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this kind attach to his intercessory prayers on high; there all tears are wiped away from his, as from his people's, eyes; there is nothing of servility or servitude supposed in these; they partake more of demand than of petition, of claim than of request; and evince rather the dignity of a claimant urging a right, than the poverty of a suppliant begging an unmerited favour. Father, I WILL that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.' Say not, then, that there is any thing degrading in the supposition that Christ should make intercession. No. While his church has a want, while his people's necessities continue, he will count it his delight, his pleasure, his honour, his glory, to present their case to his Father, and to secure for them the bestowment of every needed boon.

SECTION II.

NATURE OF CHRIST'S INTERCESSION.

To intercede, means literally to 'pass between.' The term is used figuratively, to denote mediating between two parties with a view of reconciling differences, particularly in the way of supplicating in favour of one with another. In this sense, 'intercession is frequently affirmed of Christ in the scriptures: Who also maketh intercession for 'He ever liveth to make intercession for them.' The verb employed in these passages † Heb. vii. 25.

us.'*

* Rom. v. 34.

(vruyxávsiv,) when connected with the preposition that follows (règ,) includes every form of acting in behalf of another; it is improper to limit it to prayer, as it denotes mediating in every possible way in which the interests of another can be promoted. But other terms are employed in speaking of the same thing. It is expressed by asking :'Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.'* It is expressed by praying: -I pray (gwrw) for them; I pray not for the world;'t which shows that supplication is included, though not to the exclusion of other ideas. It is also described by advocacy:-'If any man sin, we have an advocate (agányov) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' This is a law term, which was in common use among the Greeks and Romans, to denote one who appeared in a court of justice to maintain the cause of a person accused, an attorney, a pleader, a spokesman, a patron, who, placing himself in the room of his client, advocated his interests with all zeal and ability. The term is expressly applied to Christ in the passage quoted; and, in his own words, it is distinctly supposed to belong to him, when, consoling his disciples in prospect of his own removal from them, he says, 'I will pray the Father, and he shall give you ANOTHER comforter (äλov ragáx\rov).' But, with reference to him, there must be understood this difference, that his plea is not the innocence of his clients but his own merits; his appeal is not to absolute justice but to sovereign mercy; what he sues for is not a legal † John xvii. 9.

*Ps. ii. 8.

right to which they are entitled, but a free favour to which in themselves they have no claim.

How the intercession of Christ, thus explained, is conducted-in what form this asking, praying, advocacy, is carried on, it does not become us either anxiously to inquire, or dogmatically to affirm. It becomes us rather to content ourselves with the account given of it in scripture. Beyond this, it is useless, and worse than useless, to conjecture.

It may be remarked, that, for one thing, Christ is said to appear in the presence of God for his people. 'Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the To this there seems to presence of God for us."*

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be an obvious reference in the preternatural vision of Stephen, Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.' The same also is the reference in the apocalyptic vision, And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, &c.'‡ His presenting himself before God is denoted by his appearing, and standing, language which plainly enough marks some sort of official activity. This is the first thing implied in his intercession; when our case is called, so to speak, at the bar of heaven, he appears in our room; when we are summoned to appear, he stands up in our name. But appearance is not all. He is farther said to exhibit his atoning sacrifice, as the ground on † Acts vii. 56. + Rev. viii. 3.

* Heb. ix. 24.

which the blessings for which he pleads are to be conferred on his people. The Hebrew high priest's entering into the sanctuary, on the day of expiation, prefigured the intercession of Christ. But it was not a simple appearance within the holy place that was made by this typical functionary; he carried with him the blood of the victim which had just been offered in the outer apartment, and sprinkled it seven times on the mercy-seat and the ark of the covenant. Without this his appearance could be of no avail, his entrance could have no efficacy; corresponding to which is Christ's presenting the memorials of his atonement before God in heaven. 'Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but BY HIS OWN BLOOD, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.'* To the same circumstance does the apostle refer when he says, 'It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but THE

HEAVENLY THINGS THEMSELVES WITH BETTER SA

CRIFICES than these.'t By his blood and sacrifice, represented in these passages as carried by him into heaven, it is almost unnecessary to remark, we are not to understand the material blood which flowed in the garden and on the cross, but the merit of his sufferings and death, the virtue of his atonement, the substance of his sacrifice, the

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whole essence of his passion. The intercession is founded on the oblation. The former is nothing without the latter. It may, without impropriety, be said that it is the sacrifice which intercedes: it is the blood of Jesus Christ in heaven which cries to God on our behalf: the blood of sprinkling SPEAKETH better things than that of Abel.'* Even in the midst of the throne, he stands a Lamb as it had been slain.' The vestments of mediatorial exaltation conceal not the marks of mediato rial suffering; the diadem of glory hides not the impression left by the crown of thorns; he is still red in his apparel, and his garments dyed with blood; the scars of conflict are visible in the body of the Conqueror. His wounds are still open, and every mouth pleads our cause with God. His death pleads for our life; his blood cries for our safety; his tears procure our comfort; and everlasting joy is borne to us on the breeze of his deepdrawn sighs,

It is not difficult for us to understand, how intercession is made for us in heaven by the memorials of the Saviour's sacrifice. The language of signs is no strange thing among men. God has condescended to allow himself to be addressed in the same way :-' The bow shall be in the cloud, and I WILL LOOK UPON IT that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.' Or, to adduce an example more directly bearing on the present subject: And the blood shall be