and sublime than any ever performed by others. A hundred men with twenty loaves are fed by Elisha; but Jesus with five loaves feeds fifty hundred. They to whom superhuman power was delegated could only exercise it through some object of instrumentality. Moses accomplished his mighty deeds in Egypt with the rod which he bore with him; nor would the sea divide, without his stretching that wonderous staff over its surface. Nor would the bitterness of Marah become sweet, without his casting the tree into its waters. But Christ needed no instrumentality-no name foreign to himself. His word is Omnipotence. "Be whole!" and health returns; "Arise !" and the sleeping dead awakes; "Come forth !" and the tomb gives back its trust; Peace, be still!" and the tumultuous billows are calmed. Death and the grave bore witness to his declaration: "I am the Resurrection and the Life." The winds and the waves and the storm obeyed their God. The Apostles ascribed their miraculous power to Him. To the cripple at the Beautiful gate they said: "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk." But Christ said to those whom he healed: "I will, be thou clean; Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I charge thee to come out of him;" and to the dead son of the widow of Nain, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" Thus do the miracles of Christ surpass all others-establishing his Messiahship and Divine mission, and symbolizing the future triumphs of his gospel.

IV. Christ was alone in his sufferings. Suffering is the result of sin. It comes in consequence of the violation of God's moral law or the laws of our own physical constitution. Whoever sins against God, or against himself, must suffer. Jesus taught this when he charged the impotent man whom he had healed at Bethesda, saying, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." But the sufferings of the Saviour had no such origin as this. They were not the result of any sin which he had committed, of any law he had broken. Intense as they were, infinitely beyond all that mortal ever experienced, they were endured by a Being of spotless innocence. When he bowed under the agony of the garden, and prayed that, if it were possible, that cup might pass from him-the pains which he felt were not those of remorse. When his "soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death"-that bloody baptism of anguish overwhelmed him, not in consequence of any guilt of his own. It was the crushing weight of a world's iniquities whose awful pressure he sustained. It was the innocent suffering for the guilty, that the guilty might escape eternal condemnation and wrath. It was the Almighty Saviour, as a voluntary substitute for the sinner under the law, that He might be "the end of the law, for righteousness to every one that believeth." "Truly, he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows" -treading the wine-press alone. In that dreadful, solitary hour, "On him was laid the iniquity of us all :"

"That he who gave man's breath might know
The very depths of human woe."

V. Christ was alone in his death. There has been but one Calvary-one cross of expiation-one vicarious victim-one expiring Saviour, whose blood is efficacious to atone for sin. The death of that Saviour stands out in the universe by itself in unparalleled sublimity and moral grandeur. That was the culminating point in the great work of atonement-the tremendous crisis where the hope of the world was centred and suspended. O what a scene for heaven and earth to witness! There stood the Saviour, firm to his purpose, bearing up the burden of a condemned and dying world. "I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me."

Martyrs have died for their faith-patriots have sacrificed their lives for their country-but there has been no death in our world like that of Christ. Were it possible for man to give a thousand lives, "none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." "But God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Benefits sometimes accrue to others when men die. The monarch of an empire, the chief magistrate of a nation, being removed by death, another succeeds to his honors. When a man of wealth dies, his children come into the possession of a fortune. But there is no moral virtue in the death of any human being. When the King of Israel wept over his fallen son and poured forth the touching lamentation, "Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom," had he been permitted to do so, he could not have saved the soul of his beloved, but rebellious boy. What were the benefits resulting from the death of Christ? That death opened the door for the salvation of a world. It was that which bridged the awful gulph that hopelessly separated man from God-earth from heaven. In that death, Justice and Forgiveness mingled and blended-" Mercy and Truth met together-Righteousness and Peace kissed each other." "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," through the efficacy of that atoning sacrifice.

Jesus came into the world to die. That event was always before him. Never did he lose sight of it amid all his journeyings, all the exhibitions of his benevolence and power. He looked forward to the solemn scene; he often alluded to it; he desired its fulfilment. "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished ?" As he saw the event approaching-in all its dread and unutterable reality -he knew that he must endure it alone. He had always had a few sympathizing disciples and friends; he had had the presence and aid of his Father; but now, in the very darkest scene of his agony, he was to be left to himself. O, what were his emotions, when he uttered the words, "Father, the hour is come!"

As the terrible tragedy proceeded, where were his disciples? "Of the people there was none with me." As the weight of the world's guilt rested upon him in that dark and awful hour, why did he exclaim, " My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" Did not his Father leave him to bear that weight alone, that his value, as a complete sacrifice and an Almighty Saviour, might be manifest both in severity and glory? He trod the winepress alone. He came forth from that scene of struggle and conflict a triumphant victor-man's great enemy conquered, and the world in possession of a finished redemption. His garments were dyed with the blood of atonement. In his resurrection, he appeared "glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."

Where shall we find a parallel to all this? Has another such scene transpired, is another such fact lodged in any part of the universe? History! thou hoary chronicler of the past, unroll thy records, disclose their wonders, and search out all thou hast forgotten to write-and wilt thou find another event like this? Prophet! that gazest down the ages to come, and seest all that is glorious and marvellous in the future-say, is it there? Ye worlds that sweep the circle of the heavens, which of you has been the place where "God was manifest in the flesh?" Where, in all your realms, has a Saviour died? Feeling, perhaps, the influence of that death, restraining, saving, glorious yet it transpired not with you! O earth, rebellious. earth! how has Jehovah looked upon thee and visited thee, and made thy one and only Golgotha the centre of a system before which the stars in yonder canopy shall fade, and all material splendor vanish away!

