excellence, we set aside the Saviour's intercession. And it is thus we are enabled to understand how it comes about, that a cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of a disciple shall not lose its reward,' while the ploughing of the wicked is sin.'

In fine, the intercession of Christ secures the complete salvation of the chosen of God, their entrance into heaven, and their everlasting continuance in a state of perfect blessed. ness. God is a rock, and his work is perfect. What he begins, he completes; nor rests till he has secured for his redeemed perfect acquittal beyond the reach of accusation, deliverance from all temptation, immaculate holiness, and uninterrupted and permanent peace. It is by his intercession that he thus saves to the uttermost. Wherefore be

is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.** The work of salvation being thus completed, the redeemed are admitted into heaven, for which they are prepared. Their reception into glory is the matter of distinct request on the part of the Saviour. 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.'† The title of admission, it is true, is the Saviour's death; but the immediate cause of their admission is his intercession. It is by this that the title, so to speak, is carried into heaven, and presented to God, and pled as the ground on which their admission is to take place. He entered into heaven, not without blood, to appear in the presence of God for us. He goes to the portals of the upper sanctuary, holding in his hand the memorials of his sacrifice; at his approach the celestial gates fly open; he enters in the name and on behalf of his people: he opens and no one can shut, till all his redeemed and chosen have follow. ed him thither; and, then, he shuts and no one can open, either to invade their peace or to pluck one of the count. less multitude from their happy abode.

The permanent continuance of the redeemed in the state of glory stands connected, in the same manner, with the intercession of Jesus. He is a priest for ever.' Not only is everlasting glory the effect of his intercession; but it is the subject of everlasting intercession. 'He ever liveth

to make intercession.' The perpetuity of heavenly blessings, and the acceptance of celestial services, must all be traced to this source. Not a ray of light, not a smile of favour, not a thrill of gladness, not a note of joy, for which the inhabitants of heaven are not indebted to the Angel standing with the golden censer full of incense, before the throne. Remove this illustrious personage from his situation; divest him of his official character; put out of view his sacerdotal function; and all security for the continuance of celestial benefits is gone,—the crowns fall from the heads of the redeemed, the palins of victory drop from their hands, the harps of gold are unstrung, and the shouts of halleluiah cease for ever; nay, heaven must discharge itself of its human inhabitants, and the whole be sent away into irremediable perdition! But no such appalling catastrophe need ever be feared: CHRIST EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION!

SECTION IV.

PROPERTIES OF CHRIST'S INTERCESSION.

FROM the character of the advocate, we may judge what will be the qualities of his advocacy. Possessed of infinite wisdom and knowledge, the intercession of Christ cannot but be eminently skilful. A skilful advocate must know well the case of his client, the character of the judge with whom he has to deal, and the law according to which he must plead. Christ's knowledge of all these is perfect. He knows perfectly all his people, and all their cases. 'He needeth not that any should testify of man; for he knows what is in man.' He searcheth the reins and hearts.' All the exercises and doings of his children are thoroughly understood by him. Their wants, necessities, sins, and infirmities, are better known to him than to themselves; even their inward breathings and secret groanings are as well understood as the well set phrase of the orator.' Nor this only in respect of his intuitive omniscience as God,

but of his experimental knowledge as man. Experience must add powerfully to the skill of an intercessor; and this advantage is possessed by Christ in an eminent degree. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.' Had he no other knowledge of his people than what is derived from their own statements and prayers, he could not plead their cause with skill. They are often greatly ignorant of themselves, form the most mistaken ideas, entertain the most inadequate views of their own wants, and are unable properly to express even what they may adequately feel. Their petitions for themselves are often, from these causes, defective, erring, and stammering. But never so those of their divine Intercessor on their behalf. By him, their thoughts, affections, and desires, are fully appreciated, and their case represented with consummate skill.

He knows, too, Him with whom he has to plead. Much of an advocate's skill must depend upon this, so as to be able to adapt his manner of pleading to the temper and disposition of the judge. Our Intercessor is thoroughly acquainted with the character of God. 'No one knoweth the Father but the Son.' He is thus qualified to adapt his appeals to features of the divine character corresponding to their nature. Are his people weak? He goes, on their behalf, to God as the Lord of Hosts. Have they fallen into sin, and are in need of pardon ? He addresses God as a God of holiness. Does he plead the fulfilment of promi ses? He makes his appeal to the righteousness of Jehovah.

