And it will be observed, moreover, that in these offices He also represents to us the Holy Trinity; for in His own proper character He is a priest, and as to His kingdom He has it from the Father, and as to His prophetical office He exercises it by the Spirit. The Father is the King. the Son the Priest, and the Holy Ghost the Prophet.

And further this may be observed, that when Christ had thus given a pattern in Himself of such contrary modes of life, and their contrary excellences, all in one, He did not, on His going away, altogether withdraw the wonderful spectacle; but He left behind Him those who should take His place, a ministerial order, who are His representatives and instruments; and they, though earthen vessels, show forth according to their measure these three characters,-the prophetical, priestly, and regal, combining in themselves qualities and functions which, except under the Gospel, are almost incompatible the one with the other. He consecrated His Apostles to suffer, when He said, "Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with My baptism;" to teach, when He said, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, He shall teach you all things;" and to rule, when He said to them, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel 1."

Nay, all His followers in some sense bear all three offices, as Scripture is not slow to declare. In one place it is said, that Christ has "made us kings and priests

1 Matt. xx. 23. John xiv. 26. Luke xxii. 29, 30.

unto God and His Father;" in another, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things'. Knowledge, power, endurance, are the three privileges of the Christian Church; endurance, as represented in the confessor and monk; wisdom, in the doctor and teacher; power, in the bishop and pastor. And now to illustrate this more at length, by way of showing what I mean.

We

1. I mean this,-that when we look abroad into the world, and survey the different states and functions of civil society, we see a great deal to admire, but all is imperfect. Each state, or each rank, has its particular excellence, but that excellence is solitary. For instance, —if you take the highest, the kingly office, there is much in it to excite reverence and devotedness. cannot but look up to power, which God has originally ́given, so visibly and augustly displayed. All the pomp and circumstance of a court reminds us that the centre of it is one whom God, the Almighty King, maintains. And yet, on second thoughts, is there not this great defect, that it is all power, and no subjection; all greatness, and no humiliation; all doing, and no suffering? Great sovereigns indeed, like other men, have their own private griefs, and, if they are Christians, have the privileges of Christians, painful as well as pleasant; but I am speaking of kingly power in itself, and showing what a contrast it presents to Christ's sovereignty. Princes are brought up princes; from their birth they receive honours approaching to worship; they will a thing, and it is done; they are on high, and

1 Rev. i. 6. 1 John ii. 20.

never belcw. How different the sovereignty of Christ! Born, not in golden chambers, but in a cave of the earth, surrounded with brute cattle, laid in a manger; then bred up as the carpenter's son; when He displayed Himself as the King of Saints, still without a place to lay His head, and dying on the Cross a malefactor's death. He was not a king without being a sufferer too. And so in like manner His followers after Him. He washed His brethren's feet, and He bade them in turn do the like. He told them that, "whosoever would be chief among them, let him be their servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many1." He warned them that they should receive "houses and lands, with persecutions." Such is the kingly power of Christ,―reached through humiliation, exercised in mortification.

He does and he

Half his time is

2. Take another instance. How much is there to admire and revere in the profession of a soldier. He comes more nearly than a king to the pattern of Christ. He not only is strong, but he is weak. suffers. He succeeds through a risk. on the field of battle, and half of it on the bed of pain. And he does this for the sake of others; he defends us by it; we are indebted to him; we gain by his loss; we are at peace by his warfare. And yet there are great drawbacks here also. First, there is the carnal weapon: it is a grievous thing to have to shed blood and to inflict wounds, though it be in self-defence. But again, which is more to our present purpose, after all, the soldier is 1 Matt. xx. 27, 28.

2 Mark x. 30.

but an instrument directed by another; he is the arm, he is not the head; he must act, whether in a right cause or in a wrong one. His office is wanting in dignity, and accordingly we associate it with the notion of brute force, and with arbitrariness, and imperiousness, and violence, and sternness, and all those qualities which are brought out when mind, and intellect, and sanctity, and charity, are away. But Christ and His ministers are bloodless conquerors. True, He came as one from the battle; and the Prophet cried out on seeing Him, "Who is this that cometh with dyed garments? . . . wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat1?" that blood was His own; and if His enemies' blood flowed after His, it was drawn by themselves, by the just judgment of God, not by Him. "He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth "."

But

But there is "a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;" so in season He spoke, and then He was a Prophet. In season He opened His mouth and said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit;" and so with the other beatitudes upon the mount. "In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;" "Full of grace are His lips, because God hath blessed Him for ever." He not only commands, He persuades. He tempers His awful deeds, He explains His sufferings, by His soothing words. "The Lord hath given unto Him the tongue of the learned, that He may be able to speak a word in season to him that is weary." And when He

1 Isa. lxiii. 1, 2

2 Isa. liii. 7. Acts viii. 32.

began to teach, "all men marvelled at the gracious
words which proceeded out of His mouth." He
taught them "as one having authority." David,
himself a prophet and king, a man of sacred song,
though a man of blood, had shown beforehand what
kind of ruler the promised Christ must be ;-" He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God;
and He shall be as the light of the morning." And
Moses before him, another ruler of God's people; "My
doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil
as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender herb, and
as the showers upon the grass
1" And hence it was said
of the Saviour to come, "He shall not strive nor cry,
neither shall any hear His voice in the streets; a
bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall
He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto
victory"." Hence such stress is laid in the Prophets
on His being a Just God and a Saviour; on "righteous-
ness and peace kissing each other;" on "righteousness
being the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle
of His reins." Such is the Divine Prophet of the
Church, the Interpreter of secrets, ruling not like con-
querors of the earth, but by love; not by fear, not by
strength of arm, but by wisdom of heart, convincing,
persuading, enlightening, founding an empire upon
faith, and ruling by a sovereignty over the conscience.
And such, too, has been the rule of His servants after
Him. They have been weak personally, without armies,
without strongholds, naked, defenceless, yet sovereigns,

1 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4. Deut. xxxii. 2.
3 Isa. xi. 5.

2 Matt. xii. 18-20.