being fully perfuaded of these things, you fhall be brought to an unfhaken confidence, fo as to believe without ftaggering, like Abraham the father of the faithful. So much for the fecond exhortation.

Is. Ixiii. 4.-For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

THE SIXTH SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

Y third exhortation from this branch of the doctrine is

MY third is it to that Chrift our glorious Kinfman has

avenged our quarrel upon Satan and his auxiliaries? O then be exhorted to marry your bleffed Kinsman, that has been fo kind to us as to take an expedition against the powers of hell in order to our redemption. O Sirs, when Chrift the glorious Meffiah looked down from heaven, and faw us betrayed unto everlasting ruin by Satan, that grand Abaddon and Apollyon; when he faw us in covenant with hell, and at an agreement with death, lying under the curfe of the law, and in the adul terous embraces of our lufts, his fpirit within him warmed, and stirred with refentment against the enemy that betrayed us, he presently comes down and examines the matter, he convenes the old ferpent before him, and dooms him to deftruction, faying, "The feed of the woman fhall bruise the head of the ferpent." As if he had faid, O Satan, I will be avenged on thee for the injury thou haft done to the woman and her feed; I will take on the nature of man, and in his mature I will be thy ruin and deftruction, and of all thy works. And accordingly in the fulness of time he comes with his heart fraughted with love to us, and vengeance against principalities and powers, fpoils them on his crofs; and after all, he having done the part of a kind Kinsman and Redeemer, he iffues forth a proclamation and purpose of marriage, faying, as it is, Hof. ii. 19. 20. "I will betroth thee unto me for ever, yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving kindnefs, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou fhalt know the Lord." O Sirs, I come to you as a friend of the great Bridegroom, to court your confent unto the bleffed bargain; your Kinsman and Avenger of your blood, he is willing and defifous to come under a conjugal relation to you; and therefore,

O fay the word, and fay it with your hearts and tongues, "I am the Lord's: I am his, and he is mine: This is my beloved, and this is my Friend and Kinfman, O daughters of Jerufalem."

Now, because we must deal with you as rational agents; therefore I will offer you fome confiderations to gain your confent to marry our blessed Kinsman.

Motive 1. Consider that it was for this end that he became our Kinsman, and took on our nature, that he might come under a nearer relation to us, even to betroth us to himself in the relation of a spouse and bride. Under the law the Jews were bound to marry one of their own tribe; fo the Son of God, that he might wed fo with us, he became of the fame tribe and family with us, took upon him the feed of Abraham, and not the nature of angels. The distance between the divine and human nature was fo great, that there could be no marriage relation between God and man till the distance be removed, and the two natures be brought into a nearer union one with another. Well, to make way for this, the divine and human natures are joined in a perfonal union, God is manifefted in the flesh: fo that if you do not marry your Kinsman and Redeemer, you do what you can to defeat the defign of his incarnation, and do your worst, to baffle that glorious plot, the very mafter-piece of Infinite Wisdom and Love. O let the confideration of his ftupendous condefcenfion in becoming of our tribe, nature, and family, win your confent to him.

Mot. 2. Take a view of our Kinfman's greatnefs and excellency. What shall I fay of him? Words fail us, yea, thought and imagination fail us, when we begin either to think or fpeak of his excellency, who is a courtier of your affections. We would not know how to fpeak a word about him, if he had not by his Spirit in his word furnished us with proper expreffions of his glory. And indeed the words by which our ideas of him are to be formed, are fuch as raise our finite minds unto ecftafy, when viewed in a way of believing. O who is he, or what is he?"Who can declare his generation?" His very name is so great and glorious, that no man can frame to pronounce it aright but by the Holy Spirit. O Sirs, will you refufe to be married to your Maker and Redeemer, whofe name is, "The Lord of hofts, The mighty God, The everlafting Father, The Prince of peace, The brightness of the Father's glory, The bright and morning Star," in whole prefence all the flars of created glory, whether in heaven or in earth, do hide their heads and disappear, as if they were afha med to be feen befide him? Your Kinfman, who waits for

your confent, for beauty is fo excellent, that he is "fairer than the children of men, his countenance is like Lebanon, and as the fun fhining in his ftrength." For wifdom he is fo eminent, that he is "the wisdom of God in a mystery, and all the treafures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in him." For ftrength, he is "the man of God's right hand; whom he made ftrong for himself; he is the power of God, as well as the wisdom of God;" his arm brings falvation to finners in the room of the powers of hell. For birth and pedigree, he is God's "first-born, made higher than the kings of the earth;" he is, as to his divine nature," the only begotten of the Father," the only reprefentative of his Father's family, and all the glory of his Father's house hangs upon him; and as to his human nature, you will fee from his genealogy, Matth. i. that he is "the offspring of ancient kings," of the royal family of David. For honour, he is equally honourable with the Father, and he "thinks it no robbery to be equal with God;" he is the honourable head of all principality and power, might and dominion, and of every name that can be named, whether in this world, or that which is to come. For riches, he is "the heir of all things;" the riches of Solomon were but chaff and drofs in comparison of that gold tried in the fire, that he will bestow in abundance upon his bride. For conftancy in love, he "refts in his love, and changes not ;" his name is I AM, "without any variableness or shadow of turning." For life, he is immortal: other husbands die, and leave their wives melancholy widows; but, O Sirs, your Kinsman lives for ever: "As the Father hath life in himself, fo hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." It is true, he was once dead, and buried; but being the Lord of life and death, it was not poffible that the bars of the grave could detain him; no, no, though he was dead, yet now he is alive, and lives for evermore: death fhall never break the marriage-knot between him and you; for he conveys immortality and life to his bride that moment the gives her consent to him, "He that believeth in the Son of God, hath everlafting life." Thus you fee what a glorious, honourable, and excellent perfon our Kinsman, the Avenger of our blood, is, who offers to be married to you. Ο Sirs, who would not match with him, who would not reckon it their greatest honour to be brought under a marriage-relation to him?

