This, then, must be a principle deeply fixed in our minds, That the authority of Christ is to rule us under all circum- stances ; and that nothing under heaven is to be suffered to in- terfere with it. Men who cast off his yoke will indeed clamour against us, and express their indignation against us for not complying with their will. But we may safely leave ourselves in the hands of Jesus ; who, as our Advocate, will plead our cause ; and, as our Judge, will pass a sentence of approval upon us in the last day. He will the7i at least, if not before, vindi- cate our conduct, and " make our righteousness to appear as the noon-day™."]
2. His sufficiency to save —
d Tit. ill. 1,, e Rom. xiii. 1, 2, 5. ^ Actsiv. 19,20. andv.29 g Eph. vi. 2. b Luke xiv. 26. ' Acts xx. 24.
I' Actsxxi. 13. ' Matt. X. 39. "> Ps. xxxvii. 6.
[To all who observed the institutions of the law in faith, they were effectual for the salvation of their souls. And who ever applied to Jesus in vain ? Who ever relied on his sacri- fice, and was confounded ? What is there that shall be kept back from one who implores blessings at his hands? Shall pardonhe refused? No : " though his sins were red as scarlet or as crimson, they should become white as snow." " The blood of Jesus Christ should cleanse him from all sin." Shall peace be denied to the believing suppliant ? No: " being jus- tified by faith, he shall have peace with God ;" so that, instead of looking forward with terror to the eternal world, he shall even now " rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Shall strength for future obedience be withheld? No: " the grace of Christ shall be sufficient for him ;" and he shall be " able to do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth him." Shall glory be deemed too good for him ? No : the Saviour, in whom he has believed, will judge him, and exalt him to a participation of his own inheritance, his own kingdom, his own glory. The principal utensils of the temple, the lavers, the tables, the can- dlesticks, were, in the temple, ten times more numerous than in the tabernacle": and this marked the great superiority of the temple and its services to the tabernacle and the ordinances observed in it. And say I too much, if I say, that in Jesus our blessings are increased ? Verily, they are increased, not tenfold, but a hundredfold : for, till he was glorified, they were sent forth only in slender portions : but from that time they have been poured out like a river °.]
Let us then observe from hence,
1 . How highly we are privileged under the Christian dispensation —
[Jesus came in person to the second temple, and thereby raised it above the first. And does he not come to his temple in our day ? Yes, he does : not corporeally indeed, but spi- ritually, and with great power. He has promised that he would do so : " Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them p." And this he will continue to do : as he has said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world *i." Nor is it any disadvantage to us that he comes only in a spiritual way : for they who beheld him in person were stumbled at the meanness of his appear- ance ; and could not conceive how one so poor and destitute and despised should possess the authority he claimed. But we have no such stumbling-block in our way. We know who he is, and
" Compare Exod. xxv. 23, 31. & xxx. 18. with 2Chron. iv. 6 — 8. " John vii. 39. p Matt, xviii. 20. q Matt, xxviii. 20.