Thus

eclipsed the Light of the whole creation. did my Wellbeloved continue for a long space, and gave up the ghost in great torment of body and spirit; yea, was buried, continued under the power of death for a time; and this, even this is the same. Behold, men and angels, behold and wonder at the Man, who is the Wonder of wonders, and whose name is termed "Wonderful!" Isa. ix. 6. Wellbeloved, thou appearest to be far changed, though thou art ever the same! Thou only hast done heroically, O mighty Captain of the Lord's hosts: this was thy design from eternity: oughtest thou not first to have suffered, and then to enter into this incomprehensible glory? Thou hast graciously overcome, and satisfied avenging justice, incensed against the children of thy eternal delights: "Having spoiled principalities and powers, thou madest a show of them openly, triumphing over them on the cross for though thou, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; yet madest thou thyself of no reputation, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross: wherefore God also hath highly exalted thee, and given thee a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth," Col. ii. 15; Phil. ii. 6-10. Wast thou not as low as the grave? and yet "hast ascended on high, led captivity captive, and received gifts for men!" Psa. lxii. 18. Art thou not He, "who liveth, and was dead? and behold, thou art alive for evermore!" Rev. i. 18; who art exalted, and wast low and despised; and

behold, thou art exalted above all created heavens for ever! who rejoicest, and didst weep, and sigh, and groan; and behold, thou art surrounded with boundless joys for evermore! who reignest victoriously, and wast "in the form of a servant;" and behold, thou reignest in glorious majesty for evermore! Art thou not a wonderful One indeed! shall men and angels ever enough admire thee, though every moment of eternity should be filled with admiration?

in the flesh for ever a mystery.

21. God manifested And is dust and ashes for ever exalted to such an incomprehensible pitch of glory? O dust! how camest thou hither? Strange! that the Almighty has exalted thee above sun, moon, and stars; and has brought thee into his immediate presence, to carry the least tincture of supernatural heavenly glory upon thee, to become the temple of the Holy Ghost! But, men and angels, what are your conceptions of this dust, to be the temple, wherein the high and lofty One, the Almighty JEHOVAH, the eternal consubstantial Son of God, doth personally dwell, and with which he is personally united? Is not this a mystery? Is not this an infinite abyss, men and angels, into whose furthermost you shall never be able to dive?

bring about the high

man nature, through

titude, an ocean of

wonders.

22. That God should To think, that these bodily eyes est exaltation of hu- behold my Redeemer, might astoman's horrid ingra- nish ten thousand worlds. Are we not all overwhelmed in astonishment? is not every one crying, What hath God done? Oh thy incomprehensible ways! oh thy irresistible power! oh thy unsearchable wisdom! oh thy love, thy boundless love! love that

"passeth all understanding!" Strange! hath the Almighty exalted thee, O man's nature, unto this incomprehensible dignity! It was much that thou receivedst the characters of Divine majesty and excellence; yet more to be admitted into friendship and converse with the great and dreadful Former of all. Oh, are not such gradations of wonder, like millions of worlds placed above millions of worlds, and again, and again, and for evermore? Is not man infinitely obliged to such a Sovereign? If the crawling worms be infinitely obliged for their being, what shall be said of man, created with so noble a being, in so noble a condition? Was it possible he could ever have loved, feared, praised him enough? Was it possible a creature, thus dealt with, could rebel? Yet strange! when this dreadful prodigy did enter the creation. Oh astonishing rebellion! monstrous ingratitude! from thenceforth, what could be expected but that pure vengeance, like an overflowing flood, should destroy head and tail, root and branch, with an eternal destruction? Could any mercy have been expected from Heaven to earth, when earth had denounced open enmity against Heaven? What shouldst thou have done, dread Sovereign of all things, with base, monstrous, and ungrateful mankind, but make it wholly the butt of thy unmixed wrath? What are ever so many worlds of men and angels to thee, that thou shouldst spare them, if once they dare to utter one word against thee? Shouldst thou reduce to nothing what thou hast created, what hadst thou lost, since thou couldst produce, in this very moment, millions of millions of worlds? Yea, and

if produced, what are they but as so many mil lions of shadows and nothings before thee? Oh the condescension, the sweetness of thy nature! Oh the boundless riches of thy grace! Oh "the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of thy unsearchable ways!" Hast thou become friends with man again? entered into a treaty of peace and reconciliation with him; held out the golden sceptre, as a manifestation of the thoughts of boundless love, that glowed in thy heart from all eternity; erecting a glorious throne of free, altogether free grace, upon the horrid apostasy and rebellion of ungrateful man? Who could have imagined such a dispensation as this? Were you expecting this, ye glorious angels, when you beheld man backslide so monstrously? Were you thinking such prodigious ingratitude would come to this? Were you not amazed at such a second covenant, after the breaking of the first? Yea, are we not all in the same admiring frame? Oh eternity! thou art not sufficient to make the impression old, which God has enstamped on the minds of men and angels. The objects are wonderful! our faculties are wonderfully elevated! what wonder, my heart is fixed? Oh, this frame of spirit! I see, I see that a word of altogether free grace was the only design of eternity! even that heaven should be filled for ever with a song, "To him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever," Rev. v. 13. Lord, what hast thou done? Not only hast thou become friends with man again; not only hast thou made him thine for ever, but thou hast also personally assumed

his nature, that thou mightest draw him nearer thyself, and manifest thy glory unto him, in a more familiar, intimate, sweet, and wonderful way, than was possible in the first dispensation! Wonderful! did man cast off the image of his Maker? and did his Maker take upon him man's image, to restore all again? Didst thou, O my God, assume personally our nature, even in its lowest estate, that thou mighest weep, and sigh, and groan, and sorrow, and die for undone man? Is not this love indeed! man had "destroyed himself," but did our excellent Wellbeloved step in betwixt eternal wrath and the miserable sinner? No sorrow, no shame, no pain could terrify him; infinite love is invincible. I will not spare base man, said offended Majesty; in the day he rebels against me, as I have said, he must die the death; for the word hath gone out of my mouth. Be it so, saith the Son of God, here am I, a man ready to suffer all sorrow, grief, and pain of soul and body, unto the very death hath man sinned? man shall bear the punishment. I, even I, will die the death: sacrifice and offerings thou wilt not accept; but a body thou hast given me, Heb. x. 5: I will bear their grief; I will carry their sorrows. My Father, lay upon me the iniquity of them all; they are thine and mine from eternity: this was our transaction before all ages, that, in the fulness of time, I should lay down my life for those thou hast given me out of the world: Therefore thou, O Father, dost love me, because I lay down my life for my sheep, John x. 15, 17.