By Rev. EBENEZER ERSKINE.
(Continued from page 339.)
Question 2. I ask—What did you see in the galleries? Many sights are to be seen in the galleries of ordinances, and particularly in that of the Lord’s Supper. Here the Lamb of God is to be seen, which taketh away the sin of the world;
and in a crucified Christ, who is evidently set forth in that ordinance, all the divine attributes and perfections shine with a greater lustre, than in the large volume of the creation. Here we might see the seemingly different claims of mercy and justice, with respect unto fallen man, sweetly reconciled: the healing overture is, that the surety shall die in the room of the sinner, and thus justice shall be satisfied, and mercy for ever magnified. Here you might see the holiness and equity of God’s nature sparkling in flames of wrath, against Him who was made sin for you; the sword awakened even against the Man that is God’s Fellow, wounds and bruises Him for your iniquities. There you might see the power of God spoiling principalities and powers, shaking the foundation of the devil’s kingdom, and laying the foundation of a happy eternity for an elect world, in the death and blood of the Eternal Son. In this ordinance you might have seen Him writing His love in characters of blood; love which has neither brim, bottom or boundaries. Here He was to be seen as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, girt with the golden girdle of faithfulness, sealing the covenant, and confirming it with many. Now, I say, have you seen anything of this? Are you saying, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father?” Did any of these divine rays of Zion’s King break forth upon your soul? If so, then I am sure it has had something of a transforming efficacy with it; accordingly to what we have, 2 Cor. iii. 18. All we, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Jacob’s cattle, you know, by the very working of fancy in the conception, by beholding the pilled rods, brought forth their young speckled and spotted. Now, if fancy could work such a resemblance, what must the eye of faith do, when it beholds the glory of God in the face of Christ, who is the express image of His Person? John i. 14, 16. The Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. It is remarkable, that by beholding His glory, we receive grace for grace. As the wax receives letter for letter from the seal, or as the child receives limb for limb from the parent; so, by beholding Christ, we receive grace for grace from Him; so as there is never a grace in Christ, when it is seen by faith, but it works something of a parallel grace on the soul. So then, try yourselves by this, and you may know whether you have been indeed in the galleries with the King.