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propitiatory sacrifice. O my soul, mayest thou never forget the wormwood and gall which thy Redeemer drank as thy representative. Infinite wrath was thy due desert; infinite holiness was by thee affronted. The curse, by thee procured, fell all upon him that loved thee unto death. Thou escapest indeed from the dire arrest of incensed justice; but not one of thine innumerable sins, no part of thine aggravated guilt, has been overlooked and passed by with impunity; in Jesus, thy common person, thine iniquity was punished to its utmost demerit. Ask thine own heart, O believer, what wrath thy sinfulness has deserved? see if any thing short of the deepest hell, and the most extreme torture of the dreadful pit be adequate to thy rebellions? yet see innumerable myriads, whose sin was as atrocious as thine, as highly aggravated in every circumstance as thy black transgressions, saved; completely saved to the uttermost, saved with an everlasting salvation; saved only through his obedience unto death.

Not one member of that vast assembly; not an individual in all that numberless throng, but what deserved the wrath of God to the uttermost. That wrath and indignation due to all, and every individual of them, fell at once upon the holy soul of thine immaculate Jesus. How ponderous the weight! how tremendous the burning curse! what power less than divine could rise superior to infinite guilt as did thy triumphant Jesus! It is done! guilt is no more! sin is for ever annihilated, respecting its Come then, ye saints dismal consequences to thee, O believer. of the Most High, ye sinners redeemed from hell and destruction, come see the works of your conqueror, and say, 'Is not this the true God and eternal life?'

Thus it was that your Boaz was made sin for that you, you might become the righteousness of God in him; and thus it was by the power of his hand he finished transgression, made an end of sin; and, for you, brought in an everlasting righteousness; a righteousness in which ye shall shine in the brilliant assembly of paradise.

After such a splendid and memorable instance of our Redeemer's strength, there is little occasion to take up much of your time in speaking of his triumphs over death and the powers of darkness. Yet as such an heavenly truth should not be wholly omitted, I would just observe, that he entered the house of the strong man armed, spoiled him of his armour, and rescued the prey out of his potent hand. He bruised the head of Satan ; he wounded the dragon that is in the sea; he spoiled principalities and powers, and openly displayed the trophies of his victory; for he ascended up on high, led captivity captive, re-entered the mansions of light, and received gifts for rebellious sinners.

Nor is the conquest of our adorable Jesus over the hearts and

affections of his people to be wholly neglected; for this is one part of our salvation, which greatly tends to shew forth the excellency of his power. Beneath the attractive influence of his heavenly goodness, the most obdurate heart softens into tender relentings; the loftiest looks of the vain-glorious and self-conceited, sink down into profound humility and self-abhorrence; and the iron sinews in the necks of the most stout and rebellious, are bended into submissive obedience. In the day of his power the most backward are made willing to be saved by grace alone, Rs it reigns in Jesus through righteousness to eternal life.

(2.) As the name of Boaz is not inapplicable unto Jesus, we shall now consider his calling, An husbandman.' This great man so eminent in Judah, and from whom their future kings descended, was it seems not above cultivating his inheritance himself, and superintending the affairs of husbandry. A noble instance of ancient simplicity, worthy to be imitated even by the moderns, as such an imitation would be an effectual curb upon that licentiousness which stains the annals of the present times. The calling of Boaz is not inapplicable to the adorable Jesus, who also is an husbandman himself. He hath his field in which he delights; his vineyard where he drinks of the spiced wines, and of the juice of the pomegranate; over which he watches day and night, and waters it every moment to render it fruitful. He has his garden of spices, of myrrh, and lilies, in which he delights to walk and ruminate on the loves of his spouse. He hath the times and seasons which he daily observes for the purpose of his husbandry, and which he improves to the great advantage of his church and people. He hath his sowing and planting times, in which he gives additional numbers to his believing church, and comforts to individuals. The time was that places which are now like a barren wilderness, were like a garden, well watered, and a field which God had blessed: places that are now like the garden of God for fruitfulness, were heretofore like the sandy desert, uncultivated, without any plants therein grafted by the hand of Zion's Husbandman. In particular churches, he hath his times of in-gathering and building up; in which times the work shall prosper, be in whose hands it will, and feeble worms shall surmount the highest mountains of opposition. With individuals it is the same at certain seasons; every circumstance produceth agreeable and comfortable effects; every sermon, every opportunity is owned to the soul's advantage and growth in grace.

But he hath also his weeding and cleansing times. When persecutions and public troubles come upon the church, they usually prove as a fan in the hand of the Son of God, by which he cleanseth his floor, and thoroughly purgeth his wheat. The tares are now rooted out and cast over the wall of the vineyard; hypocrites are returned back to their own master again. This is

a scorching season that puts professors to the triat, and withers the stony ground hearers at the root; a wind that drives the chaffy hypocrite before it, and purgeth the threshing floor of our heavenly Boaz. Besides this he hath his weeding, trying, and cleansing time, which he observeth in his conduct towards individuals, in which he proves them, and makes them know what is in their heart for their humiliation, and mortifying of them to sin and to the world. As a rank soil is the best nursery for tares, so plenty of earthly enjoyments are apt to foster vicious lusts; he sees meet to cut off the fuel, lest the fire should devour us. The greatest of men and best of saints have not escaped such humbling visitations. Job, the most patient man upon earth, was visited with accumulated sorrows, insomuch that one messenger of bad tidings came, as it were, treading upon the heels of his fellow, till the worst that could happen was reported to him. David, the most pious of Jewish monarchs, the devoutest of militant saints, knew what it was to roar aloud by reason of his affliction, and to tremble at the hand that was upon him; yea, his heart and flesh were ready to faint, because of the depths through which he was called to pass.

