well refined ;" and he invites us to partake of it. When we ungratefully refuse his invitations, he renews them with greater urgency, and directs his servants to compel us to come in. He sends them into the highways and hedges for this express purpose ; and commissions them to declare, that whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast him out. Not sins of a scarlet or a crimson die shall be deemed any disqualification for his favours, if only we will accept his proffered mercy in Christ Jesus. Come then, brethren, into this state of holy in- tercourse with your gracious God and Saviour. Let not a sense of your past rebellion discourage you. The Prodigal Son is a just image of a returning sinner; and the reception which he met with shall be yours ]
John xiii. 31, 32. Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
IF it were asked, at what time, and on what occa- sion, God and his dear Son were more dishonoured than at any other period of the world, the answer probably would be, that it was in that hour, when, by the united voice of all his own countrymen, the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, to be crucified. Doubtless this would be the judgment of all who viewed that event merely with the eye of sense. But to the eye of faith it will appear in far different colours. The whole design of God in it will then be seen, and all the glory of the Godhead will be found to shine forth in it. This was the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who, at the moment that Judas went forth for the purpose of betraying him into the hands of the chief priests and rulers, said, " Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him."
In opening to you these most important declara- tions, I will endeavour to shew what glory accrued from the sufferings of Christ,