you will

an

renown.

pany receive it as glad tidings of great joy; for I tell you, that this Plant of renown is raised

up
for
you,

if you have but a heart to use him. As the firmament is for

you,

if open your eyes, so the Sun of righteousness is for

you,

if

you will open your hearts to him: for the Lord's sake do not refuse him, or else it will not be telling you; you will rue it to eternity. But say some, Are you telling us, that Christ was raised up for all mankind ? That is not what I say: but I say, that Christ was revealed to all mankind: I abstract from secret things. Our duty is to go and “preach the gospel to every creature;" therefore, according to our commission, we bring this Plant of renown to every creature, whether young or old, every rational creature here; we command you (as you will answer at the bar of the great God, as you

will swer at the day of judgment,) that you receive this plant of

For the Lord's sake do not refuse him; for this is the condemnation, that this plant is brought into the world, and the world will not receive him. Lét not the devil nor an unbelieving heart knock off your hands from embracing and receiving him, as offered in this gospel we are preaching. The devil and an unbelieving heart will tell you, your sins are

and
you

have run on such a course of sin, that he cannot belong to you; but the very thing which makes you need Christ is, because you are great sinners.

Any of you that needs this Plant of renown, I invite not only to take him home in your hands, in your Bibles; but, for the Lord's sake, take him home into your hearts, and let him lie, there all night between your breasts, saying, “ This God is our God for ever and ever, and will be our guide even unto death." If you have got this Plant of renown, you will at death just go to God with a shout, with a song, and say, 0 death, I defy thee: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" what harm canst thou do to me? “ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” gain for endless evermore; because I will [arrive at] the immediate enjoyment of God, and abide for ever under the refreshing shadow of this Plant of renown.

so many,

а

N. B. I thought to have gone through what I designed on this subject, but time and strength will not allow; I shall rather return afterwards, if there be occasion for it.

THE PLANT OF RENOWN.

And I will raise up for them a Plant of renown.-EZEK. XXXIV. 29.

THE THIRD SERMON ON THIS TEXT.

V. The fifth thing is, Why is he raised up, or for what ends and uses is this Plant of renown raised

up by Jehovah? Answ. 1st, He is raised up as a Redeemer to set the captives of the mighty at liberty. It was a puzzling question, that would have silenced all mankind, which we have, Is. xlix. 24: “ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive be delivered?" Well, Christ being raised up for this very end, solves the hard question, in the words immediately following, ver. 25: “ Thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.” And if you ask, How does he this? You have an answer to it, Heb. ii. 14; Col. ii. 14, &c.

2dly, He is raised up as a Mediator of the new covenant, to make peace between an offended God, and offending rebellious man, he “makes reconciliation for iniquity," Dan. ix. 24. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, &c. “ When we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son.” And O what a great matter is it to be restored to the favour and friendship of that glorious Majesty, to whose wrath we were lying obnoxious, &c.

3dly, He is raised up as a Surety, to pay the debt of a company of broken debtors, and to bind himself under a bond to satisfy justice for their crimes, and that he should reduce them to obedience to their offended Lord. Hence he is called, Heb. vii. 25: “ The Surety of a better testament;" and as our Surety he fulfils the law which we had broken, as a covenant, both in its do and dię, in our room and stead, and then engages he (by bis Spirit) would write the law in their hearts, as a rule, and, by putting his Spirit within them, would cause them to walk in God's statutes.

4thly, He is raised up as a renowned Healer, a non-such Physician, Exod. xv.: “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Man, through sin, is become a leper from head to foot, full of wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores, which renders him unfit for any good service, unfit for answering the ends of his creation, to glorify God, or to enjoy him for ever. Well, Christ is raised up for the recovery and health of diseased

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eousness.

souls; he has opened up a medicinal well, Zech. xiii. 1, that washes from sin and from uncleanness, and, whatever be your malady, we invite you to come to this well, and wash and be clean, like Naaman in the waters of Jordan; O he is all over virtue! his " leaves are for the healing of the nations." And, in a particular manner, his commission carries him to heal the broken in heart, and to bind up all their wounds.

