expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the comforter will not come; but if I depart I will send him to you.'

We shall not attempt a particular explanation of these obscure passages. It is sufficient for us to know, that it was the object of our Saviour to console his disciples, by the assurances, that when they should be deprived of his visible presence and social intercourse, they should not be left without assistance, support, and consolation; -that a divine influence should accompany them in their work, and in their trials ;-that the cause of Christianity, which he came to establish, and to seal with his blood, was a progressive cause, which would require, and should obtain the divine aid, through every period of its progress that this peculiar aid was not necessary during his abode with them; but that it should supply his absence;-and that the strength of the sincere Christian, shall at every period be equal to his day.

There are other points of view which present themselves, by attending to the conformity of the methods displayed in the revelation of God,

* John, ch. xiv.

to the transactions of men, and comparing them with the moral principles conspicuous in the nature of man.

The terms Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, are frequently applied to our Saviour, by the apostolic writers. "There is one God," says St.. Paul, in his instructions to Timothy, "and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." He is said to be" the Mediator of a new covenant." "If any man ́sins," says the Apostle John, we "have an Advocate with the Father, Christ the Righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." "He is able to save them to the uttermost," says the writer to the Hebrews, "that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

In human transactions, it is usual to employ some intermediate person to promote a reconciliation between discordant parties. This Mediator is necessarily supposed to be exempt from culpability, respecting the subject in debate. He is also supposed to be impartial, to be a friend to each, and desirous of possessing the friendship of each, by his kind interference. Where great offences have been committed, which are calculated to excite strong resentments, such

an Intermediate is disposed to act as an Advocate and Intercessor, in favour of the offending party; employing every argument which justice will permit, and benevolence may suggest, to make a conciliatory impression upon the mind of the injured. As a Friend he is listened to with attention and respect; and if he solicit reconciliation as a favour conferred upon himself, he has a claim to attention, to which the offender cannot possibly make pretensions.

This office is peculiarly honourable. It can only be undertaken by those who possess benevolent and compassionate dispositions. It promotes and strengthens the social virtues. It inspires gratitude into the breast of the transgressor, and calls forth the love and admiration of the injured friend. The merits of this interference are greatly enhanced where much pains have been taken, and sacrifices have been made, in order to accomplish the benevolent purposes. Such an intermediation is a lesson of humility to the offender. It holds him trembling at a distance, by the very act which facilitates his approach.

We may farther remark, that it is frequently deemed a maxim of prudence, in a mind pos sessing warm benevolence, to render reconciliation apparently difficult; and to impute its

immediate success to the interference of a friend. This has a natural tendency to render the adverse party more cautious in the future. Benefits too easily conferred, are seldom estimated according to their value; but the most obdurate transgressor, would perceive that reiterated offences, are insults committed against the person principally offended, and his friendly Mediator.

The Being whom all men have offended, cannot be moved by intreaties, nor can his eternal purposes be changed. He it was that sought reconciliation. It was his own act to send his only begotten Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Yet in his conduct towards his moral offspring, he represents himself as conforming to the principles and dispositions of human agency; by way of accommodation to the weakness of our perceptions, and to produce a more impressive effect upon our minds. The universal Father, while he was determined to shew mercy, was determined also to check sumption. He appointed an Intermediate, in whose virtues he had perfect complacency, and whose benevolent desires will always be accomplished. Jesus assures his disciples, "I do always those things that please him." In his address to his Father, when he was about to recall

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Lazarus from his inconscious state, he said, "I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I know that thou hearest me always." We may therefore rest assured, when he prays,

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Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," that their pardon is sealed. The more implicit his obedience, the greater his sufferings, the deeper his disgrace, the more meritorious was he in the eyes of his heavenly Father, who expects that he should appear meritorious in cur eyes; and that we should view, as in a mirror, his detestation of those sins, which, as the Father of Mercies, he has promised to forgive.

We are informed that the resolute faith of Abraham, which prepared him to offer up his own son, in obedience to the divine command, was peculiarly acceptable to God; who knows the strength of those parental affections which he has himself planted within the human breast; and who, in accommodation to our natural feelings, is represented as possessing them. The favourite language of the Gospel is, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Apostle Paul argues, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Such expres