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in we live; the ruin of the church of Chrift, in all ages and periods of the world, has been owing to combinations betwixt corrupt churchmen and corrupt ftatefmen. And fo will find it in the preceding part of this chapter; there is a high charge brought in against the fhepherds of Ifrael, and a terrible and awful threatening denounced by the great and chief Shepherd against them, for the bad treatment that the flock of Chrift had met with in their hands. However the sheep of Chrift may be fleeced, fcattered, and spoiled, yet the Lord looks on them: And many great and precious promises are made for their encouragement in that evil day; you may read them at your own leifure, for I must not ftay upon them just now: But among all the rest of the promises that are made, Chrift is the Chief, Chrift is the To-look of the church, whatever trouble fhe be in. In the 7th chaper of Ifaiah, the church had a trembling heart, God's Ifrael was fhaken as ever you faw the leaves of the wood fhaken by the wind, by reafon of two kings combining against them: well, the Lord tells them, a virgin fhall conceive and bear a fon, and fhall call his name IMMANUEL: But might the church fay, what is that to us? what encouragement doth this afford in the prefent diftrefs? Why, the Mefliah is to come of the tribe of Judah, and the family of David; and therefore that tribe and family must be preferved, in order to the accomplishment of that promife. Whatever diftance of time, fuppofe hundreds or thousands of years may intervene before the actual coming of the Meffiah, yet the promife of his coming, as it is the ground of your faith for eternal falvation, fo it is a fecurity for the prefent, that the enemy fhall not prevail to the total ruin of Judah, and the royal family of David. In all the diftreffes of the church, Chrift is always prefented to her in the promise, as the object of her faith, and the ground of her confolation; and accordingly they looked to him in the promifes, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. He is here promifed under the notion of David; he is promifed under the notion of God's Servant; and in the words of the text, he is promised as a renowned Plant, that was to rife in the fulness of time: And ble fled be God he has fprung up, and is in heaven already, and has overtopt all his enemies, and all his enemies fhall be his footstool.

Here then you have a comfortable promife of the Meffiah; where again you may notice, 1ft, The Promifer, (I), I will raife up, &c. It is a great (1) indeed, it is JEHOVAH in the perion of the Father, it was he that in a peculiar manner fent him; "God fo loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him thould not perish,

but

bu have everlasting life. In the fulness of time he fent forth his Son "made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons." God promised to fend him, and accordingly he has actually fulfilled his promife. Again, 2dly, We may notice the blessing promised, and that is, a Plant of renown: Chrift gets a great many metaphorical names and de-. fcriptions in fcripture; fometimes he is called a Rose, sometimes he is called a Sun, and fometimes he is called a Door, fometimes he is called the Tree of life; fometimes he is called one thing, and fometimes another, and he is content to be called any thing to make himself known to us; and here he is called a Plant, and a renowned Plant; but more of this afterwards. But then, 3dly, We have the production of this Plant, I will raife him up. Hell will endeavour to keep him down, the devil and his angels will endeavour to fmother him when he fets his head above ground. So we find Satan fends Herod, and Herod fends the bloody dragoons to murder him when he came into the world. But let hell do its utmost, as it hath done in all ages, and is doing this day to fmother that Plant, up it will be; I will raife him up; and therefore he shall profper. But then again,. 4thly, We may notice here for whom, or for what end, for whofe ufe and benefit it is; I will raife up (for them) a Plant of renown. Who thefe are, you will fee by cafting your eye on the former part of the chapter, it is for the Lord's flock, his oppreffed heritage, that are born down by wicked rulers, civil and ecclefiaftic, I will raife up for them a Plant of renown, and he will be their Deli

verer.

The doctrine that naturally arifes from this firft claufe of the verfe is in short this,

"That Chrift is a Plant of renown, of God's raifing up, for the benefit and advantage of his people, or for their comfort and relief in all their diftreffes; he is a renowned Plant of God's railing up."

Now, in difcourfing this doctrine, if time and strength would allow, I might,

I. Premile a few things concerning this bleffed Plant.
II. I might inquire why he is called a Plant of renown?
III. Speak a little to the railing up of this Plant.

IV. Shew you for whom he is raised up. And,
V. Shew for what end he is raised up.

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And then,

I. As

I. As to the first of these, namely, to premise a few things concerning this bleffed Plant.,

ift, I would have you to know, what is here attributed and afcribed to Chrift, is not to be understood abfolutely of him as God, but-officially, as he is Mediator and Redeemer. Confidering him abfolutely as God, this cannot be properly faid of him that he was raised up; for he is God co-equal and co-effential with the Father: but viewing him as Mediator, he is a Plant, as it were, of God's training. You will fee from the context, all that is faid of Christ has a respect to him as Mediator, that he was to be God's Servant, to do his work; in that confideration, he is here called a Plant, and a Plant of renown: Hence Zacharias, when speaking of him, has a phrafe much to the fame purpofe; "He hath raifed up a Horn of falvation for us in the houfe of his fervant David." Again, 2dly, Another thing I would have you to remark is, that this Plant is but small and little in the eyes of a blind world. He was little looked upon when he fprung up in his incarnation, and when he was here in a state of humiliation : Men looked upon him as a root fprung up,out of a dry ground, they faw no comelinefs in him why he fhould be desired; and to this day, though he be in a state of exaltation at the right hand of God, yet he is little thought of, and looked upon by the generality of mankind, and the hearers of the gofpel; "He is defpifed and rejected of men."

