ment; the principal objects in which apartment were the golden altar of incense, the table of shewbread, and the seven-branched candlestick, kept perpetually burning night and day. Within this apartment, behind another veil, was one more costly and glorious still; the ceiling and the floor, and the three sides of it, were of pure and burnished gold; and at the upper end of it was the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim of glory shadowing it with their wings; and in the coffer were Aaron's rod that budded, the pot of manna, the tables of the covenant, the autograph of Moses, the original writing of the Pentateuch. Of these things the apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, said he could not then speak particularly. In the case which is now before us, both these veils are supposed to be removed; the whole scenery is laid open; the august glories of the king's palace are made manifest; both rooms are thrown into one; and the Lord himself is seen sitting upon his throne, filling the temple with his light and with his splendour. And there is the greatest propriety in this because the vision related to Gospel times, when the way to the Holiest of all should be revealed, and, as it were, made manifest.

The prophet is in the temple. "I saw the Lord." The word is "ADONI:" not that which expresses the essence, the being, the glory of the Great aud Almighty God; but yet, as the seraphim celebrate the praises of Jehovah of Hosts, and as that name does express Deity in its essential attributes, in its primitive and self-existent glory, we must infer that God is here in his highest character, and in the exercise of his exclusive prerogative. And yet we are assured from the testimony of the Apostle John, that this was a vision of Jesus Christ, for he quotes the words which we find subsequently in the passage-" These things spake Isaiah when he saw his glory," that is Christ's glory, "and spake of him." We can be, therefore, at no loss to determine who that person is whose glory here shines, or what is the form of his manifestation. What Isaiah saw was, the likeness of a human person, embosomed in divine majesty, surrounded and encompassed by transcendant light, and majesty, and beauty. The same Being had appeared, without doubt, nearly in the same form, in earlier times. I have no doubt but it was a human form in glory which appeared to our first parents in the garden; and that in that way God condescended to walk with Enoch, and to hold communication with Noah. Abraham was permitted to behold his face; and of Moses it was said, "I will speak to him in no dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold ;" and they who went up into the mountain "saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness." Ezekiel beheld him in the same mode of manifestation; there were the great cherubic figures, the vast revolving wheels, and these sustaining a crystal expansion, a vast slab as we should call it; and upon this a throne, and upon the throne the likeness of the appearance of a man in glory; and round about the throne there was a rainbow, in light like unto an emerald. Daniel saw him also clothed in the fine gold of Uphaz. The Apostle John says, "His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength; his hair was as white as wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like unto a flame of fire." We identify in all these descriptions the same divine and glorious person: it is a human form, but compassed round about by uncreated splendour and purity.

He saw in the temple the Lord of Hosts: and he was upon his throne; that is, the mercy-seat. The mercy-seat was upon the ark, and was encompassed

around by an ornament, which was called its crown. It was upon this that the propitiatory blood was sprinkled: it was to this spot that the high priest came once a year: it was over it that the supernatural symbol of the Divine presence of light and life and glory, self-sustained, did hover. This is called in Scripture, God's throne. It was from thence he dispensed his justice and favours, freely without money and without price. There was no access to him, but by the sacrificial blood; but when the priest came with the sacrificial blood in his hands there was access. It is in allusion to it that the Apostle Paul enjoins us to come boldly, "that we may find mercy, and obtain grace to help us in time of need," and we are invited to enter into the holiest of all with confidence, in the full assurance of faith. We come to God upon his throne, both of glory and of grace.

It is said to be " high and lifted up" Upon the throne, as we have represented it, the mercy-seat, was a cloud; and the human form in glory in the text is supposed to be seated upon the cloud, embosomed as it were in the cloud. When it is said to be "high and lifted up," it denotes the loftiness of the Divine nature. God is the High and the Holy One who inhabiteth eternity. It intimates also his authority, supremacy, and power. It is a power in respect to might. There can be no competition; there ought to be no contradiction or resistance. His throne is like the mountain of the Lord's house, "established upon the top of the mountains," and "made higher than the hills." He is "King of kings and Lord of lords;" and however exalted earthly potentates may be, we must remember, that there is no higher than that one who is emphatically "The Highest ;" and language can express no more. It denotes also the repose, the rest, the complacency, and the satisfaction of the Divine mind. Sitting upon a throne: there is no alarm; there is no fear; there is no agitation; there is no disturbance. God is in possession of his empire; He is King, and his prerogative is secure. God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness: His counsels shall stand: He speaks, and it is done: it is a volition, the facility and the quickness of thought, and the purpose is accomplished. "Sing ye praises unto God; God is greatly exalted.

