ened in consequence of his suffering, the just one in the room of the unjust, going and preaching to the spirits in prison.

There are two subsidiary ideas in reference to this preaching of Christ, quickened in the Spirit, to the spirits in prison, that are suggested by the words of the apostle, and these are,-the success of his preaching, and the extent of that success. These spirits in prison had "aforetime been disobedient." Christ had preached to them not only by Noah, but by all the prophets, for the spirit in the prophets was "the Spirit of Christ;" but he had preached in a great measure in vain. He had to complain in reference to his preaching by his prophets, and in reference to his own personal preaching, previously to his suffering the just in the room of the unjust, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain. All day long, I have stretched out my hands to a stiff-necked and rebellious people. “Who hath believed our report ?" But now, Jesus Christ being quickened by the Spirit, and quickening others by the Spirit, the consequence was, "the disobedient were turned to the wisdom of the just," and "the spirits in prison" appeared "a people made ready, prepared for the Lord." The word, attended by the Spirit, in consequence of the shedding of the blood of the covenant, had free course and was glorified, and "the prisoners were sent forth out of the pit wherein there was no water." The prey was taken from the mighty, the captive of the terrible one was delivered. The sealed among the tribes of Israel were a hundred forty and four thousand, and the converted from among the nations, the people taken out from among the Gentiles, to the name of Jehovah, formed an innumerable company, a multitude which no man could number, out of every kindred, and people, and tribe, and nation." It was not then, as in the days of Noah, when few, that is, eight souls were saved." Multitudes heard and knew the joyful sound; the shackles dropped from their limbs, and they walked at liberty, keeping God's commandments. And still does the fountain of life spring up in the quickened Redeemer's heart, and well forth, giving life to the world. Still does the great Deliverer prosecute his glorious work of spiritual emancipation. Still is he going and preaching to the "spirits in prison;" and though all have not obeyed, yet many already have obeyed, many are obeying, many more will yet obey.

The connection of Christ's penal, vicarious, expiatory sufferings, with this increased spiritual life and vigor in Him, as the Redeemer and Saviour of men, and its blessed consequences, in the extensive and effectual administration of the word of his grace, is stated here, but not here only. It is often, as I have already had occasion to remark, brought forward in Scripture: "Christ has redeemed men from the curse of the law, having become a curse in their room, that the blessing of Abraham," a free and full justification, "might come upon the Gentiles, and that men might receive the promised Spirit through believing.' "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come; but if I go away I will send him to you." The Spirit is given because Jesus is glorified; and Jesus is glorified for he has "finished the work which the Father had given

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him to do," in laying down his life for his sheep, and in giving his flesh for the life of the world.

This connection between the atoning death of Christ, and his being quickened, and the quickening of men by him, may be easily understood. The truth respecting it may be stated in a sentence or two. The power of dispensing Divine influence formed an important part of our Lord's mediatorial reward; and it was impossible to conceive of any reward more suitable to his holy, benevolent character; and there was an obvious propriety that the work should be accomplished before the reward was conferred. Besides, the truth respecting Christ suffering and dying, the just in the room of the unjust, is the grand instrument which the Holy Spirit employs for converting men, for quickening dead souls. This is the great subject of efficient preaching. Till the atonement was made, the revelation of it could be but obscure. It was meet that the great Preacher should have a clear, full message to proclaim, before he came and preached to every nation under heaven; and that the great spiritual agent should be furnished with the fittest instrumentality for performing all the moral miracles of the new creation. Such appears to me the probable meaning of this much disputed passage.

This view of the subject has this additional advantage, that it preserves the connection of the passage, both grammatical and logical. The words of the apostle, thus explained, plainly bear on his great practical object. Be not afraid, be not ashamed of suffering in a good cause, in a right spirit. No damage comes from well-doing, or from suffering in well-doing. Christ, in suffering, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, suffered for well-doing: and, though his sufferings ended in his dying bodily, they ended also in his being spiritually quickened; and, through the effectual manifestation of the truth, becoming the "Author of eternal salvation to all who obey him." Nor is this all. Even his mortal body has, in consequence of these sufferings, been raised from the grave, and in that body he is "gone into heaven, and has sat down on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject to him."

