taught his disciples, was for that kingdom in which they should sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The Baptist fulfilled his commission, and then disappeared from the stage of God's dispensations. His ministry was complete in itself. There was no succession to that ministry; and I trust we shall be able satisfactorily to prove, indeed we have already proved, that it is as reasonable for modern ministers to affirm that they are successors of John the Baptist, as it is to speak and act in the character of successors of the Apostles, which is a charge that fairly attaches to them, from the highest Calvinist down to the lowest Arminian.

We have now considered, at some length, the ministry of John. That ministry appears to me to require a much more minute investigation than the compass of this work will allow. The records which are left concerning it in the Gospels, are most pointed and peculiar. It appears also that these records are of such character and complexion, because John's ministry was the connecting link between the Law and the Gospel, the Old Testament and the New; or, in other words, between the natural man and the spiritual, that is, the covenant of works, and the covenant of grace.

It has been proved that John's ministry was prophesied of in the Old Testament, and that the ministry was fixed, as regards time, "before the coming of the Lord." It has been seen that John occupied the position which had been assigned to him; that he rose a star in the firmament of the church, at the season appointed of the Father. So far, then, all is well; a due order and arrangement is preserved; of all the good things which the Lord had promised Israel should come to pass in the last days, not one thing has failed hitherto, to the conclusion of the course which John was to fulfil. This is by no means of trifling importance, for if one of these things so promised had failedif, for instance, Elias had not come, as the disciples, in their carnal ignorance once supposed—if the ministry of Jesus had been the first under the New Testament, and a gap or a gulph had been left where the ministry of John should have come in, then that Jesus would have been no better than (as Gamaliel hinted, see Acts v. 33-41) the Theudas and Judas who had preceded him; then the Apostolic day, (if we can imagine such day at all,) would have been as a Babel, worse confounded than that on the plains of Shinar, instead of exhibiting a glorious oneness and simplicity of the truth. Indeed, the consequence would have been none other than that which is evident in the different systems now mistaken for Christianity. These systems affirm that the perfect state of the unity of the faith is not come; and by such affirmation they create a gap between the cessation of the Apostolic ministry and the present period, which it is impossible for them to fill up from the Bible. The Bible will render them no assistance. The consequence is as fatal to Christianity as though I should take the Book of Genesis, and the Revelations, and maintain that these two solitary

books were the whole of the inspired writings. learned Christ.

But we have not so

Having offered these further remarks on John's ministry, I will now proceed with the following, and entirely distinct, ministry of Christ. I now come, in a right division of the word of truth, to consider the second of the four New Testament divisions.

John was baptizing in Jordan, and Jesus came to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" Jesus answered, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him." (Matt. iii. 13.) After this baptism, there ensued the temptation in the wilderness. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." I may be allowed to make a short digression on a matter connected with this temptation. I would desire to ask, for a moment, Who or what is signified here by the name of "Satan?" For my own part, I have no difficulty in considering Satan, in this temptation, to signify Christ's own countrymen, the Jews, or, in one word, human nature; just as I look upon Satan, in Job, to be no less nor more than Job's three miserable comforters, and his own self-righteous principle.* The words," Get thee behind me, Satan," in the temptation in the wilderness, do not much differ from Christ's word to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art a scandal unto me;" neither, again, is there much obscurity in the suggestion, "Command that these stones be made bread," when I compare it with John iv. 31," His disciples prayed him, saying, "Master, eat;" but he said unto them, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." There was a needs be for the temptation, and also that it should here be recorded at the beginning of Christ's ministry, in this figurative form. The Apostle to the Hebrews writes, "In order that he might destroy him that had the power of death, the Devil (accuser of the brethren '), it behoved him to be made in all things like unto his brethren (the accused), that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Heb. ii. 14—18.) One glorious instance of this succour is recorded in the history of Peter, when, after the denial, the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly. Now it is evident who was the tempter, the Devil, in the case of Peter and the rest of the disciples. The Lord, in the garden of Gethsemane, had straitly charged them thus-" Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." It is evident that the temptation was from the Jews, as it is written, over and over again, "for fear of the Jews;" and observe how beautifully this corresponds with Christ's own saying at that time to the Jews, "This is your hour and the power of darkness." (Luke xxii. 53.) Paul writes, "He is able to succour them that are tempted." Follow that Apostle from city to city, behold him flying on the wings of Christian affection, proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, and ask yourselves, who were his tempters, where lay his troubles, whence his fightings without, and fears within ? That same Jewish house, that same covenant of * See Note G.

E

works, in which the carnal mind delighted, was at the bottom of all. And what is true of him, is true of the rest. Peter writes to the brethren, "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial (temptation) which is to try (tempt) you." But religious systems say it is the same still to this day. So say I; but, as was asked in the matter of tribulation, so we ask here in that of temptation, Who is the cause of this? The systems themselves. They are revivals of the Jewish house, and if I, for instance, were willing to let Bible terms have any other than a Bible meaning, I might come forward and say, that I have endured temptation from the revival of the Jewish economy, as exhibited in the Church of England. O that men would permit that the Bible should speak for itself; that there were such a heart in them as to cease from perverting the good ways of God.

