OF THE HONOURS AND PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTIANS.

but also expressly declare that those Scriptures were written as well for the benefit of the Christian as the Jewish Church. Rom. xv. 4: After a quotation out of the Old Testament, the apostle adds:"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written' for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." 1 Cor. ix. 9: "It is written in the law of Moses, that thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.' Verse 10: "For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." 1.Cor. x. 11: "Now all these things (namely, the before-mentioned privileges, sins, and punishments of the ancient Jews) happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the earth are come." 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

73. Sixthly. Agreeably to this notion, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church or kingdom, out of which the unbelieving Jews are cast, the Christian Church, considered in a body, is called by the same general names as the Church under the Old Testament. Israel was the general name of the Jewish Church, so also of the Christian. Gal. vi. 16: "As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." Rev. vii. 3, 4: Speaking of the Christian Church, the angel said, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and fortyfour thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. xxi. 10-14: " He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, (the Christian Church,) having the glory of God-and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelves angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, (as comprehending the whole Church.) And the wall of the city had twelve founda tions, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Jews was another running title of the Church in our Saviour's time, and this is also applied to Christians. Rev. ii. 8, 9: "And unto the angel of the (Christian) Church in Smyrna, write, I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty; and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews (members of the Church of Christ) and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." And again, chap. iii. 9.

VI. The particular honours and privileges of Christians, and the terms signifying these honours explained.

74. Seventhly. In conformity to this sentiment, (namely, that the believing Gentiles are taken into that Church, covenant, and kingdom, out of which the unbelieving Jews were cast,) the state, membership, privileges, honours, and relations of professed Christians, particularly of believing Gentiles, are expressed by the same phrases with those of the ancient Jewish Church; and therefore, unless we admit a very strange abuse of words, must convey the same general ideas of our present state, membership, honours, and relations to God, as we are professed Christians. For instance :—

75. I. As God chose his ancient people the Jews, and they were his chosen and elect, so now the whole body of Christians, Gentiles as well as Jews, are admitted to the same honour, as they are selected from the rest of the world, and taken into the kingdom of God, for the knowledge, worship, and obedience of God, in hopes of eternal life. Rom. viii.. 33: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" &c. Eph. i. 4: " According as he hath chosen us (Gentiles, chap. ii. 11) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love." Col. iii. 12: "Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies," &c. 2 Thess. ii. 13: "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation; through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." Tit. i. 1 66 1: Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness." 2 Tim. ii. 10: "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." 1 Pet. i. 1, 2: "Peter to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience." ii. 9: "Ye (Gentiles) are a chosen generation," &c. v. 13: "The Church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you."

76. II. The first step which the goodness of God took in execution of his purpose of election, with regard to the Gentile world, was to rescue them from their wretched situation in the sin and idolatry of their heathen state (by sending his son Jesus Christ into the world to die for mankind, and thus) to bring them into the light and privileges of the Gospel. With regard to which the language of Scripture is: Ist, that he delivered; 2nd, saved; 3rd, bought or purchased; 4th, redeemed them. Gal. i. 4: "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world," the vices and lusts in which the world is involved. Col. i. 12, 13: "Giving thanks to the Father, who has delivered us from the power of (heathenish) darkness, (Acts xxvi. 18; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Eph. iv. 18; v. 8,) and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." And thus, consequentially, we are "delivered from the wrath to come;" 1 Thess i. 10.*

That is, through the redemption that is in Jesus we receive the remission of all our sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost to cleanse, purify, and refine our souls, and thus render them capable of enjoying the inheritance of the saints in light. Our justification, adoption, and sanctification, and finally our admission into the kingdom of glory, are

OF THE HONOURS AND PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTIANS.

