to afford us insight, as far as it is lawful and possible, into some of the singularly precious revealed experiences of our wonderful Immanuel.

It is intended that this whole series of Lectures should draw its subjects from the Book of Psalms, that book so rich in doctrine, precept, experience, and prophecy, prophecy of the coming kingdom. And no wonder that the last should be combined with all the rest: without it the harmony would have wanted its cadence, and its discord have been unresolved. The harp that hung on the willows of Babylon, must yet burst into song on the hill of Zion; and the Psalms of the Son of Jesse, often the expression of his children's sorrow, be hereafter also the language of their joy and triumph, when the greater Son of David shall come as their King for ever, in the name of the Lord.

We shall first briefly illustrate our subject from this wonderful book: and to begin with our text, the Psalm from which it is taken is well known, as expressing in its earlier part the experience of the Saviour as suffering for sin. In the twentysecond verse, He exchanges prayer for praise; and in the twenty-sixth and following verses, declares the precious result of His sufferings, in the salvation of them that seek God, in the subduing of His enemies, and in the turning of

the whole earth to the Lord in devout submission and pure worship.

In Psalm xvi., well known to you all, He anticipates His resurrection and ascension, His life and joy, as the result of His obedience unto death.

In Psalm xl., He begins by describing His deliverance from death, and His subsequent exaltation; and expresses His singular delight in the will of His Father, and with what readiness He came to fulfil that will by the sacrifice of Himself, seeing that no other sacrifice or burntoffering could avail anything.

In Psalm ii., after a description of the opposition of the kings and rulers, partly fulfilled in the sufferings at His first coming, and partly to be fulfilled in the conflict at His second coming, we have the Lord's present glory in His resurrection and ascension, and His future enthronement on the hill of Sion, followed by the heathen being given Him at His request for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.

In Psalm viii., we have Him made a little lower than the angels, in which humiliation He suffered and died, that He might be crowned with glory and honour, and that His reward might be the dominion of all creation.

In Psalm cx., we have no direct allusion to His

and in His

sufferings, unless we understand the last verse in this relation," He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall He lift up His head; which we are not disposed to do. But in His sitting at the right hand of God, investment with the Melchizedek priesthood, His previous sufferings are implied; and the whole Psalm states in glowing language the magnitude of His reward, and the glory of His triumph, evidently as the fruit of His humiliation.

In Psalm lxix., the earlier part of which is a literal prophecy of the Saviour's sufferings, we have as their result His being set up on high (ver. 29); His thanksgiving to the Father for His triumph (ver. 30, 31); the consequent joy of them that seek God (ver. 32); the praise of creation (ver. 34); and the salvation of Zion and Jerusalem for the inheritance of them that love Him (ver. 35, 36).

Psalm exviii. is thus sketched by Horsley :"The whole poem is a triumphant processional song. The scene passes at the front gate of the temple. A conqueror with his train appears before it, and demands admittance, to return thanks for deliverance and final success in an expedition of great difficulty and danger." He then transfers the whole to heaven. We are disposed to think that it refers, first, to Messiah's triumph

at His first coming in the resurrection, and, secondly, to His final triumph at His second coming, over all His congregated enemies, when the prayer He offered in the distress of His suffering shall be answered by His exaltation in His approaching glory. Then shall the chastening of the Lord bring forth its abundant fruit, and His sore affliction its plenteous reward.

But having taken this brief view of our subject from the Book of Psalms exclusively, which the plan of these Lectures seemed to demand, let us now pass to a more full and extended consideration of this sublime and marvellous theme. And for this purpose let us

I. First, take a rapid sketch of those wonderful results in which the final triumph of the Messiah will be developed and consummated. And here we should be very wanting in our exposition, if we omitted allusion to the moral victory which our coming King will achieve.

1. We may well, then, put first the manifestation of the attributes and character of our God. How much there is in the way of this at present! How has the evil one succeeded in throwing into the shade His glory! How little is His righteousness known! How little is His love recognised! How have the stars as they roll lost the voice of His praise to the ear, and the world in its exqui

site arrangement failed to tell the tale of His wisdom to the eye of its too senseless occupant! How little are the steps of His providence traced in its benignity and compassion, mercy and forbearance! How is His justice questioned, His equity impugned, His wisdom not understood, His patience mistaken for indifference, His purposes misrepresented, and His promises and threatenings alike unheeded and trifled with! And if we look at His own children in reference to all these things, it is true they know much more than others; and yet how faint their impressions, how feeble their conceptions, how low and imperfect their views of all the glory of their God! And who has triumphed in all this, but the great enemy? And who shall retrieve and restore all this but our coming King? giving explicitness to what has appeared perplexed, and pouring light upon what has been obscure; but, above all, manifesting then more especially, in the consummated glory of His own person, as never shall have been witnessed before, the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2. Nor will His triumph be less evidenced in exhibiting the perfect HARMONY of the Divine character. Much has been done by Him already towards this end: but how does the adversary gain advantage still from exalting one perfection