I might enlarge this head in a great many particulars. I only add, in fo many words, whatever we can name in and about the believer, it all hangs upon Chrift. Haft thou any faith, believer? Why, Chrift is the author and finisher of it. Haft thou any fpark of true love to God? It is Chrift that kindled it; he it is that fheds abroad the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Ghoft. Halt thou the lively hope of a glory to come? Why, he is our hope; and it is Christ in us that is the hope of glory. Haft thou any delight in the law, and in the ways of holinefs? Well, he puts his Spirit in us, caufing us to walk in his ftatutes. Hait thou any thing of that peace which paffes all understanding? Well, Chrift is our peace with God, for he made peace by the blood of his crof; and his blood, applied by faith, yields peace like a ri"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Haft thou a joy that is unfpeakable, and full of glory? Chrift is the fountain of it; the river that makes glad the city of God, takes its rife from under the throne of God, and of the Lamb. Thus you fee that the offspring and the iffue, and every thing about them, hangs upon the blefied nail, &c.

ver:

Thirdly, But now I am come to a third thing in the text which hangs upon the nail fastened in a fure place, and that is the veils of the house, from veffels of cups to veffels of flagons. Now, for clearing this claufe of the text, I would, 1. Shew what we are to understand by the veffels of the houfe. 2. Shew that thefe veffels are of different fizes, fome vaffels of cups, others veffels of flagons. 3. Make it appear that they all hang upon Chrift, and by what bonds they do fo.

1. I would fhew what we are to underfland by the vessels of the house. I anfwer, By the veffels of the houfe we are to understand believers, who, under different confiderations, are fometimes called the house itfeif, Heb. iii. 6.; sometimes the feed and offspring of the noufc, as here, and Pial. xxii. at the clofe; fometimes the reels of the houfe, 2 Tim. ii. 20. 21. "But in a great houfe there are not only veflets of gold, and of filver, but also of wood and of earth; and fome to honour, and face to difhonour. If a man therefore purge himfelf from thefe, he thall be a veffe unto honour, fanctified and mect for the Mailer's ufe, and p.epared unto every good work." I fired feveral epithets or defignations given in fcripture unto b hevers, under the notion of vefels. Sometimes they are called chosen vefjels, Acts ix. 15. fays the Lord to Ananias concerning Paul,fle is a chofen veffel unto me." They' were all cholen in Chrift before the foundation of the world. Sometimes 's of mercy, Rom. ix. 23. becaufe it is not according to the work of righteoufnefs that they have done, but

according

according to his mercy, that he faves them. Sometimes "prepared veffels, fitted for the Master's ufe," 2 Tim. ii. 21. because he forms them for himfeif, to fhew forth his praifes. Sometimes" veffels of honour and glory," because he draws a greater revenue of honour and glory to himiclf from them, than from all the world befide. In a word, they are called veffels, becaufe the milk, the wine, the honey, and the oil of divine grace, is bestowed and laid up in them; out of the fulnefs of Chrift they are daily receiving grace for grace. And as the veffels of a house are its ornament, fo are fruitful believers the ornament of the church, and of the great owner thereof, for he calls them his crown and diadem.

2. We are here told that thefe veffels are of different fizes; fome are veffels of cups, others are veffels of flagons; plainly intimating, that in God's family there are faints of different itature; there are babes, young men, and fathers; for "unto every one is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Chrift." Some are like the fmoking flax, others like a flaming lamp; fome like the bruifed reed, others like the tall cedar of Lebanon.

And if you ask me, why God will have it fo, that the veffels of the house fhall be of different sizes? I anfwer, (1.) For the manifeftation of his own fovereignty. He is the Lord of the houfe, and he will do all his pleafure; and it is the good will and pleasure of God to give more of his grace unto one, and to another lefs; " and who may fay unto him, What deft thou?" He is no man's debtor, but may do with his own what he pleafes. (2.) Because this is for the beauty and ornament of the houfe. It ferves not a little to ornament and adorn a houfe, that there are different veffels in it, fome more, and icme lefs, for different fervices; the leaft vefiel, like the leaft member in the natural body, has its proper ufefulness in the body, fo that the one cannot fay to the other, "I have no need need of thee." (3.) God will have it fo, that there may be room for the edifying exercises of the fellowship of the faints. If every faint had the fame degree of faith, love, knowledge, and other graces, the one could not be edified by the other: but it is otherwife ordered, that the ftrong may be useful to the weak in ftrengthening; and that thofe who have more knowledge and experience than others, may communicate of their gifts to the benefit and edifying others, until they all come to a perfect man, to the meature of the ftature of the fulnefs of Chrift. But I do not infilt on this at prefent. I come, 3. To fhew that all the veffels of different fizes, from veffeis cups to veffels of flagons, do hang upon the great Manager, Jefus Chrift, as upon a nail faftened in a fure place. This is what is commonly called the myftical union between Chrift

of

and

to receive power, and riches, and wifdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and bleffing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and fuch as are in the fea, and all that are in them, heard I, faying, Bleffing, and honoury and glory, and power be unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."