77. 1 Cor. i. 18: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." vii. 16: "What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?" that is, convert her to the Christian faith. x. 33: "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." Eph. ii. 8: "For by grace are ye saved, through faith." 1 Thess. ii. 16:"Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved." 1 Tim. ii. 4: "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 2 Tim. i. 9: "Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace." In this general sense, saved is in other places applied to both Jews and Gentiles; particularly to the Jews, Rom. ix. 27; x. 1; xi. 26. Hence God is styled our Saviour. Tit. iii. 4, 5: "But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." 1 Tim. i. 1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour;" ii. 3; Tit. i. 3. Rom. xi. 11: "Through their (the Jews') fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles." And as this salvation is by Jesus Christ, he also is frequently called our Saviour.

78. Acts xx. 28: "Feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood." 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20: "And ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price." vii. 23: "Ye are bought with a price." 2 Pet. ii. 1: "False prophets shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought Rev. v. 9: "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed (bought) us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

them."

79. Tit. ii. 14: "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity." 1 Pet. i. 18: "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain (heathenish) conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ." And at the same time he redeemed or bought us from death, or the curse of the law; Gal. iii. 13; and the Jews, in particular, from the law, and the condemnation to which it subjected them; Gal. iv. 5. Hence frequent mention is made of the redemption which is in Jesus Christ; Rom. iii. 24; 1 Cor. i. 30; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14; Heb. ix. 12, Hence also Christ is said to give himself a ransom for us; Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45. 1 Tim. ii. 6: "Who gave himself a ransom for all." That is, that he might redeem them unto God by the sacrificial shedding of his blood.-See the note under 76.

15.

80. III. As God sent the Gospel to bring Gentiles, Christians, out of heathenism, and invited and made them welcome to the honours and privileges of his people, he is said to call them, and they are his called. Rom. i. 6, 7: " 'Among whom are ye also called of Jesus Christ. To all that are at Rome called saints;" viii. 28. 1 Cor. i. 9: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son;" vii. 20. Gal. i, 6: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you;" v. 13. Eph. iv. 1: “I beseech that you, ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called ;" iv. 4. 1 Thess. ii. 12: "That ye walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." iv. 7: "God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." 2 Tim. i. 9 "Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling; not according to our works," &c. 1 Pet. i. 15: "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." ii. 9: "Ye (Gentile Christians) are a chosen generation-to show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

15.

81. Note-The Jews also were called. Rom. ix. 24: "Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." 1 Cor. i. 24; vii. 18: "Is any man called being circumcised;", Heb. ix. But the calling of the Jews must be different from that of the Gentiles. The Gentiles were called into the kingdom of God as strangers and foreigners, who had never been in it before. But the Jews were then subjects of God's kingdom, under the old form; and therefore could be called only to submit to it, as it was nów modelled under the Messiah. Or they were called to repentance, to the faith, allegiance, and obedience of the Son of God, and to the hope of eternal life through him; whom rejecting, they were cast out of God's peculiar kingdom.

82. IV. And as we stand in the relation of children to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hence it is that we are his brethren, and he is considered as the first born among us. Matt. xxviii. 10; John xx. 17: "Jesus saith-Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God;" Heb. ii. 11, 17. Rom. viii. 29: "That he might be the first-born among many brethren."

83. V. And the relation of God, as a Father, to us Christians, who are his children, will lead our thoughts to a clear idea of our being, as we are called, the house or family of God or of Christ. 1 Tim. iii. 15: "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God." Heb. iii. 6: "But Christ, as a Son over his own house, whose house are we, (Christians,) if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Heb. x. 21: "And having a great high priest over the house of God," &c. 1 Pet. iv. 17: "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, (that is, when the Christian Church shall undergo sharp trials and sufferings ;) and if it first begin at us, (Christians, who are the house or family of God,) what shall the end most positively attributed to the sacrificial passion and death of Jesus: and we are not consequentially delivered from the wrath to come, till our sins are blotted out and our hearts purified from sin; and these blessings we receive from God through Christ, i. e. for his sake, his worth or merit; for he has bought these blessings for mankind by his sacrificial passion and death. Justice required these to make way for mercy.-A. C. See No. 79.

י?

OF THE HONOURS AND PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTIANS.

be of them that obey not the Gospel?" that is, of the infidel world, who lie out of the Church.

