assume the truth of those doctrines which are verily believed amongst us, and to place before you a simple statement of their meaning and importance.

The doctrines published by the Redeemer, and to be proclaimed in his name by all his faithful ministers, divide themselves into two parts-those which relate to the constitution of his person, and those which relate to his offices as mediator.

1. With respect to the first branch of christian doctrine, we may remark, that the Saviour's true and proper humanity has ceased to be a subject of debate. There were sects in the ancient church, whose notions with regard to an inherent malignity in matter, had taught them to conclude that the body of the Saviour was not a real body-an appearance, not a reality. But these speculations have long since passed away. Unhappily there are still men who deny the divinity of the Son of God. Even these, however, admit that Jesus of Nazareth possessed a true body, and a reasonable soul. But the views of these theologians respecting the person of Christ, will hardly be satisfactory to us, even when they regard his humanity only. It behoves us to remember that he not only possessed all the capacities which properly belong to human nature, and possessed them in their greatest maturity, but that in him they were all rightly exercised. That he was not merely "harmless, or undefiled, or separate from sinners," but that, with respect to all the great requisitions of holiness, he was positively, perfectly holy;-perfect in the sublimest meaning of that word; pure as an angel of God, though made in the likeness of sinful flesh, spotless as heaven, though surrounded by all the pollutions of the earth.

The obedience of Jesus had respect to the whole law of God, to the precepts which relate to God, and to those which have respect to man. All that human nature was at the first, all that it should be now, that it was, as seen in him. No duteous thought or feeling

in relation to the father, has ever had its place in the human mind, which had not its place in the mind of him who has "left us an example that we should tread in his steps." To do the will of God he came to the earth, and because that will required it, he passed through scenes of marvellous humiliation, of mysterious suffering, closing his career in the death of the cross. It was for this cause also that he said in his hour of bitterest anguish, "Not my will, but thine be done." From those ceaseless labours, which he beautifully described as his Father's business, we find him securing intervals, and sometimes the whole night, to be employed in devout approaches to his father's throne. Hence the voice from heaven,

"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Hence the language of Paul, He was "without sin "—he was "holy."

In relation to man also, every obligation imposed by the law of eternal rectitude was discharged, and discharged with the same regularity, the same readiness of mind. Subject to his parents until the period of entering on his public ministry, tenderly concerned for Mary's welfare, even amid the agonies of the cross, he has left to all the most commanding example of filial affection. Born among a people narrow minded, even to a proverb, and born at a most unfavourable period of their history too; we find him manifesting a spirit of charity, a largeness of philanthropy, which it had never entered into the heart of heathen men or of Hebrew men to conceive. At a period when fraud and violence were fearfully ascendant through the earth, no enemy, no false friend,—no, not even the traitor, could accuse him of anything bearing the semblance of deception or imposture. In the midst of a world, long sunk in selfishness, alone he stood, the only being who had ever thought that benevolence of worthy, or even of possible attainment, which should teach a man to lay down his life as the means of befriending his bitterest foes. In the cause of these adversary natures, he laboured with an industry which is almost incredible, and suffered with a fortitude that clothed the most shameless of his enemies with confusion, and shook the stoutest of them with dismay, preserving, amid all the wonders that he wrought, and all the miracles he performed, a spirit of forbearance and loveliness, equally wonderful. Do you, then, admire filial affection, generous sympathies; meekness that fails not, though many wrongs be inflicted, the sincerity which no scrutiny can impeach, the benevolence from which no creature that may be aided by it is excluded; why then is it that these things, and things like these, so attractive in others, should be so little attractive when seen in Him, who has appeared to bring to us salvation?

Surely, while it is the great purpose of the divine Spirit's influence to produce in us fruits like these, it must be to evince a fearful degree of blindness to be otherwise than deeply interested, even in this view of the Redeemer's person. Viewed only in this light, the theme of the christian ministry is one of surpassing excellence. The mind, indeed, may become so deeply injured, both in its perceptions and feelings, by a long course of transgression, that nothing, deserving the name of an impression, shall be made upon it by those disclosures of tenderness which occur in the history of such men as Barnabas and John, or by those bolder elements of character which are developed in the story of such men as Elijah,

Daniel, or Paul. But believers know that such men are the excellent of the earth. It is not, at the same time, to be concealed that even such men fall far, very far, below the standard of perfection. Abraham may be honoured for his faith, Job may be applauded for his patience, Moses may be a pattern of meekness, and so of others; but did not these men sometimes fail, lamentably fail, and with respect to that very grace which had chiefly distinguished them? Job cursed the day of his birth; and it was a sin against meekness that excluded Moses from the land of promise. The men who became conspicuous by the possession of some one grace, were often as singularly deficient with respect to others of no less importance. In Jesus it was otherwise. All the fruits of the Spirit were in him. Yes, and all were more perfect in him, at all times, than any one of them had been in the case of any other being on earth, at any time. And is not that a character of wondrous excellence, in which we thus see perfected, and together, the faith of Abraham, the obedience of Isaac, the gratitude of Jacob; where the meekness of Moses is united with the courage of Daniel; the decision of Elijah, with the compassion of Barnabas; the zeal of Paul, with the affection of the beloved disciple-yea, in which all those attractions meet, that have distinguished the church from the world, throughout all ages, and that shall form the contrast between those who people the regions of the blessed, and of the lost, through all eternity? The apostles, on entering the celestial world, passed into a state of communion with happier natures than was that of the master with whom they had held familiar intercourse on earth; but a holier being than was Jesus of Nazareth, even then, heaven itself would not present to their astonished vision.