Mot. 3. To encourage your consent to marry your Kinfman, the Avenger of your blood, confider what he will do for you, and to you, if you will marry him; he will restore to you what he took not away, and will do that for you which the law could VOL. II.

3 S

not

not do, and which the whole world of angels and men could not do, but himself only,

14, He will restore the beautiful image of God upon you which was defaced through the contagious poifon of the old ferpent. Thou art become black like hell by lying among the devil's pots, of an Ethiopian hue; but if thou wilt marry thy Kinfman, he will make you beautiful through his own comeli nefs, the beauty of the Lord thy God will be put upon thee, fo that thou shalt be "like the wings of a dove, covered with filver, and thy feathers with yellow gold."

2dly, If thou wilt marry thy Kinfman and Avenger, O finner, he will reftore thy title to the loft and mortgaged inheritance. Thou loft thy title that moment thy father Adam eat of the forbidden fruit, and by his fin thou art become an heir of hell and wrath; but by confenting unto this better Husband, thy claim, and title to the inheritance fhall be fet upon a better footing than it was at firft; for thou shalt be "an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Jefus Chrift:" you know the wife by marriage is interested in her husband's estate; so here.

3dly, As the foundation of thy title to the inheritance, he will reftore to thee a perfect law of righteousness, whereby thou shalt be put in cafe to look all accufers and accufations in the face. Thou loft thy righteoufnefs in the first Adam, but in Chrift thy Kinfman thou comes to be clothed with the righ teoufuels of God. Adam's righteoufnefs was his clothing and ornament, and fo foon as ever he loft it, he and all his pofterity became naked, but thy Kinfman will array thee "with the garments of falvation, and with the robes of righteousness ;" Chrift, he gives his bride her marriage-robe, the has not a rag of her own to cover her nakednefs..

4thly, Marry thy Kinfman, and he will clear all thy debts thou oweft unto the law and juftice of God; for the power of pardon is in his hand, " I, even I am he that blotteth out thy tranfgreffions for mine own fake, and will not remember thy fins."

5thiy, He will heal all thy difeafes and wounds. Thou art aturally lying in thy blood, like the man that fell into his enemies hands between Jerufalem and Jericho; but if thou wilt take thy Kinfman for thy hufband, he will heal all thy dif cafes; for his name is JEHOVAH ROPHI, and at length he will prefent thee to his Father "without spot, wrinkle, or any fuch thing."

6thly, Marry thy Kinsman, and he will manage all thy concerns for thee, whether in heaven above, or in the earth beneath. Haft thou any bufinefs at the high court above? Thy

Kinfman,

Kinfman, he will manage that; for he is "our Advocate with the Father." Haft thou any affairs on earth wherewith thou art perplexed and entangled? Thy Kinfman will manage thefe alfo for thee; for he has said, that "all things fhall work together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpofe;" and he bids his fpoufe cast all her care upon him.

7thly, Marry your Kinfman, and he will provide you a large jointure. Although the fpoufe of Chrift contract nothing with him but debt, yet fuch is his liberal love to her, that he provides her in a whole kingdom, "I appoint unto you a king. dom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." He pro vides her in a jointure-houfe, where he and the fhall dwell for ever: "I go to prepare a place for you: In my Father's houfe are many manfions." In a word, he makes over himftlf and his whole fulness, which is more than heaven and earth, and the fulness of both. O fhall not all this prevail with you to join hands with your Kinsman, the Avenger of your blood.

Met. 4. By way of motive, will you confider that the purpofe of marriage, on the part of this glorious Kinfman, is intimated and proclaimed. We who are minifters, as friends of the Bridegroom, proclaim it as with found of trumpet upon the house-tops, in the tops of the high places of Zion. Be it known to all men, that the Son of God, the Prince of life, the Lord of glory, is content to be wedded and married to every one of the pofterity of Adam, that has a mind to join hands with him. O Sirs, will you counteract the marriage after proclamation?

Mot. 5. Confider, that the contract is drawn, I mean the contract of the new and better covenant; yea more, the Bridegroom of fouls, the kind Immanuel, he has in his own and his Father's name figned the contract with his precious blood, for his blood is the blood of the covenant; and by the thedding of his blood, he has "confirmed the covenant with many" yea, he has fuperadded his oath, that you might have two immutable things to build your faith upon. moreover, the contract cf marriage, it is already attefted by the three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, who all give their joint teftimony unto the bargain.

And

Mot. 6. Confider, that this contract of the new covenant of grace and promife, it is indorfed to you, to let you know, it is no vicious intromiffion for you to put your hand to it in a way of believing : "To you is the word of this falvation fent : The promife is unto you, and to your feed, and to all that are afar

off."