into it. "The defire of all nations fhall come, and I will fill this house with glory, faith the Lord of hofts," Haggai i. 7. Hence we fee the temple itself is no part of this glory, for that had been standing near four hundred years before it was filled with this promifed glory; fo that the temple and the glory are two distinct things; the former was a den of thieves, but the latter is "Immanuel, God with us." "The glory of this house shall be greater than the former, and in this place will I give peace, faith the Lord of hofts.". There be many things in Scripture that are called glory, fuch as the majesty and grandeur of earthly princes. God gave to Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory, Dan. ii. 37. Our Lord afcribes glory to Solomon. "Confider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they fpin; and yet I fay unto you, that even -Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." For there was a deal of toiling and fpinning too, in order to array Solomon: the bowels of the earth, the fheep, the filk-worm, muft all contribute to fet him off; and it is but artificial after all. But the lily appears arrayed in its own native glory and beauty, and no art can come up to nature; no artist can reach the workmanship of God. The greatest glory that adorns the creation appears to be the fun: we read of the glory of the fun, and of the moon, and of the ftars; but the fun ftands first upon the lift of the heavenly bodies.

The glory of the fun proclaims the glory of Omnipotence; but the image of God in Adam was a display of the glory of God's grace. This was a greater glory than that of the fun. Adam was the image and glory of God, but the woman the glory of the man. But all have finned, and therefore all have come short of this glory of God.

The excelling glory in my text is the incarnation of God's eternal Son; and by this we are enabled to answer both the question of Job, and that of the wife man; "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one," Job xiv. 4. And yet God can, and hath done it: here is a holy thing born of a finful woman; a living and lifegiving root out of a dry ground. "Is there any thing whereof it may be faid, fee, this is new?" Eccl. i. 10. Yes, there is-" For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man," Jer. xxxi. 22. In this wonderful work we see the second Adam and everlasting Father. We see our nature, after a long feparation from God, made nigh again, being united to the perfon of God's eternal Son, so as to be separated no more. Our nature loft, ruined, polluted, defiled, and in itself undone; but by the incarnation of Christ we see it restored and made holy, harmless, and undefiled, ascended and exalted far above all heavens. In this nature of ours, which Chrift affumed, dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily. There is not a name nor a title that God takes to

himself; not a perfection, quality, or attribute that is peculiar to the Deity, but what dwells, in all their glory, in all their fulness, and in all their meaning, in the man Christ Jefus; " in him dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily."

The Holy Ghoft filled every power of his human foul with wisdom and knowledge, grace and truth, like an overflowing fountain. He is the fountain of life, the well of falvation, and a river of water in a dry place. The Spirit was not given by measure unto him, but with all his power and glory, with all his gifts and graces, and with all his influences and operations. This heavenly dove was the anointing oil upon his head, and the holy fire in his heart; the confecration of his everlasting priesthood, and his best benediction to the children of men. To all which we may add-the hypoftatical and indiffoluble union that fubfifts between his own divine person, and the person of his Father, being one in effence: the oneness of nature that subsists between them is inconceivable, yet so it is. "I and my Father are one," John x. 30. Their mutual indwelling in each other cannot be comprehended by us, but fo it is, for our bleffed Lord declares it," the Father is in me, and I in him,” John x. 38. "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," John xiv. 10. Lay all these things together, and confider the spotless nature that he affumed, holy, harmless, and undefiled. Confider the fulness of the godhead that

dwelt in him; the fulness of the Spirit, with all his gifts and graces; the union and oneness of nature that subfifts between him and his divine Father; his high and holy calling to his wonderful offices; the oath and facred confecration which attended his inveftiture; and, if fubftance exceeds fhadow, and truth exceeds type; and if God manifested in the flesh exceeds fign and fymbol; you will agree with me, that the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former. And this my text declares, from the mouth of the Lord of hosts, who is the best judge of these things.

To which excelling glory we may add the glorious work he came to do. He came to bring God and man together by his incarnation; to make himself an offering for fin, and, by his grand oblation, to perfect for ever all that are fanctified or set apart in the purpose of God: to finish transgression by bearing it, and abolishing it from the book of God's remembrance. Chrift made fuch an end of it, as that it fhall never be imputed to us, nor be even found when it is fought after, Jer. 1. 20. He made reconciliation for iniquity, and reinflated rebellious man in the favour of the Almighty, and in eternal friendship with him. He fulfilled all the promises and prophecies, and was the truth of all the types, and fubftance of all the fhadows, that ever went before, as they all pointed out God's good will to men. He is the effect of every divine vifion given in the prophetic age; he brought all

to light, and he brought all to pass; and he is the vifion that still speaks, while faith, life, and righteousness attend his word; for the juft man ftill lives by his faith, and this is his voice in all his saints.

He came in the flesh to deftroy the devil's works; I mean fin, by bearing it away; and death, by his refurrection from the dead; and these are the two props and pillars of Satan's empire upon which his kingdom ftands. The Saviour blotted out our fins as a cloud from our divine creditor's debt-book; he fprinkles clean water upon our confcience: one drop of this water is faith, which purifies the heart from all its filthiness; and another drop is love, and this cleanfes us from all our idols. By his imputed righteousness he juftifies us from fin; by the empire of his grace he counteracts its reign; at our death he will abolish it from the foul, and at the refurrection he will banish it from the body; "he fhall change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own glorious body:" then will fin be finally abolished, death will be swallowed up in victory; the uncircumcifed and the unclean fhall no more pass through the city of Salem, nor the Canaanite be found any more in the house of the Lord of hofts.

We may take notice further of the glory that ftill attends the gospel. The temple, or the house mentioned in my text, was a type of the three following things:

ift. It reprefented heaven: " the Holy Ghoft