I am farther confirmed in this view of the passage, by observing that in one very important part of it I have the support of Archbishop Leighton. In the text of his commentary, he interprets the passage according to the usual Protestant mode of exposition; but in a note he observes-" Thus I then thought, but do now apprehend another sense as more probable. The mission of the Spirit, and the preaching of the gospel by it, after his resurrection: preaching to sinners, and converting them according to the prophecy which he first fulfilled in person, and after, more amply, in his apostles; that prophecy, I mean Isa. lxi.: The Spirit was upon him, and was sent from him to his apostles, to preach to spirits in prison, to preach liberty to the captives, captive spirits, and therefore called spirits in prison, to illustrate the thing the more by opposition to that Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of liberty, setting them free; and this to show the greater efficacy of Christ's preaching than of Noah's, though he was a signal preacher of righteousness, yet only himself and his family, eight persons, were

saved by him, but multitudes of all nations by the Spirit and preaching of Christ in the gospel."

What a striking light does this representation cast on the deplorable condition of fallen men! "Spirits in prison;" "dead souls." There is something monstrous here. Nothing naturally so free as spirit; nothing so full of life as souls. How deplorable to see bondage and death, where there originally was nothing but liberty and life! We may be disgusted, but we are not surprised at seeing a loathsome reptile crawling on the earth. But we are at once amazed and shocked, when we see the bird of the sun, with blinded eyes, and broken pinions, and soiled feathers, moving with awkward difficulty along the ground, instead of "sailing with supreme dominion through the azure deep of air," "1 "unscaling his sight at the fountain of radiance." Alas, what a captivity!--condemned-waiting the hour of the execution of the sentence--no possibility of effecting their escape. Nor man nor angel can open the door of their prison-house. Yet are they, blessed be God, prisoners of hope. There is a Saviour, and a great one: Jesus, who "saves his people from their sins," and who, in doing so, "delivers them from the wrath to come."

How well fitted is He for performing all the functions of a deliverer! This is a second reflection suggested by our subject. He has become perfect through sufferings. He has all the merit; all the power, both as to external event and internal influence; all the authority; all the sympathy that is necessary to enable him, effectually to liberate the prisoners of divine justice, the captives of infernal power. He has suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so as to become dead, as the victim of human transgression; and the atonement made by these sufferings is an atonement of infinite value. And he has been spiritually quickened; endowed with such a superabundance of life as to enable him to give eternal life to innumerable dead souls; and endowed with an infinity of energy, so that he can vanquish the enslavers, level the prison walls, loose the fetters of innumerable "spirits in prison.

Prisoners of hope, turn the eye of faith and desire towards your all-accomplished Deliverer. Remember, now is the accepted time. Yet a little longer and you will be prisoners more than ever; but no longer prisoners of hope. To borrow the earnest expostulations of a pious divine, "Oh, do not destroy yourselves! You are in prison; he proclaims your liberty. Christ proclaims your liberty; and will you not accept it? Think, though you may be pleased with your present thraldom and prison, it reserves you (if you come not forth) to another prison, which will not please you. These chains of spir itual darkness in which you now are, unless ye be by him freed, will be exchanged, not for freedom, but for the chains of everlasting darkness, wherein the hopeless prisoners are kept to the judgment of the great day." Accept his offer of deliverance, life, liberty. The eternal life which was with the Father gives you life; receive it, and you have life; you have it abundantly. Blessedness is yours, yours forever. The Son makes you free, and ye are free indeed."

In what a dignified light does this passage represent the ministry 1 1 Gray. 3 Leighton.

2 Milton.

of Divine truth! It is the work of the perfected Saviour. Having suffered to the death for sins, in the room of the unjust, and having been spiritually quickened, he comes and preaches to the spirits in prison. He preaches peace to those who are afar off, and to them who are nigh. The voice is on earth, the speaker is in heaven. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath received by inheritance a more excellent name than they." He that neglecteth and despiseth the word of reconciliation, despiseth not man but God-God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself: wonderful, most wonderful! beseeching men to be reconciled to Him. Surely we should see that we "refuse not Him that speaketh thus to us from Heaven." Surely we should “give the more earnest heed to things which we have heard, which we now hear from him, lest at any time we should let them slip; for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast,and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them who heard him; God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will."

