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him before he was loft; and by this glorious furety thou haft found out a noble way to fatisfy both the demands of juftice and intreaties of mercy, and glorify both thofe divine perfections at once. By this, Lord, we know thou loveft us, that thou haft not withheld thy Son, thine only Son from us, to be facrificed in our room; and gracioufly called us to commemorate thy love, in providing this facrifice at thy holy table.-Inftead of this, thou mighteft juftly have called multitudes of us together, to make us a facrifice to thy juftice for our heinous fins and rebellions against heaven. But behold, thou calleft us together to thy table upon a quite other defign, even to intimate to us a facrifice of thy own providing, fufficient for us all; and actually to behold the bleeding victim of the innocent Lamb of Gad, who willingly, at his Father's call, gave himfelf to be flain to take away the fins of the world! Lord, what didft thou fee in fuch creatures, to make thee love us after this manner? Nothing, but much to make thee loathe us; yet the time when we were moft loathfome thou madett it the time of love! Surely thy thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor thy ways as our ways. How aftonishing was thy conduct in redeeming us when loft? And worfe are we than devils, if we be not ravifhed with the love of the Father in projecting our redemption, and with the love of his eternal Son that made him leave his glory in heaven, and even wade through hell to fave the dregs of the creation.

O what manner of love is this, that the Father did give his eternal Son, to die for thofe who deferved eternal wrath for their rebellion and treafon against himfelf! When notice was firft given in this lower world, that the Son of God was coming down to it from heaven; what could have been expected, but that his bufinefs here would be to condemn the world, and haften the execution of thofe he found in arms against him? But O! who can think, and not wonder, that he fhould have fent him to fuffer and die for fuch as forfeited their lives, and deferved to be flain; yea, for

fuch as were alienated from the life of God, and full of enmity against him, unworthy of any place of abode upon earth, and by their wickednefs fully prepared for hell! O how furprifing it is, that God would, in this our miferable ftate, fend the Son of his love to die for us, to rescue us from deferved wrath, and purchase a new title for us to life and glory! Behold what manner of love this is, that the juft fhould fuffer for the unjuft, the juft prince for the unjust rebels that were in arms against him, the king of glory for the children of difobedience, the obedient Son for mortal enemies? Q this is fuch a manner of loving, that the highest tranfport of wondering cannot reach: For fearcely for a righteous man will one dare to die; but God commends his love to us, in that, while we were yet finners, Chrift died for us. Rom. v. 7, 8.

O how am I able to hear, fpeak, or think of this love, and my heart not burn with an admiring fenfe of the freenefs and riches of God's grace; and with a vehement hatred and indignation against my fins, which contributed to pierce and crucify my glorious Redeemer! Can I be but ravifhed with love to hitn, when he comes to communicate his love to me at his table, and fay, behold how I have loved you, and given myself for you! I was cut off, but not for myself; I was wounded for your tranfgreffions, and bruifed for your iniquities. It was for you I was betrayed, reviled, condemned, and crucified i for you my hands and feet were nailed to the tree, my head crowned. with thorns, and my fide pierced with a fpear: And all this I fuffered, that you might be faved from hell, and get fin forgiven, and God reconciled to you forever.

MEDITATION V.

From Pfalm viii. 4 What is man that thou art mindful of him? WHEN David beheld the heaven, with its glorious fuminaries, the fun, moon, and stars, and the mighty

works of God in the creation, and confidered what a mean figure man made amongst them; he admired God's condefcenfion and goodness in his concern and pains about him, in his works of providence and redemption. Lord, what is man, fallen man, that thou shouldft notice him fo much? a poor, vile, finful worm! And yet how fingularly minded and honoured is he, in God the Son his undertaking to be his cautioner and ranfom! Had he done it for angels, it had not been fo marvellous; but what is man, that God should vifit him in this manner? fhould pay him a homely vifit in human nature, to fee what ailed him, to hear his complaints, and know feelingly his wants and miferies, that he might the better fympathize with him, relieve and fupply him..