Is. xxii. 24. And they fhall hang upon him all the glory of his Father's houfe, the offspring, and the issue, all vefels of small quantity: from the vessels of cups, even to all the veffels of flagons.

THE FOURTH SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

VI. THE xt thing is the Application of the doc

trine.

First, For Information and Inftruction. I have deduced feveral inferences already, intermingled with the doctrinal part, and therefore I shall mention the fewer at prefent.

1. See hence, why it is that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, to fhew himself ftrong on the behalf of his people in this world, why he rides in the heavens for their help, and makes all things work together for their good. There is good reafon for it; they are the offspring and iffue of his family; they are the gold and filver veffels of his houfe; and you know, if a man have power and ability, he will not fuffer his offspring to be hurt, or his houfe to be plundered of its valuable furniture, which perhaps he has bought at a dear rate. Hence it is that he watches his houfe by day and night, left any hurt it. All his faints are in the hand of the great Manager, and he defies hell and earth to pluck them out of his hand.

2. See hence, what truft and credit our glorious KinfmanRedeemer has with his Father. Why, you fee how that he puts the whole family under his hand; he hangs the whole glory upon him, all the offspring and iffue, and all the veffels,

&c.

by the means of the word of grace and promife; fuch a faithas eats the flesh, and drinks the blood of Christ, and so lives in and upon him, according to that of the apoftle, Gal. ii. 20. "I am crucified with Chrift: Nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Chrift that liveth in me: and the life I live is by faith on the Son of God." In a word, faith hangs all its everlasting concerns upon the nail fastened in a fure place, and there it ftays and refts all its cares and concerns; and in this way the foul is kept in perfect peace, knowing that the nail being well faftened will not yield and give way. And thus you see how it is that all the glory, the whole offspring and iffue, and all the veffels of the houfe, greater and leffer, hang upon our bleffed Eliakim.

V. The fifth thing in the general method is, to inquire into the reafons of the doctrine. Why is Chrift conftitute fole Manager of his Father's houfe? why doth he hang the offspring and iffue, and all the veffels, upon him, as upon a nail faftened in a fure place?

I fhall not stay in answering this question, the reasons of it will naturally occur from what has been already faid; only, therefore, in fo many words, the management of the house, and of all its concerns, are committed unto Christ, because it was the good pleasure of God that it fhould be fo. But though fevereignty is enough to fatisfy us upon the head, yet there are fome ways of Infinite Wisdom to be obferved in this conftitution of things in the church which is the house of the living

God; as,

1. He only had ability for bearing such a weight; "I have laid help (faith the Lord), upon one that is mighty."

2. Because Chrift voluntarily undertook it in the council of peace, faying, "Lo, I come: I delight to do thy will, O my God." Whereupon JEHOVAH, the Father, faid and determined, "He fhail build the temple, and bear all the glory."

3. Because hereby a new revenue of glory is brought in to the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, even glory to God in the highest, higher glory than what comes in by creation and providence.

4. Because hereby all men are brought to honour the Son, as they honour the Father. "Every knee fhall bow unto him, and every tongue fhall confefs, that he is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

5. Because this was for the fafety and comfort of the faints and children of God. All their everlasting concerns hang upon him, that they may warble out that fong through eternity, Rev. v. 12. 13. Worthy is the Lamb that was flain,

VOL. III.

to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and bleffing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and fucn as are in the fea, and all that are in them, heard I, faying, Bleffing, and honoury and glory, and power be unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."

Is. xxii. 24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his Father's houfe, the offspring, and the iffue, all veffels of small quantity: from the veffels of cups, even to all the veffels of fagons.

THE FOURTH SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

VI. THE Axt thing is the Application of the doc

trine.

First, For Information and Inftruction. I have deduced feveral inferences already, intermingled with the doctrinal part, and therefore I shall mention the fewer at prefent.

1. See hence, why it is that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, to fhew himself ftrong on the behalf of his people in this world, why he rides in the heavens for their help, and makes all things work together for their good. There is good reafon for it; they are the offspring and iffue of his family; they are the gold and filver veffels of his houfe; and you know, if a man have power and ability, he will not fuffer his offspring to be hurt, or his houfe to be plundered of its valuable furniture, which perhaps he has bought at a dear rate. Hence it is that he watches his houfe by day and night, left any hurt it. All his faints are in the hand of the great Manager, and he defies hell and earth to pluck them out of his hand.

2. See hence, what truft and credit our glorious KinfmanRedeemer has with his Father. Why, you fee how that he puts the whole family under his hand; he hangs the whole glory upon him, all the offspring and iffue, and all the veffels,

&c.