applied to our Lord by himself and by his Apostles; passages which, according to the undoubted evidence of their context, were historically and literally spoken of some imperfect prophet, or king, or priest', or people, in whom they had found, and could find, no adequate fulfilment. For God had provided some better thing for us than their imperfect righteousness and imperfect blessings. Look at the 91st Psalm, from which the words of the text are taken. How largely does the prophet speak of the security and happiness of the children of God! Our ears are familiar with its words of promise," There shall no evil befal thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling; thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. God shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Nor may we rob God's servants in every age of their share in these promises: Moses and Aaron stood unhurt amidst the plague; Paul shook off the adder from his hand, and felt no harm: chariots and horsemen of fire watched round the hill of Dothan to guard the prophet Elisha. But their full and entire fulfilment was in him, and him alone, who had truly made the Most High his habitation even from the beginning; over whom all evil at all times was powerless, save so far as for our sakes f See note 6.

he vouchsafed to bear it; who said to the sea, Peace, be still; and who even in yielding to death, laid down his life of himself, which none could have taken from him; who had power to lay it down, and had power to take it again.

See also how in him, and in him alone, were fulfilled those remarkable promises to David, which otherwise seem incapable of fulfilment, without a violation of God's laws of righteous government. God declared to David, that his house and his kingdom should be established for ever; that even though his sons should sin, yet his mercy should not finally depart from them. What then, shall God clear the guilty, and shall he prolong the line of any one man for ever, though it is sure that in the course of many generations it will become unworthy to continue any more? No. God has punished the guilty; David's posterity did sin, and were cut off. It was said by the prophet Jeremiah of the last king, Coniah or Jehoiachin, "Write ye avisen. this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." But yet God's promise to David has stood sure: the Son of David has reigned for more than eighteen hundred years, owned over all the earth as King and Lord; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Christ is thus the true and complete fulfilment of Prophecy no promise of exaltation to the good is

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expressed in higher language than has been, and is, and will continue for ever to be, in him accomplished. We can turn, as our fathers have done, to Christ's resurrection, and say, There is our warrant for the truth of Prophecy; good has triumphed over evil. But still we see not yet all things put under Christ; the last enemy is not yet destroyed; the state of Israel now, no less than of Israel of old, is no state of perfect peace, and love, and joy. It is not that we need be concerned for the honour of Prophecy; we see clearly enough, conscience tells us too plainly, why its promises are not fulfilled amongst us to the letter; the promises were for the righteous, and we are not righteous. But for ourselves there is great need of our being concerned, lest Christ's triumph extend not to us, and lest we, like the Israel of old, should in the last great day be found not to be amongst his people. He wills that those whom God has given him shall be with him where he is; that he and his redeemed shall for all eternity fulfil the promises of Prophecy, and prove that there is indeed a glory for the righteous. We need not fear for the truth of this: God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham; there will be guests enough found to sit down at the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Twice has God willed to mark out these guests here; that all who belonged to his Church on earth, all who were circumcised, all who were baptized, should be the heirs of the promises of Prophecy. But twice man's

sin rendered this impossible: the seal of Baptism has proved no surer a mark than the seal of Circumcision; again have the people whom he brought out of Egypt corrupted themselves. Still there is, and ever has been, a remnant; still there are those whom Christ owns now, and will own for ever. Theirs are the promises in all their fulness; not that their own righteousness is proportioned to such blessings, but because they are Christ's, and Christ is God's. In us there is still as in times past the same incapability of answering to the language of Prophecy; but the kingdom which Christ has gained is for his sake given to his true people. It is given to those whom, at the last great day, when he shall judge to whom all hearts are open, he shall acknowledge to be his.

So then the promises and the consolations of Prophecy may all be ours. Christ's triumph is not for himself alone; we all may partake in it; to us all may, through him, be given the full extent of blessing which the 91st Psalm and other similar passages contain. Those passages may be a dead letter to us, but they may also be life and reality. If, looking on the world as God looks on it, we feel keenly the struggle which is going on between good and evil, and fain would take our part in it to the death under Christ's banner; then along with all the anxieties and the sufferings of the contest we have our portion besides in the hopes of the final issue. Then, as we become more deeply interested in it,

the language of Prophecy becomes more welcome; the pledge of its truth, the fact of Christ's resurrection, becomes more unspeakably precious. With such anxieties, such efforts, and such hopes, we have the Christian's sure seal; not that outward seal of baptism, which is too often broken, but the seal of God's Spirit, that as Christ was, so are we in this world. Blessed are they, in whom the hopes and fears, which are the common portion of us all, are directed to those objects, which Christ's true people hope for and fear; to whom Prophecy is no empty language about matters of other days or other persons, but the answer given by God to the earnest questionings of their nature," Has God cast me off for ever, or shall it be a blessing to me to have been born?"