I know my sup judged a long application necessary. position must already have led your thoughts to the subject of the Messiah, and to the spirit and temper of at least the greater part of the performers, and of the audiences. The Holy Scripture concludes all mankind under sin*. It charges them all with treason and rebellion against the great sovereign Lawgiver and Benefactor; and declares the misery to which, as sinners, we are obnoxious. But God is long-suffering, and waits to be gracious. The stroke of death, which would instantly place us before his awful tribunal, is still suspended. In the mean time he affords us his Gospel, by which he assures us there is forgiveness with him. He informs us of a Saviour, and that, of his great love to sinners, he has given his only Son to be an atonement and mediator, in favour of all who shall sue for mercy in his name. The character of this Saviour, his unspeakable love, his dreadful sufferings, the agonies he endured in Gethsemane, and upon the cross, are 'made known to us. And as his past humiliation, so his present glory, and his invitation to come to him for pardon and eternal life, are largely declared. (These are the principal points expressed in the passages of the Messiah. Mr. Handel, who set them to music, has been commemorated and praised, many years after his death, in a place professedly devoted to the praise and worship of God; yea, (if I am not misinformed,) the stated worship of God, in that place, was supended for a considerable time, that it might be duly prepared for the commemoration of Mr. Handel. But, alas! how few are disposed to praise and commemorate MESSIAH himself! The same great truths, divested * Rom. iii. 9. of the music, when delivered from the pulpit, are heard by many admirers of the Oratorio with indifference, too often with contempt. Having thus, as I conceived myself bound in duty, plainly and publicly delivered my sentiments of the great impropriety of making the fundamental truths of Christianity the subject of a public amusement, I leave what I have said to your serious reflections, hoping it will not be forgotten; for I do not mean to trouble you often with a repetition of it. Let us now consider the passage before us. If you read it with attention, and consider the great ideas it suggests, and the emphatical language with which they are clothed, you will not, perhaps, think the manner of my introducing it wholly improper. Malachi confirms and unites the prophecies of Isaiah and Haggai, which were the subject of our two last discourses. John is the messenger spoken of in the beginning of the first verse, sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Then "the Lord himself shall come sud denly to his temple," that is, immediately after the appearance of his forerunner, and with regard to the people in general, unexpectedly. The question, "Who may abide the day of his com"ing?" intimates the greatness and solemnity of the event. If we take his coming in an extensive sense, to denote the whole of his sojourning upon earth, from his incarnation to his ascension, it is unspeakably the greatest of all events recorded in the annals of mankind; and though he lived in the form of a servant, and died the death of a malefactor, the vast consequences which depend upon his appearance under these humiliating circumstances, rendered it a manner of coming every way worthy of himself. It afforded a more aw ful discovery of the majesty, glory, and holiness of God, than was displayed upon mount Sinai, and proved a closer and more searching appeal to the hearts and consciences of men. To enter more into the spirit and meaning of the question here proposed, we shall briefly take notice of the following points which the words offer to our serious meditation. May the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to glorify the Saviour, enlighten our hearts to understand them, with application to ourselves! I. The names which are here ascribed to MESSIAH. II. The suddenness of his coming. III. The searching power of it in general, expressed by "a refiner's fire," and by "fullers' soap.' IV. Its purifying power on "the sons of Levi,” the priesthood in particular. I. The names ascribed to MESSIAH. "The Lord." It is a general rule with our translators to express LORD in capital letters, where it answers to Jehovah in the Hebrew, and there only. But this place is an exception. The word here is not Jehovah, but Adonai. It is however a name of God, though not incommunicable like the other, being frequently applied to kings and superiors. It properly implies authority and rule; as we say, A Lord and Master. In this connexion it is undoubtedly a divine name. The Lord is said to come to his temple, to his own temple. It was a house consecrated to the God of Israel. The first temple he honoured with tokens of his presence; the second, he visited in person; on which account it exceeded the first in glory. MESSIAH, therefore, who appeared in our nature, and was known amongst men, as a man, and who is now worshipped both in heaven and upon earth, is the God of Israel. "He came to his own." This doctrine of God manifest in the flesh is the pillar and ground of truth: the only foundation on which a sinner, who knows the just desert of his sin, can build a solid hope of salvation is, that Jesus Christ "is the true God and "eternal life*." Unless this be admitted, the whole tenour, both of the Old and New Testament, is unintelligible. To say that this doctrine approves itself to human reason in its present fallen depraved state, would be to contradict the apostle, who asserts, that "no man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord, but by the Holy Ghostf." But it is highly reasonable, to those who see that they must perish, without such an atonement as shall declare the righteousness of God, no less than his mercy, in the forgiveness of sin; who feel the necessity of holiness, in order to happiness; and are acquainted with the nature and variety of the snares, temptations, and enemies to which they are exposed. Such persons cannot venture their eternal concerns upon the dignity, or care, or power, or patience of a mere creature, however exalted and excellent; they must be assured that their Saviour is Almighty, or they dare not trust in him; nor would they dare to honour the Son as they honour the Father, to love him with all their heart, and soul, and strength, to devote themselves absolutely to his service, and to expect their supreme happiness from his favour and approbation, if they did not know that he is over all, God blessed for ever. With respect to the inferior character he sustains in our nature, and for our sakes, as the Father's servant, he is styled, "The messenger of the covenant." He is the Gift, Promise, Head, and Substance of the ever lasting covenant. And he came himself to establish the covenant, and to declare and bestow the blessings it contained. "God, who had before spoken at divers "times and in sundry manners by his prophets, spoke "in the fulness of time by his Son *;" testifying to him by a voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, "hear him; in him I am well pleased t." To the same purpose our Lord spake of himself. He prefaced his gracious invitation to all, without exception, who are weary and heavy laden, to come to him for rest, with a declaration of his commission and authority, saying, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father, " and no one," (oudes) "knoweth the Son but the Father, "neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, "and he to whom the Son will reveal him ." The law was given by Moses §; the moral law, to discover the extent and abounding of sin; the ceremonial law, to point out, by typical sacrifices and ablutions, the way in which forgiveness was to be sought and obtained. But grace, to relieve us from the condemnation of the one, and truth answerable to the types and shadows of the other, came by Jesus Christ. It is further said, "The Lord whom ye seek, and the "Messenger in whom ye delight."-MESSIAH was the hope and desire of the true Israel of God, from the earliest times; and when he was born into the world, there was a prepared people waiting and longing for him, as their consolation. The people at large likewise professed to expect great things from the coming of MESSIAH. But their expectations were low and earthly. They supposed that he would deliverthemfrom the Roman yoke, and give them victory and power over the Heathen * Heb. i. 1. † Matth. iii. 17. |