excellent than his neighbour, though he live next door to a graceless nobleman. But it does not yet appear what they shall be. The day will come, for the Lord hath spoken it, when they shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

5. How hath the devil blindfolded and deluded them that are affrighted off from Christ, by the fears of being dishonoured by him! Many persons have half a mind to religion; but when they consider the generality of its professors as persons of the lowest rank in the world, and that reproaches and sufferings attend that way, they shrink back as men ashamed, and, as Salvian says, they choose rather to remain wicked, than to be esteemed vile. But to them that believe, Christ is precious-an honour, as the word might be rendered, 1 Pet. ii. 7. Till God open men's eyes, they will put evil for good, and good for evil. But, O, dearbought honours, for which men stake their souls and everlasting happiness! Paul was not of your mind: in birth he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews; in dignity and esteem a Pharisee; in moral accomplishments, touching the law, blameless; yet all this he trampled under his feet, counting all but dross in comparison of Jesus Christ. Moses had more honour to lay down for Christ than you, yet it was no temptation to him to conceal or deny the faith of Christ. Noble Caleacius would not be withheld from Christ by the splendour and glory of Italy; but, O, how does the glory of this world dazzle and blind the eyes of many! "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another?" John v. 44. Saints and sinners are, on this account, wonders one to the other. It is the wonder of the world to see Christians glorying in reproaches; they wonder that the saints run not with them into the same excess of riot: and it is a wonder to believers how such poor toys and empty titles should keep the world from Jesus Christ, and their everlasting happiness in him.

6. If Christ be the Lord of glory, how careful should all be who profess him, that they do not dishonour him whose name is called upon by them. Christ is a glory to you; be not you a shame and dishonour to him. The more glorious Christ is, the more circumspect and watchful ye have need to be. How lovely would Jesus Christ appear to the world, if the lives of Christians adorned the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things! Remember, you represent the Lord of glory to the world; it is not your honour only,

but the honour of Christ which is involved, and concerned in your actions. O, let not the carelessness or scandal of your life make Jesus Christ ashamed to be called your Lord! When Israel had grievously revolted from God, he commanded Moses, "Arise, get thee down quickly from hence, for thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves," Deut. ix. 12, as if the Lord were ashamed to own them for his people any longer. It was a cutting question, apt to startle the consciences of loose professors, "Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?" James ii. 7. Your duty is to adorn the gospel by your conversation, Titus ii. 10; the words signify to deck or adorn the gospel, to make it neat and lovely to the eyes of beholders. When there is a beautiful harmony and lovely proportion betwixt Christ's doctrine and our practice, as there is in the works of creation, in which the comeliness and elegance of the world much consists, then do we walk suitably to the Lord of glory.

7. What delight should Christians take in their daily converse with Jesus Christ, in the way of duty! Your interviews in prayer, hearing, and meditation, are with the Lord of glory. The greatest peers in the kingdom count it more honour to be in the presence of a king, bareheaded, or upon the knee at court, than to have thousands standing bare to them in the country. When you are called to the duties of communion with Christ, you are called to the greatest honour, and dignified with the noblest privilege creatures are capable of in this world. Had you but a sense of the honour God puts upon you by this means, you would not need so much pressing and striving to bring a dead and backward heart into the special presence of Jesus Christ. When he saith, Seek ye my face, your hearts would echo to his call, Thy face, Lord, will we seek. But, alas! the glory of Christ is much hid and veiled, by igno rance and unbelief, from the eyes of his own people; it is but seldom the best of saints, by the eye of faith, do see the King in his glory.

8. If Christ be so glorious, how should believers long to be with him, and behold him in his glory above. Most men need patience to die, a believer should need patience to live. Paul thought it well worth enduring the death to get a sight of Jesus Christ in his glory. Phil. i. 23. "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of

pangs

of

God, and into the patient waiting for Christ," says the apostle, 2 Thess. iii. 5, intimating that the saints have great need of patience, to enable them to endure separation from Christ so long in this world. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst come: even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Blessed be God for Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

SERMON XV.

SIXTH AND LAST TITLE OF CHRIST "THE CONSOLATION OF ISRAEL."

Waiting for the Consolation of Israel. Luke ii. 25.

SEVERAL glorious titles of Christ have been considered, out of each of which much comfort flows to believers. It is comfortable to a wounded soul to regard him as a Physician; comfortable to a condemned and unworthy soul to look upon him under the idea of Mercy. The Loveliness, the Desirableness, and the Glory of Christ are all so many springs of consolation. But now I am to show from this Scripture that the saints have not only much consolation from Christ, but that Christ himself is the Consolation of believers.

In the context, you have an account of Simeon's prophecy concerning Christ, and in the text, a description of the person and character of Simeon himself. His life was heavenly and holy-he was a just and devout man; and the principle from which his righteousness and holiness flowed, was his faith in Christ-he waited "for the Consolation of Israel."

That the Consolation of Israel is a phrase descriptive of Jesus Christ, is beyond all doubt if you consult verse 26, where Simeon is satisfied by receiving Christ into his arms, the Consolation for which he had so long waited.

And that waiting for Christ is a phrase describing the believers of the times which preceded the incarnation of Christ, is past doubt. They all waited for that blessed day; but it was Simeon's lot to fall just upon that happy point of time wherein the prophecies and promises of his incarnation were fulfilled. Simeon, and others that waited with him, were sensible that the time of the promise was come, which could not but raise a general expectation of him. But Simeon's faith was confirmed by a particular revelation, verse 26, that he should see Christ before he

saw death; which could not but greatly raise his expectation to look out for him, whose coming would be the greatest consolation to the whole Israel of God. The Spirit is frequently called in Scripture ragananros, the Comforter; but Christ in this place is called comfort, or consolation itself. The reason of both is given: "He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you," John xvi. 14. Here Christ is said to be the Consolation, and the Spirit the applier of it to the people of God.

This consolation is here expressed with a singular emphasis, the Consolation, intimating that there is nothing of consolation in anything besides him-that all other comforts compared with this are not worth naming; and as it is emphatically empressed, so it is also limited within the compass of God's Israel, that is, true believers, styled the Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, Gal. vi. 16. Hence the DOCTRINE is,

Jesus Christ is the only Consolation of believers, and of none besides them.

So speaks the apostle: "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," Phil. iii. 3. Those that worship God in the Spirit are sincere believers; to such sincere believers Christ is consolation: "Our rejoicing is in Christ Jesus." And they have no consolation in anything beside him; nothing in the world can give them comfort without Christ: "We have no confidence in the flesh." The gospel is glad tidings of great joy; but that which makes it to be so is Jesus Christ, whom it reveals to us.

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Four things here require attention: what is meant by consolation; that Christ, and he only, is consolation to believers; that believers only have consolation in Christ; and how it comes to pass that any believer should be dejected, since Christ is consolation to all believers.

I. THE NATURE OF CONSOLATION, which is nothing else but the cheerfulness of a man's spirit, whereby he is upheld and fortified against all evils felt or feared. Consolation is to the soul what health is to the body after wasting sickness, or the reviving spring to the earth after a long and hard winter.

Natural comfort is the refreshment of our spirits by the good creatures of God: "Filling our hearts with food and