Father's, his own glory with his Father's, for the purpose of elevating and fortifying the faith of his disciples. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. Whatsoever ye ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.'

I will not stop to ask whether these points sufficiently prove that our Lord sustained, in a pre-eminent manner, his high claims of being the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. You. see the refulgence of his Divinity; you are compelled to recognize his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

2. But consider our Lord's conduct as A TEACHER AND REVEALER OF THE WILL OF

GOD, which formed the next part of his peculiar character as Mediator. How admirable was both the manner and the matter of his instructions.

Never was a MANNER of instruction so DIGNIFIED AND FORCIBLE, and at the same time

SO MILD AND ATTRACTIVE.

1 John xiv. 9-13; xi. 4; xvii. 5.

2 John i. 14.

HOW DIGNIFIED AND FORCIBLE are his discourses. You see the messenger from heavən, the Messiah, the maker and creator of all things. He speaks with the native majesty of the Son of God. Sentences full of weight, brief aphorisms, authoritative comments on the errors of the Jews, clear and conclusive decisions on the import of the law, messages sent, and demands issued with a solemnity which penetrates the hearers, short lessons left on the minds of the crowds by whom he was surrounded ;-these were his methods of teaching; all most suitable to the character which Christ bore, but utterly inconsistent with every other. Even his most familiar parables breathe an innate divinity, proceed on the supposition of his union with the Father, and his glorious advent to judge the world. The simplest images and illustrations are big with hidden majesty. He is the Light of the world; the living Vine, the Bread of God, the hidden Treasure, the Pearl of unknown price, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Every idea inspires awe and reverence in the mind of the astonished hearer.

And yet, with all this dignity, how MILD AND ATTRACTIVE is his manner of teaching! Lo, he takes up young children in his arms. See, he passes softly and meekly from place to place, not

breaking the bruised reed, nor lifting up his voice in the streets.1 Hear him condescending to the comprehensions of the populace in his most striking parables, where the implied authority and majesty are still surrounded with the utmost simplicity and attractiveness. The most obvious

images clothe ideas the most important and deep. What exquisite touches are there in the parables of the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the ten virgins, the marriage feast! How intelligible and familiar are the illustrations drawn from the incidents of each place and time! When he gives sight to the blind, he speaks of himself as the light of the world; when little children are brought unto him, he makes them an example of humility; when he views the lilies of the field, he discourses of providence ; when the produce of the earth appears before him, he bids his disciples to judge of men by their fruits when he is seated at a feast, he speaks of the gospel entertainment; when he washes the disciples' feet, he discourses of purity of heart. Never was there a course of religious doctrines so familiar, so lovely in the manner of their being conveyed, as those of our Lord.

And why should I speak of the MATTER of them? What heart has not been affected with

1 Matt. xii. 20.

the GRANDEUR and yet FACILITY, the EARNESTNESS and yet WISDOM, apparent in the matter of our Saviour's doctrine?

It was, indeed, in all the substance of it, full of GRANDEUR of the most majestic, novel, and weighty communications to man. Our divine Teacher fills and overwhelms the mind with the most sublime ideas, and pours out doctrines, which, to the ignorant and prejudiced Jews, were most surprising and strange. He unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; he displays the riches of the gospel; he assumes the position of a legislator in expounding the law; he repels the pride and traditions of the scribes and pharisees with indignation; he converses on the subject of his sufferings with prophets, lawgivers, and angels; he opens the hidden meaning of the ancient predictions; he detects all the secrets of the human heart. All is so peculiar, so elevated, so divine, as to leave an impression of grandeur and infinite excellency on the mind.

And yet no doctrine was ever so INTELLIGIBLE AND SIMPLE as to its practical bearings and its results. It was precisely level to man's comprehensions; it made religion clear, interesting, persuasive. The instructions are adapted to the habits of thinking of the poor, are opened and expanded for their capacities, sepa

rated from points of difficulty and abstraction, and presented only in the aspect which regarded their duty and hopes. The matter is such as not to gratify, but inform; not to smite with surprise, but love; not to impose by mere grandeur, but convey practical knowledge with condescension and grace.

Nor is the union of urgency and zeal, with forbearance and wisdom, less obvious in our Lord's instructions: for how ASSIDUOUS AND EARNEST was he in his doctrine! How solemn, how penetrating, how importunate! He was always inculcating his divine lessons. He went about from place to place preaching incessantly the gospel of the kingdom. He was always at work, always the teacher. He instructed men before, and during, and after his miracles. He undertook journeys, and neglected ordinary accommodations, and even food, in order to teach particular sinners. It was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him, and finish his work.' He never yielded in his efforts whilst any hope remained, but inculcated again and again the same lessons under various forms-sometimes accumulating three or four parables to enforce a single point. The zeal of his Father's house consumed him, as it were: and he was straitened till he had fully accomplished his ministry.

' John iv. 14.

2 John xi. 17.