purchased with his blood. And why this zeal to degrade him? Did he not earn the kingdom with his stripes, and his wounds, and his sweat, and his dying agonies? And did he not build the very world in which he has set up this kingdom? The apostle thought proper to speak of his purifying to himself a peculiar people.

And why not let them be his? Are you afraid to be his? Would it grieve you to be a member of his family, and have a seat at the supper of the Lamb? Well, dear friend, there will come a day when you will be afraid, if you are not his. When he shall come in the clouds of heaven, and all his holy angels with him, and the last trumpet shall have waked you from the sleep of the grave, then he that believeth shall not make haste," but all others,-oh, with what hurry and confusion will they quit their sepulchres! and with what untold anguish will they call upon the rocks and mountains, to fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! Will you not then wish that you were his ?

You will see him come

Ye disciples of the Lord Jesus, did it ever occur to you how precious a thought this is. You belong to this very Lord Jesus. "Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." How safe and how happy, if he can make you so! and you have no fear but he can. Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you. directly to gather you, and you will hail him as he comes, "My Lord, and my God." My soul casts in her lot with you. We glory in belonging to Christ, and look wishfully toward that hour, when we shall see him as he is and be like him. Then, almighty Redeemer, then shall I be satisfied when I wake with thy likeness. Amen.

SERMON XLVI.

CHRIST MUST HAVE HIS OWN PLACE IN

HIS GOSPEL.

Luke ix. 20.

Whom say ye that I am?

ADMITTING the fact, that men may speculate correctly, while their hearts are unsanctified; or to some extent incorrectly, after they are born of God; still it is a general truth, that men will be, in their moral, and in their religious character, corrupt or correct, in the same proportion with their creed. If on any important subject they believe a lie, their false faith will present to their hearts wrong motives of action, and lead to those affections, and that course of conduct, that is in opposition to the law of God, and the precepts of the gospel. But if men believe the truth, though it be not with the heart unto righteousness, still that truth may exert, at some future day, a sanctifying effect upon them, and the creed adopted, through the Spirit's influence, mould them into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if there is one subject, rather than any other, on which a serious man would guard the correctness of his faith, it must be relative to the character of the Saviour he trusts in for eternal life. It must be essential, that we put our trust in the very Redeemer that God has revealed; else how can we hope that he will acknowledge us, when he shall come in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels.

Can it be otherwise, than a very important thing, to the human family, to understand distinctly, his nature and character, in whom they are invited to take sanctuary from the wrath to come? Hence, to know that the gospel proclaimed to us, presents the very Lord Jesus, through whose stripes we must be healed, will be a question of minor importance to none, who calculate first or last, to turn their eye toward heaven.

In Christ's little family, this subject was early and earnestly agitated. Our Lord would not suffer his disciples to be ignorant on this point. "He asked them saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering, said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again." He then brought the question home to their own bosom, "Whom say ye that I am?" Said the prompt and affectionate Peter, "The Christ of God."

This subject is of high and increasing importance, at a period, when it is becoming so fashionable, to consider it of no consequence what we think of Christ. It will not be so much my object to exhibit proofs of his divinity, as to show, that whatever his character may be, it is important that we have correct views of him. I shall arrange my thoughts under three general remarks: The Lord Jesus Christ has a fixed and definite character: This character is plainly revealed: If we trust in a Saviour, having any other character than that revealed in the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ will not consider this trust as reposed in him, and we shall be in danger of perishing in unbelief.

1. The Lord Jesus Christ has a fixed and definite character. It would hardly seem necessary to state a proposition like this, much less to attempt to establish it by argument, as it contains in itself its own confirma

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tion. The scriptures have given this name to the promised Messiah, who, in the very nature of things, must have a character so definite, that he can be known by his name. But if the name may apply, with equal propriety, to one who is divine, angelic, or human, here it seems to me is the end of all knowledge on this subject. Place other subjects of revelation on the same footing, and we can only guess at any thing.

The very idea of a revelation implies, that there are truths revealed, but nothing is revealed, if revealed so indefinitely that we cannot arrive at knowledge on the subject. As well might the Bible have merely named the Saviour, if after all it has said of him, we can know only his name; especially if it be an equal chance, whether we shall conceive of him as one of the Three that bear record in heaven, or a worm of the dust like ourselves. If God has told me only the name of the Redeemer, and this is all the definite knowledge I can have of him, I may be so infatuated as to apply this name to a comet or a star, and affirm that God intended I should trust in this for salvation. If he has left it to my discretion to adorn the name, with attributes, such as I would choose my Saviour should possess, then is it manifest that no two might trust in the same Redeemer.

But there is an absurdity in the very supposition. Every thing that has being, has properties that are essential to its being, of which if you disrobe it, you take away its very essence. Thus it must be with the Lord Jesus Christ. You may call by that name a being, so divested of the attributes that belong to the Saviour, that he shall cease to be the Saviour God has revealed, and be as entirely another as if he had had another The identity of being is not in the name but in the nature or attributes that belong to it. I remark,

name.

II. The character of the Lord Jesus Christ is plainly revealed in the word of God. We might infer this from the fact, that the Bible is a revelation from God; and that the principal subject of development in that Book is the Saviour. The Bible was given us to make Christ known, that we might take sanctuary in him from the wrath to come. Hence, to suppose that his character is left so indefinitely developed that we can know nothing with certainty respecting him, is to suppose God to trifle. There is an impudence and a daring in the very supposition that causes the mind to shrink from naming it.

Moreover on opening the Bible I do see the character of the Saviour, as definitively developed as any other of the subjects of revelation. I see distinctly his humanity, in that he had a body and a soul as men have. He hungered, thirsted, slept, was weary; could suffer, could rejoice; he spoke, and walked, and rode, and bled, and died. And I see as distinctly his divinity. He created all things, could make the bread and the wine that sustained him, could know the hearts of men, could heal the sick, and raise the dead, and give sight to the blind, and still the waves of the sea. And I will name one text, among many, in which he is predicted with all these characteristics: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Here the same personage, who was a child and a son, is also the Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

But on this point I will only stop to say, that on no particular is the Bible more full and plain than on this.