VI. Christ was alone in his intercessory and mediatorial work. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." When, after his humiliation, he ascended triumphant, he took our nature with him up to the throne of intercession, there as the God-man to mediate and plead in behalf of sinners. There is no other medium of access to God and heaven. The Jewish priesthood, having fulfilled its appointment, was abolished when Christ appeared. All its service and its ceremonials were superseded by the in-coming of a new dispensation, with its more excellent ministry, and wherein Jesus "is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." There is no priestly office on earth now; there are no sacerdotal grades and sacrifices akin to those of the Aaronic institution. The plea for their existence and the support they claim are, under the gospel, false in theory and without foundation in fact. They are deroga. tory to Christ, and an infringement on the method of salvation by grace. They detract from the value of the great sacrifice, and obstruct and involve the way to the Only Intercessor. Ministerial functions and religious ceremonies, founded on offices

and rites of the Jewish economy, are like the employment of an obsolete agency that has fulfilled its purpose, and been dismissed. It is as though a man, after his edifice was completed, should insist on retaining as a part of the building, the scaffolding, the ropes, and the ladders, which had once been needful and proper, but are now not only useless, but an incumbrance and a blemish. Now, the redeemed disciples of our Lord, wherever they are found, are "an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." They are to execute the commission and commands of the Head and Lawgiver of the Christian Church, and thus "show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light." Christ himself is the High Priest of their profession, who is passed into the heavens, hath an unchangeable priesthood, and "is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." No human being, whatever be his ecclesiastical titles or pretensions, can act for us as a mediator, or a bestower of pardon. No early rite or ceremony can effect our regeneration. No mere church organization or enclosure can invest us with the privileges of Christian discipleship. We must come directly and personally to Jesus, in penitence and faith, trusting alone in him, and resting all our hope on his atoning sacrifice, or we cannot be accepted of God and saved. Man, conscious of his spiritual need, is ever prone to works of merit, to trust in ceremonies or to establish his own righteousness. This is seen in Pagan idolatries and Papal superstitions, and also in a religion that is formal or merely sentimental. "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" is a question that greeted the ears of Christ. His reply was characteristic. "This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent." Simple faith in Jesus-heart-yielding submission to God through him-is the sinner's first, and chief duty; and, without this, whatever else he may do, heaven will be shut against him. The only mediator and intercessor hath said, "I am the door; by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved." "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Apostles have added, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Such, brethren, is Christ our Lord and Saviour, in his alone undertaking the work of our redemption-in his incarnation, his life and deeds, his sufferings, his death, his intercession. In view of what has been said, I observe,

1. He is the alone Saviour for us. As sinners, included among the lost whom he came to seek and to save, when we see his adaptation to his great work, and realize our need, we cannot but feel that there is none but Christ. All our merits, works, hopes-what are they without Christ?

"Should my tears for ever flow,
Should my zeal no languor know,
All for sin could not atone,

Thou must save, and Thou alone."

What divine attributes, what infinite riches are his! What clustering excellencies, what unrivaled attractions centre in Him! "Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious"the "chiefest among ten thousand-the one altogether lovely." He is our life, our hope, our joy. And we are complete in him, in whom all fulness dwells, and "who, of God, is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." He is all this to every believer in Him, whatever be his rank, wealth, or intelligence. To all he is the Alpha and Omega of their salvation. In gladness and gloom, in prosperity and adversity, in life and in death, here and hereafter, he is the all-sufficient and eternal portion of their souls. From every heart renewed, there goes up continually to Christ, the grateful and adoring aspiration: "Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee."

2. Without faith in Christ there is no salvation. A sinner out of Christ is a sinner lost. A world without the knowledge of Christ, is a world lying in darkness and the shadow of death. Whatever else a nation, a community, an individual, may have, if they have not Christ enthroned in the heart, and the principles of his gospel incorporated in the life, they are enemies to God, and heirs of hell. They may have intelligence, refinement, and wealth-may have splendid churches and gorgeous ceremonials may hear and speak the name of Jesus,-but every soul that does not apprehend Him by faith, and personally submit to Him, to be his and do his will, has no part nor lot with him. Sinners are condemned-lost for ever-if they have not Jesus for their Saviour! What avail the forms of religion, if the power of godliness be absent? Of what value is a church that does not hold Christ as the only mediator and intercessor before God, and, through whom alone, sinners are pardoned? Of what benefit is a ministry that does not preach Christ as he is, Christ first, Christ last, Christ always, Christ alone, as the apostles preached him? Contemplating this subject in all its high interest and importance, can we not sympathize with Paul, in his declaration to the Corinthians, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle speaks of some who desired to make a fair show in the flesh, by conforming to existing rites not required by the gospel, and so avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. But Paul spurned everything like a worldly and fashionable religion. "God forbid," said he, "that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." There is nothing men need so much as the gospel of Christ-the cross