Nor is this view of the person of Christ a matter of mere speculation. On the contrary, it is intimately connected, as will presently appear, with all that is consolatory and holy in the doctrines of the gospel. The efficacy of the Redeemer's atonement depends on the perfection of his righteousness; and our confidence in his priestly intercession, must be greatly influenced by our conviction as to his being bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

2. But that Saviour who was so evidently, and so wonderfully man, thought it not robbery to claim equality with God. The doctrines which speak of his person place him before us as that mysterious visitant to the abodes of men, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. They assign to him the works of Deity, proclaiming

him the Creator of the universe, the Judge of all the earth, and the Saviour of the lost. They confer upon him the names of Deity, calling him the Mighty God, the Lord our Righteousness and Strength. And they give him the honours of Deity, by exhibiting him as the willing object of worship on earth, and as enthroned amid adoring multitudes in Heaven. Hence, in his entire nature, Jesus presents to the spiritual eye, whatever is exalted or lovely in created existence, along with all that constitutes the surpassing majesty and beauty of the Uncreated the Eternal. In preaching Christ, a careful exhibition of these doctrines with regard to his person, is indispensable; and the man who does not consider them as lying at the foundation of the edifice of christian truth, is no wise master-builder. To illustrate this remark, we will proceed to consider the doctrine of scripture with respect to the offices which this exalted person is said to sustain.

3. The appearance of human nature upon earth, as we view it in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and above all, the appearance of this nature, existing in mysterious, but immediate and special union with divinity; these are events so astonishing in their character, that we no sooner become acquainted with them, than we begin to expect some mighty achievement. We see the evidence of such miraculous wisdom and purity in Jesus of Nazareth, that we instantly say, "Surely this was the Son of God." And as we rise above these to mark the indications of his more exalted attributes, we are constrained to adopt yet bolder language, and begin to say, "This is our God, we have waited for him, he will come and save us." No man ever entered into the spirit of the christian ministry without having these stupendous facts powerfully impressed upon his mind, nor without being taught to expect from them, that the Lord is prepared to do great things for his people, whereof they should be glad.

We have seen then what the Son of God condescended to become; and the question now claiming our attention, relates to what he has shewn himself able and willing to perform in our behalf. The brief answer here would be, that he has saved us with an everlasting salvation. But the manner in which he has wrought out this salvation for us, must be noticed more definitely. Man is guilty, and ignorant, and depraved. Nor can he remove his guilt, nor repair the injury that sin has done to his understanding and his heart. He is not only fallen from a state of original righteousness,-of perfect knowledge, and of unsullied purity-but, left to himself, is for ever fallen. Hence, in the forcible language of holy writ, he has destroyed himself. He is not only prone to slumber over things about which all his wakefulness and activity should be employed, but is strictly

dead in relation to such things-" dead in trespasses and sins." Here, then, is a work to be performed which, considered in its difficulties and in its magnitude, is worthy of that costly arrangement of means which you see connected with the advent of Christ. The great object of his mission was to remove the guilt which had accumulated from innumerable transgressions, to enlighten the mind over which the thick night of prejudice and error had been long spread, and to bring back those hearts entirely to God, which had long acquired a state of hardened enmity against him. We wonder not that such a work should be described as a new creation—a making of all things new.

Now the preaching of Christ can never be intelligible, much less successful, unless this state of human nature be carefully explained and demonstrated. Then it is, and then only, that we understand the doctrine of Christ relating to his offices, as a prophet, a priest, and a king. We see a world before us needing his enlightening, his atonement, and his quickening power. When we are labouring to shew that the teaching of Christ can alone lead to spiritual wisdom, that the blood of his sacrifice can alone procure the forgiveness of sins, and that the might of his grace and Spirit can alone remove the leopard's spots, and cause the Ethiopian to change his skin, then are we preaching Christ; and the man in whose ministry these topics are rendered most prominent and powerful, is the man who is treading nearest in the footsteps of apostles and evangelists. This is to exhibit the Redeemer as the Great Physician, as the remedy appointed to heal the maladies of a perishing world.

Many indeed are the collateral topics included in the general duty of preaching Christ, on which we have not time to bestow even a passing notice. It must be sufficient to observe, that whatever tends either to illustrate or confirm the doctrines we have mentioned, or to aid in diffusing their sanctifying power over the soul, is clearly a part of the duty now under our consideration. Jesus came not only to save men from the wrath to come, but to qualify them for the inheritance of the saints in light; and we labour to the end which was ever before him, as we keep this two-fold purpose of his mission carefully in view. And it may be added that these points should always be so obviously before the eye of the preacher, that the wayfaring man may be at no loss to discern them. The gospel therefore does not consist simply of things to be believed, but of things to be believed in order to a great practical result. The connexion between its doctrines and its precepts is precisely that which subsists between cause and effect. If the one be the foundation, the other is the superstructure. Taken together they form a beautiful system, the true working of which, in all its compartments, is according to godliness.