connexion with the highest honour and glory of God; and that by the mission and atonement of him who performed it, the praise of the Divine perfections throughout his creation is most eminently secured,

The Father said that he had " glorified his name" already. This had been done by the exciting causes and the nature of those anticipations respecting the "fulness of time," which had gladdened the earlier periods of the world. It had been done by the incarnation and birth of Christ, when angels uttered their songs. It had been done by the developments made in the personal ministry of the Redeemer as to the divine character, commandments, and designs. It had been done by the signs and wonders which accompanied his course, the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, the exercise of high control over the cardinal elements of nature. Every act in the introduction of the new covenant assisted to unveil the majesty of the Eternal, and diffuse his splendours, that from his intelligent universe might be rendered more reverent homage and more lofty praise; and it was in just review of the series of transactions past, he pronounced,- "I have glorified" my

name!

The Father said that he would" glorify his again." This promise, the knowledge which must always have given to the

name

of

Messiah an ineffable delight, referred to the bestowal of all requisite support under his accumulated sorrows; and to the wonderful miracles by which his death was attended, the spreading of darkness at mid-day over all the land, the rending in twain of the temple-veil from the top to the bottom, the quaking of the earth, the rending of the rocks, the opening of the graves, and the coming forth of the bodies of the saints after his resurrection, who went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.* It referred also to the influence of the Saviour's death itself, which, as regarded the glory of God, was arranged to be vast and permanent, and which we, living under the light of a perfected revelation, and after the lapse of ages, are able to survey in all the grandeur of its operation. By the finished work of Christ, the Father is glorified, because it effects a distinct and beautiful development of his nature, and manifests his attributes in their harmonized and perfect majesty. He is glorified, because by that work the infernal rebels against his authority received their defeat, and had their power shattered in preparation for their final doom. He is glorified, because by that work a provision of all-sufficient value is made for the pardon of our guilty race; and because, as the result of its efficacy, a system of spiritual instrumentality has been established and carried on, which applies to the hearts of sinners all the blessings of redemption, and which is to extend the honours of

*Matt. xxvii. 51-53.

his name, and the reign of his grace, until he shall be praised from the rising to the going down of the sun, and until all flesh shall see his salvation. He is glorified, because by that work he secures and will accomplish "the end," when the hosts of ransomed sinners from the commencement to the end of time, and from every country and kindred of the earth, will be raised and brought before his throne for ineffable happiness, and when from angels and men shall ascend the ascriptions of homage amidst celestial splendours, -"Salvation unto our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb"-" Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever!"

Such was the comprehensive course of procedure arranged and promised as the effect of the propitiation of Calvary. From this, the undoubted purport of the Father's reply, how vast a field of contemplation is opened before us! Never did the voice from heaven announce tidings more sublime :-" I have glorified my name, and will glorify it again :"-words revealing the object of divine counsels from eternity, words involving the interests of all nations, the events of all ages, the decisions of judgment, and the destinies of immortality. What majesty now invests the theme of "Christ crucified," thus authoritative in its attestation, and thus wondrous in its range! O, to understand it more

fully, and to prize it more highly! O, to appear at last in the beatific presence of Jehovah, to participate in the brighter disclosures of heaven, and to glorify him ourselves in the rapturous anthems of the redeemed!

As the whole of the topics suggested by the text have now been illustrated, and as it becomes us to urge that improvement by which the present exercise may be most beneficially closed,-we cannot but entreat you-Honour" the hour" of atonement by admitting its unparalleled importance Is not its claim to the first attention of all intelligent beings fully established? What period can ever merit a moment's comparison with this? Some may point to times, when valuable discoveries were made in the regions of science; some, to times when splendid victories were won on embattled plains; some, to times when plans, deciding the fate of empires, were arranged in imperial cabinets :—what are any, or all such times as these, but as less than nothing and vanity, when weighed against "this hour?"An hour on which the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God had reposed its decisions from everlasting; an hour which the ceremonies and worship of preceding dispensations had prefigured, and all the prophecies of early inspiration had been dictated to portray; an hour to which every arrangement of Providence was subservient, and which every event of succeeding centuries had conspired to introduce; an

hour in which was concentrated the entire energy of mercy to be exercised in the redemption of the world; an hour on which was suspended the welfare of countless millions, carrying forward the infinity of its consequences through the abodes where retribution is fixed immutably and for ever!-What language can express, or what mind can conceive, the mighty superiority of a period like this? Give it the homage it demands; exalt it, study it, admire it; here let your intellect be exercised, here let your passions be kindled, here let your lives be engaged: you insult your reason and blaspheme your God if you neglect it; and dire at last must be the doom of the infatuation which causes it to pass away unimproved, unconsidered, and forgotten.

Seek with supreme earnestness a personal interest in the redemption this period has provided. The work of Jesus which has now been set before you, when cordially embraced, confers justifica tion from guilt, and secures the salvation of the soul; but remember, it is the only provision of mercy, and to reject it, is to perish. It is no matter of indifference whether you rest on the crucified Redeemer or not: "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." The plain and solemn truth must be told, that if you flee not as repenting sinners to the atonement, and commit your immortal interests to the charge of Him who offer