dignified and solemn rite in the world, albeit of Divine Institution, cannot so much as put forth a finger to lighten the load of human guilt, or to arrest the course of God's justice upon the sinner; nor if all the beasts of Lebanon were slain for a burnt-offering, and all its cedar forests hewn down to form a pile, would the vast hecatomb be more efficacious. Why, then, it may be asked, were sacrifices continually offered under the Law, if they could not (as the Apostle assures us they could not) relieve the worshipper's conscience, nor in any way affect the relations between him and God? The answer to this is, first, that such sacrifices were divinely instituted, and were therefore binding upon the ancient Church, whether they could or could not see the ground of them. Secondly, that, as being divinely instituted, they must have been in some degree means of grace. Thirdly, that they were representations, before the event, of the one Offering of the Death of Christ, and, as such, consoled the faithful with the thought that God would, in His own good time, provide a really efficacious Atonement. But now, is there no Ordinance under the New Testament, which exactly meets all these conditions, which is in the first place divinely instituted, in the next place a means of Grace, in the third place a representation (after the event) of the Death of Christ? Can it be denied that our own Church at least (whatever may be the case with the Protestant sects) fully and emphatically recognizes all these attributes as attaching to the Supper of the Lord? Then what is the legitimate and necessary inference? That the Supper of the Lord (though in no sense expiatory) is the Sacrifice of the New Dispensation;—that it is to Memory exactly what the Jewish Sacrifices were to Hope; that here in short

we have Sacrifice, with its external form altered (as having been brought out into the light of a better Economy), but with its essential features (viz., Divine institution, instrumentality of Grace, representation of the Lord's Death) remaining untouched. The Gospel is a Dispensation of Mercy, and therefore no blood flows in our Sacrifice, as in those of the Law, which worketh wrath. Our Sacrifice is a very simple rite; for the whole character of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simplicity combined with depth. But it is no less a commemoration of the Death of Christ, after the fact, than the legal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of it, before it took place. The outpoured wine of the one is as significant as the shed blood of the other. "For as often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do show the Lord's Death, till He come."

It should be added, by way of completing the argument, that the idea of sacrifice being necessarily propitiatory in its character is an entire misapprehension, founded on ignorance (too prevalent unhappily among those who pride themselves upon adherence to Scripture) of the Jewish Levitical Law. Expiation of sin is not the fundamental idea of Sacrifice at all. Sin-offerings and trespass-offerings no doubt there were, in which there was a remembrance of sin, and into the idea of which, therefore, expiation did enter as one element of them. But these were only particular species of the genus Sacrifice, which embraced besides burnt-offerings, meatofferings, drink-offerings, peace-offerings, and freewillofferings. The fundamental idea of all these varieties seems to be maǹ rendering unto GOD something which pleases and satisfies Him, whether in the way of selfsurrender, gratitude, voluntary acknowledgment, or ex

piation. Man can never expiate; but it does not follow that, when forgiven and accepted, he cannot offer an acceptable homage.

But one moment remains to give a practical turn to these reflections, by calling attention to that verse, with which the Apostle concludes his warning against participation of idol-sacrifices: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?" The literal idol-sacrifice has ceased. Yet are there innumerable idols, even in the nominally Christian world, with trains of worshippers who hold communion with them, if not sacramentally, yet in heart and. spirit. There is Mammon with his troop of idolaters,all those who, whether miserly or not, secretly regard the comforts and resources of this world as the one great object of human existence. There is Ashtaroth, with her impure and licentious orgies, drawing votaries to her altars with the lure of sensuality. There is Moloch, to whom human victims are still offered, when children of tender age and young women are ground down by the oppressiveness of a cruel social system, and the employer will give no other terms than long hours and low wages. The sun shining in his strength, the moon walking in brightness, and other objects of natural beauty, have still the power to entice the heart and attract the salutes of many; for there is a Pantheistic talk making itself heard among us, in circles calling themselves philosophical and refined, to the effect that all things have some particle of Divinity, and rightfully challenge some species of worship. There is Reason, and her throng of worshippers, all following after the ignis fatuus of intellectual power, in whatever form it may display itself, and forsaking the old beaten paths of homely Scriptural Truth. These are all idols, with devils behind them,

Present not

maintaining and abetting their worship. yourself to hold communion with Christ, while you communicate with these; while you are drawn by their fascinations, and do homage at their shrine. Do you provoke the Lord to jealousy? Know that He will not share thy heart with any idol god; and as often as you approach the Christian Altar, reflect that the condition of partaking of the Lord's Table to the soul's health is, that communion with the world, the flesh, and the devil be first sincerely renounced.

LECTURE VI.

OF THE INTERCESSION IN THE PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH

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MILITANT.

" exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 'For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” 1 TIM. ii. 1, 2.

IN the Prayer for the Church Militant there are three great features, the Oblation, the Intercessions, and the Commemoration of the Dead. Of the first of these we have spoken sufficiently. The Intercessions next claim our attention.

They are directed to five objects: the general wellbeing of the Church; a righteous executive in Christian States; an effective ministration of God's Word and Sacraments; a right reception of that Word by the people; and, finally, the consolation and support of the

afflicted. Thus the precept of the Apostle Paul seems to be very narrowly followed. We intercede first for all men" (for all, at least, within the pale of the Church); then for "Christian rulers" (under whatever name they may be known), "and for all that are in authority" (spiritual as well as temporal); and then for the people, that they may be virtuous and God-fearing, made so by the instrumentality, partly of a righteous Executive, partly of an efficient ministry ("that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty)." We cannot frame an Intercessory Prayer much more closely upon inspired instructions.

1. Our first subject of Intercession is the general welfare of the Church. Alas! how urgent a need of our Prayers has the Universal Church! How miserably far is she from realising the spiritual condition which her Divine Founder designed for her, and prayed that she might be led into and kept in! If you will read with attention His great High-Priestly Prayer recorded in S. John xvii., you will see that there are two great features of this spiritual condition, Truth a nd perfect Unity. "Sanctify them through Thy Truth," says He, “Thy Word is Truth." And again: "Holy Father, keep through" (literally, in) "Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me" (keep them, that is, in the true acknowledgment of Thy Name), "that they may be one, as we are." And again: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hastsent Me." But how awfully different is the actual state of Christendom from that which Christ contemplated for His Disci