ry object is particular. Your son, your father, your wife, your brother, your neighbor, your God, these are the objects you are commanded to love, not in the proportion of their mass of matter or of mind, but in proportion to their own worth and your relation to them. The love of mere being, without regard to its relalations or its qualities, may be dis. interested, must be disinterested. In it there is nothing to excite emotion; in it there is no affection. Placid, as the surface of the frozen lake, it is alike hard and cold. This is not the love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. The love of Christ constraineth us; and we are filled with corresponding affections. We desire with the whole soul the enjoyment of God. Christianity, in one word, is a religion which reveals what it is useful to know; and commands what will do us good. Its benefits are tangible; and in its charities our hearts experimentally participate. "Truly, God is good to Israel. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures."

3. Messiah is fit to be appointed of the Father, and recognized by his creatures, as the centre of fellowship among his people, on account of his own personal dig. nity and authority.

When a society assumes, even for the sake of distinction, the name of any person, it is because they consider such person as respectable on some account connected with the object they have in view; and when they choose

to embody themselves, under the command of a superior, they calculate upon his talents and exertions in preventing injuries and securing the general good. To act otherwise is any thing but commendable. When men, therefore, have to choose a Savior from sin and from wrath, it were reasonable not to trust the soul to incompetent hands. Ability to save to the uttermost is essential to merited confidence. But when infinite wisdom makes the selection and appointments, our faith cannot be misplaced. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ; a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded."

The dignity of our Savior is acknowledged. God, angels, and men bear witness that he is our God. He not only is sent of the Father to save sinners, but is himself the eternal Son of God, equal with the Father in power and in glory. The angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, is called Jehovah. "The Lord went before them in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day and night." To Isaiah he appeared sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, while the seraphims cried and said, Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. John beheld, and heard the voice of many angels and saints-thousands of thousands saying, with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessings-and to him the Father himself says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. And shall we

not, like Thomas, say, unto him, "My Lord, and my God!"

The divinity of Christ is essential to Christianity. He could not otherwise have made satisfaction for sin, or have administered the blessings of the covenant. His official pre-eminence implies the pre-existing dignity of his person. He is not a God by figure merely, by name or by office; but his nature is divine. Office, I know, sometimes confers distinction upon persons destitute of merit. În such a case, however, degradation is not far distant. Rank may occasion development of inherent faculties, but cannot confer talents, nor pass itself off among men for a long time, for genius and worth. Official dignity, it will be confessed, sits best upon persons of intrinsic greatness. They are called Gods, "to whom the word of God came," as a call to office under the law; but it is speedily added, "Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Not so, the Redeemer of Israel. "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure-they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." His mediatory glory, God forbid that we should wish to diminish it, his mediatory glory rests upon the divinity of his person. He receives no higher honor, he asked for none, in his human nature, as the reward of his voluntary hu. miliation, than what he enjoyed from eternity, as the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,

with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." This is the glory which believers admire with unspeakable joy, when they draw near to him, as head over all things to the church, which is his body. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.

Whether we approach him as Ruler in Israel, as the High Priest of our profession, or as himself the victim by whom we have now received the atonement, his divinity is still the rock of our salvation. It is that which gives va. lue to his services and sufferings as our substitute; it is that which qualifies him for guiding, protecting, sanctifying, and saving his people. Were it not for the divine dignity of the person of Messiah, his sacrifice could not have been of infinite worth, nor could we have a warrant to draw near, in the full assurance of faith. His divine personality and perfection are assumed in the very constitution of the covenant of grace. If Christ be not God, the condition of the covenant could not have been accomplished, nor could its promise ever be enjoyed. The blood of Jesus, it is true, cleanseth us from all sin, for it is the blood of the covenant; and, irrespective of that compact, his death would not only have been without merit, but morally impossible. It would have been criminal in Messiah to have laid down his life otherwise than as a substitute. The sufferings of innocency could not have been pleasing to God, otherwise than to make satisfac. tion for the guilty, with whom he was federally identified. As,there. fore, there is no worth in the suf

ferings of Christ beyond the li. mits of the covenant of grace, so, also, within these limits their value depends entirely upon his divinity. That value is infinite, and, of course, incapable alike of admeasurement or exhaustion by the number of the elect multiplied into the quantity of their respective degrees of criminality. The perfection of the sacrifice is necessary for the salvation of one, and sufficient for that of millions. Who can calculate the addition or subtraction of infinity?

It is, moreover, to be remem. bered, that although the sufferings of Jesus of Nazareth are of no atoning virtue irrespective of the covenant of God, there is inhe. rently and absolutely infinite worth in the person of the suffererworth which is taken for granted in the covenant, and which, as it does not confer, it can neither re. strict or extend. Immanuel is God over all blessed for ever. It is not, brethren, a conventional value that is set upon the Son of God it is the work assigned to him, and which he engaged to perform, that is determined by the everlasting covenant; and upon his services, in accomplishing that work, a conventional value is put-an infinite value, as appears by the infinite reward-the full display of the glory of the Godhead, in the salvation of the church, through infinite duration. No public deed can justly confer upon any object a worth which it does not intrinsically possess. If common usage, or the civil law, makes money current for property, and paper to pass for silver and gold, all such commercial facilities, in order to be righteous,

must proceed upon the principle that he who holds the symbol may command the substance, or an equivalent, when it becomes requisite. Every justifiable compact will, of course, respect the ultimate value of the condition stipulated, whether for reconciliation or other reward. We are bought with a price, not by silver and gold, or other corruptible things," but by the blood of Christ: that price is precious, because he is God. The sacrifices of the law denoted the offering of our great High Priest, and, by faith, the symbol was used for the substance, and on that account alone was accepted for expiation with God. The Levitical rites were a shadow of good things to come, but the body is of Christ. "Behold the man whose name is the Branch: even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne." His divine per. fection gives splendor and effi. cacy to the regal and the sacerdotal office; and from his throne of adamant, he proclaims himself the Christian's God. Gathering toge. ther to Shiloh, in troops, and cheered with shouts of victory, they hear his well-known voice"He that overcometh, shall inherit all things, and I will be his God."

