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fallen from his high estate. For this end, therefore, he became manifest,-not only to complete the typical temple, by giving it a fleshly, living reality; but to accomplish that redemption and reconciliation of the Creator to the creature, which the service of that temple had signified; which his life and death did accomplish. And for this end it was necessary that he should be the self-existent Jehovah, as well as the son of man, in order that, by the humiliation of the former to the mortal conditions of the latter, he might take up the latter into the Divine conditions of the former; the Divine nature being as the golden altar upon which he offered the sacrifice of his human nature.

The third great intimation and introduction of the Incarnation was in the prophetic dispensation completed and fulfilled in Christ. By which I do not mean that his incarnation fulfilled all the prophecies which went before upon him-a monstrous figment, which neither Jew nor Christian can believe, otherwise than by blinding their understanding, or spiritualizing away the letter and substance of all the prophecies, whereof by far the greater part, I might say almost nine out of ten, remain to be completely accomplished in his second coming;-but I mean what Daniel expresseth, "to seal up the vision and the prophecy;" which he did by becoming the Prophet and Teacher of his church. In connexion with the primitive dispensation of sacrifice, and the primitive worship, which were embodied into a national form by the Mosaical economy, there was also a dispensation of word or prophecy; which is revelation, properly so called; being, as it were, the voice of the universal reason speaking to the reason of man from the body of those visible ordinances which

stood before his sense. For there never was an ordinance or institution without a word of prophecy which portended that the great Prophet would come when the substance of these shadows should come. Therefore Noah was a prophet, and Abraham, and Moses, and David, and every one who had any hand in the building up of God's worship and the preservation of his laws; and when the race of priests was reserved for the family of Levi, a race of prophets was raised up of all tribes, as it pleased the word of God to visit them: who were the interpreters of Providence, the denouncers of wickedness, the guardians of the moral law, and, in short, the preachers of spiritual righteousness. As the priests waited upon the temple, and were, so to speak, the body-servants of Christ; so the prophets waited upon the word of Christ, and were the forerunners and messengers of his counsels-not those who sat in council with him; for who hath been his counsellor? the Child that was to be born, his name was to be called THE COUNSELLOR-but the messengers of his counsels, his forerunners, who warned the nations what and what manner of person He was to be whose goings forth had been from everlasting. When the Word became incarnate, this dispensation also came to an end; as the planets disappear at the rising of the sun, or as the ambassadors fall into the train of servants upon the appearance of their king and lord. When it is said, that "the Word became flesh," it is not meant merely that he became body, but that he became also a reasonable human soul, shewing to our body its perfect holiness, and to our mind its perfect holiness. He was the clear and bright intelligence, the consummate wisdom, the pure reason, the perfect righteousness of man,

as well as the outward and undefiled, the holy and harmless body of man. Now, this is what is meant when we say he was our Prophet: that there is nothing, within the compass of human reason and power, which he possessed not, and which he declared not. With respect to the sciences and arts which concern the visible world, and enter by the sense, our Lord possessed them, as Adam did, by instinct; wherefore all elements obeyed him: but he revealed them not to his people, because they help not, neither are congenial to, that spiritual dispensation devoid of outward power which his incarnation ushered in; but they are outstanding to the hope of his people, when he shall come, clothed with power, to bring them into the possession of the earth with sacerdotal and royal state; as heretofore Adam had possession of the garden of Edenhappy type of this purified world! But of the spiritual and invisible he revealed the perfect consummation; and nothing hath been, nor can be, added thereto. And, observe you, when he afterwards appeared unto John in Patmos, to make known the glory of his coming kingdom, he appeared in person, and did not by his Spirit inspire, but came and gave that which God had given unto him; wherefore it is entitled, "the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him." And be it further observed concerning this Revelation, that it was given in his character of our risen High Priest, not of incarnate Prophet; for the reason, that his priesthood was not entered into till after his death, when he ascended up on high; nor the power given into his hand over heaven and earth. And not before the beginning of that book styleth he himself the Prince of the kings of the earth. Which book of the Revelation is the successive acts of his Father, in

putting all enemies under his feet, before bringing him in glory into the earth. Since his resurrection, Christ hath become not only the Head of his church on earth, but the Ruler of the nations; and that book of the Apocalypse is nothing else than the acts of Christ, the eternal King, immortal and invisible, the only living and true God. With respect to the writings of the Apostles which are preserved, and their infinite discourses which are not preserved, they were the seeds which the Incarnate Word had sown in their hearts, ripened by the Spirit, who was promised to bring all things to their remembrance. And this is manifest from the continual appeal of the Apostles to the Prophets when discoursing with the Jews, and, doubtless, to the very words of the Lord when discoursing to the believers. Nay, but what else are the Gospels than the record of Jesus, which these Apostles were wont to give in all their ministrations? Whence it came to pass, that when Paul was called to the Apostolic office he received instructions directly from the Lord himself, and resteth his authority as an Apostle upon that foundation. The Spirit ripened the spiritual seed which the Son of Man had sown; gave at Pentecost the first-fruits; and is yet to give the latter rain upon the earth: after which cometh the harvest. And believe what I am now to say, brethren; that there are in this book of God's holy word more seed still unquickened than hath yet quickened in all the commentaries of the church, or been accomplished in the providence of God; and which shall quicken in the fulness of the times. It is in this office of the Prophet that he becomes the object of all faith, is the wisdom of his church, is both the sower and the seed which

is sown, the householder and the treasure from which the stewards and the household are supplied with their food; "for it is of his fulness that we all receive, and grace for grace." And of Him, in this office, the Prophets were the continual admonitors and heralds of his coming: as it is written, "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus."

From these three intimations and indications of Messiah, contained in the Sacrifices, in the Levitical Priesthood, and the Prophetic Vocation, it is manifest that there will be found many mysteries in the person of the man Christ Jesus; though in respect to these his various offices, as Sacrifice, High Priest, and Prophet, there be no more doubt than that the sun shineth in the heavens and giveth light unto the earth. Into the mystery, for example, of the union between the Divine and human nature, it is hard to enter; and those who have dared it too far, have most frequently lost themselves in error. It is revealed that his body was created by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, that he might be the woman's Seed, according to the promise. He grew in wisdom as he grew in years, like any other child; though he was from the womb the very Word of God, which had created the heavens and the earth, and spoken by the mouth of all the Prophets; who was conscious of the eternity of his being, and of the blessedness thereof, before the world was. And he was obedient to the Law, in its letter and in its spirit; and he made the word of God his meditation, as we do; and he lived by faith upon it, as do all his people. He prayed, and was strengthened by prayer, as we are: he was afflicted with all our afflictions, and tried with all

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