PART III.

SERMON XXXIX.

JOB'S FAITH AND EXPECTATION.

JOB Xix. 25, 26.

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he fball ftand in the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh fhall I fee God.

CHR

HRISTIANITY, that is, the religion, of which, MESSIAH, is the author and object, the foundation, life and glory; though not altogether as old as the creation, is nearly fo. It is coeval with the first promife and intimation of mercy given to fallen

man.

When Adam by tranfgreffion had violated the order and law of his creation, his

religion, that is, the right difpofition of his heart towards God, was at an end. Sin deprived him, at once, of faith and hope, of love and joy. He no longer defired, he no longer could bear, the prefence of his offended Maker. He vainly fought to avoid it, and when compelled to anfwer, though he could not deny his guilt, instead of making an ingenuous confeffion, he attempted to fix the blame upon the woman, or rather indeed upon the Lord himself, who had provided her for him. But mercy, undeserved and undefired, relieved him from a ftate, in which he was already become obdurate and defperate. A promife was given him of the feed of the woman, which virtually contained, as the feed contains the future plant, the fubftance of all the fubfequent promifes, which, were fulfilled by the incarnation of the Son of God, and by all that he did, oṛ fuffered, or obtained for finners, in the character of Mediator. For a finner can have no comfortable intercourse with the holy God, but through a Mediator. Therefore, the apoftle obferves of the patriarchs and fervants of God, under the Old Teftament, * Gen. iii. 15.

Thefe

Thefe all died in faith. We can fay nothing higher than this, of the apoftles and martyrs under the New Testament. They died, not trusting in themselves that they were righteous, not rejoicing in the works of their own hands, but they died, like the thief upon the cross, in faith, refting all their hope upon him, who, by his obedience unto death, is the end of the law for righteousness unto every one that believeth. We have greater advantages, in point of light and liberty, than thofe of old. The prophecies concerning MESSIAH, which, at the time of delivery, were obscure, are, to us, infallibly interpreted by their accomplishment. And we know that the great atonement, typically pointed out by their facrifices, has been actually made; that the Lamb of God has, by the one offering of himself, put away fin. the ground and fubftance, their hope, were the fame with ours. rejoiced to see the day of Chrift ‡; and aged Jacob foon after he had faid, I have waited for thy falvation, O Lord, died, with the fame compofure and willingness, as Simeon did, who faw it with his own eyes. Job, * Heb. xi. 13. + Rom. x. 4. ‡ John viii. 56. who

QA

But as to faith and Abraham

who was, perhaps, contemporary with Jacob, who at least, is, with great probability, thought to have lived before Mofes, gives us, in this paffage, a strong and clear teftimony of his faith. And it forms a beautiful and well chofen introduction to the third part of the Meliah, the principal fubject of which is, the prefent privileges and future prospects, of thofe who believe in the Saviour's name.

The learned are far from being agreed, either in the tranflation, or in the explanation, of this text. The words worms and body, being printed, in Italics, in our version, will apprize the attentive English reader, that there are no words, answerable to them, in the Hebrew. If you omit these words, fomething will be evidently wanting to make a complete sense. This want different writers have supplied, according to their different judgments, and from hence, chiefly, has arifen, the variety of verfions and interpretations. But it would be very improper for me, in this place, to take up your time, and to draw off your attention from the great concerns which fhould fill our minds, when we meet in the house of God, by giving you a detail of controverfies and criticifms, which,

after