Lastly, and IVthly. The Redeemer, in fact, gathers the people unto himself out of every king. dom, and therefore should be acknowledged as their chief. By his own power, he brings them toge ther, and he supports them in their fellowship; by his own Spirit, he quickens them, and comforts

them; by his ordinances, he sup. plies them with direction and with bread; by his own voice, he awakens the dead to immortality; and by the ultimate decision which he passes as the Judge of the world, they are presented faultless before the presence of his glory. With efficient power to accomplish every part of this great work, he is assuredly the proper person to be recognized as Head of the commonwealth. Who so well entitled to the station as the only one qualified for all its services? Who shall receive the honor, but he that performs the work? The gospel, which invites us, is the word of Christ. The law, which is a light to our feet, is in the hand of the Mediator. The ministers of reconciliation are embassadors for him who is gone up to heaven in our behalf, The will to serve him on the earth, and enjoy him here and hereafter, is given by his power. He is the Lord our Righteousness, and blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

We have evidence enough before our own eyes, that this picture is not overcharged. Every congregation that meets on the Lord's day, is proof that the people gather unto him. Every true Christian is a specimen of his work; and those mighty shakings which at times occur, and result in a vast accession of converts to the cause of God, are a commen. tary on my text.

We have in expectation, yea, in certain hope, a period to come, which will be a more extensive illustration of the doctrine than even that resolution by which the banner, dyed in the blood of Cal

vary, was revealed, waving over the palace of Augustus. The set time is at hand, when the Lord shall build up Zion; when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. The revolution which will introduce the millenium, must put every op. posing tongue to silence, and make the enemies of the Lord, whether Jew or Gentile, feign submission to him. The scenes which that era shall exhibit in the cities of the nations, will exceed the splen. dors of the procession which was headed by the son of Jesse, when conducting the ark of the covenant from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem; and that which was witnessed by the many thousands of Israel, at the dedication of the temple of Zion by King Solomon. These events were presages of the fulfillment of the prophecy we are considering. There was another scene still more magnificent, and at an earlier period. I have reference to the first time when the twelve tribes, after the complete organization of their ecclesiastical constitution, and their civil polity, took up their line of march from Horeb toward the land of promise. That spectacle, hitherto unequaled, can be sur. passed only in the millenium. It was also an expression of faith in the promised advent of Shiloh.

The children of Israel had been encamped for about a year in the vicinity of Mount Sinai. All the arrangements were made for their departure, by divine wisdom, when on the 20th day of the second month, (early in May,)" the Lord God spake unto them, saying, ye

have dwelt long enough in this Mount; turn you, and take your journey." They obeyed. The prince of Judah led the van, supported by Issachar and Zebulon. Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan, each supported by two other tribes, formed the two wings and the rear of the procession. The taber. nacle of God, borne by the sons of Levi, occupied the centre of the square, which covered twelve miles of ground, and embraced about 3,000,000 of souls. The trumpets sounded; their ensigns floated in the air; the cloud of glory ascended in their sight, and advanced; the ark of the covenant went before them, and Moses, aided by ten thousand voices, exclaimed, "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered."

The history of this wonderful people, whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, is not yet closed. They survive the ruins of many generations. Judah's descendants are, as yet, distinct from the nations, though scatter. ed over the wide world. They live, alas! at a distance from the true prince of their own tribethe Prince of the Kings of the earth. Their staff is broken; they have no lawgiver; the sceptre is departed, but Shiloh is come, and they shall yet be ga. thered to him. The time draws nigh when they are to come with the fullness of the Gentiles: converted to Messiah, their heart shall indite a good matter touching the King, for Israel shall be a church of God, and so shall the King greatly desire her beauty. All glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold, she shall be brought

unto him in raiment of needle. work. The virgin churches of all the nations, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto him; the kings and their consorts, the people and the rulers of the world, bowing before Immanuel, will co-operate with gladness and rejoicing superior to that of the magnificent procession in the wilderness; they shall enter into the King's palace. Satan is bound. The saints possess the kingdom, and they shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years.

The nations of the world, as one pacified empire, shall unite in righteousness; and the moral governor of the universe shall be glorified in all lands. Geographical distinctions are not adapted to the Christian commonwealth. They are narrow, partial, and illiberal. No wall of partition remains. partition remains. The restriction, the error, the absurdity of the Roman Catholic name has ceased to mark reasonable creatures; and "the communion of saints" is enjoyed by the Holy Catholic Church.

This state of blessedness is excelled only by the heavenly felicity; but to that, its excellency is not to be compared. Christ shall reappear; the dead hear his voice; the elements melt; the last enemy is overcome. The saints are assembled, to be separated no more: through eternity, they shall enjoy that for which we now hope, in communion with the Son of God. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Amen.