express a SAVIOUR, the title of JESUS was doubtless given by God to our blessed Lord, to show that he was to be the Saviour of the world, and that no other was to be so. This we conclude from Matt. i. 21: Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. For, as the Apostle observes (Acts, iv. 12), neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. The office of our blessed Lord is, therefore, particularly pointed out to us in this word SAVIOUR; as is the sanction, and divine authority for it, in the additional word CHRIST. This word signifies the same in Greek, as the word Messiah does in the Hebrew or Syriac tongue, and is as much as to say the ANOINTED. In St. John, i. 41, the Evangelist says, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ, or the ANOINTED ONE; and in chap. iv. ver. 25, it is said, I know that Messias cometh, who is called Christ.

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Now, by this additional title, God graciously communicated to his people, that, in like manner as, by the ceremony of anointing, made use of in ancient times, God consecrated those per

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