God. That mission, or errand, is neither more nor less than his duty; his whole duty, which is prescribed, bounded and sanctified by God's commandment. His ruling and abiding purpose must be to carry that mission through, to perform that duty to the end. He must therefore, as the servant of God, prepare himself to meet and withstand temptation, and struggle faithfully in moral conflict. And as the servant of Christ also, and his disciple, he must call on his master's name, and arm himself with his master's mind, that he may resist and contend understandingly and successfully. And surely, with such armor on, success must attend and crown him. The fight in the wilderness will end to his advantage, and the devil will leave him, and angels will come and spread a table for him, and minister unto him. The victory will be the purchase of the refreshment; and after such refreshment, he shall be stronger and happier than before. Spiritual joy, and godly peace, and sacred confidence shall be his ministering angels, and they shall encourage his heart, and, holding festival with him in the desert, now no longer a desert,

Sing heavenly anthems of his victory
Over Temptation and the Tempter proud."

SERMON XI.

AUTHORITY OF OUR SAVIOUR AS A

TEACHER.

HE TAUGHT THEM AS ONE HAVING AUTHORITY, AND NOT AS THE SCRIEES. Matthew vII. 29.

THERE was an ample tribute paid to the authority and power of our Saviour's instructions, by the officers who were sent by the pharisees and chief priests to take him; a circumstance recorded in the seventh chapter of John. They came to him while he was addressing the people; while he was dispensing, to his attentive listeners, the stores of heavenly wisdom, in the words of heavenly eloquence. They came to him when he was inaccessible; when there was a light, a majesty, and a spell in him, and about him, which beat back human force, which arrested the hands of violence, and defeated the purpose of his enemies. The hearts of the officers were turned. Their commission unperformed, they were compelled to go back again to their employers; and when they were angrily

asked " Why have ye not brought him?"— their only answer was "Never man spake like this man ! In fact they could not bring him; they had no excuse to offer; the truth was plain, and they were obliged to confess it; they were awed, they were thrilled, they were overwhelmed. They had probably heard the doctors of their law discourse, and the members of their council debate, and their orators harangue the people, but they had heard nothing like this; never man spake like this man ;" and they sunk back subdued among the crowd, and could not touch him.

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And this was the case on many other similar occasions. Whenever he spoke, he was triumphant. The effects of his discourses were, in almost every instance, immediate and overpowering. And if we seek for the reason, we have it in the reflection of the evangelist, as expressed in the words of our text. "The people were astonished at his doctrine," he says, " for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." The The power of his eloquence was altogether new to them; it excited new sensations within them; it affected them as they had never been affected before; in all their experience there was no parallel to it; and as to their scribes there was nothing in all their learning and pride, absolutely nothing of that divine

authority, which spoke in every word of the lowly Jesus.

It is my intention, at the present time, to make some observations on the nature of this authority, and direct your notice to its principal characteristics.

I. It was, in the first place, the authority of truth, of a twofold truth; the truth of his own manner and his own convictions, and the truth of the sentiments which he uttered, and the doctrines which he brought.

In his manner there was no affectation, no disguise, no appearance of artifice, no attempt to dazzle or confound, no fury, extravagance or excess. The features of a simple reality were impressed on all that he said. An air of the deepest conviction gave weight to every word. The precepts which fell from his lips, passed through them from his heart. We are never induced, for a moment, to suspect that he is trifling in any way with the understanding, or the feelings of his hearers. In his conversations with his disciples, in his answers to the various questions, which from various motives were put to him, and in his more public and extended discourses, we cannot fail to remark the spirit of solemnity which breathes through the whole, and tells us of an origin which is not of

earth. And this solemnity, let it be observed, is all in its proper place, unstudied, naturally worn, and in perfect harmony with time and occasion, with his offices and duties, and with the good feelings of men. It is not that mock solemnity, which was then, and is now, so often drawn down over the outward man, like a stiff and awkward dress; that solemnity which is anything rather than solemn in the eyes of the wise, whatever it may be in the eyes of the undiscerning. It is altogether a different quality. Though dignified, it is not repelling; though deeply sincere, it is never gloomy; it speaks of the consciousness, though not the pride of exaltation; and while it denotes the presence of all that is venerable, it does not part on that account with anything that is lovely and engaging.

We may follow our Saviour through every page of gospel history; bear him company through the streets of the city, and the waste places of the desert; in the dwellings of his friends, and the assemblies of his foes; we may stand on the banks of the Jordan at his baptism; mix with the crowd who listen to his teaching; join his disciples in their daily converse with him; go to the judgment hall of Pilate, and from the judgment hall to the cross—and we are still in the presence of the same elevated, sustained, and heavenly character; we are still in the