among the various orders of his creatures.

Now

we know of no intermediate creatures, between augels and the great God. If then angels think it not beneath their dignity to bow before Christ, to cover their faces with their wings as they approach his throne, and to "Sing the song of Moses the servant of God," (that eminent type of Christ) " and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God almighty; just and "true are thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev. Shall God's people, inferior in dignity to Christ, refuse to pay due homage to their king? It is true, fallen angels rebelled against Christ, and rebelling fell; but will his people chuse the part, the lot, the rebellion, the punishment, the rage, the torment of devils and damned spirits, in preference to the glorious liberty of adoring Christ Jesus, and worshipping eternally before his throne?

XV. 3:

Now if God said to the bright spirits above, let all the angels worship him; what saith he to man? Doth he say, hate him; persecute him; reject him, crucify him? Nay, rather, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Matt. xvii. 5. and for substance, Mark ix. 7. And why did God the Father claim such honour to be paid to Christ? first, because be poured upon Christ the unction of the spirit, for" Lo! the heavens were "opened unto him; and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.” Matt. iii. 16, and 2d. because it was declared

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well "pleased." ibid ver. 17. Now a son, an only son,^· a well-beloved son is heir to his father's possessions. The possessions of God are divinity, eternity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, love, justice, and plenitude of Grace, with other adorable attributes, too numerous to be mentioned; perhaps too numerous to be ever known or fathomed to all eternity by any creature. But as God is an eternal spirit, so (to speak with the greatest reverence) he can never die. Hence, if Christ possesseth an inheritance, it must be (to speak after our poor language) in his father's life time. But Christ is now possessing his inheritance, given him by promise, sealed to him by the Spirit, and above all meritoriously earned by his own blood: for in the eternal decree of God, the grant runs thus: " Thou art

my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of "me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine "inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the "earth, for thy possession. Thou shalt break"them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them "in pieces like a potter's vessel." And oh, may we be enabled to take counsel of the Holy Spirit, speaking through the words of the royal Psalmist, "Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: "be instructed, ye judges of the earth; serve the "Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. "Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish

from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a

"little. Blessed are all they that put their trust "in him." Psalm ii. 7 to 12.

18th. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. John xiii. 21.

Treachery in any cause deserves the most decided reprobation and abhorrence; nor does it unfrequently bring down deserved vengeance on its author's head. Thus, when one presented a brazen bull in friendship to the tyrant of Syracuse, that he might more ingeniously practise refined species of torture, the tyrant received it, but threw in the inventor, and having heated it, caused him to be the first sufferer by his own invention. But more awful is the fall of the person now before us; the traitor Judas stands not the mark of an earthly tyrant's vengeance, who at most, could only destroy his body, but the sad object of divine wrath, he dies not by the merciless hand of a merciless tyrant, but by that greatest tyrant to all true lasting spiritual peace, a heart desperately wicked, and as such, left of God to fill up the measure of his crimes; for " he departed, and "went and hanged himself." Matt. xxvii. 5. The apostles notice this in the Acts, and relate the event of Judas' fall. "Men, and brethren, this scrip"ture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them "that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us,

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"and had obtained part of this ministry. Now "this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder "in the midst, and his bowels gushed out. Where"fore of these men which have companied with us, "must one be ordained to be a witness with us of "his resurrection. And they appointed two, Jo

seph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, "and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all "" men, shew whether of these two, thou hast chosen, "that he may take part of this ministry and apos

tleship, from which, by transgression, Judas 'fell." Acts i. 16, 17, 18. 21. 23, 24, and 25. Now how awful was the fall of Judas, and how dreadful the sin which led to his fall. Nor could our Lord testify of it, without expressing signs of sorrow before all his disciples.

But I intend not to confine the present remark to that sorrow of heart, which our Lord suffered from the treachery of Judas, but to observe, that the sin of man is the only cause of the Redeemer's sorrow; and this may be observed several ways, as first, in the dishonour done to God.

The first law of God to man run thus; (and with no other condition than this affixed to it) "Of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou "shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou "eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” Gen. ii. 17. Now this law (like every other law) of God, was

holy just and true; nor could it be broken without great dishonor to God; and this, because it was the only restraining law laid upon man, and because it was further backed with the severe penalty of death. Now by the rebellion of man in eating the forbidden fruit, God was dishonored, first, in the very eating of the forbidden fruit, in express contradiction to God's word; for God's word forbad them to eat of the tree of knowledge, and the context says that, "When the woman saw that the "tree was good for food, and a tree to be desired "to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof "and did eat, and gave also unto her husband "with her, and he did eat." Gen. iii. 6. So that God was dishonored by man's desiring the very thing which God had forbidden; and 2d. in the destruction of that glorious image, which God had imprinted of himself upon man; which image was lost as soon as man lifted up the heel of rebellion against his Maker. Now must not God be dishonored by this injustice done to that fair and glorious image of himself, which his own hands affixed on the soul of man? And if Christ is, and was from all eternity, the bosom friend and divine fellow of God the Father, how must he be grieved, to see his divine Father so much dishonored by the workmanship of his own hands. And add to this the feelings of an offended God, who declared, that it repented him that he had made man. Not that God repenteth as man repenteth, nor that the