See Rom.

i. 5; xv. 18; 1 Pet. i. 22. Eph. ii. 19: "We are of the household (domestics) of God." iii. 14, 15: "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named," &c.

84. VI. Farther, as the land of Canaan was the estate or inheritance belonging to the Jewish family or house, so the heavenly country is given to the Christan house or family for their inheritance. Acts xx. 32: "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." Col. iii. 24: "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." Heb. ix. 15: "He is the mediator of the New Testament, that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." 1 Pet. i. 3, 4: "God has begotten us again—to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. Hence we have the title of heirs. Tit. iii. 7: "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." James ii. 5"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?” See Rom. viii. 17; 1 Pet. iii. 7.

85. And as Canaan was considered as the rest of the Jews, so, in reference to our trials and afflictions in this world, heaven is considered as the rest of Christians: 2 Thess. i. 7: "And to you who are troubled, (he will give) rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven." Heb. iv. 1: "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us hath the Gospel been preached, as well as to them;" that is, we have the joyful promise of entering into rest as well as the Jews of old. Verse 9: "There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God;" that is, for Christians now in this world, as well as for the Jews formerly in the wilderness, which is the point the apostle is proving, from ver. 3 to 10.

86. VII. Thus Christians, as well as the ancient Jews, are the house or family of God: or we may conceive the whole body of Christians formed into a nation, having God at their head; who, on this account, is styled our God, governor, protector, or king; and we his people, subjects, or servants.

87. VIII. And it is in reference to our being a society peculiarly appropriated to God, and under his special protection and government, that we are called the city of God, the holy city. Heb. xii. 22: “Ye are come unto the city of the living God." Rev. xi. 2: "And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." This city is described in some future happy state; Rev. xxi. and xxvi.

88. Hence the whole Christian community or Church is denoted by the city Jerusalem, and sometimes by Mount Zion. Gal. iv. 26: "But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all."-In her reformed, or future happy state, she is the New Jerusalem; Rev. iii. 12; xxi. 2. Heb. xii. 22: "Ye are come unto Mount Zion," &c.; Rev. xiv. 1.

89. Hence also we are said to be written or enrolled in the book of God, or, which comes to the same thing, of the Lamb, the Son of God. Rev. iii. 5: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." xxii. 19: "And if any man take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city," &c.; which shows that the names of such as are in the book of life may be blotted out; consequently, that to be enrolled there is the privilege of all professed Christians.

90. And whereas the believing Gentiles were once strangers, aliens, not a people, enemies; now (Eph. ii. 19) "they are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints." 1 Pet. ii. 10: "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God." Now "we are at peace with God;" Rom. v. 1. Now we are reconciled and become the servants of God," the subjects of his kingdom; Rom. v. 10; 1 Thess. i. 9; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19.-[That is, all those who have turned to God by true repentance have received remission of sin, and are walking in the way of righteousness, with a believing, obedient, loving, and grateful heart.-A. C.]

91. On the other hand, the body of the Jewish nation, (having, through unbelief, rejected the Messiah, and the Gospel, and being therefore cast out of the city and kingdom of God,) are, in their turn, at present represented under the name and notion of enemies. Rom. xi. 28: "As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake."

92. IX. The kind and particular regards of God to the converted Gentiles, and their relation to Jesus Christ, is also signified by that of a husband and wife; and his taking them into his covenant is represented by his espousing them. 2 Cor. xi. 2: "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

93. Hence the Christian Church or community is represented as a mother, and particular members as her children. Gal. iv. 26, 27, 28: "But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Israel was, are the children of promise." Verse 31: "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free."

94. Hence also, from the notion of the Christian Church being the spouse of God in Christ, her corruption and her idolatry come under the name of fornication and adultery.

