God not only did this, but for the suffering of death, crowned him with additional glory and honour, appointing him head over all things to the Church, and commanding every knee to bow before him, and every tongue to confess his name.

In consequence of this exaltation to the highest rank, and this investiture with all dominion and power, Christ demands, and is entitled to receive, the homage of every creature. The extent of his empire goes through all the universe. It comprehends "things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." Accordingly, we read that the holy angels received authority to worship him after his resurrection. We read not of any worship paid him by these happy spirits prior to this event; but on his triumph over sin and the grave, and his taking possession of the kingdom which was awarded him in recompense for his sufferings, these celestial servants of the most high God, being comprised within the limits of his supreme dominion, began to adore him as their governor and head. This is distinctly announced in the following passage from the Hebrews, Again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world," that is, "the firstborn from the dead," he saith, "And let all the angels of God worship him." The probable original of which passage is thus delivered in the book of Psalms, "Worship him all ye gods." The difference between the authority of the angels, and that of Christ, is strongly pointed out by St. Paul in the opening of that Epistle. They are sometimes styled

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gods or princes of the kingdom of heaven, but always as servants and instruments, bearing rule in a master's house, and doing his will; whereas Christ is the heir of all things, Lord by nature, "governing his own house," over which he is supreme, "being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said God at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

If, then, the holy angels worship Christ, (and some specimens of their adoration may be found in the book of Revelation,) well may we, poor sinful creatures, who caused his humiliation and suffering, and are now the objects of his immediate care and agency. Their services and ours rest on quite different grounds, and have different motives assigned to them in Scripture. They stand not in need of any mediation from him for offences committed against God. They were not redeemed from sin, and wrath, and death, by his precious blood-shedding. They adore him as the "head over all things to the

Church," of which they are verily made members; and they feel an interest above what we have ever felt, arising from the superior sense they have of his amazing condescension in dying to redeem the world. But our services spring from another motive; from the consciousness of inbred sin and guilt, of weakness and suffering, of danger and distress. They ought to spring, too, from unbounded gratitude, from deep anxiety, from unutterable sensations of wonder, love, and joy. What hath Christ not done for erring man? We were not only without the pale of any promise of future life, but without even a hope and prospect of it. He restored this promise and revived this hope, by bringing us near in his own body unto God, and opening thereby an easy access to the throne of grace. Our very approach to God was cut off by our transgressions, and we never could have been heard as penitents and suppliants, had he not, in our nature, made satisfaction for us. How could we have ventured alone and defenceless into the presence of that Awful Being, whom, by our continual sins, we had every one offended? Which of us could have expected an audience of his Maker whilst the first sentence on our guilty race stood unrepealed against us? He, who knows himself at all and understands his services, cannot but be so much struck with their imperfection and unworthiness, as almost to entertain a fearful apprehension, lest they should aggravate his sins, rather than procure his reconciliation and forgiveness. This sense of their unworthiness, when duly impressed upon the

mind, shows the necessity of Christ's holy mediation in our behalf, that the offerings we make may be taken and presented by him to God, and be accepted and approved by means of his effectual intercession. This brings us to the consideration of the Second particular of our subject, namely, That by virtue of Christ's investiture with all power and dominion, and of his exaltation to God's right hand, he is qualified to be our intercessor with God.

II. Of all self-evident truths this is one of the plainest, that we are not fit of ourselves to make any offering to God. The very best offering we can make is stained as it comes from a sinful creature, and no services with stains and defilement upon them, are proper to be presented to a perfect being. Nay, not only are they not proper, but they want that first principle of meetness, that holiness of nature, which qualifies them for reception by an allholy God. In order, therefore, to do away this leading difficulty which bars all access to the throne of grace, we are permitted and commanded to offer up our services to God through Christ, he being the mediating agent, the qualifying instrument, by which our imperfect addresses are made meet for the heavenly acceptance. His mediatorial character consists in this, that he stands at the right hand of God, hears our devotions, takes them up and presents them unto God, and causes God to accept them, because he pleads his own sufferings and death as the only ground of sufficiency. The satisfaction to

God by which he became qualified to mediate, was made upon the cross; but the body in which he made it, he carried with him into heaven, and that body he now presents as the memorial of his atonement. Whatever change his body has undergone, it has not prevented it from remaining, in, all propriety of language, the same essential body, so that he can produce this body when he presents these prayers, and like a faithful High Priest, make intercession for us. "If any man sin," says St. John, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins:" this perfectly corresponds to what I have just stated of the validity of Christ's mediation, by the merits of his bodily presentation of himself.

This office of a mediator our Lord first assumed on taking possession of his kingdom. He had, partly, on certain occasions of his life, executed it before, but he did not in strictness enter upon it till his ascension. Then, and not till then, was he qualified by his sufferings and services, and his consequent triumphant exaltation to fulfil the important office. It was an office which grew immediately out of his sufferings, and stood so intimately connected with them, that it could have no efficacy, probably no existence, independent of them. This is fully set forth in the following passages, "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Or as it