PROPHET.

Thirty-eighth Sunday.

PRIEST. PHYSICIAN. PRINCE OF LIFE.
QUICKENING SPIRIT. RESURRECTION.

LUTHER used to say of some grand and suggestive texts, that "each was a little bible in itself." There is a text in 1 Cor. i. 30, which may well deserve this appellation, so comprehensive is it, so full and exhaustless. "Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." It is customary to dissect and divide texts for their better elucidation. This text divides itself. Here are four points. We will illustrate the first, Wisdom, by the Title PROPHET; the second, Righteousness, by that of PRIEST; the third, Sanctification, by PHYSICIAN; and the fourth, Redemption, by PRINCE OF LIFE, QUICKENING SPIRIT, and RESURRECTION. First, He is made Wisdom to us as our PROPHET.

PROPHET. Luke xiii. 33. We have already spoken of our Lord as the INTERPRETER; and again as the MASTER or RABBI of His disciples; and we purpose to recur to the same subject once more, under the head of TEACHER. To these the reader is referred. We will therefore dwell but briefly on this Title, important and prominent though it be.

The most common notion of a Prophet is that he foretells things to come. The true idea is, that he makes known divine truth and conveys divine messages to men. And Jesus Christ is pre-eminently God's Revealer and Expounder, and Man's Instructor. He is "the Light that lighteth every man.' Whatever skill men have to dive into the secrets of nature, to build cities, to construct ships and steer them across the pathless ocean, to weigh the stars, and calculate their movements, comes from Him, and none the less if not by direct revelation. For He it is who giveth man reason and understanding; that by enquiry, comparison, and experiment, under the guidance of Providence, he may make happy discoveries and hit upon useful inventions. And by industry and diligence he arrives at the wonderful results which we behold with such admiration,-crystal palaces, grand cathedrals, railways, electric telegraphs, and other works of art. And if all natural light, much more all spiritual light is from Him.

But our Great PROPHET does not merely impart "wisdom" to us, as the ancient expounders of God's will did ;-He" is made Wisdom"

to us.

Does not this mean that He becomes our Wisdom, places His Wisdom at our disposal, and uses it on our behalf, both in the ways of Providence and Grace? It is as if a rich man were to say to a poor man, "I have plenty of money; look now-I will be your banker; come to me for every shilling you require, and you shall never want." Or as if a guide, who well knows the entangled ways across a pathless mountain, should say to a traveller who had never been there before, “Trust me,-I will be instead of knowledge to you. Do as I tell you, and I will lead you past all the bogs and snow drifts, and place you in safety on the other side." Or, as if one who had the full use of his eyesight were to say to a blind man, "Give me your hand, and I will be instead of eyes to you."

Thus Jesus Christ brings the blind by a way which they know not, and leads them in paths which they have not known. He makes all His infinite wisdom as available for our right guidance as if it were our own. The reason why the people of God make mistakes and fall into snares is, therefore, because they persist in trusting in their own wisdom instead of His. Oh, if we would but withdraw our confidence from ourselves, and place it all in our Great Prophet, we should always take the right course, and avoid a thousand sad falls and bitter disappointments. Too blind to pick our hesitating way through the intricate paths of life, we should each of us find his hand grasped by Another, and hear Him say, "Poor blind one, give Me thy hand; and implicitly trust thyself to Me, and I will guide thee with Mine eye." But if, with the waywardness of a mule, we choose our own occupations for ourselves, our own situations, our own companions for life, and all without reference to His will and His wisdom, why then we shall incur the penalty denounced upon the blind who is led by the blind; for whoso undertaketh to guide himself in such things, hath a fool for his leader, and shall certainly fall into mischief.-But, secondly, Jesus Christ is "made Righteousness to us," as our PRIEST.