But, who is this that comes to pay this vifit to man ? Even he that is King of kings, and Lord of lords, who is infinite in majefty and power, in riches and glory. How awful are the defcriptions given us of him in the Bible! Great is our Lord, and of great fower, his underlanding is infinite. He calls the fars by their names. Whatfoever he pleafith, that doth he in heaven and in earth, in the feas and all deep places. And it is faid of his coming to judgment. Dan. vii. 19. A fiery fream iffued forth from before him, thousand thoufands miniftered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand food before him, And yet this almighty perfon, the great God, condefcends to clothe himfelf with our nature, and stoops to the very ground, in the moft lowly manner, to pay a kind vifit to his rebellious creature, man, even man that is a worm; and when he gets not accefs to him at first, he continues to ftand and knock at his door-O how marvellous is this, that he, who is Omnipotent, that could, by a word, have annihilated fallen man, and created a more amiable creature in all respects in his room, fhould ftoop fo low to him! that he who is omniscient, and perfectly knew man's unworthiness, his enmity, his ingratitude, and what unkind returns he would make for the greatest kindness, fhould court him fo earnest

ly! that the Judge of heaven should come down from the bench, and put on the pannel's clothes, that he might answer and fatisfy the law for him! that the great general of the armies of heaven fhould put himfelf in the room of a poor condemned deferter, to fuffer for him that the creator fhould ftoop to die for the creature, even the great God for a worm, man, is love that fwallows up our thoughts and language! What can we think, what can we fay of it! It is love that paffeth knowledge! the most penetrating angel cannot fathom its height, its depth, its breadth, or its length! Why? for its height, it is infinitely higher than the highest heavens. For its depth, none can see its bottom, for it made him stoop as low as hell. For its breadth, it is as broad as the whole earth, and the whole heavens too; it comprehends all his people, even the pooreft outcafts on earth, as well as the highest saint in heaven. For its length, it never ends, but continues without interruption, notwithstanding of provocations; nay, it is drawn out parallel with the longest line of eternity.

Lord, what is man that thou shouldest have minded him, vifited him, and loved him fo! a creature most unlovely, ugly, and black as hell; that had got the image of God razed out, and the image of fatan pictured in its room. A creature lame and impotent, that could not rife but as Chrift lifted him, could not stand but as he upheld him, could not walk but as he led him, nor move but as he drew him-A rebel that was in league with hell, that hated his fovereign, and was plotting with the devil to pull the crown off his head. ture made loathfome by fin in God's fight; yea, more loathfome than Job when full of boils, than Lazarus full of fores, or a dead carcafe crawling with worms. A creature that was undefirous of God's vifit or help, and unwilling to accept of it; that faid to him, Depart from us, we defire not the knowledge of thy ways. A creature that contemned his love, rejected his offers, and trampled his blood. Who would have pitied fuch a

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creature? one fo poor, fo vile, fo miferable! It had been much to have given him an alms; but for the Son of God to give his life for him, may ftrike men and angels with aftonifhing furprise for ever. Lord, what is man! a poor feeble crawling worm, that thou fouldeft be mindful of him after this manner? And, what are we, that we fhould ftill have the offers of this love continued to us? Oh, fhall we ever make light of this love any more? I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.

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There is a parallel text. Pfal. cxliv. 3. Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the fon of man, that thou makeft account of him! What a poor little thing is man, that thou fhouldest make fo great account of him, put fuch refpect upon him above all other creatures, fo as to condefcend to ftand in a nearer relation to him, than to any other, as that of a father, a brother, a husband, a friend, &c. yea more, thou haft dignified this poor thing, a man, fo much as to affume his nature into an ineffable perfonal union with the second perfon of the ever glorious trinity, whereby the nature. of man is exalted above all the angels of heaven. is not the angelical, but the human nature which God hath chefen to tabernacle in; and now it is honoured fo far as to be fet on the right hand of the majesty on high. The great account God hath of this little thing, man, appears further in the great coft he hath laid out for him. Why? God not only gives his creatures to die for man, to yield him food, but he alfo gives his Chrift to die for him, to procure him eternal life. Again, how great is the goodnefs which God hath laid up for him hereafter? Eye hath not feen it, ear hath not heard it, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive how great it is? O what a favourite of heaven must this little creature, man, be!

Lord, who can but wonder at the honour thou haft already put upon man, and at the favours thou ftill deSigns for him! Great things haft thou laid out, and great things haft thou laid up for man. I admire thy ow floop in the vifit thou madeft man, in the incarna