5thly, He is raised up as a Witness to tell the truth, or as a Prophet to reveal it. We have by the fall lost the knowledge of God, and of his truth, and any knowledge of the truth that remains with us by nature, is detained in unright

Well, Christ comes to make a revelation of God, and of the things of God to us; that Christ was raised up

for this end, see Deut. xviii. 18: "I will raise them up a Prophet like unto thee, from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” But see the awful certification that follows, ver. 19: “ Whosoever will not hearken unto my words, that he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

6thly, He is raised up as a Leader to the people. We have lost our way to heaven, and Satan was leading all mankind to hell blindfold. But Christ came to show us the path of life, and to lead us into it, and, by his leading, he causes the wayfaring man to walk without erring, “I will bring the blind by a way they know not,” &c.

7thly, He is raised up as “a Commander unto the people,” as "the Captain of salvation,” to fight our battles for us, and to head the armies of God's Israel in their way to glory : and, by his skill and conduct, he makes them all conquerors, yea, more than conquerors, at the end of the day.

I might tell you, farther, that he is raised up as the great

High Priest of our profession, that, by one offering, he might for ever perfect them that are sanctified :" As our Advocate with the Father, to plead our cause, and to [manage] our business in heaven. As a shepherd, to feed his church and people in the wilderness : “ He 'shall feed his flock like a shepherd,” &c. As a prince, to rule them by his word and Spirit; he is the “ Prince of peace, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”

As an everlasting Father, in whom the fatherless family of Adam find mercy, &c. As a wonderful Counsellor, to give counsel in all dark and difficult cases, &c. As a Husband and Bridegroom, to cherish and comfort his church and people, and, accordingly, he betroths her to him for ever. But these things I do not insist upon. I hasten forward to

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VI. The sixth thing, which was the application of the doctrine. Is it so that Christ is a Plant of renown, raised up by JEHOVAH. Then,

1st, See hence the iniquity and wickedness of those men, who study to derogate from the glory of this renowned Plant. The Arians would darken the renown of this blessed Plant, by denying his supreme Deity, and making him an inferior and dependant being; the Socinians, by denying he had any being before his actual incarnation; the Arminians, by denying his righteousness, and by making the efficacy of his grace to depend upon the will of man and the power of depraved nature. O, sirs, Christ is not renowned in Scotland this day, either among ministers or professors, as he has sometimes been. "The Head-stone of the corner is rejected," the Plant of renown is cast aside, by many ministers in the land; and he is rejected by all who do not really believe in him, &c.

2dly, See hence how to know a true and faithful minister of Christ. Some at this day make it a question, whom they shall hear, when there are such divisions, and such a flood of corrupt ministers getting into a church. Why, sirs, you may know a true minister of Christ; he will have a smell of the Plant of renown about him: whether he be in the pulpit or out of it; whether he be in a judicatory, or whatever he be, his great business is to advance the glory of the Plant of renown, the smell and savour of his Master will be about him, which the true disciples of Christ will discern.

3dly, See hence whence it is that believers flock to gospel ordinances, where they can get them dispensed by those who bear Christ's commission to dispense them. Why, it is the smell of the Plant of renown that draws them thither: hence it is that his tabernacles are amiable, "and a day in his courts is better than a thousand;" why, his scent perfumes these palaces of Zion," as with myrrh, aloes, and cassia."

4thly, See hence why God the Father is called a Husbandman. He is so called with reference to his raising up this Plant of renown, John xv. 1: "I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman;" he raised him up as the root, and upheld him, and takes branches of the wild olive, and ingrafts them into him, and makes them fruitful, &c.

5thly, See hence the regard that God has for his church upon earth as his own garden. Why, he plants this Tree of life in her, by which she became a new paradise. The tree of life that grew in the earthly paradise, which was the seal and sacrament of the covenant of works, is long since withered and gone; but the tree of life, in the new garden, of

God's planting, of which even a sinner may eat, and live for ever, will never wither. O let us admire God's way of grace! for it is full of wonder, in providing this renowned Plant, this new Tree of life, for us. His fruit is so far from being forbidden, that it is God's great commandment to all sinners, "to come and eat, and live."