But then, 3dly, Another thing I would have you to remark is, that however contemptible this Plant of renown is in the eyes of a blind world, yet he is the tallest plant in all God's Lebanon: There is not the like of him in it; he is fairer than the children of men, and he is as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood; if ever you faw him, ye will be ready to fay fo too, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I defire befides thee."

Ag.in, 4thly, Another thing I remark is, that this bleffed Plant of renown was cut down in his death, and fprung up gloriously in his refurrection. The fword of divine justice hewed down this plant upon Mount Calvary, but within three days he fprung up again more glorious, and more beautiful and amiable than ever, and he was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by his refurrection from the dead."

Loftly, would have you to remark, that all the little plants in the garden are ingrafted in this Plant of renown; "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the fame bringeth forth much fruit: for without me

ye

ye can do nothing. I am like a green fir-tree, from me is thy fruit found." If you be not ingrafted, Sirs,, in this Plant, you will never grow, and all the trees that are not planted in him are all but weeds. There is a time coming when all the weeds will be plucked up: And therefore take heed that you be ingrafted in him by a faith of God's operation. So much for the first thing I proposed.

II. The fecond thing was to fhew, that he is a renowned Plant: He is renowned in heaven, and he is renowned on earth, and will be fo; "For his name fhall endure for ever," Pfal. lxxii. 17.

O he is renowned! for what, fay you, is he renowned ?

I might here enter upon a very large field; I fhall only tell you, that he is renowned in his perfon. There was never the like of him; the two natures God and man are joined together in one in him. Did you ever fee that? If you have not feen that, you have not feen the mystery of godliness: He is the most renowned Perfon in heaven; but he is IMMANUEL, "God manifefted in the flesh." Then he is renowned for his pedigree, "Who fhall declare his generation ?" Confidering him as God, his eternal generation from the Father cannot be told: We can tell you he is the only begotten of the Father, but we cannot tell you the manner of his generation; it is a fecret that God has drawn a veil upon, and it is dangerous to venture into a search of it; and they that have attempted it, have commonly bogged into Arian, Arminian, and Sabellian errors. Confidering him as man, he is fprung of a race of ancient kings, a famous catalogue of them you read of in Matth. i. And who can declare his generation even as man? For he was born of a virgin, and conceived by the overfhadowing power of the Higheft. Then he is renowned for his name; he hath a name above every name that can be named, whether in this world, or in that which is to come. He is renowned for his wifdom; for all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him. He is renowned for his power; for he is not only the wisdom of God, but the power of God; he is the Man of God's right-hand, even the Son of man, whom he hath made ftrong for himself. He is renowned for his veracity and fidelity; for "faithfulness is the girdle of his reins, and righteoufnefs the girdle of his loins." Have you got a word from him? depend upon it, it is a ficker word, it does not fail; the word of the Lord endures for ever, when heaven and earth fhall pafs away. He is renowned for his righteousness; for he has brought in an everlafting righteoufnefs, whereby the law is magnified and made honourable, and by the imputation

of

of which the guilty tranfgreffors are acquitted; he was made "fin for us, who knew no fin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ;" that is his name, The Lord our righteoufnefs. He is renowned for his fulness; for all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him; he is full of grace and truth; full of all created and uncreated excellencies. He is renowned for his love; what but love brought him out of the bofom of the Father to this lower world? what but love made him lay down his life for his people? He is renowned for his liberality; he has a full hand and a free heart, as we use to say; he gives without money, and he invites all to come and fhare of his fulness. He is renowned for his conftancy; he is Jefus, the fame to-day, yesterday, and for ever: the best of men will fail us when we trust them, they will run like fplinters into our hands when we lean upon them; but, Sirs, you will find Chrift ay the fame, to-day, yekerday, and for ever. And then he is renowned for his authority and dominion; it is great, and extends far and wide, whether in heaven above, or in the earth beneath; and his dominion reaches from fea to fea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; and all the kings of the earth are but his vaflals. Thus, I fay, Christ in every refpect is renowned.

But, here, to keep by the phrafeology of the text, he is a renowned Plant. Wherein is he renowned ?

First, I fay, he is renowned for his antiquity; "I was fet up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was," &c. All the plants in the higher and lower gardens of God are but juft upitarts in comparison of him; angels and archangels, and the greateft feraphims, are but of yesterday in comparison of this plant. He is renowned for his antiquity; for he is "The Ancient of days, and the everlasting Father," If. ix.

N. B. Here he was defired to conclude his difcourfe, in refpect the work in the church was over, and that he might give way to another minifter that was to preach the evening Sermon.

EZEK.

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