That fervent, affectionate prophet, who bedewed the mount of God with sympathetic tears, found himself in such circumstances, that he cursed the day of his birth, and the messenger who reported his mother's delivery. Paul had his frequent buffettings, and Timothy his often infirmities, for whom the Lord loveth 'he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' Ruth went through these cleansing and weeding operations, before she began to take root and grow in the inheritance of the Lord. Attachmen to carnal pleasure, love to her native country, veneration for the laws of the Gentiles, family and education prejudices were in measure rooted out before the Lord began to water her with the comfo.'s of b.s house. So that ye need not think it strange, my brethren, concerning the fiery trial, as if some strange thing had happened unto you, for it is the lot of all the children of the kingdom to have tribulation in this world.

But he hath his watering and growing seasons in the Christian life, in which he sheds abroad the sweetness of his love, and causes all his paths to drop fatness to the souls of his people. Indeed all those trying and afflictive seasons serve to prepare for the consolation, and holy growth now under consideration, even as the severest winter frost is the best and most suitable introduction to the smiling spring. When he hath rifted the rocky heart by the voice of his rod, he utters the still voice of his consolation, and shews the glory of his grace. In proportion to which discoveries, our innate corruptions will be brought forth to view, and we shall grow downward in self-abasement and

abhorrence, as well as upward in admiration of that fulness and excellency of grace revealed in the person and gospel of Jesus. Churches also have their genial seasons, in which their Almighty Lord is pleased to water the souls of his people with heavenly influence under the word and ordinances; adds to their number, and builds them up in comfort and holy communion. Then the Lord is as the dew to Israel, his people grow as the lily, and spread forth their roots as Lebanon, and the believing church becomes fruitful as Eden, the garden of God.

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He, as the heavenly husbandman, hath also his ripening time, in which his fields are white for the harvest. Now the hoary head is a crown of glory, and the imbecility of stooping age is a proper emblem of the humility of the grown Christian. That description of old age given by the wise man, Eccl. xii. 3, 4, 5, seems picturesque of the ripening saint; The keepers of the house shall tremble,' because of the known dangers to which they are exposed from innumerable enemies without, and from that grand traitor, a wicked and deceitful heart within; an heart that may not be trusted, not for a moment trusted, because it is of the enemy's party, notwithstanding an inhabitant in our own bosoms. The strong men shall bow themselves,' under a sense of that body of death that is upon them. Every lofty look shall be brought low, under a sense of their own nothingness and insignificancy, ignorance and folly. The grinders shall cease because they are few;' so that they shall find themselves incapable of receiving that nourishment, which the word of God actually imparts; that they are as much dependant on sovereign grace, for the least degree of refreshment, as for salvation itself; and as needy of Christ, as if they had never any prior communications from him. All the daughters of music shall be brought 'low.' The daughters of music shall still be there, but their songs shall be upon the solemn bass. In the more early days of Christianity, before man was sufficiently discovered to himself, the daughters of music might sing in elevated strains, and might even despise the humble notes of the bass, which is universally allowed to be the foundation of harmony; but alas! their instruments were frequently out of tune, and hung upon the willows, so that the voice of joy was not to be heard; for as they understood not the bass, their music subsided when they could not sing in more elevated lays. But when the soul is grown in the divine life, under the husbandry of Jesus, the daughters of music learn to descend to the use of the bass, and mingle judg ment with all their songs of mercy. And many advantages do they find attending this transition, amongst which are the following. They find that although there is less noise in the songs of the hass, there is greater solemnity, and more profound harmony than in their former premature triumphs. That although

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its solemn sound does not so exceedingly ravish the senses; it is more steady, uniform, and consistent; less liable to be out of tune, and more becoming a state of warfare.

'They shall be afraid of that which is high.'---Young David could encounter any danger, overcome every difficulty however great; yea, he could break through a troop, or leap over a wall, because through God his mountain stood strong: but the aged Psalmist was taught not to exercise himself in great matters, nor in things too high for him. The young Christian, as well as the mere speculatist, can venture upon every high thing, and set himself to explain the hidden, the invisible things of God. But further experience teacheth us that secret things belong to the Lord our God, and that only those that are revealed belong to us. So that from a sense of ignorance, and aptitude to err, there will be a fear of being too free with things that are not so clearly revealed, lest we should inadvertently eclipse that glory which we should wish to recommend to human esteem. Such a sense of personal weakness shall attend them, such a sense of utter incapacity for good, that the very grasshopper shall be a 'burden.' Thus the highest attainment of the Christian here below, is to be reduced to nothing, that Christ may become all in all. This is the mark at which we ought to aim; this is the standard to which grace shall bring all its subjects, ere they are taken to their long, their exalted home. When the corn bends its weighty head towards the earth, it indicates the reaping time at hand, and the gathering of it into the husbandman's granary. The heart of man bowed down in low abasement, indicates a speedy dissolution, and heavenly exaltation and happiness fast approaching.

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(3.) The affluent circumstances of this Hebrew are as worthy of note as either his name or calling, and as applicable to our adorable Redeemer. He is said to be a mighty man of wealth;' not only a man of wealth,' but a mighty man of wealth,' to point out his abundance of riches. Jesus the Virgin's son, Jesus the sinner's friend, is also a mighty man of wealth, notwithstanding when sojourning amongst men he had not where to lay his head; had not accommodations equal to the monsters of the desert, or to the winged inhabitants of the aerial regions. In a natural way he is a mighty man of wealth, for the earth ' with all its fulness is his possession: therefore saith he, Psal. 1. 10, 11, 12. Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I 'would not tell thee; for the world is mine and the fulness 'thereof.' Hence it is, that the whole family of heaven and earth subsist upon his bounty and munificence; for these all look unto him, and he giveth them their meat in due season, and satisfieth their mouths with good. The bread which feeds

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