Father what I have merited and purchased." Christ is almighty to save those who come unto God by him. How thus able to save to the uttermost?" seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

But let us not mistake the mind of the Father concerning this mediation; let us understand why it is that Christ must thus interpose, and that no man can come to the Father but by him. You cannot, even if you be a child of God, maintain a filial confidence and feeling towards him, unless you have a clear view of what his heart and disposition are towards you. There is sometimes a false and unscriptural notion entertained of God the Father,—namely, that the interposition of the Son was what procured his good-will towards sinners, and that grace, pardon, and eternal life were, so to say, extorted from him by constraint. Cast away for ever any such idea. There is indeed an absolute necessity for a Mediator between God and you, a sinner; because God is holy, just, and true, no less than merciful. But that Mediator is the Father's own gift; and it was because he loved us that he not only sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, but also, when this great sacrifice was finished, raised him to his own right hand in heavenly places, to be our Advocate. All

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that Christ has done, and is doing, for the salvation of his people,-all from beginning to end, is what the Father's hand and counsel determined before to be done. It was to do the will of him who sent him that Jesus came, and to finish his work. He made it indeed his meat and drink to do that will, for he and the Father are one; but let us, if we are the sons of God through Christ, in all this behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. In short, it is because God is of infinite holiness, there is no approaching for sinners but through a Mediator; it is because he is of infinite love towards us, that he has provided one for us, and one who is all-sufficient. As Job expresses it, "He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment:" or as Eli says, "If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?"-a question which could never have been answered had not God's own love and wisdom found an answer, and given us a Day's-man who is able and willing to lay his hand upon us both.

Now, in carrying out his great undertaking to heal the breach which sin made between God and man, Christ is seated, in his glorified human

nature, at the right hand of the Father, for the express purpose of making continual intercession for all those who come to God by him. This is what he is at the present moment doing, and shall never cease to do, until the last stone of his spiritual Church has been prepared.

There are three principal acts, as we gather from Scripture, which Christ performs as Intercessor, and by which he renders what he accomplished on earth, effectual to the salvation of his believing people. For observe, the persons for whom he ever lives to make this intercession, are those "who come to God by him." These three acts are, First, His presenting himself before the Lord in their names, and on their behalf; Secondly,-His presenting his own merits and sufferings as a plea for their pardon and acquittal; and, Thirdly,—His obtaining for them the supply of that Spirit by which they are kept through faith unto salvation.

The first act of intercession is mentioned by St. Paul, where he says that "Christ is entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." He appears there as our great High Priest. Now, this epistle was originally addressed to the Hebrew nation, or Jews, and a large portion of it is employed in explaining the true meaning

of those observances and offices, which God had before ordained by the hand of Moses. All were appointed merely for the time then present, and were foreshadows, of which Christ and his Gospel are the substance.

By far the most important of those offices was that of the High Priest; and by studying what was prescribed for him to do, as typical mediator between God and his people of old, we obtain a further insight into the nature of the office of our great High Priest, of Him who is now set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

The Jewish high priest entered once every year, by divine appointment, into that part of the tabernacle called the Holiest, which was a figure of heaven, and where a visible brightness or glory rested. Now, among other minute directions as to the garments to be worn by him when he appeared before the Lord, we find the following: "Thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod.

And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial.” Thus were the names of each of the twelve tribes of Israel borne before the Lord, upon the shoulder of their mediator. This was the place of power, and there he alone sustained them; prefiguring thus the office of him of whom Isaiah by the Spirit prophesied, “The government shall be upon his shoulder."

But further, it was commanded that the high priest should wear a Breastplate upon his robe or ephod. In this breastplate were set twelve precious stones of different kinds,-four rows with three in each row; and then we find these remarkable words: "Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually." The names, therefore, of God's people are carried by their Intercessor, not only upon his shoulder, the place of power, but also upon his heart, the seat of love. O God, how wonderful art thou in thy counsels! Who is a God like unto thee! And thus the responsive aspiration of

God's covenant people is expressed in the Song of songs: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm." Have we not here a