men to God; and Fifthly, to the consequences of his sufferings,-"Being quickened in the Spirit, he went and preached to the spirits in prison; and having risen from the dead he went into heaven, where he is on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject to him." After having illustrated, under these heads, the important principles contained in this passage, I shall endeavour to show how they are fitted to serve the purpose for which they are brought forward by the Apostle: to reconcile Christians to suffering; to give them both support and direction under their sufferings.

I. THE SUFFERER.

Let us then, first, inquire into the import of the two descriptive appellations here given to the illustrious Sufferer. He is Christ, the just One.

§ 1. Christ.

First, He is Christ. This is not, strictly speaking, the proper name of Him who bears it. It is one of his official designations; and in this way stands in the same class as Mediator, Redeemer, Saviour. Jesus was his proper name; and Jesus Christ, or rather, Jesus the Christ, is not like Simon Peter, or John Mark, a double name, but like John the Baptist, or Herod the king, a proper name, and a descriptive appellation conjoined. Christ is a Greek word,' corresponding in meaning to the Hebrew word Messiah, and the English word Anointed.

The Christ, then, is just the Anointed One. Anointing seems, from a very early period, to have been the emblem of consecration; the setting apart of a person or thing to a particular and sacred purpose: and it appears that, among the Jews, consecration to the three sacred offices, the prophetical, priestly, and kingly, was indicated by anoint

1 Χρίστος.

2 Gen. xxviii. 18; xxxi. 13; xxxv. 14.

ing.1 In the Old Testament Scriptures, the great Deliverer, who had been promised almost immediately after man by his sin had brought himself into circumstances which made a deliverer necessary, is spoken of as God's Anointed One, with a reference to all the three sacred offices. David speaks of him as Jehovah's Anointed King, Isaiah as his Anointed Prophet, and Daniel as his Anointed Priest.2 During the period which elapsed from the close of the prophetic canon till the birth of Jesus, no appellation for the promised Deliverer seems to have been so commonly employed as this, The Messiah; and this is still the name which the Jews ordinarily use when they speak of Him whom they hope for, as the glory of God's people, Israel.

Our Lord is termed The Christ, or Anointed One, as standing apart, by himself, far elevated above all other anointed persons; just as he is, amid the countless millions of the sons of men, termed The Son of Man.

The appellation Christ, naturally called up to the mind of a believing Jew, and such were all the writers of the New Testament, and such were most of its original readers, much important and interesting truth respecting Him who bore it. The Christ, as they thought of Him, was a person in whom all the varied predictions respecting the great promised Deliverer had found, or were to find, their accomplishment: the seed of the woman who was to bruise the head of the serpent; the seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed; the great Prophet like unto Moses, whom all men were required to hear and obey; the Priest after the order of Melchizedek; the Priest on the throne; the Root out of the stem of Jesse; the Branch of Jehovah; the Angel of the covenant; the Lord of the temple; the wonderful Counsellor; the mighty God; the Father of the future age; the Prince of peace; Immanuel, God with us; Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness, our

11 Sam. xxiv. 6. 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. Lam. iv. 20. Lev. iv. 3.

2 Psal. ii. 3; xx. 6; xlv. 7. Isa. lxi. 1. Dan. Ix. 24-26.

Justification, our Justifier.' While the name Christ, naturally calls up all the truth respecting Him who bears the name, it brings him especially before the mind as Prophet, Priest, and King; the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King; the Prophet, the great revealer of truth respecting the Divine character and will; the Priest, the only expiator of human guilt, and reconciler of man to God; the King, the supreme and sole legitimate ruler over the minds and hearts of mankind. And he not only fills these offices and performs these functions, but he has been anointed to do so: that is, in figurative language, he has been divinely appointed, divinely qualified, divinely commissioned, and divinely accredited: divinely appointed, "set up from everlasting," God's "elect" one; divinely qualified, the Spirit of the Lord was given him, not by measure; divinely commissioned, "called of God as was Aaron," "the Father sent him to be the Saviour of the world;" and divinely accredited, the Father who sent him bears witness of him, "both with signs, and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." So full of meaning is the appellation Christ, a word which I am afraid we often use without calling up any very definite idea to our minds; a word in which, however, is folded up the whole saving truth, so that he who, in the true meaning of the words, "believes that Jesus is the Christ," believes the saving truth, and has the privilege conferred on him of being a son of God.3

§ 2. The just One.

