chosen, to whom the business of salvation was to be intrusted, the elect must needs be the FELLOW OF JEHOVAH. None among created beings was found trustworthy in so weighty a concern. "He putteth no trust in his holy ones," or angels. In his hands alone, who is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, the honors of God and the interests of mankind were safe.

3. The divine person thus chosen by the Father, and appointed to save mankind, freely acceded, as we have already seen, to that choice and appointment; undertook the office assigned to him; and appeared in the form of a servant, by assuming human nature into an ineffable union with the divine nature which belonged to him from eternity. Now, to qualify that human nature, in the person of the Mediator, for the momentous duties which the office involved, it was made the subject of an unexampled and peculiar anointing from the Holy One. To this the text refers when it says, "I have put my Spirit upon him." To this other passages of Holy Scripture manifestly relate. "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah xi, 1, 2.) "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." (Isaiah lxi, 1-3.) Which words our Saviour quoted in the synagogue of Nazareth, and applied to himself by the emphatical declaration, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke iv, 17-21.) So, also, on another occasion he said of himself, "He whom God hath sent speaketh

the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." (John iii, 34.) And St. Paul (Hebrews i, 8, 9) applies to our Saviour a striking passage in Psalm xlv: "Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated inquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." From all these texts we learn that there were certain qualifications of our Lord's human nature as essential, in their place and measure, to his success, as the higher attributes which belonged to the divine nature; and that these qualifications were not supplied to the humanity directly and immediately, by the simple fact of its personal union with the divinity, but mediately, by the unction of the Holy Spirit, which, in consequence of that union, by the gift of the Father, and as a constant token of his complacency, was ever upon Christ in the most perfect and unmeasured abundance, directing, hallowing, and sustaining all the faculties of his human nature. "The rational soul in our Lord's human nature," says Bishop Horsley, "was a distinct thing from the principle of divinity to which it was united; and being so distinct, like the souls of other men, it owed the right use of its faculties in the exercise of them on religious subjects, and its uncorrupted rectitude of will, to the influence of the Holy Spirit of God."* It is true, the man Christ Jesus knew no sin, original or actual, and therefore needed not the Spirit to renew or to purify; but even he needed the Spirit to elevate and to sustain him, to enrich him with all holy dispositions, and to furnish him for all holy services and sufferings. Such is the essential and necessary dependence of all created nature on the influence of God for everything which constitutes its moral health, and worth, and beauty, and excellence: a dependence which existed in the case of Adam while in Paradise, and again in the case of humanity in that most perfect and glorious state to which it ever was or can be exalted, its hypostatic union with the eternal Word. Even of that mysterious person it is said, "I have put my Spirit upon him."

* Sermon on Isaiah lxi, 1, 2.

And it was in consequence of this unction from above that, when he dwelt among men, he was seen and proved to be "full of grace and truth." "Anointed," as St. Peter expresses it, "with the Holy Ghost and with power," he “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

4. Thus chosen and qualified for the service of God, it is further stated that, in the discharge of his functions, he is upheld by his Divine Father. This may refer partly to the personal succors afforded to our Lord in the course of his life and ministry on earth, at seasons of peculiar emergency and trial; as when, at the close of his temptation in the wilderness, "angels came and ministered unto him ;" and as when, during his agony in the garden, "there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him." But it more especially refers to the divine supports which are afforded to our Redeemer in his mediatorial administration and government. That kingdom of grace, at the head of which he is placed, is upheld by the watchful care and the ceaseless energy of the Almighty Providence. Every dispensation of that Providence, toward individuals and toward nations, is contrived and arranged in entire subserviency to the cause of Christ, and to the great purposes for which he lived, and died, and rose again. So that, while he is the Father's servant, all are his servants: for God hath "set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church." (Ephesians i, 20-22.) This expression also intimates to us the high sanction and supreme authority of every saying and act of Jesus Christ. Whatever he speaks or does, the Father upholds and confirms. From his teaching and administration, though he be a servant, there is no appeal to the Father who employs him. None of his public acts will ever be disallowed or reversed. His decisions are absolutely final and irrevocable. If he bless men, they shall be blessed. If he finally condemn them, his sen

tence shall never be set aside. To him everything connected with the moral and eternal interests of the human race is definitively committed; and at the close of his mediatorial operations it will be said, with awful emphasis, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." (Revelation xxii, 11.) It is vain, and, after the uniform assertion of Scripture as to the finality of the Christian dispensation, it is as unbecoming as vain, for men to hope that any "uncovenanted" exercise of the divine prerogative or sovereignty will ever take place, to supersede the results of the Mediator's solemn adjudications. God will for ever uphold, and in no one case, nor on any account whatsoever, will he counteract or alter, the measures of his Son's government. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." Let this teach us how seriously and carefully we ought to study the will of Christ, since the word which he speaks is that which will judge us at the last day; and how anxious we should be to secure his blessing by a cordial submission to his grace and to his authority, because in his favor only there is life. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

5. The text informs us, in respect to our Lord's official character, that he is, as a servant, not only chosen, and qualified, and upheld, but also highly acceptable and approved; one in whom the Father's "soul delighteth." This delight has respect, generally, to Christ himself, as the incarnate agent of redemption. So he tells us: "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth." (John v, 20.) And so the Father publicly declared, by a voice from heaven at his baptism, and by one from the excellent glory on the holy mount of transfiguration, which said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This delight has a particular respect to the sacrifice of atonement made by the death of Christ for guilty man. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life." (John x, 17.) He gave himself

for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." God sees that in the atonement of his Son, with which his justice is satisfied, a reason and consideration of infinite validity, for the sake of which the penitent believer may be righteously pardoned and saved. And his mercy

beholds in it, with triumph and delight, an expedient by which its utmost compassions toward sinners may obtain their perfect gratification, and yet be reconciled in their exercise with the utmost claims of the divine honor and holiness. This acceptance of the death of Christ, and this complacency in it, were publicly testified by his resurrection and exaltation to heaven. For the suffering of death, that very nature which died is now crowned with glory and honor. Humanity, in the person of our ascended Lord, is seated on the throne of the universe: a most illustrious proof of the Father's delight in his chosen servant. This delight has reference to the Mediator in his present character and operations, as the Head of the Church, and the agent by whom the plans for its gradual enlargement and ultimate perfection are constantly superintended, and shall be brought in due season to a prosperous issue. The work of redemption, and the great transactions and results connected with it, are events of the most interesting and joyous character. They bring joy and gladness to men, wherever they are duly appreciated. They afford to angels delightful views of the manifold wisdom, and power, and goodness of God. They yield a recompense of joy to the blessed Saviour; for he sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied, in proportion as those objects are successively accomplished to which he looked forward in all his sufferings as the joy set before him. And, supremely, they afford a delight to the benevolent mind of the Father himself, such as never resulted from any or all of his other works and dispensations. The salvation of man by Jesus Christ is the concern which is nearest and dearest to his heart, and in the process and consummation of which he takes the highest pleasure. In Christ, and in his work, God's very soul delighteth.

Before I proceed to the second head of discourse, allow me to pause for the purpose of briefly pointing out to you the