19
I will tell you a few things with reference to the raising up of this blessed Plant.
I. He was raised up in the counsel of God's peace from eternity. The Trinity sat in council anent the upbringing of him ; " The counsel of peace was between them both," Zech. vi. 13. The Father and the Son agreed upon it, that in the fulness of time the Son should come into the world.
2. He was raised up in the first promise to Adam and Eve. Till this Plant was discovered to them, they were like to run distracted: And indeed, sirs, if Christless sinners saw where they were, and the wrath of God that is hanging over their heads, they would be ready to run distracted, till a revelation of Christ was made to them. All the promises, all the prophecies, all the types, and all the doctrines of the old testament, they were the gradual springings of this Plant: but it was underground until,
3. His actual manifestation in the flesh, when, in the fulness of time he appeared: "In the fulness of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, &c."
4. This Plant was raised up even in his death and resurrection, by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the spirit of holiness. And,
Lastly, This Plant of Renown will be raised up in the songs of the redeemed through endless eternity. Thus you see, Christ is a Plant of Renown, and what way he is raised up.
The next thing I proposed was, for whom is it that this Plant is raised up? O! may some poor thing say, Was he ever raised up for me? I tell you, sirs, he was never raised up for the fallen angels; "For he took not on him the nature of
