"And they called Rebecca, and said unto man?"" And she said, 'I will go.” ”— "GEN To the chastened imagination, ther between the most intimate relation k relation of Christ and the church. spoken fully of the relations and dutie in the 5th chapter of Ephesians, says tery; but I speak concerning Christ the book of Revelations one of the John, "Come hither and I will sh Lamb's wife." In another place th say, "Let us be glad and rejoice, a for the marriage of the Lamb is come than once, spoke of himself as the ablest commentators regard this an running through the song of Solomo The passage under consideration 1 scarcely less appropriate and beautif and trepidation which a daughter fe decide upon leaving the parental ro of a stranger, and the claims of the Christ on the other, with an awaken tween the reluctance in the one ca overcome by mature deliberation an I. The servant makes a simple, but most full and satisfactory representation in the case before us, of the house, character, and possessions of his Master's son. Let us particu larize. 1. The house. "I," said the man, vant.' Abraham's character was well "am Abraham's ser- Now the Lord had to be the progenitor of a great nation." said unto Abraham "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a place that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee."-Gen. xii: 1-3. From him the Messiah should descend; for it was said, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."-Ib. He was the spe cial favorite of heaven. "I will bless thee," said God, "and make thy name great. * I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." He was distinguished as the intercessor of Sodom. This might tend to give him still wider fame. He was distinguished for his faith in God. "He believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."-Gen. xv: 9; Rom. iv: 3. And that remarkable test of his faith and piety, the offering up of his only son, had doubtless been noised abroad. Everything, therefore, in the nature of dignity and excellence, and venerableness, that could be demanded, pertained to Abraham's house. 2. He had great possessions. "The Lord hath blessed my master, ," said the servant, "and he is become great, and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver, and gold, and man-servants, and maid-servants, and camels, and asses. Here is every assurance of abundance, of affluence. 3. The young man is the sole heir. "And Sarah, my master's wife, bare a son to my master when he was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.” Such were the inducements offered. Time, brief indeed, but sufficient, was given to weigh them. The servant urges his suit: "If ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left." The mother and brother consent; but beg a few days' delay. But the servant's reply is, "Hinder me not." "Send me away." And they called Rebecca, and said unto her, "Wilt thou go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." I desire, my hearers, to make a representation in relation to a more momentous proposition to propound to you a more startling question. "I have a message," not from an earthly prince, in relation to an earthly advantage, but from God to thee. Would that I had the simple, touching eloquence of Abraham's servant-would that I could rival his success! Prepare your minds, I beseech you, while I proceed, for a decision as to what you will do. On that decision may hang momentous concerns. II. First. Let us consider the dignity of the house with which the alliance is proposed. The head of the house is the "King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God; the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords." Heaven is his throne, earth his footstool, the universe his empire. His kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting. Justice and judgment are the pillars of his throne. He is of " purer eyes than to behold sin, and cannot look upon iniquity." "He is long suffering and abundant in mercy. "He is love." He is "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "His thoughts are thoughts of peace and not of evil.” He is "our Father who is in heaven." How great! how venerable! how good! Surely nothing should be uninviting in an alliance with such a house, illustrated by the headship of such a personage. 2. What shall I say of the possessions of the great God? How shall imagination grasp the subject? Where shall expressions sufficiently pregnant be found? "The cattle upon a thousand hills; the gold of Ophir; the earth, with the fullness thereof, are his." The hearts of all men are in his hands. It is as if all the faculties, nay, all the passions of men, whether good or evil, were put completely under your control, to be used as so many means and forces for promoting your pleasure and advantage. Put under your control did I say? It is far more. They are actually under the control of the great Head himself, for the use and benefit of the family. But once more, angels, too, are but the executors of His pleasure, and the ministers of His grace to his children. "Are they not all," says the apostle to the Hebrews, "ministering spirits sent to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?"-i: 4. "And," says the psalmist, "bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his pleasure."-Ps. ciii: 20-21. And again, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them."-Ps. xxxiv: 7. In one word, all things are His; whatever can fill the imagination or the heart of an intelligent being, from the fleeting earthly joy to the bliss eternal at God's right hand, from the consolation that dries a tear produced by a temporary ill below, to the profound, the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" above; all, all are his. And here, while we contemplate the riches of our Father's house, (I bless God that he permits us to address him by a term so venerable and endearing,) let me turn aside to ask the stout-hearted, the sceptic, the scoffer, if you please, who does not sometimes feel poor and in want of all things"destitute, afflicted?" What friend, what philosopher, besides the Christian religion, can effectually support the mind amid sickness, and bereavement, and desertion; can heal the broken heart; take away our misery and our guilt; make the cold and silent grave look like a resting place? And is not religion known and admitted to relieve these ills, and make them the occasion of blessing? What, to pass from this contemplation, what objection to an alliance with one so rich, so venerable, so gracious? I do not ask if there be not abundant reason to accept of the boon, to fly back to a father's house? I am only arguing a negative. I only ask for an objection to be found in the aspect of the subject now before us. III. But the alliance proposes a most intimate union with the Son and heir of all things. As to the fact of the heirship, He hath said to his Son, "Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool." And again"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." "The govern ment," it is said, "shall be on his shoulder." And the occasion of the heirship is most instructively connected with its assertion, in those remarkable words in the second chapter of Philippians: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Heaven, earth and hell, are subjected to his sway. Let us for a moment pursue a most consolatory consequence of this heirship. It may be stated thus: "Christ is become the immediate administrator of the resources of the universe, for the special benefit of those whom the Father hath given him." "He," says the apostle to the Ephesians," raised him (Christ) from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all”—(i: 20–23.) Now, in this view of the subject, the tears of Jesus at the grave of Lazarus; His compassion for the blind, and maimed and sick; His agony in the garden and anguish on the cross, are but so many intimations of the tenderness and fidelity with which he still administers the mediatorial kingdom, and delights himself in the purchase of his blood. But we not only derive a view of the subject hence, consolatory and attractive to the saints, but also to sinners. For Christ in the gospel proposes to take them too into a sacred nearness to himself; and the whole argument I am offering to-day, takes it for granted that the only barrier which keeps you away, unreconciled man, from Christ, is that he is to you "a root out of dry ground, without form or comeliness;" that there is no beauty in Him that you should desire him. Every other barrier was taken away on the cross, where Jesus died, that God "might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Was not tenderness manifested in Him, even towards the incorrigible, "when He was come near, and beheld the city of Jerusalem, and wept over it," saying, "If thou hadst known, |