The exalted Redeemer is the great, the only effectual, preacher. His ministers preach with effect only when he speaks and works in them and by them. It is an advice full of wisdom, as well as of piety, which the good archbishop gives to those who are anxious to derive saving advantage from the ministry of the word: "Ye that are for your own interest, be earnest with this Lord of life, this fountain of spirit, to let forth more of it upon his messengers in these times. You would receive back the fruit of your prayer. Were ye living this way, you would find more life and refreshing sweetness in the word of life, how weak and worthless soever they were that brought it. It would descend as sweet showers upon the valleys, and make them fruitful.”

Brethren, for your own sakes, as well as ours, pray for us, that the word of the LORD may have free course and be glorified.' His word is quick and powerful. It is "spirit and life;" it "converts the soul; it makes wise the simple; it rejoices the heart; it enlightens the eyes; it endureth forever. It is as powerful now as in the primitive age. It still "brings down high imaginations;" and while it emancipates the imprisoned spirit from the thraldom of depraved principle, satanic power, and human authority, "it brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Oh! that through his preaching many may be thus at once emancipated and made captive, freed from the fetters of earthliness and sin, bound in the chains of holy principle and divine love; may at once cease to be “spirits in

prison," and become inhabiters of that "high tower, that impregnable fortress," in which all obedient to his call are "kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation."

The subject we have been considering in this section of the discourse, brings also before the mind, in a very striking form, some of the great motives and encouragements to missionary exertion. The state of the unenlightened part of mankind, as spirits in prison, calls for our sympathy; and, since their imprisonment is not hopeless, it calls for our exertions to procure their emancipation. Had there been no atoning sacrifice, no quickening Spirit, it would have been godlike to mourn their servitude and condemnation, but it would have been madness to have attempted their deliverance.

But there has been an all-perfect, an infinitely valuable, atoning sacrifice offered up; Christ, the just One, has died in the room of the unjust, for the express purpose that enslaved, condemned man may be brought to forgiveness and liberty, by being brought to God. No legal bar lies in the way of the emancipation of the spirits in prison, for the offered sacrifice has been accepted. The righteous Judge is well pleased with it, and is ready to demonstrate that he is just in justifying the ungodly who believe in Jesus. He has shown this, by bringing from the dust of death, and seating on his right hand, Him who gave himself a ransom for many. And as there is a law-satisfying atonement, so there is a powerful quickening Spirit, who gives life and liberty. He who was put to death in the flesh, is spiritually quickened by that Spirit. And having that Spirit given him without measure, he, in the word of the truth of the gospel, not only proclaims liberty to the captive, but, going forth by the Spirit, he actually unlooses their fetters, and gives them at once that power and the disposition to walk at liberty, keeping the commandments of God. Yes, He who died, the just in the room of the unjust, He who, to make atonement for sin, was "crucified in weakness," and "became dead in the flesh," having been "quickened in the Spirit," lives by the power of God, and has come preaching to the spirits in prison, making the perverse willing in the day of his power, and "turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just."

The great work of the emancipation of the spirits in prison is not, then, a hopeless one. Many have been delivered, multitudes more will be delivered. Jesus Christ has not died in vain. The life which the Father has given him to have in himself shall not remain dormant and inoperative. It was so ordained that he might be a fountain of life to spiritually dead man, and might quicken whom he would. This great work of the emancipation of spirits in prison is, strictly speaking, the work of the Divine deliverer. He only could make atonement; He only can give the Spirit.

But he has most kindly and wisely so arranged the method of emancipation, that a place is afforded for the active willing services of those whom he has delivered, in accomplishing the actual enfranchisement of their brethren who still remain "spirits in prison. The gospel which announces the atonement, and in connection with which the Spirit is given, is to be diffused, not by miraculous means, not by angelic agency, but by the voluntary exertions of spiritually emanci