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"sented in scripture, as the place where God gives "the brightest evidences of his gracious presence, "and communicates his glory in full splendor. "That to which Jesus on the cross promised to "conduct the penitent thief. That which Paul "calls the third Heaven; and which in other "places of the Bible is denominated HEAVEN, "simply, and by way of excellency. Thither was "Enoch taken; thither also did Elijah 212 years "afterwards mount on a chariot of fire, and the "wings of a whirlwind: and finally thither at length "in placid majesty, ascended the captain of salva"tion, leading captivity captive?'

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"Thus in each of the great periods of the church, "was exhibited an instance of a man taken up into "Heaven, body and spirit, as a support and encou66 ragement to the hope of believers, of attaining "the same felicity. Enoch before the law was "given; Elijah under the legal economy; and Je"sus Christ the Saviour of men under the evange"lical dispensation.

"Enoch, Elijah and Christ, in certain views, can "be compared only with each other; but in all things HE must have the pre-eminence. By "the power and mercy of God, they were taken "up into Heaven; by his own power, he ascended

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on high; they as servants, he as the eternal Son "of God. In them we have a repeated instance of "bodies glorified without suffering death: he was “dead and is alive again, and carried to Heaven,

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a body which had been laid in the tomb. In "them we have an object of admiration and asto"nishment; in him a pattern for imitation, a Sa"viour in whom to trust, a ground of hope where"on to rest. Faith exempted them from death : "and faith shall at length redeem all the followers "of the Lamb from the power of the grave. "Enoch and Elijah ascended as solitary indivi"duals, Christ as the first fruits of them that sleep; "and lifted up, is drawing an elect world unto "him. They were admitted to regions unknown, ❝and among society untried: he only returned to "the place from whence he came." Hunter's Sacred Biography, 5th edit. Vol I. Lect. 6. p. 89. And is it not a comforting thing to think that under the three dispensations of the christian church, God hath furnished a miraculous instance of grace, saving beyond death his chosen servants, in a way typical of the great salvation from the second death, of all who believe upon him.

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3d. Christ's death is fruitful in happiness and glory to his people. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: "but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." The necessity of Christ's death might here be touched upon as the only way in which man can be saved consistently with the divine justice and honor. But happily those who are driven to selfdespair of justification by the deeds of the law; are led by the Spirit of God to lay hold on Christ that

they may be justified by faith in his name: I pass it by though not without the firmest faith thereon: and consider the fruits of his death as being the meritorious cause of bringing forth much fruit. A corn of wheat is the figure here made use of, nor is it without a most suitable reference to the Lord Jesus; seeing he is elsewhere spoken of as the bread of life. Now we know that wheat of all other grain is the most in request to make bread, seeing it is of the most nutritious and wholesome quality of any. And this nature Christ took upon himself for the support and comfort of his people. Now herein do the type and the thing typified coincide, except it die it abideth alone. The grain of wheat is one, and produceth no ears; Christ also is one and hath no members, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. A grain of wheat, fermenting, dying, springeth up, and many grains spring from it, Christ dying in the appointed time saveth many members. Yea he saveth a complete "body, the church, which "is the fulness of him who filleth all in all." Ephes. i. 23. But to observe more fully the fruits of his death, they are first primary and then secondary. Under the primary may be observed

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1st. Of the eternal election of all his seed. infinite wisdom of God when in his eternal mind, he planned the making of the world, foresaw its fall: to have prevented which altogether would have destroyed that line of distinction he intended to make between himself and his creatures, by giving them

that absolute perfection, he determined should belong exclusively to himself. Thus angels fell though in a different way from man: for when satan that bright morning star rebelled, he drew only the third part of the stars of Heaven after him: they fell not through him as a covenant head and representative, but as they actually rebelled with him, whilst the rest stood secure to adore that grace that kept them from being thus ensnared in a like manner. But man when he fell, fell in a covenant head Adam, in whose loins all our race were folded up in the eye and purpose of God. But to counteract the imputation of sin and death upon all Adam's race, in consequence of his most wilful transgression, God eternally chose, certain of Adam's race of whom Adam was one, to be saved by the imputation of righteousness and life, through another federal head Christ Jesus.

2d. The stopping the immediate death of Adam for his transgression. The sentence of the law as pronounced by God himself, was, "In the day "that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." And why, if this sentence is to be taken in the literal sense, was it not in the literal sense instantly executed? Does the justice of God suffer any imputation from the delay of the punishment? No. For observe the sentence began immediately to be executed, in driving man from Eden, dispossessing him of spiritual life, causing the ground speedily to bring forth briars and thorns, and in the various

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diseases of body and pains of conscience which soon began to trouble the human frame. Hence the law was in its spirituality cleared from imputation, just as we blame not the reprieve even of a murderer during the king's royal pleasure, when that reprieve is only the delay of a just sentence, either for the purpose of a more signal execution of justice, or to make way for pardon, consistently with the dignity and honor of the law. Now thus the sentence of death was prevented from being literally put in execution against man on the spot, to make way for divine` mercy, in a manner suitable to divine justice. The stroke was suspended that Christ the Mediator might come down: to convince Adam of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, by arguing with him the nature and extent of his crime, and making him confess by word of mouth his fatal fall of righteousness, by stripping him of the false badges, and unprofitable useless coverings of his shame, and clothing him in the skins of a slain beast, an apt declaration, that without shedding of blood there is no remission, and a striking type of the shedding of Christ's own blood in due time for the sins of his people: of judgment; by rehearsing the awful sentence against the seducing serpent, and his whole seed, which though it should bruise the woman's seed, though put into Christ, should receive a mortal bruise on his head, by the emphatic seed of the woman, Christ himself; and whilst this was a notable display of God's love and mercy

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