in those who are given him? "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." Can you conceive this, that the glory which the Father gave to the Son, the Son shall shall give to his ransomed Church? Yet this honour have all his saints. If such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for us now, we shall attain to it hereafter. To be filled with all the fulness of God,-to be heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ, these are expressions which foreshadow a blessedness and glory never to be exhausted throughout the countless ages of eternity. The incarnation and cross of Christ have. rendered all things possible for those whom he has purchased; and the Most High will rejoice over them to do them good. For he that spared not his own Son, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? And he that withheld not his own life for us, what else shall he withhold?

Brethren, are these things yours in inheritance? They are if you are Christ's; and you are Christ's if you are abiding in his word. Have you complied with his first charge, to believe on Him whom God has sent, whom he has exalted now with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentence and forgiveness of sins? Have you come to him that you may have

life?—for without him you are dead, and far from God as the east is from the west. Are you proving yourself his by keeping his sayings? Are you treating his words as those of God's Faithful and True Witness, as the true sayings of God himself, as words which shall abide when the heavens and earth shall pass away? Are you making these words your delight and your counsellors, and following their faithful and true counsel? I have already stated the consequences of neglecting them. Hear again the voice of Him who is calling to the sons of men,-"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. Now therefore hearken unto me; for blessed are they that keep my ways. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord."

VI.

THE EVER-LIVING ADVOCATE.

"He ever liveth to make intercession for them."- HEB. VII. 25.

THE subject which I propose to bring before you to-day, is the Intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is one, the importance of which cannot be overrated. The work which the Son of God is now actually carrying on at the right hand of the Majesty on high, in behalf of his believing people, is altogether as essential to their effectual salvation, as his great work of atonement for their sins upon the cross. There are many of God's people who hold this great truth so dimly, that they derive from it little of the comfort and strength which a clearer perception of it is calculated to afford. And as for the majority of professing Christians, they entertain a vague idea that Christ is too much pre-occupied on high amid the hosts of heaven, and with the praises of his redeemed, to concern himself about the daily

life and soul-wants of those who are yet below. They rather fancy that there is a cessation of Christ's activity in the interval between his first and second coming. Certainly they never regard it as a living truth, that he is actually superintending and directing from day to day the spiritual, and even temporal concerns of his people upon earth, and that "He ever liveth to make intercession for them."

But let us observe and weigh what the Scripture of Truth reveals on this most important sub'ject. When the Lord Jesus had nearly finished his course on earth, and the day was drawing nigh when he was to depart to the Father, he foretold the approaching event plainly to his disciples.

Now," said he, "I go my way to him that sent me." On hearing this, sorrow very naturally filled their hearts. It was a trying bereavement to be separated from the bodily presence of their divine Master, to lose the inestimable privilege of the Saviour's society, who had been accustomed to go in and out among them, and with whom they had been in the habit of conversing face to face, as a man talketh with his friend. They had seen his matchless deeds of power and mercy; they had heard the words of eternal life from the very lips of Him who spake as never man spake. It is

difficult to imagine the deep sense of desolation they must have experienced, even at the prospect of an interruption to that familiar intercourse with the Redeemer of the world. No wonder that their heart was troubled, and that they should mourn when the Bridegroom was about to be taken away from them. If the choice had been left to themselves, and if a higher wisdom had not otherwise ordained it, how much would they have preferred that he should have remained with them, their heavenly Counsellor, Teacher, and Friend, who thoroughly knew all the counsel and mind of the invisible God!

But if it behoved Christ to suffer, it was no less necessary that he should leave the world, and appear in the presence of God for us. If he had a work which the Father gave him to do on earth, and which he finished there, he had also a high and essential office to discharge in heaven, and one which could not be delegated to any else. "I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away;"-as though he had said, "The redemption I have wrought, the humiliation and suffering I have undergone on earth, will be of no avail to you, unless I go to appear in the presence of God, and plead those merits for you. I must carry out my work above, and obtain for you from the