PRIEST. Ps. cx. 4. Of the special features of this Office of our Lord I have before treated, and therefore do not refer to them here. I will only ask you to consider Him under one aspect of His Priesthood implied in the words, "He appears in the presence of God for us;" that is, He is our Representative there. A barrister or advocate is said to represent the prisoner who employs him to plead his cause. But he does not bring in his hand a ransom to insure the prisoner's release; nor does he engage to stand surety for his client for the future. A member of parliament represents the citizens who vote for him on the understanding that he will watch over their political rights. But he does not so identify himself with every one of them, as to make the interests of each his own, nor seek advantages for them as personal favours to himself. The Jewish High Priest used to represent the whole nation in the holy place on the day of atonement, but not meritoriously. He did not plead for their forgive

ness on the ground that his own obedience was sufficient to justify them all.

But our Divine Representative goes far, far beyond these, and all others known by this designation.

(1.) He appears in the high court of heaven with a great Ransom in His hand. By that He hath redeemed us, and for the sake of that God will grant Him all He asks.

(2.) He undertakes to be the Surety of every one who intrusts his person and his case to Him.

(3.) There is a wonderful identity established between Himself and them. He takes their nature, and they are partakers of the Divine nature. Thus He speaks, "The glory Thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one even as We are One." He is the First-born among many brethren. And the Father loves them even as He hath loved Him.

(4.) And all this, because what He did in fulfilment of His Father's will, He did, not for Himself, but for them; and His obedience, because of its perfection and glory, maketh many righteous. So we sing of Him, not only as Jesus Christ the Righteous, but as the Lord our Righteousness, and desire to be found in our great PRIEST, not having on our own Righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of God by faith.

Remember then that God sees us only in our Righteous PRIEST and Representative, or we should be consumed. Think also, that in Him, one believer is as completely accepted as another-the youngest child, the poorest man, the greatest sinner, if penitent, who believes in Christ, as completely as Job, the perfect man, or Daniel, the man greatly beloved. Again, Christians are as fully accepted now, while on earth and still imperfect, as they will be hereafter in heaven when presented to God without spot. This seems hard to believe; but so it is, because we are accepted through Christ our Representative, even as He Himself is accepted in the sight of God. He ever sees us in Him, not having our own Righteousness but His.

We have often spoken of the High Priest's loving ministry on behalf of His people; how He presents the prayers they offer, the services they perform, the obedience they render. Let me now add, in the appropriate words of another, this blessed encouraging consideration. "The Christian's poorest, meanest service is thus made as acceptable to God as if it were most perfect. The motive may be defective, the aim may be unsteady, the performance may be mean and unworthy (yea, is it not always so?) but his poor stammering prayers, his faltering attempts to comfort the depressed, or to teach the Sunday-school children, or distribute the humble tract right and left; all this is as acceptable to God as the highest act of adoration offered by some lofty angel or burning seraph before the throne. Why so? Because it is accepted for the sake of Him Who presents it, and not for his sake who offers it.

"Don't let us ever allow ourselves to think, 'O this poor stammering

prayer, this poor stumbling effort! Surely I might as well have done nothing at all, for I am quite ashamed of it.' Nay, if you did it in the name of Christ, if you took that poor service to Him to offer it, go thy way, eat thy bread with a merry heart, be of good cheer, God accepteth both thy person and thy offerings, and spareth thee as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.'" Let us then, with cheerful adoptive boldness, continually lift up our face to His God and our God, crying, Abba Father.-But again, thirdly, we have said Christ is "made Sanctification to us as our PHYSICIAN.

وو

PHYSICIAN. Matt. ix. 12; Luke iv. 23. What a precious boon is health! Without it life cannot be enjoyed, and life's duties are accomplished with difficulty. The poor body, when out of health, drags on heavily, like a loaded waggon creaking and groaning its way through deep ruts and miry roads. But of far greater importance is spiritual health, the health of the soul. Holiness, you know, is health, and sin is disease. Christ alone can take away the latter, and impart to us the former. He presents Himself to us with the faithful saying, "I am the Lord that healeth thee." Oh we love to think of this work of our Lord, and of the gracious promise implied in that sentence; and also in the words, "The whole have no need of a PHYSICIAN, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Let us ask a few questions about this PHYSICIAN.