Nor is he less skilfully acquainted with the law accord. ing to which his intercessions are to be regulated. And it is not, as is too often the case among men, by evading, or concealing, or perverting, or explaining away the law, that this advocate exhibits his skill. No; he admits its authority, vindicates its claims, and maintains inviolably the rectitude of all its sanctions. Nor does he ever attempt to make it appear that those for whom he pleads have not violated its requirements, and rendered themselves obnoxious to its punishments. But his ability is shown in skilfully pleading the fulness of his own merits, by which satisfaction has been given to the law, and every blessing secured in consistency with the claims of infinite equity. Such, in short, is his skill, that he asks whatever

his people need, only what they need, what has actually been procured for them, and what it every way comports with the character and law of God to confer; so that no cause can ever fail in his hands from want of knowledge or wisdom to conduct it.

Moral purity characterizes the intercession of Christ. The necessity of this was set forth under the law, in the altar of incense being of pure gold. Both the pleader and the plea must be holy. Christ intercedes not for sin, but for sinners. The tendency of all that he asks is to purify from all iniquity, and to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. No request of a contrary character could ever be presented to a holy and righteous God, or could ever possibly be granted. Nor could any thing of this kind ever comport with the character of the Advocate himself. He

is no corrupt venal pleader. He is the righteous Lord that loveth righteousness. To this is the efficacy of his intercession ascribed by the apostle :-' He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. FOR such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, sepa. rate from sinners.' Corruption in an advocate, if detected, is sufficient to blast his cause even at the bar of man. And the slightest taint of impurity in Christ would have disqualified him for conducting a successful advocacy on behalf of his people, at the bar of God. Corruption may be concealed from an earthly judge, but no degree of it could escape undetected by the omniscient Judge of all. The intercession of Christ is as pure and sinless as his sacrifice. Every thing about it is holy,-the matter in which it consists, the plea on which it rests, the place in which it is conducted, the person by whom it is managed, and the judge before whom it is transacted. Truly may our Advocate with the Father be described as 'Jesus Christ THE RIGHTEOUS.'

Jesus Christ is a compassionate intercessor. The advocate who is to plead the cause of the wretched must not be hard-hearted and unfeeling; he must be able to enter into their feelings, and to make their case his own. Without this he can never expect to succeed; but, thus qualified, it is scarcely possible for him to fail. His language, looks, tones, and whole manner, indeed, will acquire a more melting influence, in proportion to the depth of the compas.

sion with which he is touched. So of Christ it is said, that it behoved him to be a merciful,' as well as a 'faithful,' high priest; and, had he not been merciful, he could not have been faithful. But in him compassions flow ;' the compassions, not of divinity merely, but of humanity; of a humanity, too, the sensibilities of which were exquisite. ly fine, from its being unaffected by the blunting influence of sin. And even the delicate sensibilities of his holy hu. man nature were heightened by his personal experiences. He who pleads the cause of those in whose miseries himself once shared, must be admirably fitted to do it with ef fect. 'We have not an high priest who cannot be touch. ed with the feeling of our infirmities; but who was, in all respects, tempted like as we are, yet without sin.' He tasted of all the sorrows of human life. Of the severest afflictions, the bitterest temptations, the most pungent sorrows, the most awful privations, he had full and frequent trial. He was, not only cast into the same mould as his people with respect to nature, but into the same furnace with respect to affliction. And, although he had no know. ledge of the evil of sin from personal feeling, well he knew its weight and its bitterness from having had its guilt imputed and its punishment exacted of him. Nor let any one object, that, although this might be the case while Christ was on earth, it cannot be expected to continue now that he is in heaven. His exaltation to glory has wrought no change on his nature or his affections. He is the same in heaven that he was upon earth. He is still possessed of human nature-God-man-Emmanuel, God with us. And it is not more certain that, in his exalted state, human blood flows in his veins, than that human sympathies glow in his breast. He feels more for the objects of his intercession than man or angel can do, nay, than they can even do for themselves. The pity of Christians for themselves can never equal the pity with which they are regarded by their Saviour for theirs is the pity of a corrupted nature, his of uncontaminated humanity; theirs the pity of mere human nature, his of human nature indissolubly linked with all the tender mercies of Deity.

Much importance attaches to the promptitude of an intercessor. The value of a bestowment often depends on the time of its being conferred. Allow the crisis to pass, and the gift loses its value.

A successful advocate must