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given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know, that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John xvii. 21, 22, 23.) In the different intimations of our Saviour's heavenly power and dignity, there is most frequently a reference of the same to the Father in this way of unity: as where he talks himself of coming in his Father's glory; (Matt. xvi. 27;) though he speaks sometimes of a several throne, as any earthly king might who similarly reigns by God: (Prov. viii. 15:) as, for example, where he tells the apostles, "Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel;" (Matt. xix. 28;) likewise where speaking to the disciples generally, he says, "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." (Ib. xxv. 31, 32.)

The meaning of which appears to be this, namely, That God, the Father Almighty is never seen nor obeyed, nor can be either, immediately in himself: but mediately in the Son he is, and ever will be; as he told Philip on his saying to him, "Lord, shew us the Father; and it sufficeth us. Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake." (John xiv. 8, &c.). By means, or in the person, of the Holy Ghost, the Father

may be variously perceived, as in foreknowledge, in holiness, in contrition, in amendment, with other fruits of the Spirit; as "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:" (Gal. v. 22, 23:) but he is only seen in Christ: as he is both in his glory and in his humiliation; in him "that sat upon the throne," decreeing a new creation, and in him that died upon the cross, atoning for the sins of the old world, and laying a foundation for the new. So says the Lord of hosts, "And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.-For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad, and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and DUST shall be the SERPENT'S MEAT. They shall not hurt, nor destroy, in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." (Isai. li. 16; lxv. 17, 18, 24, 25.)

As for heavenly thrones, made of what THE MANY would regard as more solid materials than the Word of God and his Holy Spirit, and also studded with richer ornaments than the fore-mentioned fruit of such Spirit,-thrones of ivory or alabaster, cemented with wrought gold, and studded with rubies; which in fact are only things of a moment's duration, compared with the others-we must be some of the simplest of the simple ever to take the mention of them literally. Every one should know, that the throne is a mere human invention; and sitting, no posture for Celestials: we learned neither from them, and must not expect that they should learn either from us; though the Holy Spirit has often condescended to adopt

these expressions, and others of the sort, in intimating to the human apprehension such future objects as may paralleled thereby. Yet I apprehend there are pious persons who have not attained beyond the murdering letter in this case*, and are really apt to feast their imaginations with a goodly prospect of thrones and sitting dignitaries in Heaven, like what they desire and would go a good way to see upon earth,-only the dignitaries, perhaps, of a better presence, and their thrones of a more exquisite workmanship. But God himself is represented by the prophet as giving a very different idea of the subject, and he certainly ought to know somewhat of his own station. "The Heaven is my throne," (Isai. lxvi. 1,) says he; being in substance the sphere of everlasting life and happiness which occurs in the knowledge or presence of God. So David says, "Thy seat O God endureth for ever: the sceptre of thy Kingdom is a right sceptre:" (Ps. xlv. 7:) and our Saviour in praying the Father for his disciples, "And this is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John xvii. 3.) Which shews the same throne or sceptre in another relation by the knowledge of God and Christ.

2, In relation to the receiver, therefore, this knowledge is a sprig from Paradise: it was stuck in the earth at once; but never made much growth, till he who stuck it there thought fit to visit his plant, to clear it from overgrowing weeds and briars, and lay it fairly open, that it might feel the blessed sun, and take refreshment of the heavenly dew, and grow stoutly. And grow it did, and will too till it overspread the earth, in spite of opposition: "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Isai. xi. 9.)

It is now by the calculation of astronomers and chronologists six thousand years, within a century or two, The letter killeth." (Cor. II. iii. 6.) And it does so,

St. Paul says, no doubt, sometimes.

that the Prince of the air has been manoeuvring against the existence of this little plant; that he might flourish alone in the midst of us, and cover the whole earth with the shadow of his wings: but his enterprising will not answer. He has sent out whole legions of spirits, to cut down the plant, or pluck it up by the roots: but the plant is too stubborn for them. He has even formed combinations upon earth, amassing house upon house, and kingdom upon kingdom, to throw on the plant, and overwhelm it with their authority, their terror, and interest: but all to no purpose; it will not avail. Finally, he has occasioned from time to time, immense defections of the servants who were employed to watch it, corrupted others, and essayed every artifice in short that his hellish ingenuity could suggest to get the better of it: but all will not serve. For such is the vitality of the plant, and the fecundity of the soil in which it inheres, and the benignity of the climate by which it is cherished, that a few "Little Ones" only-Curates, if you will-whose faith was not to be corrupted, have sufficed to keep it alive: and through their simple but honest exertions it comes to pass, that after all the efforts of its enemies-friends of the old order of things, and abettors of corruption, the knowledge and love of God is not yet extinguished in the heart of man; but lives and grows where God only knows: and therewith a new order or creation is still rising in the midst of the world, and thriving on the dissolution of the old.

3. The beginning of this New Creation, as of every new growth indeed, and every stage of the same, will be parallel and connected with the beginning and several stages of declining in the old; as 1, Righteousness with repentance, and 2, Life toward God, with death to the world, for example, through the goodness of God which leadeth us to repentance. 1, Repentance toward God, therefore, with consequent righteousness, may be con

sidered as the first of the many bounties accumulated in "the riches (or treasury as we may call it) of his goodness;" (Rom. ii. 4;) being, with sincere faith and devotion, the gift of him only to whom it is due; as signified by the prophet Joel, "And rend your heart, and not your garments, (says he,) and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth, if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord your God?" (Joel ii. 13, 14.) So the council of the church assembled with St. Peter at Jerusalem; when they heard from him of the extension of divine mercy which he had witnessed and assisted among the Gentiles; and how God had given unto them "the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." (Acts xi. 17, 18.) For the fruit of righteousness being invariably good, not only righteousness itself, but every thing that leads to it, not excepting the bitter cup of repentance, may be thought good likewise by those who build on a future state: just as money is esteemed by the children of this world on account of the temporal commodities which it is able to purchase. And in this light they, that is both righteousness and repentance, are set forth continually in the Word of God; as one by the prophet Jeremiah praying for it, "O Lord, correct me: but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing;" (Jer. x. 24 ;)— and the other by the Psalmist, praising the same in the honest man who owns it, "even he who hath clean hands;" he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." (Ps. xxiv. 5.) "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance," (Matt. xiii. 12,) says our blessed Saviour. And these examples of the mode of our new be

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