SERMON V.

1 Pet. ii. 7.-" Unto you therefore who believe he is precious."

A SYSTEM of religion may be compared to a house built for the worship of God. The foundation and corner-stone of this building is of essential importance; and is that concerning which the builders differ and dispute with the greatest keenness. Christ is that stone, which is still rejected by multitudes, as it was by the rulers of the Jews, in the construction of their religious edifice. But the apostle assures those "who have tasted that the Lord is gracious," that Christ is the foundation laid in Zion by God, and on which they, as living stones, have been built. "Unto you therefore,” saith he, "who believe he is precious." However he may

be despised by others who are ignorant of him, unto you who know him by experience he is of inestimable value; " unto you" he is " an honour," Rom. ii. 7,-" a price," Matth. xxvii. 6, 9; yea, more accurately speaking, "he is preciousness" itself; all that is valuable in every kind of honourable price.

Christ is precious to you who believe, for the sake of his own personal and excellent glory; for what he is to the Father and the Spirit; for his infinite love

in undertaking the work of your salvation; for the suitableness and sufficiency of his offices, as your Redeemer; for the opposition of wicked men and devils; and for the sake of what he has already done, what he is now doing, and what he will assuredly do, for you. I address myself to you, believers, without any previous delineation of character, because I am persuaded there are believers present, and because I desire to fix the attention of my whole audience on the preciousness of Christ,— that those who have faith may each gradually come to this conclusion: "I feel Christ is precious to me, and therefore I am convinced that I believe;" and that those who have not faith may each be led irresistibly to this conclusion: "Alas! I am no believer, for Christ is not precious to me." May the Spirit of God render his word thus profitable!

I. Christ is precious to you who believe, on account of his own personal and excellent glory. As the sun succeeding the darkness of night, so hath the person of Christ risen in the eye of your faith, and before his sweet glories every meaner light has melted away. And, as the light of the sun excites increasing admiration, when its rays are separated, and its beauteous colours are exhibited in their variety, distinct yet shading into each other, in the rainbow; so the glory of Christ's person appears in richest magnificence, when the rays of it

are considered apart, and yet blending together in sweetest harmony. But the believer is furnished with no instrument to distinguish the rays of Christ's glory in an adequate manner; their combined influence forms a radiance too dazzling for him to gaze on; and therefore he contemplates the excellency of Christ with awe, and speaks of it with diffidence. To you he is precious, as excellent in divine glory. How dim soever your vision, ye see him clothed with all the perfections, Heb. i. 8; Isa. vi. 1, &c.; performing all the great and marvellous works, Heb. i. 3, 10; and receiving all the peculiar titles, Isa. ix. 6; John v. 23; and worship, Heb. i. 6; John v. 23, of the Supreme God. Whatever your former opinions and language may have been, does not the language of convinced Thomas express your present admiration, reverence, and love," My Lord, and my God." He is precious to you, as excellent in all the perfections of human nature, as it came from the hands of God. Ye have examined the history of " the man Jesus," from his conception to his grave; and ye are satisfied that his nature, his life, and his death, are "without sin," Heb. vii. 26; ye are satisfied that he shines in all the qualities of wisdom, and goodness, and grandeur of soul, Luke ii. 40, Acts x. 38, that can exalt humanity, and render it amiable. Ye love your relatives, ye love your friends, ye love the benefactors of mankind; but is not your pure and fervent love to them all hatred, compared with your

esteem of, your delight in, him who is, in all these respects, "fairer than the fairest of the children of men ?" To you he is precious, as "God and man in one person, and two distinct natures." In him ye see the glories of Deity mingling with the graces of humanity: he "is white" in the heavenly splendour of the Godhead: "he is ruddy" in the created beauties of manhood. Well may he be called "Wonderful;" for what more admirable, more past finding out, or more to be desired by men, than this mysterious union of the divine and human nature? There are no other works of God, great and marvellous as they are, to be compared with it,—there is none that can illustrate it. "The angels," that excel in mental strength, still "desire to look into it," unable, after an investigation of thousands of years, to penetrate its unfathomable depths of wisdom, and love, and power. But, incomprehensible as it is, is it not essential in the person of your Mediator and Redeemer? Who but Emmanuel could lay his hand on God and man, as days-man between them,-could have filled up the space, occasioned by sin, between the Creator and his offending creature, could have sustained and exhausted the flame of divine wrath against sin? Is. lxiii. 1, xlii. 4. Who but Emmanuel could have contained all the mercy and all the grace necessary to the salvation of a redeemed world? Col. i. 19, ii. 9. Who but Emmanuel could have met all the necessities of guilty men, dead in tres

passes and sins, and weak and imperfect in their best estate? And do ye not esteem him as a Saviour, whom ye can trust with all your concerns in time and eternity,-a Fountain of salvation, never to be exhausted by all the necessities of all his people,-God, whom ye adore, and man, whom ye love as your brother?

II. "Unto you who believe Christ is precious," for the sake of what he is to the Father and the Spirit. God, the Father, is the object of supreme love and gratitude to believers. For this cause ye value those next to him, who are most like and most dear to him. Christ is precious to you for the sake of what he is to the Father. Ye esteem him as the only begotten of the Father, John viii. 42; iii. 16; as the object of his supreme love, Prov. viii. 30; Col. i. 13; John i. 18; as "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person," Heb. i. 3; John xiv. 9; 2 Cor. iv. 6; and the partner of the Father in the covenant of grace, intrusted with the vindication of the government of God, and with the salvation of his people, Rom. iii. 25—27. Ye esteem him as his accredited servant, and his honoured representative, on whom he has put his name, Is. xlii. 2; with all whose proceedings in the execution of his offices the Father hath been well pleased, Matth. iii. 17; John xii. 28; and to whom, when he had finished his undertaking, he committed all power in heaven and in