He sitteth upon his throne. The passage describes the dominion which Jesus Christ enjoyed, and the power that he exercised, antecedently to his incarnation in his divine nature; and there is the same power, splendour, and pre-eminence now, only that it exists and is exercised in connexion with his real humanity. It is known that "at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth."

I saw the Lord upon a throne; high and lifted up," "and his train filled the temple." This word relates to the ornamental and flowing robe of an oriental potentate, worn upon state occasions. But what shall we say of the throne of Deity? "Thou hast clothed thyself," it is said in the Psalms, "with majesty. The Lord hath clothed himself with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. Strength and majesty are within him; glory and beauty are in his face. Thou hast clothed thyself with light as with a garment”— flashes of celestial light, beams of uncreated splendour; and these filling the temple, replenishing and illuminating all its parts. These are the train of Deity, the train spoken of in the text. And so we have the Lord of Hosts in his temple, upon his throne exalted, filling the temple with his glory. It defines and describes exactly the pre-existent dignity and divine perfection of our Lord Jesus Christ, antecedent to his incarnation; and it is, as I think, the

exact meaning of the Apostle Paul, in that remarkable expression-“ Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;" "with God," who is "the image," that is, the manifestation and shewing forth, "of the invisible God."

This, then, is the view of the Divine Majesty which the passage opens. Permit me to call your attention for a moment to a few inferences which we deduce from it.

The first is the astonishing condescension and the unparalleled love of our Lord Jesus Christ, in assuming our nature and in suffering for our sins. The Apostle John says, in reference to the fact of our Lord's appearance in humau flesh, "We beheld his glory," (not as Isaiah did) "the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And He who was in the form of God, and did not think it" robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Can any conception be more amazing? The death of the cross! You remember the cross; the ignominy, the cruelty and blood of it, without the gates of Jerusalem. You remember the execrations of the multitude; how even the malefactor who was crucified with him did cast the same accusation in his teeth; and how the people, who came to that sight, did smite upon their breasts, and return unto their homes. We ask, Is this He? Is this the same? Is this the identical Being whose glory Isaiah saw, and before whose dominion seraphim did bow down and worship? It is He! It is the self-same Being. But he is seen there in the fact of his substitution, in the light of his capacity as the Surety and Saviour of his people. He came voluntarily to this, for us men and for our salvation-made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. "Who," says the Apostle Paul, in another place, "being the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, when he had by himself made expiation for our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens," where there is the self-same principle of antecedent glory and divine dignity, and terrible humiliation; the triumphant accomplishment of his work thereby. And then the repose, and honour, and blessedness, which follow at the righthand of the majesty in the heavens. Such is our Lord Jesus, and we may well exclaim

"Oh, for this love, let rocks and hills,

Their lasting silence break,

And all harmonious human tongues
Their Saviour's praises speak."

I infer again that there is a mental vision which we have of him; that there is an intellectual apprehension which we enjoy. We see him in his word and in his ordinances; and so clear and so luminous is the manifestation, that in reference to some points it could not be more satisfactory if we beheld it with the naked and the bodily eye. I see Christ in the Bible every where, and in his ordinances every where, filling all in all. There are some who seem to see him no where you will bear witness, at the least, that my ministry among you is a sweet odour of Christ Jesus, a perpetual exhibition of the Lord Christ, in his glory and in his grace, in his offices and in his work, as he is Prophet, Priest, and King of the universal Church. We see Jesus, and expect to see him soon in a distinct and literal sense; for how many steps are there between

me and death? How far are you from your departure out of this world into another? It is his will that we should see his glory: we do not know what we shall be, but we know that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure.

I ask, are you ready? Could you ascend? Are you prepared? Is your eye familiarized with the intellectual vision, first as qualifying you for the opening cloud, and then for the full exhibition afterwards? Are you in a state of concord with God-of harmony with Jesus Christ? Are you baptized with the Spirit that pervades all heaven, so that, transferred to its occupations and employments, you could take your harp, seize your lyre, engage in the song, join in the anthem and hallelujah, with the jubilating myriads that are on high? Or are you in a state of darkness and wretchedness, of distance and alienation from him? If it be this latter, I do beseech you to acquaint yourselves with him now and be at peace, to wash in the fountain which is still open for sin and for uncleanness; that, being clothed with the white vesture, you may appear at last among those who shout aloud, "Salvation to our God, and to the Lamb for ever." You must see him, whether you will or no: every eye sha see him, and they also that pierced him: and upon his great white throne will he appear, in more majesty than even that which Isaiah saw. "Before him," says St. John, "the earth and the heavens did flee away, and there was found for them no place. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God; and the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and they were judged out of those books." There I must stand to give an account of my doctrine, and my ministry; and you must stand to give an account of the manner in which you have heard and received it. Oh, that I may deliver it in with joy, and not with grief; not on my own account only, but on your's also! And then we shall see him for ever more, without a veil between. The loftiest and the loveliest conceptions which we have of the final and everlasting felicity is, that we are to walk in the light of the Father, and of the Lamb. The nations of the Saviour shall behold him as he is, and be with him in perfect freedom, in consummate liberty and joy, in all that splendour and honour, and illumination. This is the vision of the glory of God as made

manifest in Christ.

