DISCOURSE II. 411 that all the nations shall be blessed in their seed, hadno transport- ing pleasures when they first beheld that promised seed crowned with all hisglory ; When they sawtie Son Jesus ascending on high, and leading captivity captive, and the chariots of God that attended him were twenty thousand, even an innumerable com- pany of angels; Ps. lxviii. 17,'18. If upon this occasion we may talk in the language of mor- tals, maywe not suppose those ancient fathers raising themselves on high, and overlooking the walls of paradise, to gaze down- wardupon this ascending triumph ? May we not imagine them .speaking thus to each other in the holy transport ? " And is this our great descendant ? Is this our long-expected offspring? IIow divine his aspect ? How god-likehis air ? How glorious and ado- rable all the graces of his countenance ? Is this, saith holy Da- vid, my Son andmy Lord ? the king of glory, for whose admis- sion I called the.gates of heaven, to be lifted up, and opened the everlasting doors for him in an ancient song ?. Is this the man, whose hands and whose feet they piercedon earth, as I once fore- told by the spirit of prophecy ? I see those blessed scars of ho-, pour ; how they adorn his glorified limbs ! I acknowledge and adore my God and mySaviour. I begun his triumph once on my harp in a-lower strain, and I behold him now ascending on high : Awake My glory, he comes he comes, with the sound of a trumpet, and with the pomp of shouting angels ; sing praises, all ye saints, unto our God, 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. I see the righteousbranch, adds the prophet Jeremy, the righteous branch from the stem of David, from the root of Jesse. This is the king whom I foretold should reign in righteousness: The Lord my righteousness is his name, I rejoice at his appearance, the throne of heaven is made ready for him This, saith Daniel, is the Messiah, thé 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 hath brought in everlasting righteousness for all his people. But was this, the person, saith Zachary the prophet, whom they sold for thirty pieces of silver? Vile indignity and impious madness! Beholdhe now appears like the man who isfellow, or compa- nion to the Lord of hosts. It is he, saith Malachi, it is he, the messengerof the covenant, who came suddenly to his own temple. There I held him in my withered arms, saith aged Simeon, and rapture and prophecy came-upon me at once, and I expired in joy and praises." And we hope our mother Eve stood up among the rest of them, and beheld and confessed the promised seed of the woman.
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