sinners. The Salvation which He came to provide, required to reach high as the Throne of God, and deep as the ruin of the fallen and sinful. Therefore in Emmanuel we see our humanity taken into union with His Godhead; so that in our Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 'the Lord Jehovah * has come to meet us, and in Him we can return to God.

Again, an example was to be given for us to follow, perfect as the law of God, yet attractive and possible for us in our human weakness. We now see the holiness and the infinite perfections of God enshrined in the Person of Him, who has made obedience possible to His own command, 'Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.'

The proud were to be scattered in the imagination of their hearts, and all worldliness was to be stamped for ever with the condemnation of the Judge; therefore the Son of God appeared in the fulness of time * Isa. xii. 2.

to be at first not exalted and honoured, but 'despised and rejected of men.'

To give only one other instance of that divine wisdom which is revealed to us in Christ. A way was to be opened up, whereby the mercy and justice of God should meet together. In 'Christ crucified,' 'Mercy triumphed in the pardon of the transgressor, Justice in the death of the Surety.'* Therefore in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ we see the greatest love toward the sinner, and the greatest abhorrence of sin displayed together. 'God is just, while he is the justifier of him that believeth (R.V., hath faith) in Jesus.' As we attempt to meditate upon these things, we may well exclaim with the Apostle in another passage, 'O the depth of the riches. both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.' It is this wisdom, hidden from ages and generations, which is now made manifest in Christ. In Him, and in Him alone,

all the purposes and the promises of God toward mankind are fulfilled. Therefore His ministers, in seeking to carry out the great objects of their ministry, are still required to follow in this, as in other respects, the example of St. Paul, and 'to preach Christ crucified,' directing men simply and clearly to that Saviour, in and through Whom alone we can obtain the mercy, and grace, and strength, and righteousness, and peace, and other blessings which we urgently and constantly need. At the same time the inquiry cannot be too closely or directly impressed upon us, Are we ourselves willingly and faithfully entering into the great purposes towards us of God's grace, and love, and truth in Christ? Do we know what it is to be deeply humbled by the consciousness of that varied need and those pressing wants, which only 'the fulness that is in Christ' can supply? Wherever this need is sincerely felt, it must cause us to thirst and pray for the teaching

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and influence of the Holy Spirit, which are so essential to our growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. All who thus seek will certainly find in Him, who is 'the Power of God,' abundant reasons for Christian confidence, and trust, and thankfulness; while we are thus also enabled to know for ourselves, by a higher than merely human teaching, the wisdom of God as it is now revealed to us in our Lord Jesus Christ, for our redemption, and renewal, and restoration to His favour, His likeness, and His presence.

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VI.

THE WORD OF GOD, AND THE BLESSING WHICH IT BRINGS.

'He said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.'-ST. LUKE, xi. 28.

AN admission and also a comparison are contained in the two words with which this Beatitude is introduced: Yea, rather.' A certain woman amongst those who were listening to the Saviour's words had said, 'Blessed is the womb that bare thee.' The reply of the Lord Jesus began with an assent. He fully admitted the high honour and lasting distinction of her whom the angel Gabriel saluted as 'highly favoured,' and who said herself, by the inspi