Men. Such as blasted all their Courage; and laid them as if ftruck with Lightening, stunned and proftrate on the Ground. All Hearts are in his Hand. He turneth them, as the Rivers of Water, whitherfoever He will*; with as much Eafe, and with the fame efficacious Sway, as the Current of the Rivers is altered and determined by every Inflection of the Channel.-Follow me, was his Call to James and John: Follow me †, was all He said to Levi the Publican. Though the first were engaged in all the Ardour of Businefs; though the laft was fitting at the very Receipt of Custom; yet both He and they, without any Demur, without the leaft Delay, left the lucrative Employ; left their nearest Relations, and refigned their earthly All, to attend a poor and despised MASTER.-Their Acquaintance, no doubt, would remonftrate a thousand Inconveniencies. Their Enemies would not fail to cenfure them, as rafh Enthufiafts. But all these Confiderations were lighter than Duft, were less than noG 3 thing, * Prov. xxi. 1. + Mark ii. 14. He faid in the Beginning, Let there be Light; there was Light. Let there be a Firmament ; it was spread abroad. Let there be a World; it arofe of Nothing. In the Days of his Flefh likewife, He fpeaks, and it is done. His Word is a Work. He fays to the Difciples, Follow me; they come-to the Leper, Be clean; He is cleanfed-to the Paralytic, Arife, take up thy Bed, and walk; it is all performed, as foon as commanded. Surely then We muft confefs, that the Voice, which is fo mighty in Operation, is the Voice of a GOD, not of a Man!--Temon is our LORD's ufual Word, when He grants a miraculous Cure: which exactly correfponds with that admired and magnificent Expreffion Gen. i. 3. thing, when fet in Competition with two Words only from JESUS of Nazareth. Impreffed, deeply impreffed by his powerful Summons, fuch Loss they counted Gain, and fuch Obloquy Glory.-And fhall We count it too high an Honour, or too grand an Office, for his Obedience unto Death, to make Us perfectly righteous before GOD, without the Co-operation of any Works, or any holy walking of our own? He planted Bowels of Compaffion in the unfeeling avaricious Wretch; and elevated, beyond the Height of the Stars, Defires that lay groveling even below the Mire of the Swine. The Slaves of Sin He reftored to the Liberty of Righteousness; and unhappy Creatures, who were degenerated into the Likeness of the Devil, He renewed after the Image of the bleffed GOD.-These were the Effects of his perfonal Preaching; these are still the Conquefts of his glorious Gofpel; and do not these declare his Dominion over the Intellectual Oeconomy? That the World of Minds, as well as of material Nature, is open to his Infpection,` and subject to his Controul? The Dead feem to be more remote from human Cognizance, than the Secrets of the Breaft; lefs liable to any human Jurifdiction, than the warring Elements. What Potentate can'iffue a Writ of Releafe to the Grave? Or cite the diflodged Soul, to re-enter the breathlefs Corpfe?-Yet this, even this, our mighty MEDIATOR executed. He opened the Eyes, which were funk in Shades, and Jealed in the Tomb. He bid the Heart, that had forgot its vital Motion, fpring into Life and A&tivity. The crimson Flood, long congealed by the He. icy icy Hand of Death; which had not only loft its Pulfe by Stagnation, but likewife changed its very Texture by Putrefaction; circulates, at his Order, all florid and mantling with Health +, through the wondering Veins. The Spirit, which had taken its Flight into the invisible State, which had taken its Place in eternal Habitations, returns, at our REDEEMER's Signal, to the Tenement of mouldering Clay; and, by the amazing Visit, proclaims his Sovereignty over thofe unknown Realms, and their myfterious Inhabitants. As He recals from, fo He admits into, the Abodes of future Happiness. His Hands, when fwollen with Wounds, and nailed to the Tree, evidently fuftained the Keys of Hell and of Death ‡. Then, even then, He opened and He fhut either the Gates of the Grave, or the Portals of Paradife. What He fays to the penitent Thief, is the Language of fupreme Authority; To Day Jhalt thou be with me in Paradife §. It is a royal Mandamus. He fpeaks * G 4 John xi. 39. + Mantling with Health-Such was the State of those Bodies, which our LORD raised from the Dead. Not weak and languid, like Patients beginning to recover, from a tedious or violent Illness. On the contrary, they were no fooner alive, than perfectly well. Their Appetite, their Vigour, and every happy Concomitant of Health, returned together with their Life.