the back of this, Noah in the faith of the Messiah, and in type of his grand sacrifice, offered his of fering to God; upon which God smelled a savour of rest; and upon this promises that he will drown the world no more. Now all these things are no more than introductory to something far greater. The creation of the world is a wonderful display of divine wisdom and power. Upon a survey of this God rested from his works of creation.

The drowning the old world exhibited his terrible majesty and just indignation; but in the sovereign display of his mercy to Noah, and in his grateful acknowledgments of it by sacrifice, a savour of rest is smelled, and a promise of no more deluge.

In delivering Israel out of Egypt, and in his sore judgments upon that nation, the goodness and severity of God are wonderfully displayed. After which he takes up his rest in the tabernacle of David, and in the temple of Solomon, where all the typical sacrifices that he appointed were offered; but when the people by their sins provoked him, and foolishly imagined that his offended justice could be satisfied by beasts, and that God would drink the blood of goats, and turned his house of prayer into a den of thieves, he gave it up into the hand of the king of Babylon. "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house

that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest."

But, after all this, God speaks of another day, and of another rest. For though, in the creation of the world, he had displayed his wisdom and power, and in the deluge his wrath and indignation, and in his judgments on Egypt, and in the deliverance of Israel, his goodness and severity; yet his highest favour and his grace, his wonderful compassion and mercy, and his everlasting love in which his soul delights, are still behind; and offended justice and a broken law stand in the way of these, until the day of Christ's appearing. And of this God speaks, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation." The destruction of sin and Satan by Christ, and the work of redemption, are the things which he set his heart upon from all eternity. And this appears from Christ's being set up from everlasting; his goings forth are said to be from eternity; and his mercy and his love are from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Upon these things the Almighty set his heart and soul from eternity; and in the display of these things he delights, and therefore says, that mercy shall be built up for ever, and his faithfulness shall be established in the very heavens; and that will be the case when God displays the riches of his grace in glory by Christ Jesus. The Saviour's errand into this world was to open a way for the discovery of these, and for

our enjoyment of them in and through him; for there can be no rest to divine justice without satisfaction, as sings our sublime poet:

To whom thus Michael: Dream not of their fight,
As of a duel, or the local wounds

Of head or heel: not therefore joins the Son
Manhood to godhead, with more strength to foil
Thy enemy; nor so is overcome

Satan, whose fall from heav'n a deadlier bruise
Disabled not to give thee thy death's wound:
Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall recure,
Not by destroying Satan, but his works
In thee and in thy seed. Nor can this be,
But by fulfilling that which thou didst want,
Obedience to the law of God, imposed

On penalty of death, and suff" ring death,

The penalty of thy transgression due,

And due to theirs which out of thine will grow :

So only can high justice rest apaid.

MILTON.

So speaks the poet, and speaks truth. For as soon as ever Christ appeared in the world, what propitious tokens do attend him! The angels sing,

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Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good-will toward men;" and, at his entrance upon his ministry, a voice from the Lord God himself, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This, with the visible descent of the Holy Ghost, is all expressive of infinite pleasure and delight. The law he magnifies and fulfils, and God is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He dies, and justice is satisfied; man is redeemed, and a gaoldelivery is procured. At death he says,

"I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope: for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption." High justice here, as Milton says, rested apaid, and the Lord's flesh rested in hope; in hope of a glorious resurrection, and of a fulness of joy in heaven, and of pleasures for evermore. At the resurrection of Christ, truth springs out of the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. Righteousness goes before him, and sets us in the way of his steps, Psalm lxxxv. 11, 13. Herein doth the everlasting love of God appear, in appointing his dear Son to assume our nature, and to be God with us in that nature for ever; and in appointing him to be a sacrifice for us, and in giving him for a covenant to us. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." In this God hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; and in Christ he has displayed all the good pleasure of his will, his eternal mercy, grace, faithfulness, and truth. And here justice rests satisfied, the law honoured, and the lawgiver glorified for evermore. And in this his love and good-will he rests delighted and well pleased; and so it is written, "In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God

in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing," Zeph. iii. 16, 17. In this God rests for ever, namely, in the displays of his own love; in the salvation of his elect by Christ; and in rejoicing over them to do them good.

But again: upon the holy hill of Zion, as king of saints, and covenant head of the church, he sets his anointed king, crowned with glory and honour, invested with all power in heaven and earth, as mediator, and sole heir of all things. And in gathering souls to him, in making his people willing, in fulfilling the good pleasure of his will in them, and the work of faith with power, and in drawing souls to him, and in revealing Christ in them, is his hand engaged to this day. And this mighty hand made bare rests upon them all; none is able to pluck them out of his hand. And so it is written, "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill." Upon this rest the Almighty sets the love of his heart; in this our salvation rests the power of his arm; he rests in his love set upon Zion, and the arm of his power rests on the same. "For the Lord hath