I M M A N U E L. 151 with his Banter ? atilt is to this Hour the Sign ofRe- proach, and his Gofpel remains for the Fall and Riling «gain of many in Ifra 1. Yet, to his faithful People, however their Lives may be countedMadnefs and their End without Honour, yefus is the Sign of Salvation and Vic- tory, over Sin, the World, and Death ; and over him alfo that bath the Power of Death, which is the Devil. The Wifdom of GOD will one day be justified in his Children ; when the Defpifers of his Gracefall wonder andperifh. Thofe, who can boldly laugh at the Con- duft of his Providence and the Revelation of his Truth now, will e'er long weep and howl for Terror, and call upon Mountains and Rocks to hide them from his Pre- fence, and to ward off his wrathful Indignation. IMMANUEL, GOD with us, is tantamount to Chrift IN us, the Hope of Glory.* And if CHRIST be in us, and with us, in this World ; it is an infallible Earneft, and an invaluable Pledge, of our being with Chrifi in GOD, for ever, in the World to come. What ground then for rejoicing is here ? Believer, if thou haft the Pledge, thou f alt have the Portion. The Faithfulnefs, the Omnipotence, of the Almighty is en- gaged tobeftow it uponThee, and to bring thee to its eternal Poffeffion. What Condefcenfion, what infinite and unfearchable Love, is here ? It would be thought a Point of vaít Humility and Beneficence, if an earthly King, a feeble Frame of dying Clay, were to defcend from his /Throne, and lift up a filthy Beggar, to make him the Partner of his Crown. But the Condefcenfion ofGOD is infinitely greater. The LORD ofHeaven and Earth, the King of Kings, not only quitted his glorious Throne, but beèame a Man like thyfelf a Man of Sor- rows ; a Man defpifed and rejefted ; a Man, who, in his own created World, had not where to lay his Head; àntl, finally, a Man to bleed, and groan, and die ; not for the Safety of his Friends, but for theSalvationof Rebels, of .Apoftates, of Enemies. He died for thofe, who could * Col. i. ail. L 4 never
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=