uttered, not in angry and misanthropic temper, but with deep, and constant, and touching tenderness? And when he retired from the crowd, what end sought he "on the mountain alone, all night in prayer to God?" And when successful in his work, what end did his gladness seek? What form did

his joy put on, and where did it terminate and repose? "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, FOR SO IT SEEMED GOOD IN THY SIGHT." Pride, selfishness, ambition, a worldly temper, would have said, give me the wise and the prudent! They would have clamoured with impatience for them; and when disappointed would have become sullen and angry. But Christ had another mind. And as we follow the Saviour down the deeper scenes of his humiliation, we still perceive that it was the glory of God which sustained him when burdened with others' woes, which softened the sharp sorrows which tore his spirit, and cheered his soul in its dismay and darkness. "Now is my

soul troubled, and what shall I say: Father save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. FATHer glorify tHY NAME.Ӡ "If it be possible, may this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." affair of man's Redemption was with a view to the glory of God. seen that God designed the recovery of sinners for the promotion of his own glory. Did not Christ seek

Indeed the whole pursued by Christ, We have already

Luke x. 21.

John xii. 27,

Luke xxii, 42.

it with the same view? Did not he agree with the Father in the end to be accomplished, as well as in the means by which it was to be brought about? Was it the chief end with the Father, and no end, or an inferior one, with Christ? We have seen too that the glory of God is the issue of redemption. All the perfections of God are therein exercised, displayed, and magnified. It brings everlasting honour and praise to God in the highest. It is the brightest manifestation of Deity of which we know, or of which we can conceive. Its light spreads over the universe, and stretches into eternity. And it is not for us to doubt that Christ saw the grand and main result of his sufferings, and that he acquiesced and rejoiced in it. That this does not destroy or impair the scripture representation of the benevolence of Christ, we may satisfy ourselves by remembering the conclusions to which we came upon the same point viewed in reference to God. We saw that the Supreme Being is not the less benevolent, because in making his creatures happy he seeks his own glory— that these objects entirely harmonize that the one is involved in the other. Thus it is with God. Thus it is with Christ. He and the Father are one. They agree and unite in their great and blessed designs. Christ then we perceive bore the cause of redeeming man, and at the same time sustained the care of bringing eternal glory to God. His object was in accomplishing our salvation to give expression to the divine character. 66 He that dwelt in the bosom of the Father, he hath revealed him.”* He, as Mediator, is "the image of the Invisible God." He is

the "Brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person.' "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ." + Christ in the work of redemption

is the manifestation of God to the universe. This glorious revelation of Jehovah in the character and work of Christ, was intended to impress the moral image of God afresh and for ever upon the fallen children of Adam. "Beholding in this glass the glory of the Lord, they were to be changed into the same image from glory to glory." And these wonderful disclosures were also to draw forth the united and everlasting praises and hosannahs of all holy and happy spirits. This is the blessed and illustrious consummation which the Redeemer kept before him. Thus we see the soul of Christ brought into union and sympathy with the divine mind and purposes. He was to exalt for ever the Infinite mercy and justice of God. How must this design have mingled itself with all his thoughts and feelings and intentions! This one consideration interprets his whole life. It gives meaning to his meek and lowly course, to his deep devotion, his tenderness of spirit, his discourses, his sadness, his love of solitude, his contempt of human grandeur and applause, his insensibility to the common objects of human desire, his indifference to ease and indulgence, and to the anguish and the terror of his last passion. It is that lustre which makes all definite, significant and bright.

It is worthy of observation that in those marks of the Father's complacency and in that great recompence granted to the Mediator, special regard was

Heb. i. 3.

† 2 Cor. iv. 6.

iii. 18.

paid to this point. The Father declared that in him "he was well pleased," he accepted the death of Christ as 66 an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour,"+" he raised him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name in heaven and earth;" and where fore? On account of " that mind which was in him," and his "obedience unto death;"§ for his absorbing regard for the Father's honour; for his pure, self-denying, self-sacrificing devotedness to that divine and glorious object to which he had consecrated himself. He accomplished those designs which were to glorify God; and he effected them voluntarily, with a full sympathy, with the purest consecration, with entire fidelity, and with unutterable ardour.

It may however, be thought too elevated a case for the purposes of example. But it should cease to be thought so, when we remember that the eternal God offers himself as an example, and that we are called upon as "dear children to be imitators of him." Shall not his Son then be a fit example, although he be "over all, God blessed for ever? "¶ But we should remember that this pattern is furnished by a man, though a man in mysterious union with Deity. We see then in him how man may feel and design and act in reference to God. We see how man ought-how he is bound to feel and design and act with regard to the divine glory. We learn also how he will feel and design and act in this matter when free from evil..

II. Examples of holy men selected from the Scriptures. It would be pleasant to pass from the Great Pattern to those who were nearest in time and perhaps in character and resemblance. But we

should be doing injustice to the memory of those who made great attainments in this excellency notwithstanding the imperfections and disadvantages of former infantile and introductory dispensations, should we pass them over in silence as unworthy of notice. It is also instructive and reproving to see them rising eminently under circumstances so inferior to our own.

Abel stands at the head of our roll. He offered a "more excellent and acceptable sacrifice than Cain,"* through the operation of that very principle which we now urge. His service was attended with an obedient temper, with faith in the divine institution, and with an eye to the honour of God as secured by. propitiatory sacrifice. Enoch and Noah must have a place in our enumeration. They surely who

"walked with God," glorified him. They both gave proof of it; the one by his predictions; the other by his preaching, his faith, and his careful preparation of the ark: and God gave his testimony by the translation of the former, and his miraculous deliverance of the latter. Abraham is an eminent instance. This is the whole secret of his singular history. His departure from his Father's house, his sojourn in Canaan, his altars and his prayers, the order and piety of his house, his willingness to sacrifice his only Son, all are to be referred to his regard for the divine will, approbation and honour, and to his "being strong in faith, giving glory to God."— Moses was heroic in this hallowed war. Unless this

* Gen. iv. 4. Heb. xi. 4.