And now the second thing is, THE MANNER IN WHICH THE SERAPHIM WITNESSED HIS GLORY. It is said that "above it," that is, the throne, "stood the seraphim." It may mean "by the side of it," or "round about it."

But who and what are the seraphim, and how many of them are we to conceive present on this occasion? I take it that there was a company-that there was a considerable number of them; as in all remarkable and extraordinary discoveries of himself, his plans, and his glory in this world, God has had his ministers and his attendants along with him. God, it is said, 66 came down at Sinai; from his right-hand went a fiery-law;" and he was attended by myriads of his holy ones. When the ark was led up to Zion, it was said again, "God is among them as in the holy-place, as at Sinai: the chariots of God are twenty thousand," (that is a certain number for an uncertain) "even thousands of angels." When Christ was incarnate, a multitude of the heavenly hosts carolled him into the world When he went up, having finished his undertaking, they attended him in his ascension, and exclaimed, "Lift up your heads ye everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in."

When the final judg

ment is executed upon the Papacy, and the Ancient of Days is revealed, there are said to be around his throne thousands and tens of thousands of the holy ones. At the last judgment, it is said, God will come with all his holy angels. And it is most true, that when Deity is in the house, the angels are at the door; and when God is made manifest in his glory in his temple, the seraphim are present with their wings, veiling their faces and their feet, that they may bow down to adore him.

But who are the seraphim? I take it that they are not angels in the strict sense of that word; nor arch-angels, if there be any such creatures, the chiefs and rulers in the eternal empire; nor cherubim, though the cherubim are represented in Ezekiel's vision in a way very similar to these; nor the four and twenty elders, nor the immortalities, of whom we read in the book of the Revelations but I take them to be a distinct order of celestial beings, bearing a distinct name, and which I think occurs not any where else in the Holy Scriptures. And it opens to my mind a vast and most delightful view of the intelligent and glorified beings who populate the divine empire. God has praises ascending to his throne besides those which are uttered by human lips; his kingdom is full of light, and every where is he adored and loved and magnified, except in one dark distant corner of his universe, and upon this small, contemptible, and rebel orb.

"Seraphim." We are asking still after their name. The word "seraph" means "a burning one:" the expression means they are like unto fire." This, then, denotes the subtilty and purity of their nature, or the ardour of their zeal, the intensity of that affection which they bear to God; as if they were almost consumed with the ravishment and the love, the light and the knowledge of Deity. I take this to be the exact import of the expression, first, as denoting the glory of their nature, and secondly, the strength of their affection; the intensity of their love being proportioned to the plenitude of their knowledge. "Seraphim." They are said to have six wings. "And with twain he did cover his face." "His face." There is amazing intelligence oft-times in the countenance of a man, something celestial and superhuman in the face of a man. It was so with Moses: it was so with Stephen; they saw his countenance as it had been the countenance of an angel. And I was told by a friend of mine, who heard the late Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, that there were seasons at which he ascended the pulpit, when he looked more like an angel than like a man; a kind of divine lustre beamed on his countenance, on account of the glory of the message he was to deliver, and the unction of God that was upon him. I recently heard of a clergyman, in a consumption, and supposed to be near to death, who yet in the reading of the liturgy, with a solemn tone of devotion, and in, as it appeared, consummate abstraction of mind, had a celestial, an unearthly aspect. There is something, as I have said, divine, oft-times in the countenance of a man; but then the countenance is mortal: that lustre fadesthat beauty goes away. The face of a seraphim, if we could see it, is immortal: the lustre of it is never eclipsed, never fades away.

Yet, whatever the countenance may be, it is said, that he covers his face with his wings. That might be for two reasons; either as being unable to look steadfastly upon God-for even of them, in its strictest sense, it is true that they cannot see God, and live: they cannot sustain the plenitude of his essential being poured in upon their faculties; from them there is something held back, and necessarily concealed; to them the light is in some sense inaccessible; there