This digression will be pardoned. I will now return to our regular history. Jesus, having overcome the temptation, "the Devil departed from him for a season;" and if this be a personal Devil, an individuality, it will be difficult to prove that he ever came to Christ again : not so, however, if the Devil were the Jews; for how often is it written, They came to him tempting him?" After the temptation, Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned into Galilee, and there commenced his ministry, upon which ministry I intend to offer but few remarks, as the subject speaks for itself, and is its own interpreter. In looking at the diagram, you observe the ministry of Christ begins at the first boundary line, and ends at the second, which is the period of time immediately before his crucifixion. These were its limits, and if any one should extend those limits, or bring into the ministry matter which did not belong to it, this would be to make the word of God of none effect. For instance, if any should aver that either Christ or his disciples, in this ministry, preached the gospel, "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," they would confound two distinct dispensations, and give occasion for innumerable errors, which would only end, in what indeed we witness, in our religious systems- a heap of confusion. This ministry of Christ was peculiar, as was that of John; and as in the examination of John's ministry, it was first of all proved that that ministry was prophesied of in the Old Testament Scriptures, so also I shall now proceed to prove the same respecting the ministry of Christ. I have directed your attention to lines drawn from the prophecy of Isaiah, in the diagram. One of these lines, as we have seen, is a prophecy running up into the ministry of John, foretelling that ministry. I now call you to notice another line- ―a prophecy from the same prophet, running up into the ministry of Christ, foretelling that ministry. The prophecy to which I allude is the opening verse of Isaiah's 61st chapter, "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." I might go much further back for prophecies respecting the ministry now under consideration. There is a most remarkable one delivered unto Moses, in Deut. xviii. 18, "I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all the words that I shall com

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mand him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." We observe from these words how forcible was the testimony of the Son of God to the Jews in his ministry; "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom ye trust; for had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me." (John v. 46.) I might also refer you to the Book of Psalms, that glorious armoury of truth; "Hear this, all people; my mouth shall speak of wisdom, ('Christ, the wisdom of God,') and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding ('he shall be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord'); I will incline mine ear unto a parable, I will open my dark saying upon the harp.” Now this latter verse, from the 49th Psalm, is quoted in Matthew's Gospel as a prophecy of the ministry of Jesus; "All these things spake Jesus to the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." (Matt. xiii. 35.) This is explicit enough, as not belonging to David, but to David's Lord, to whom, and to whom alone, belongs the crown of the Psalms, as of every other portion of the word. The like testimony is delivered in the Gospels, respecting Isaiah's prophecy above quoted, and that by Christ himself; When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood up for to read: and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias; and when he had unrolled the book, he found the place where it was written, 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.' And having rolled up the book, he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke iv. 18-21.) It has been beautifully observed on this passage, that it is remarkable the Son of God did not go through with the whole of this prophecy concerning himself and his ministry. He was not only to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, but also the " day of vengeance of our God." I would here invite you to notice how our all-wise God hath "made every thing beautiful in his time." It was in time now for Jesus to preach the acceptable year of the Lord; "Come unto me, all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you." It was not in time to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God. When the Son of the Highest, the Carpenter's Son, in his countrymen's estimation, stood up amidst the doctors in the synagogue of Nazareth, the hour was not yet come for the pathetic lament, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" The day of vengeance had its appointed season of proclamation. It was after he had stretched out his hand, and no man regarded; after he had wrought many miracles, and wonders, and signs, among a disobedient and gainsaying people; after he could say, "I have laboured

in vain, I have spent my strength for nought; for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing "—it was then that he executed his commission to the full, saying, "These be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." In this scripture we see that the Lord Jesus performed the work of the ministry, according to Isaiah's prophecy; and we are not left without further testimony of his own to that fulfilment, to this doing the work of an evangelist. When he was about to leave the world, and go to the Father, he offered up the following, in a prayer which, if any, may indeed be called, the Lord's Prayer. "I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." (John xvii. 4.) Now a question might very pertinently be asked, either of Calvinism or Arminianism, What interpretation do you put upon this scripture? and how can you reconcile it with a subsequent scripture, when Jesus said on the cross, It is finished!" and how do you reconcile this with Jesus' own word, of all things written being fulfilled, in the destruction of Jerusalem? and then, having accomplished the task of making these three texts agree, how do you reconcile with them your view of fulfilments yet future?

Being ignorant entirely of a right division of the word of truth, being altogether strangers to God's righteousness, such questions as these are of the number to which the Bibles of Calvin and Arminius can return no answer. In the knowledge of God's perfect and harmonious work, there is to us no difficulty of reconciliation in the case. When we read of Jesus speaking to the Father of a finished work, we understand that of the ministry now under consideration. We do not confound it with his redemption work, which was wrought out through his death, neither with his salvation work, which was accomplished when, (as we shall see,) being a high priest, not after the order of Aaron, but Melchisedec, he came not, like Aaron, out of the holy of holies, but out of heaven itself, in the fall of the Jewish economy, thereby making manifest that God had accepted his ministerial, redemption, and intercessory work, appearing as he did, a second time, without sin unto salvation.

The finished work, then, of which we read in John xvii., is the prophetic and ministerial office, to which office Christ, quoting Isaiah lxi., declared himself to be sent. Now it is in this work that we behold Jesus a greater than John; just as we shall behold the Apostles greater, as ministers, than Jesus, according to his own testimony, "The works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father." Jesus said of John, "Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness to the truth." But he said also, "I receive not testimony from man;" nay, he said of himself, "If I bear witness myself, my witness is not true." What then was the witness? The answer is plain. Having said that he had greater witness than that of John, he adds, "The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me." Examine the context in the 5th of John, in which chapter the above texts occur, and you find that these works were connected with this solemn saying, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and they that hear shall live;"