is not only a God in our nature, but God on our side, God avenging our quarrel. But if " the Lord of hosts be with us, and the God of Jacob our refuge," what have we to fear? "Fear not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

4thly, His name is, The Word of God: Rev. xix. 13. He "hath his vesture dipt in blood, and his name is called The Word of God." He is "the Alpha and Omega" of the written word; all the lines of the Bible centre in him. And as a man gives his command by his word; so by this Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. As a man brings out the thoughts of his heart by his words; so, by Christ, the eternal counsels of the heart of God concerning our redemption are opened and brought to light, for he it is that "opens the book, and looses the seven seals thereof."

5thly, His name is, The King of kings, and the Lord of lords and this name is written upon his thigh and his vesture, Rev. xix. 16. All the powers of the earth are only his vassels, for he is "the Prince of the kings of the earth:" "By me kings reign, and princes decree justice." But what do I speak of the powers of the earth the powers of heaven bow at the name of Jesus. He is the head of all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every name that can be named, whether in this world, or that which is to come." Many other names he gets in scripture, upon which I cannot now dwell. His name is, "Jesus, a Saviour;" his name is " Messiah, or Christ the anointed;" his name is "The. Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world ;" his name is "The Branch of the Lord, who is beautiful and glorious;" his name is "The Shepherd of Israel, who leadeth Joseph as a flock;" his name is "the Prince of life," "the Plant of renown." See a cluster of his glorious names together, Is. ix. 6: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of peace." Thus you see what is our great Redeemer's name, or how he is called.

4. What are his qualities as a Redeemer?

Answ. 1st, He is a chosen Redeemer: Is. xlii. 1. He is mine elect. He was chosen as the only fit person in heaven or earth, for managing that great undertaking of our redemption: "I was set up," says he, "from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." And we find God the Father glorying in the choice, Psal. lxxxix. 19: "I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen out

of the people. I have found David my servant." O, sirs, let the Father's choice be your choice also.

2dly, He is a strong and mighty Redeemer: "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I have laid help upon one that is mighty." He is the true Samson, that carries away the gates of our spiritual prison, and who slays our spiritual enemies heaps upon heaps, with weapons which, to us, would appear as unsuitable as the jaw-bone of an ass, for "through death, he destroyed him that had the power of death."

3dly, He is a Redeemer of great authority; for "he rules in Jacob, and to all the ends of the earth." The government is laid upon his shoulder; not only the government of the church, but the government of the world, for the church's sake; "he hath given him to be head over all things to the church." His authority is absolute; for "he doth whatever pleases him in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." His authority is irresistible; every creature must bow to him; he "strikes through kings in the day of his wrath." His authority is perpetual; for "his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his dominion there is no end.

4thly, He is an opulent and wealthy Redeemer. He was fully capable to redeem the inheritance for his poor kindred; and whatever justice demanded of him, he told it down to the uttermost farthing. O sirs, our Goel, our kinsman, is the Heir of all things, all the immense treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in him; unsearchable riches, all the plenitude of the Deity dwells bodily in him.

5thly, He is a matchless and incomparable Redeemer. He is not to be paralleled among all the inhabitants of the higher or lower house. He has obtained a more excellent name than men or angels: "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood." Matchless in his person as Immanuel; matchless in his perfections, being "the brightness of his Father's glory:" matchless in his love, for he died out of love to his very enemies; his love made him wade through the deep ocean of his Father's wrath; yea, like Jonah, to cast himself into the sea of vengeance, that we might not be swallowed up in it for ever.

6thly, He is a resolute and courageous Redeemer. He was not afraid to encounter all the powers and armed legions of hell; no, no, The day of vengeance, says he, is in mine heart: he set his face like a flint against the storm of his Father's wrath, and of the rage of men and devils that, blew directly in his face, when he came upon the work of our redemption; "He did not faint nor was discouraged, till he had set judgment in the earth; he "came from Edom and Bozrah, tra

velling in the greatness of his strength," saying, "I will tread them down in mine anger, I will trample them in my fury." Thus you see some of his excellent qualities as a Redeemer. And so much shall serve for the first thing, which was to give some little account of the Redeemer.

II. The second thing proposed was, to speak a little of the redeemed: The year of my redeemed is come. And here, again, two or three questions may be moved concerning them.