I. What are the qualities which recommend Him? To which I

answer,

He is a most skilful PHYSICIAN. Eminent skill is the first thing we look for when we choose our Physician. And Jesus Christ can "heal the broken in heart and bind up all their wounds." He can even "heal backslidings." And they are the worst cases of all; for relapses, every one knows, are always dangerous to the patient and difficult to the PHYSICIAN. Indeed there can never be a case brought to Him that shall baffle His skill. protracted, never fear that it will thing too hard for the Almighty? uttermost all that apply to Him.

However delicate, complicated, or confound His judgment. Is anyNay. He is able to save to the

He is a most tender PHYSICIAN. No one can feel for us in our afflictions like those who have passed through similar troubles. And it is just thus that Jesus Christ has been qualified to sympathize with us. Therefore, "He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." He sees His poor wounded, weeping patient on his way to His door; and He calls him by his name and says, "Ha! what sound is that? Surely I did hear Ephraim bemoaning himself. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? Yes, yes, I do earnestly remember him, my heart is troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him. I have seen his ways and will heal him." And, as one whom his mother comforteth, He listens to the sorrowing one and soothes his complaints. I once knew a child whose life was despaired of by reason of the severity of his sickness, and his brothers and

sisters were called to his bedside to take their leave of him. But, as a last resource, a second Physician was called in who, by God's blessing, was the means of bringing back the little patient from the very gates of death. That is sixty years ago and more, and he is alive still. But O if you had seen how the kind-hearted old gentleman exulted over him, and what pride he seemed to take in his little restored patient! He had him to his house, and showed him to his friends, and seemed as if he could never make enough of him. Just so Jesus Christ rejoiceth over all His patients. To do them good is His delight, His glory. He undertakes their cure because He pities them from His heart. He continues His care, spite of their dangerous and frequent relapses, because He loves them. And by-and-by, when the cure shall be perfected, how will He rejoice over them with singing, and rest in His love! With all His healed ones—a countless hostHe will present them to His Father with exceeding joy, faultless, completely cured, with no spot of sin remaining in their souls. Again,

He is also a gratuitous PHYSICIAN. Some professors of the healing art cannot be had at all but at an enormous expense. I knew one (he practised in Chili) who demanded a fee of £400 before he would undertake a certain case. And another (in England) who, though his patient had died under his hand, presented a bill for the modest amount of £500. It is a good thing that very few are like that. Still"the doctor's bill" is often a formidable matter to a poor man. But, in opposition to this, Jesus Christ saves freely, He insures healing "without money and without price." The only condition is, that we apply to Him, willing to be healed in His own way. All the advertisements of this most munificent PHYSICIAN run in this style :"Look unto Me, and be ye saved." "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." "Whosoever will, let him come."

He is easy of access. Through a thinly-inhabited mountain district a tourist once took his journey on the outside of a coach. Heavy rain came on. He was ill when he set out; he was worse when, late in the evening, he reached the inn. He sent for the landlord immediately, and told him he required medical advice. "Very sorry," he replied, "but there is no doctor in the village." "How far off does he live?" asked the tourist. "Fourteen miles!" said the landlord. He might as well have been in America! But our Divine PHYSICIAN is never afar off. Wherever we are, He is always at hand. Nor is He so much engaged, at any time, as to be unable to attend to our case. Night and day He is ever ready to hear and help. If you are tempted to think otherwise, receive instruction from a child.

"What do you do without a mother to tell all your troubles to?" asked one child of another who had no mother.

"Mother told me who to go to before she died," answered the little orphan, "I go to the Lord Jesus, He was mother's friend, and He is mine."

"Jesus Christ is up in the sky," said the other.

"He is a long