according as it is said, " The Word was with God, and was God, and was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us." The ex- pression here used has a direct reference to the tabernacle, which was a type of Christ's humanity: He was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, as in a tabernacle*-, and on that very account he is called the image of the invisible Godh; that is, the person in whom the invisible God has condescended to make himself visible to mortal man. In this adorable Saviour " dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily0:" and in him all the perfections of his Father shine forth, insomuch, that he is " the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person d." Behold, then, the incarnate Deity, sojourning on earth, to fulfil the counsels of eternal Wisdom, for the redemption of a ruined world. How contemptible are worthless idols in comparison of him! and how must every Dagon fall from its very base before him !]
Let us then contemplate, II. Our duty towards him —
Well is it said, " Let the whole earth keep silence before him." Truly, as surrounded by his majesty, and upheld by his power, and saved by his mercy, we must behold him,
1. With reverential awe —
[He is indeed " greatly to be feared, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him." If the rocks trembled at his presence when he descended on Mount Sinai6, much more must his intelligent creation, and still more the sinners of mankind. In heaven, all his hosts, whether of sinless angels or redeemed saints, fall prostrate before him : and on earth, his most favoured people have never beheld his glory, or heard his voice, but they have fallen on their face, as Abraham did, with the profoundest awe, and in deepest adoration f. Even to a fellow-creature the most respectful reverence has been often shewn, and that, too, even by persons of the highest rank, through an admiration of his superior goodness and wisdom g: what, then, must be due to the God of heaven, whether as riding on the heavens in his majesty, ox- walking on the earth in the multitude of his tender mercy?]
2. With meek submission —
[Many things, of course, occur, which we feel to be pain- ful, and are unable to comprehend: for "our God doeth
a John i. 1, 14. errK})vu)a£v. b Col. i. 15.
■ Col. ii. 9. d Heb. i. 3. « Judg. v. 5.
f Gen. xvii. 3. 8 Job xxix. 9, 10.