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the body itfelf, which, by an irreversible decree, is condemned to return to the dust as it was, fhall be raised again by the power and fpirit of the Redeemer, and fashioned like unto his own glorious body, in that day when he, who once fuffered to bear their fins, "fhall appear the fecond time without "fin unto falvation."

But I must not detain you any longer from the proper business of the day.

I have done what I could to render Chrift precious to your fouls: I have led you to view him in his effential dignity, as the

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Creator of all things;-in his relation to believers, as the head of the body;-and as poffeffing all fulness in that important character.

And here I would gladly expoftulate with thofe to whom thefe things of the Spirit I have been talking of appear foolishness, and in whom the God of this world hath fo far blinded their minds, that they fee no beauty in this Saviour for which they should defire him. O that the hour might now come, in which every dead foul in this affembly fhould hear the voice of the Son of God,

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" and live." May he who at first commanded the light to fhine out of darkness, while we speak in his name, fhine into their hearts, to give them the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, that in this glafs, beholding the glory of the Lord, as the God of love, their darkness may be difpelled, their enmity fubdued, and they be changed into the fame image, from glory to glory, by his all-conquering Spirit.

But my chief concern at present is with the living members of Chrift: For you a table is once more covered in the wilderness, for ftrengthening you to proceed in your journey to the Canaan that is above. This is one of the channels which your living head hath appointed for conveying his life to the members of his body. The ordi nance itself affords you the strongest ground of hope: it is a representation of that facrifice which Chrift offered upon the cross: and he who loved you fo well as to give his life for you, is certainly willing to impart life to you. "If while ye were enemies, ye "were reconciled to God by the death of

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"his Son; much more, being reconciled,

you fhall be faved by his life." Let not the fenfe of your unworthiness discourage you:-You come not here to give, but to take what is given. Nay, let me tell you, that the fenfe of your own emptiness is the very measure of your capacity for receiving his fulnefs: "He filleth the hungry with "good things, but the rich," thofe who account themselves rich, "he fendeth empty "away." Come therefore with longing defires, and enlarged hopes, to him who is full of grace and of truth, that out of his fulness you may this day receive grace for grace, to the glory of the giver, and to your own prefent and everlasting joy.

Amen.

SER

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SERMON V.

2 CORINTHIANS viii. 9.

Ye know the grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that though he was rich, yet for your fakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

HESE words contain an accurate de

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fcription of the grace, or free favour, of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which all true believers are here faid to know: i. e. they have not only heard the report of this grace, affented to the truth of the report, and are able to give fome account of it to others ; but they know it experimentally, having tasted its sweetness, and felt the power of it in their own hearts.

Several particulars are mentioned by the Apostle in proof and commendation of the grace he celebrates, which I propofe to illuf trate in the following difcourfe.

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I. THE first in order is the state of the Redeemer previous to his becoming poor. He was rich; but how rich no language can exprefs, nor any mind but his own conceive. "In the beginning was the Word, and the "Word was with God, and the Word was "God. The fame was in the beginning "with God. All things were made by him; "and without him was not any thing "made, that was made;" John i. 1, 2, 3. It is exprefsly faid of him, Coloff. i. 16, 17. "that by him all things were created that

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are in heaven and that are in earth, visible " and invifible, whether they be thrones, "or dominions, or principalities, or pow

ers all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and "by him all things confift." The fame representation is given of him by the Apostle to the Hebrews, who ftyles him" the

brightness of the Father's glory, and the "exprefs image of his perfon; whom he "hath appointed heir of all things; by "whom alfo he made the worlds; and who “upholdeth all things by the word of his power."

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