1. Who are they that are here called the redeemed? Answ. In a word, they are a select company of the lost race and posterity of Adam, chosen by the Father, and given by him to the Son, before the foundations of the world were laid, that in due time he might redeem and deliver them from that wo and wrath to which they lay exposed, for the breach and violation of the divine law, or covenant of works, and whom he engaged to call effectually, to justify, sanctify, and at length to bring to eternal glory in the enjoyment of God for ever. So that you see Christ did not spend the price of his blood, or travail of his soul, for the fallen angels, but for fallen man; "He took not on him the nature of angels, butthe seed of Abraham:" neither did he redeem all mankind, by paying a ransom for every individual, but for those whom the Father gave him out of Adam's family: "I lay down my life," says he, "for my sheep," not for the goats, but "for the sheep." "I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world; for they are thine," John xvii. 9.

ever,

2. You told us of the Redeemer's descent and pedigree; what is the pedigree of the redeemed, how are they descended? Answ. Although the redeemed be honourably descended; yet they, by their natural generation, are a base-born company, being descended and sprung of Adam, and so "are the degenerate plant of a strange yine," of the same common mass of corruption with the reprobate world who perish for "Children of wrath, and heirs of hell, as well as others." The children of Israel were taught to sing that melancholy and mournful ditty, "A Syrian ready to perish was my father;" and the Lord tells them, Ezek. xvi. 3: "Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite." Oh sirs, you and I, whatever our immediate parents were, whether they were gracious or graceless, whether they were rich or poor, noble or ignoble; yet, considering us as the posterity of the first Adam, we may derive our pedigree from hell: "Ye are of your father the devil," says Christ to the Jews, who made their boast that they had Abraham to their father. But yet the redeemed of the Lord, though they be thus basely de

scended by natural generation, yet by their new birth, or regeneration, they are nobly descended; "they are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God: To as many as received him, to them-gave he power, or right, to become the sons of God."

3. If you ask, with what price has Christ redeemed them? the apostle Peter answers this question, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19: “We are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold; but with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." No less a price than that of blood would do the business; for "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin:" and it was no ordinary blood that would do it, but the best blood of the whole creation, even the blood of the immaculate Lamb of God; and what valuable blood this is, will appear, if we take either an absolute or comparative view of it. (1.) View it absolutely, it is the blood of God, as it is called, Acts xx. 28: "Feed the flock of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." And it is so called, because of the personal union between the man Christ Jesus and the second person of the glorious Trinity, by virtue of which, he is Immanuel, God-man in one person. O what a valuable ransom must this be It is the blood of him who is "the man of God's right hand, who is in the form of God, and thinks it no robbery to be equal with God." It is, indeed, royal blood that is the ransom of our souls, the blood of him who is "The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and The Prince of peace." (2.) Let us view this blood comparatively (as I was saying just now,) it is the best blood of the whole creation. The blood of a man is more valuable than the blood of a beast, because man was made after the image of God; the blood of the saints is more valuable than the blood of other men, because the image of God, which was lost by the fall, is impressed upon them by regenerating and sanctifying grace; hence we are told, that "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death," or blood, "of his saints." O then how precious must his blood be, who is "the express image of the Father, and the brightness of his glory!" What is the blood of a creature, in respect of the blood of the ever-blessed Creator! Although all the angels in heaven, men on earth, and devils in hell, yea, the whole frame of nature had been offered up in sacrifice, they could never have satisfied justice, or expiated the guilt of the least sin; no, no, nothing less than a ransom of infinite value could do it. "The redemption of the soul is precious, and would have ceased for ever," unless the Son of God had "poured out his soul” for us. Thus you see what is the price with which they are redeemed.

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4. If it be asked, 'What relation do the redeemed stand in to the Redeemer?-for here he speaks of them as his in a way of eminence, The year of my redeemed is come;-I answer, We find him in scripture asserting his claim to them under a mahifold relation. Sometimes we find him calling them his people, as in the 8th verse of this chapter. And "he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: and so he was their Saviour." Sometimes he calls them his servants: "Where I am," says he, "there shall also my servants be." Sometimes he calls them his friends: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Sometimes his seed: Is. liii. 10: "He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Sometimes his brethren: and "he is not ashamed to call them brethren," having taken part of the children's flesh. Sometimes his spouse and bride, as you see frequently in the song of Solomon. Sometimes he calls them his jewels: "They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I make up my jewels." Sometimes his portion: "The Lord's people are his portion, and Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." Sometimes his crown and his ornament; "Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." Sometimes his glory: a very strange expression! "I have placed salvation in Zion for Israel my glory," Thus you see that he asserts his interest in them under manifold relations.-So much concerning the Redeemer, and the redeemed. I proceed now to,

III. The third thing proposed, which was, to speak a little of the year of the redeemed. But before I enter on it we shall sing.