95. X. As God, by Christ, exercises a particular providence over the Christian Church, in supplying them

OF THE HONOURS AND PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTIANS.

with all spiritual blessings, guiding them through all difficulties, and guarding them in all spiritual dangers; He is their shepherd, and they his flock, his sheep. John x. 11: "I am the good shepherd." Verse 16: "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd;" Acts xx. 28, 29; Heb. xiii. 20. 1 Pet. ii. 25: 66 For were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the shepherd and bishop (overseer) of your souls." v. 2, 3, 4: "Feed the flock of God," &c.

ye

96. XI. Nearly on the same account as God, by Christ, has established the Christian Church, and provided all means for our happiness and improvement in knowledge and virtue, we are compared to a vine and a vineyard, and God to the husbandman, who planted and dresses it; and particular members of the community are compared to branches. John xv. 1, 2: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it," &c. ver. 5: "I am the vine, ye are the branches." Matt. xv. 13: " Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." Rom. vi. 5: "If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Matt. xx. 1. The vineyard into which labourers were hired is the Christian as well as the Jewish Church and so chap. xxi. 33; Mark xii. 1; Luke xx. 9. 1 Cor. iii. 9: "Ye are God's husbandry." Rom. xi. 17: "And if some of the branches (Jews) be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree," &c. See also ver. 24.

97. XII. As Christians are, by the will of God, set apart and appropriated in a special manner to his honour, service, and obedience, and furnished with extraordinary means and motives to holiness, so they are said to be sanctified. 1 Cor. i. 2: "Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." vi. 11: "And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Heb. ii. 11: "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one;" x. 10.

98. XIII. Farther; by the presence of God in the Christian Church, and our being by profession conse· crated to him, we, as well as the ancient Jews, are made his house or temple, which God has built, and in which he dwells, or walks. 1 Pet. ii. 5: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house," &c. 1 Cor. iii. 9: "Ye are God's building." Ver. 16, 17: "Know ye not that ye (Christians) are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 2 Cor. vi. 16: "And what agreement hath the temple of God (the Christian Church) with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said: I will dwell in them, and walk in them." Eph. ü. 20, 21, 22: "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles, &c., Christ Jesus being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together, for a habitation of God through the Spirit." 2 Thess. ii. 4: "So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, SHOWING HIMSELF that he is God."

99. XIV. And not only does God, as our king, dwell in the Christian Church, as in his house or temple; but he has also conferred on Christians the honours of kings; as he has redeemed us from the servitude of sin, made us lords of ourselves, and raised us above others, to sit on thrones, and to judge and reign over them. And he has made us priests too, as we are peculiarly consecrated to God, and obliged to attend upon him, from time to time continually, in the solemn offices of religion which he has appointed. 1 Pet. ii. 5: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." Ver. 9: "But ye (Gentile Christians) are a chosen generation, a royal (or kingly) priesthood." Rev. i. 5, 6: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father," &c.

100, XV, Thus the whole body of the Christian Church is separated unto God from the rest of the world. And whereas, before, the Gentile believers were afar off, lying out of the commonwealth of Israel, now they are nigh, as they are joined to God in covenant, have full access to him in the ordinances of worship, and, in virtue of his promise, a particular title to his regards and blessing. 2 Cor. vi. 17: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” Eph. ii. 13: "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh, by the blood of Christ."

101. XVI. And as God, in all these respects, has distinguished the Christian Church, and sequestered them unto himself, they are styled his peculiar people. Tit. ii. 14: "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 1 Pet. ii. 9: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." 102. XVII. As Christians are a body of men particularly related to God, instructed by him in the rules of wisdom, devoted to his service, and employed in his true worship, they are called his Church or congregation. Acts xx, 28: "Feed the Church of God." 1 Cor. x. 32: "Giving none offence to the Church of God;" xv. 9; Gal. i. 13; and elsewhere. Eph. i. 22: "Head over all things to the Church:"—and particular societies are Churches. Rom. xvi. 16: "The Churches of Christ salute you:"-and so in several other places.

