SECT. IV.] THE HAPPINESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. made, that all the nations should be blessed in their seed, had no transporting pleasures when they first be- held that promised seed crowned with all his glory ? When they saw their Son Jesus " ascending on high, and leading captivity captive, and the chariots of God that attended him were twenty thousand, even an innumera- ble company of angels ;" Ps: lxviii. 17, 18. If upon this occasion we may talk in the language of mortals, maywe not suppose those ancient fathers raising; themselves on high, and overlooking the walls of para- dise, to gaze downward upon this ascending triumph ? May we not imagine them speaking thus to each other in the holy transport ? " And is this our great descend- ant? Is this our long - expected offspring? How divine . his aspect ? How god-like his air ? How glorious and adorable all the graces of his countenance ? Is this, saith holy David, my Son and my Lord ? the king of glory, for whose admission I called the gates of heaven to he lifted up, and opened the everlasting doors for him in an ancient song? Is this the man whose hands and whose feet they pierced on earth, as I once foretold by the spirit of prophecy ? I see those blessed scars of honour: how they adorn his glorified limbs ! I acknowledge and adore my God and my Saviour. I begun his triumph once on my harp in a lower strain, and I behold him now as- cending on high : Awake my glory, he comes, he comes, With the sound ofa trumpet, and with the pomp of shout ing angels ; sing praises, all ye saints, unto our God, sing praises, sing praises unto our king, sing praises. Is this, saith Isaiah, the child born, of whom I spoke? Is this the Son given, of whom I prophesied ? I adore him as the mighty God, the Father of ages, and the Prince of Peace. Ì see the righteous branch, adds the prophet Jeremy, the righteous branch from the stern of David, from the root of Jesse. This is the king whom I fore- told should reign in righteousness: The Lord my righte- ousness is his name, I rejoice at his appearance, the throne of heaven is made ready for him. This, saith Daniel,. is the Messiah, the Prince who was cut off, but not for himself: The seventy weeks are all fulfilled, and the work is done. He bath finished transgression, and made an end of sin, and bath brought in everlasting righteousness for all his people. But was this the person 2 E 3
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