-To demonftrate this wonderful Circumftance, and render it more obfervable, our SAVIOUR, when he rescued the Ru ler's Daughter from the Dominion of Death, commanded to give Her Meat. A Command, which, fuperficially confidered, might feem unworthy of Notice. But viewed in this Connection, appears graceful and important; fuch as tends, if not to aggrandize the Miracle, yet to place it in the moft ftriking Light. See Luke viii. 55. Rev. i. 18. § Luke xxiii. 43. fpeaks from the Crofs, as from a Throne. While executed as a Malefactor, He not only difpenfes Pardon, but difpofes of Seats in Glory. Does our LORD's Superiority extend to those malignant Beings, the Devil and his Angels? — Even thefe, in fpight of all their formidable. Strength, and inextinguifhable Rage, He makes his Footstool. He brake the Teeth of thofe infernal Lions; and refcued the helpiefs Prey, on which their bloody Jaws were cloling. At his Command, they abandon their Conquefts; and relinquish, however indignant, however reluctant, their long-accustomed Habitations. His fingle Command, more forcible than ten thousand Thunderbolts, difpoffeffes *Milton, defcribing the Power of the apoftate Angels, fays; -The leaf of Whom could wield Bock VI. 221. This I lay before the Reader, but dare not avouch for Truth, because it is not confirmed by Scripture. Thus much however, is evident from our unerring Book; That their Might is very great, and very formidable. Satan is called The GOD of this World. 2 Cor. iv. 4. He and his Angels are ftyled, The Rulers of the Darkness of this World. Eph. vi. 12. They had for many Ages, obtained an abfolute Dominion, not over a few Kingdoms only, but over all the Nations of the Earth, Judæa only excepted. The Apoflle teaches Us to confider the Oppofition of Flesh and Blood, even of all Mankind, though affociated in one hoftile League; as far lefs to be feared, than the Enmity and Rage of Principalities, and Powers, and fpiritual Wickedneffes. After fuch an Account of our invifible Enemies, fhould not We cry mightily to our Captain, and their Conquerour? "LORD, never leave "Us, nor forfake Us. But hide Us under the Shadow "of thy Wings, and cover our Heads in the Day of "Battle!" tary poffeffes a whole Legion of those fierce and haughty Spirits: drives them, all terrified and deprecating feverer Vengeance, to feek Reft in foliDefarts, or to herd with the most fordid Brutes. As the bleffed JESUS treads upon the Necks of thofe Powers of Darkness, He receives the willing Services of the Angels of Light. The Angels, in comparison of Men, are ftyled Gods. How great must be their Luftre and Glory! Since their very Appearance ftruck Prophets almoft dead with Fear, and tempted even an Apostle to Idolatry. Yet, when the first-begotten SON is brought into the World, thefe Gods are commanded to worship Him t. Though they excel in Strength, and are * Mark v. 9. + Compare Heb. i. 6. with Pfal. xcvii. 7. active Would any One fee a Sketch of the Glory and Excellence of the angelic Nature? Let Him fee it, in that inimitably fine Stroke of the facred Pencil. I fav another Angel come down from Heaven, having great Porset, and the Earth was lightened with his Glory. Rev. xviii. 1. The laft Claufe is, I think, one of the most masterly Touches of defcriptive Painting, extant in Hiftory, Poetry, or Oratory, Milton gives Us a Stricture of the fame Kind, and on the fame Subject. But the poetic Flight, though very fublime, is greatly inferior to the apocalyptic Vifion. On He led His radiant Files, dazling the Moon. In this Cafe, We have a whole Brigade of celeftial Warriors; in the former, only a fingle angelic Being. Thofe are reprefented, as irradiating the Night, and outfhining the Moon: this, as exceeding the Brightness of the Sun; diffufing additional Splendors on the Day; and illuminating, not a vaft Plain, not a vafter Kingdom, but the whole Face of the Globe.-If fuch be the Luftre of the Servant, |