fulness, and all its excellency ; and rest not till you have attained those rich blessings, which every true Believer is privileged to enjoy.]
3. Those who both know and enjoy the Gospel —
[Happy indeed are ye, even though ye be in all other respects the most destitute and distressed. Let then your gra- titude to God evince itself in a suitable life and conversation. As for your joys, the world knows nothing about them ; and will therefore impute them to enthusiasm and delusion. But they can understand a holy life : that will approve itself to them as a good and genuine fruit of the Gospel. Let them then see, that this Gospel which makes you happy, makes you holy also. Let them see that it brings into subjection every un- hallowed temper, every evil desire. Let them see that in every station and relation of life it elevates you above others, ren- dering you more amiable, more consistent. In a word, " let your whole conversation be such as becometh the Gospel of Christ ; " and, whilst you are made partakers of a felicity which the world knows not of, endeavour to make your light shine before men, that they may be constrained to acknowledge the excellence of your principles, and be led to seek a participation of your bliss.] — ". — —
Ps lxxxix. 19. Thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty.
HOW joyful must these tidings be, to whomsoever they may have respect ! Suppose them to refer to an oppressed nation ; the raising up to them a mighty deliverer must be a rich, inestimable blessing : and such were David and Solomon, who were raised up to govern Israel, and to put all their enemies under their feet. But a greater than David or Solomon is here. The words spoken by God to Samuel did certainly, in their primary sense, relate to David a ; as those spoken afterwards to Nathan did to Solomon b. But their ultimate reference was to Christ0, who is the true David d, and the Son of David6. On him was
a 1 Sam. xvi. 1. b 2 Sam. vii. 12— 1G.
c Compare 2 Sam. vii. 14. with Heb. i. 5.
d Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. and Hos. iii. 5. e Matt. xxii. 42.
649. J THE SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST TO SAVE. Ill
laid all the help that the Israel of God required ; and God the Father declared beforehand, to his holy prophets, the sufficiency of Christ to discharge the office committed to him.
Two things are here obviously presented to us for our consideration :
I. The office committed unto Christ —
What this was, may be known from the necessities of fallen man ; because it was to supply them that he was sent into the world. It was then,
1. To make reconciliation for man —
[This was a work which no man could accomplish for him- self; a work which all the angels in heaven were unequal to perform. Satisfaction must be made for sin ; made too in the nature that had sinned. The curse due to sin must be borne, even the wrath of Almighty God. Who could afford us this help? who could sustain this weight ? It would crush in an instant the highest archangel. None could endure it, but God's co-equal Son. He cheerfully undertaking to bear it for us, the Father made him our substitute; that, divine justice being satisfied, and the law magnified by his obedience unto death, mercy might be extended unto us, and reconciliation be made between God and his offending creatures.]
2. To effect their complete salvation —
[It was not enough to die for them: they were wandering afar off, and they must be searched out ; they were in rebellion, and must be subdued : when brought home to their Father's house, they are weak, and must be upheld; tempted, and must be strengthened ; beset with enemies, and must be protected : they must never be left to themselves one moment : they must have every thing done for them, and in them : the whole care of preserving them, from first to last, must be devolved on hims who undertakes for them: they must be " carried in the arms," " dandled on the knees," fed at the breast, and be watched over exactly like new-born infants. Nothing less than this will suffice for them. Though there be millions of them spread over the face of the whole globe, they must all be attended to as much as if there were only one. What a work was this to undertake ! Yet was this "the help which God laid upon" his dear Son.]