103. XVIII. For the same reason they are considered as God's possession or heritage. 1 Pet. v. 3: "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." The reader cannot well

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRIVILEGES, OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

avoid observing that the words and phrases by which our Christian privileges are expressed in the New Testament are the very same with the words and phrases by which the privileges of the Jewish Church are expressed in the Old Testament; which makes good what St. Paul says concerning the language in which the apostles declared the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Cor. ii. 12, 13: "We (apostles) have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are given to us of God;" namely, the fore-recited privileges and blessings. "Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth," not in philosophic terms of human invention, "but which the Holy Spirit teacheth," in the writings of the Old Testament, the only Scriptures from which they took their ideas and arguments, "comparing spiritual things" under the Gospel.

Whence we may conclude: 1. That the holy Scriptures are admirably calculated to be understood in those things which we are most of all concerned to understand. Seeing the same language runs through the whole, and is set in such a variety of lights, that one part is well adapted to illustrate another: an advantage I reckon peculiar to the sacred writings above all others. 2. It follows that, to understand the sense of the Spirit in the New, it is essentially necessary that we understand its sense in the Old Testament.

§ VII. Reflections on the foregoing Honours and Privileges of the Christian Church.

From what has been said it appears,

104. I. That the believing Gentiles are taken into that kingdom and covenant in which the Jews once stood, and out of which they were cast for their unbelief and rejection of the Son of God; and that we Christians ought to have the same general ideas of our present religious state, membership, privileges, honours, and relation to God, as the Jews had while they were in possession of the kingdom. Only in some things the kingdom of God under the Gospel dispensation differs much from the kingdom of God under the Mosaical. As, 1. That it is now so constituted that it admits, and is adapted to, men of all nations upon the earth, who believe in Christ. 2. That the law, as a ministration of condemnation, which was an appendage to the Jewish dispensation, is removed and annulled under the Gospel. [But the moral law, as a rule of life, is still in force.] 3. And so is the polity or civil state of the Jews, which was interwoven with their religion, but has no connection with the Christian religion. 4. The ceremonial part of the Jewish constitution is likewise abolished, for we are taught the spirit and duties of religion, not by figures and symbols, as sacrifices, offerings, watchings, &c., but by express and clear precepts. 5. The kingdom of God is now put under the special government of the Son of God, who is the head and king of the Church, to whom we owe faith and allegiance.* 105. II. From the above recited particulars it appears that the Christian Church is happy, and highly honoured with privileges of the most excellent nature; of which the apostles, who well understood this new constitution, were deeply sensible. Rom. i. 16: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." v. 1, 2, 3, &c.: "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice (glory) in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also," &c. Ver. 11: "And not only so, but we also joy (glory) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ," &c. viii. 31: "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?" ix. 23, 24: "He has made known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even on us whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." 2 Cor. iii. 18: "But we all, with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." Eph. i. 3, 4, &c.: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed as with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him," &c., &c. 106. And it is the duty of the whole body of Christians to rejoice in the goodness of God, to thank and praise him for all the benefits conferred upon them in the Gospel. Rom. xv. 10: “ Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people." Phil. iii. 1: "My brethren, rejoice in the Lord." iv. 4: "Rejoice in the Lord alway; again I say, rejoice." 1 Thess. v. 16: " Rejoice evermore ;" James i. 9; 1 Pet. i. 6, 8. Col. i. 12: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." ii. 7: “Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving ;" 1 Thess. v. 18. Heb. xiii. 15: "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name." Eph. i. 6: "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the Beloved;" ver. 12, 14.

107. Farther, it is to be observed that all the foregoing privileges, benefits, relations, and honours belong to all professed Christians, without exception. God is the God, King, Saviour, Father, Husband, Shepherd, &c., of them all. He created, saved, bought, redeemed; he begot, he made, he planted, &c., them all. And they are all as created, redeemed, and begotten by him; his people, nation, heritage; his children, spouse, flock, vineyard, &c. We are all enriched with the blessings of the Gospel, Rom. xi. 12, 13, 14; all recon

* Add to this, that all the privileges under the Gospel are abundantly more spiritual than they were under the law THAT being the shadow, THIS the substance. Hence, while we consider theso privileges the same in kind, wo must view them as differing widely in degree.—A. C.