The second appellation given to the glorious Sufferer spoken of in the text is, the just, or the righteous, One. "The just One," as well as the anointed One, is an appella

1 Gen. iii. 15; xxii. 18. Deut. xviii. 15. Psal. cx. 4. Zech. vi. 13. Isa. ix. 6; xi. 1-10; vii. 14; iv. 2. Jer. xxiii. 6. Mal. iii. 1.

2 Prov. viii. 23. Isa. xlii. 1. Heb. v. 4. John v. 37.

31 John v. 1.

Isa. xi. 2-4; xlix. 6. Acts ii. 22.

tion given to the great promised Deliverer in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. In the last prophetic words of David, he speaks of his Son and Lord under this name. "The just One ruleth among men;" for so do the best Scripture critics render the words translated in our version, "He that ruleth among men must be just." It is of him of whom it was predicted that a bone of him should not be broken, that it is said by the same inspired writer, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" or just One. The prophet Isaiah speaks of Him as Jehovah's "righteous servant ;" and the prophet Zechariah, congratulating the church on his appearance, exclaims, "Behold, thy King cometh. He is just, having salvation."1

In obvious allusion to such passages, we find the appellation not unfrequently given by the New Testament writers to our Lord Jesus. "Your fathers," says Stephen, "have slain them who spake before of the coming of the just One." "Ye denied," says the Apostle Peter to his countrymen, "the Holy One and the just." "The God of our fathers," said Ananias to Saul of Tarsus, "hath chosen thee to see that just One, and to hear the words of his mouth." "Ye have condemned and killed the just One," says the Apostle James to his unbelieving countrymen. "We have an advocate with the Father," says the Apostle John, "Jesus Christ the righteous." "

The appellation is most accurately descriptive of Him who wears it, both personally and officially. Personally our Lord is absolutely free from sin, and in heart and life completely conformed to the requisitions of the holy, just, and good law of God. The man Christ Jesus came into the world free from every taint or tendency to evil; and if the questions be asked, in reference to him, "What is man, that he should be clean? or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Who can bring a clean thing out of

12 Sam. xxiii. 3. Psal. xxxiv. 19, comp. with 20. Isa. liii. 11. Zech. ix. 9. 2 Acts vii. 32; iii. 14; xxii. 14. James v. 6. 1 John ii. 1.

an unclean?" the Evangelist will answer them: "The Holy Ghost came upon his virgin mother, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her; and that which was born of her was a Holy thing, and was called," "and was indeed," "the Son of God." This original purity was never in the slightest degree stained. Though exposed to the assaults of the great author of evil, that adversary did not prevail against, that son of mischief did not overcome, him. Though in a world full of temptation and sin, he remained untainted; though tried both by its smiles and its frowns, its terrors and its allurements, he never, in the slightest degree, imbibed its spirit, or imitated its manners. He kept himself "unspotted from the world," being in it, not of it; and he died, as he lived, a stranger to guilt and depravity. No action, no word, ever escaped from him, no thought, no desire, ever arose in his bosom, inconsistent with the requisitions or with the spirit of the Divine law. He left the world as he entered it, "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." 2

But the character of our Lord was not merely free of faults, it was distinguished by every possible moral excellence. Every holy principle in absolute perfection reigned in his mind; and his conduct was a uniform tenor of perfect obedience to that law which was in his heart. He fulfilled the law in both of its great requisitions. "He loved the Lord his God with all his heart, and soul, and strength, and mind; and he loved his neighbour as himself." He "did justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God." He fully did all that God required, and cheerfully suffered all that God appointed. In principle, in extent, in continuance, his obedience completely answered the demands of the holy law, which is spiritual and exceeding broad. His meat and his drink was to do the will of his Father in heaven. All excellencies were found in him, and found in their due proportion; and they wrought together in

1 Job xv. 14; xiv. 4. Luke i. 35.

2 Heb. vii. 26.