tation; and nevertheless they rebelled against their Maker, and procured for themselves an eternity of torment.

But if the possibility of falling away must thus exist throughout the universe, why are we to conclude that Christ, in His office of Mediator, has done nothing for those ranks of intelligent being which have maintained. their allegiance? If they are now secured against falling away, what has made them secure? What has thrown round them such a rampart against the incursions of evil, that there is certainty of their continuing the obedient and the happy? We know of no satisfactory answer to these questions and they are questions which force themselves upon every man who considers what creatureship is—but that which supposes the whole universe interested in the suretyship of Jesus, and affected by His mediation. Of course we do not mean that where no sin had been committed there could be need of the shedding of blood. But those who required no expiation required the being confirmed and established; they required to have their happiness made permanent, through some connection of its natural mutability. When, therefore, the Son of God undertook to link the created with the uncreated, the finite with the infinite, in His own divine Person, He probably did that which gave stability to unfallen orders, as well as wrought the recovery of a fallen. He maintained the obedient, as well as raised the disobedient; and by the same act rendered it impossible that those then pure should be polluted, and possible that men, though polluted, might be cleansed. And now, if you tell me of glorious worlds, where the inhabitants have no sins of which to repent, I do not on that account conclude that they cannot join with me in gratitude to a Mediator. Whilst I thank and bless Him for my restoration, they

His the

may thank and bless Him for their preservation. arm which has raised me from ruin; His may be the arm which has retained them in glory. Why then may we not think that the mediatorial energy is every jot as widely diffused, and as incessantly occupied, as that of the Upholder and Governor of the universe? It is not this globe alone, it is every world throughout a teeming immensity, which furnishes employment to the Father, engaging His inspections, requiring His support, and offering Him homage. And equally may the Son be occupied with every home of intelligent being, ministering, throughout the broad sweep of the spiritual creation, to the retaining those in obedience who are by nature in constant danger of apostasy. Hence, just as we refer it to the immediate agency of God, that stars and planets retain their places, and perform their revolutions, so would we refer it to the immediate agency of Christ, that the successive ranks of the heavenly hosts preserve their glory, and walk their brilliant circuits: and we have no account to give why there is no jostling in the material world, and no apostasy in the moral; why the wants of whatsoever liveth are supplied, and all that is holy in created orders is kept from decay-none but that furnished by the combination of providential and mediatorial activity, which is here affirmed by Christ, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

There is yet another consideration suggested by these words of our Lord, with which we would, in conclusion, engage your attention. Christ had wrought a miracle on the Sabbath; and He justified His so doing by stating that His work allowed of no interruptions, but must be prosecuted incessantly, like that of actuating and sustaining the universe. The effect of this statement should be to give us the same confidence in addressing ourselves to

Christ as our Mediator, and to God as our Father.

The

providence on which we depend for daily bread is not, it appears, more active or unwearied than the intercession through which must come our daily grace. And as that providence watches what is mean and inconsiderable, so that not even a sparrow falls unobserved, we conclude that the intercession leaves not out the very poorest; and that, consequently, insignificance can no more exclude us from the sympathy and succour of a Saviour, than from the bounty and guardianship of God. There should be something very consolatory to the timid and downcast, in the parallel which our text draws between the agencies of the Father and the Son. The Son, it appears, is as assiduously employed in His office of Mediator, as the Father in that of the common Parent and Ruler: then let me judge what may be expected from the one by what I know of the other. The Father "feedeth the young ravens,"1 espouseth the cause of the widow, and declares and proves Himself the helper of the friendless. Then the Son will do no less: "He will not break the bruised reed, and the smoking flax He will not quench.”2 He will be the High Priest of those who have only, like the widow, two mites to present; and will sprinkle His blood on the unworthiest, "without money and without price." "My Father worketh ;" and whom does He neglect, whom fail to sustain? "I work ;" and to whom will I refuse pardon? who shall come to me and be cast out? It were to destroy all the energy of the sentence, and take all force from the combination, to doubt that Christ is as vigilant about my soul, as earnest in noting my spiritual dangers, as liberal in supplying my spiritual wants, as is God in reference to my body, though I cannot breathe the breath which He 1 Ps. cxlvii. 9. 2 Isa. xlii. 3. 3 Isa. lv. 1.

does not inspire, nor eat the morsel which He does not provide. And this should produce great confidence in Christ as a Mediator. If there be one of us who has long lain, like the impotent man, by the pool of Bethesda, deriving no benefit from the salutary waters, let him look up in faith to the Saviour, who is now saying to him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" and as a proof that this Saviour yet worketh on the Sabbath, he shall find his limbs strengthened, and he shall depart from the temple, "walking, and leaping, and praising God."2 Yes, if ye will indeed be earnest in breaking loose from evil habits, renouncing practices and forsaking associates, against which conscience warns you, we can promise that Christ will so communicate unto you the assistances of His Spirit, that you shall become living proofs that the mediatorial energy is not abated; whilst stars, and forests, and mountains, are witnessing to the unwearied activities of our Maker, ye shall witness to the unwearied activities of our Redeemer: and thus shall full evidence be given that Christ might still say, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

SERMON III

THE RESURRECTION OF DRY BONES

"And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And E answered, O Lord God, thou knowest."-EZEK. xxxvii. 3.

IN

N the preceding chapter Ezekiel had delivered very animated and encouraging predictions of the prosperity of the houses of Israel and Judah. There is a fulness in these predictions which will scarce admit of our applying them exclusively to events which have already occurred. Ezekiel prophesied during the Babylonish captivity; and we may believe that the words which he was commissioned to utter had a primary reference to the then desolate state of his country and nation. When he speaks of dispersion and captivity, and when he pours forth announcements of restoration and greatness, it may well be supposed that there is at least an allusion to the existing circumstances of the Jews, and their approaching deliverance by Cyrus. And it is possible that those who first heard his predictions received them only in their primary sense, and looked not on to a more thorough fulfilment, worthy of the splendour of the figures and the amplitude of the language. But to ourselves, who can compare the event with the prophecy, it must be evident