forsaken of God, he seeks the sympathy of beloved disciples; but they are asleep. Alone,-forsaken and accursed of God, betrayed and deserted of men, he is left to endure the mockings of the hosts of hell. They gnash upon him, and cry, "God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him."—Ps. lxxi. 11. His wrestlings with the Father are mocked by the demand, "Where is thy God?" "And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground."-Luke xxii. 44. Yet, in perfect acquiescence to the Father's will, he cries, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."-Matt. xxvi. 42. He is seized and led away by the officers, guided by one of his cherished followers. His disciples all forsake him and flee. Even Peter, with cursing and swearing, denies and disowns him. A victim to outrage and indignity, in the presence of the great council of Israel; rejected by his people, with the cry, "Away with him! crucify him!" mocked by Herod and his men of war; condemned and scourged by Pilate; pursued to Calvary by the execrations of the hooting mob; nailed to the tree of ignominy, between two thieves; the temptations of Satan, re-echoed by the passing scribes and priests, who wag their heads and say, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God: let him deliver him now if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God,"-Matt. xxvii. 41-43; through all constrained to bear the heavier burden of the Father's frown,-what sorrow like to his sorrow? Surely, it is not in man to endure, with perfect acquiescence, the will by which he was afflicted thus; to stand faithful to Him that appointed him to the cross, and confident in the love and truth of Him who concealed his face behind a cloud, dark as that which frowned on Calvary. But Jesus was faithful to the end; and, when his work and conflict was finished, not by the power of men nor devils was his life taken away; nor into their hands did he surrender his soul; but to the Father he commits it, until the resurrection morning, then to be resumed again. When he had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:" and, having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (John xix. 30, and Luke xxiii. 46.) Thus was Jesus obedient until death. The cry, "It is finished!" was the exultant shout of victory: which proclaimed Satan's sceptre broken, his power destroyed, and man's salvation complete. In respect to the significance of this language of the expiring Redeemer, as indicating a finished work, and completed right211. "It is eousness of the law, the evidence is very pointed finished." and conclusive. We have seen how full the testimony to the fact that such was the purpose of the Father in sending the Son, and the design of the Son in coming into the world,—to magnify the law, work a perfect righteousness, and make atonement for sin. Such were the terms of his commission, and of the covenant under which he came. In reference to his appointment to fulfil these ends, Jesus, in his prayer at the supper, anticipating the scenes of the next day as already past, says, "Father, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."-John xvii. 4. And, now, on the cross, we are told by John, that after the cry, "Eli! Eli! lama sabacthani!"—"Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now, there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished."— John xix. 28-30. To all this, add the language of the risen Redeemer to his assembled disciples:-"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me."-Luke xxiv. 44. If, then, Messiah was foretold, in the Old Testament, as he who should bruise the serpent's head,—if he was predicted as he who should magnify the law and make it honourable,—if he was "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness," Dan. ix. 24;—if he came to make his soul an offering for sin,—to suffer the chastisement of our peace, that we with his stripes may be healed,-the word, "It is finished," attests all this complete. Satan is destroyed. The law is obeyed; its curse endured; its claims all satisfied; its authority established, magnified and made honourable. The honour of God's wisdom, goodness, power and justice, impeached and assailed by Satan, through man, is vindicated in the overthrow and destruction of Satan himself; in the defeat of all his designs against man; and the employment of his very malignity and hostile power, as the occasion and means of greater blessings to man, and higher glory to God. The eternal covenant, by the provisions of which the Son was sent to earth, and engaged in the conflict with Satan, is fulfilled; all its provisions of humiliation are met; and the Son has acquired the title to all the glory, power and salvation therein promised. If further evidence is demanded of a finished legal righteousness accomplished by Christ, it is presented in his resurrection. "In his blessed life I see the path, and in his death the price, Of immortality.-And did he rise?— Hear, O ye nations! hear it, O ye dead! He rose! he rose! he burst the bars of Death!"-YOUNG. Vain the machinations of priests and princes. Vain the stone, the seal, the glittering guard. The dawning comes of that first day of the week! And lo! a mighty angel-whilst the earth quakes at his presence, and the terrified soldiery flee from his face-descends, and rolls back the stone, and awaits the coming forth of the Mightier than he, who condescends to lie imprisoned there. Thus the second Adam arose. He had descended into the very den of death, and yielded himself to the very jaws of the grave, only to make his victory complete. He laid down his life, that he might take it again. Now is death swallowed up in victory, and life and immortality are brought to light. He is the first fruits of them that slept,-the first born from the dead. Prior to him, some had indeed been recalled to life. But it was only for a season, again to return to the dust. But "Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."-Rom. vi. 9. Not to the grave shall he ever return; but on high he ascends. Go, stand with the adoring apostles. Go, listen as they listened to his loving words, of grace and salvation. "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. . . . And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven."-Luke xxiv. 46-51. "God is gone up with a shout! the Lord with the sound of a trumpet!"Psalm xlvii. 5. Come forth to meet him, ye ransomed hosts, Abraham and all thy sons! He is the Son of Abraham, the Son of man. Death is abolished;-Satan is destroyed;--and redemption complete! "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."-Psalm xxiv. 9. If, "in that he died, he died unto sin once;"-Rom. vi. 10;-if he "hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," and "was once offered to bear the sins of many;" —Heb. ix. 26, 28;-if, by law, "the wages of sin is death;"-Rom. vi. 23; -then, unquestionably, the resurrection of the second Adam is proof conclusive, that the sins for which he died are atoned for and taken away,-that the wages of sin are fully paid, and the demands of the law wholly satisfied. Henceforth, let JEHOVAHTSIDKENU, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, be the song of all his people. CHAPTER XXII. THE LAST ADAM A QUICKENING SPIRIT. WE have seen that one controlling reason why the Mediator must assume a part in our nature, and put on a true humanity, 1. Effectual was in order that his human nature, might be a fitcalling. ting temple in which the Holy Spirit might dwell, making it the fountain of his influences and the seat of his redeeming power. It is in reference to this endowment of the person of Christ with the fulness of the Spirit, and the influences thence resulting, that Paul draws that remarkable contrast between the first Adam and the second:-"The first man Adam was made (si pux Coas) to be a living soul, the last Adam (εiç пveõμa swoпоrou) to be a quickening spirit. ... The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."-1 Cor. xv. 45-49. We are now to consider the manner in which Christ exerts this his quickening power, and confers on his people the blessings which are prepared for them by his and the Father's love. 1. The sovereign will of the royal Mediator is the sole moving cause of the work of grace. Says Jesus, "As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice. of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."-John v. 21, 25, 26. Here, Christ, no doubt, has ultimate reference to the resurrection of the body. But he |