made her all glorious within, that he would blefs all his own divine inftitutions, to the falvation of men, and the glory of his kingdom; and that whatever he hath left us to devife for the fake of peace and good order, may, through him who alone infpireth with wisdom, conduce to the fame great ends; that our Jerufalem may always have profperity, and that the gates of hell may never prevail against her. Amen.

The Character of Chrift.

By THOMAS MUTTER, V. D. M.

Preached at Wigton, before the Synod of Galloway, April 1745

JOHN i. 14.

We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

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HAT the bulk of mankind call glory,

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is an empty blaze, of no intrinfic dignity, and of no confiderable duration. truly great man is apt to look down on this phantom, as a thing beneath his ambition. It was held in perfect contempt by him, who was the most perfect model of greatnefs and good

nefs that the human race ever faw. He affected no fhowy appearance, he defpifed those ornaments which make their court to the imagination. He ftudied a more substantial thing, contenting himself with the filent charms of goodness and truth. These he difplayed with an inimitable luftre: in these he placed his glory.

This defcription of Chrift is given by one who attended his perfon, who heard him preach, and who faw him live. This man, as well as

his brethren, foon difcerned a divine foul in his Mafter, under the veil of outward obfcurity; and daily feasted on the contemplation of that liberal goodness, which he faw pouring out favours fo freely on all denominations of people.

How emphatically does John begin the hiftory of the Meffiah! He begins with admiring him in a point of view vulgar minds feem least difpofed to admire. He admires his moral character: he admires his goodness, veracity, and mercy. Though thefe are qualities, in which the mean may have their share, as well as the great; yet the Evangelift looked on these as the nobleft ftrokes in the whole character of our Redeemer. The most pompous exertions of power difappear where these better endowments fhine. In a word, they reflect fo genuine a fplendor, that every other glory dies away in their prefence. There can be no need of any apology for chufing this paffage as a proper fubject for the exercife of this day. As we are the fervants and minifters of Christ, paftors in the house of God, under the Great Shepherd and Bishop of fouls; it readily occurred, that a difcourfe of this nature, planning out his life, or fome of its principal fea-, tures, could not but fuit this occafion well. To reprefent what our Mafter actually was, is furely the best way of inftructing us what we ought to be.

In handling this fubject, it is propofed, through divine affistance,

JI. To explain what is meant by grace, and what by truth.

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22. To fhew that thefe two in conjunction formed the character of the Meffiah.

3. That where truth and goodness are united, there is a character of true glory.

I. WE fhall briefly illuftrate what is meant by grace, and what by truth. This feems to be given as the characteristic by which the religion of Jefus is diftinguifhed from that eftablifhed by Mofes: "The law was given by "Mofes, but grace and truth came by Jefus “Chrift*.” It is ftyled Grace, being a difpenfation of mercy, fraught with gracious offers, propounded on eafy and gracious terms; Truth, becaufe it exhibits the true life and real fubftance of thofe ancient types which took place under the law. But we have no intention to confider thefe words in a relative view to any former economy: we fhall take them in this one fingle light, as a perfonal character of Christ, exhibiting two of the most amiable qualities that can be fuppofed to enter into the definition of merit.

1. Grace at firft hearing would feem to convey the idea of fomething more than goodness in general. They are distinguished, not by their nature, for they are effentially one and the fame difpofition, but by the ftate of the object. Goodness in a certain circumstance, and when exercised on beings of a certain complexion, is grace. Goodnefs toward the unworthy and the • John. i. 17.

injurious,

injurious, toward apoftate and degenerate beings, in whofe behaviour there is no attraction, no merit, nothing to claim or invite the operations of goodnefs; I fay, when goodness is thus circumftantiated, it falls under the particular denomination of grace. It may be termed grace, to intimate how free and undeferved it is. This, for the most part, feems to be the established notion of the word, whether as applied to God, or as applied to our Lord: "By "grace are ye faved *;" i. e. by the fovereign mercy of God; mercy not allured by worth, nor folicited by the fidelity of thofe on whom it was exercifed. "The grace of God that "bringeth falvation hath appeared to all ment:" The grace of God, i. e. his gratuitous love, hath fhone toward them on whofe fide there was nothing to deferve fo kind an interpofition. In like manner are we to understand the word grace, when applied to our Lord, "Ye know the grace "of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that tho' he was rich, " yet for our fake he became poor, that we "thro' his poverty might become richt." By the word grace is here denoted, that fublime generofity of the Son of God, which moved him to undertake the human redemption, and to embrace chearfully the most forbidding steps fubfervient to it; that unparallelled kindness which determined him to leave his pre-existent glory and happinefs, to pitch his tabernacle with men, that he might teach them truth and goodness by his life, expiate fin by his death, and finally inftal them in poffeffion of immorEph. ii. 8. + Tit. ii. 11. 2 Cor. viii. 9.

tality;