the heart of man? What becomes of the assurance, that it shall be well, infinitely well, with God's people, if no such people are to be found? Prophecy may be true in the abstract, true it may be for other worlds; but how to us and to this world can the magnificence of its promises of blessing be more than the exact measure of the extent of our enemy's triumph; it shows us of how great things sin has deprived us.

Thus there is a mass of prophetical language, which, according to the view we have now taken, may seem to be indefinitely waiting for its fulfilment. And so it is, and must be, according to the view which we have taken, for it was not and is not in man to be the worthy subject of God's Prophecy.

Not in man merely. But what shall we say, if there was one who was man truly, man in his temptations, man in his sufferings, but who was God in his holiness, God in his strength and power! Then there is one who is the true subject of Prophecy; then there is victory for man final and complete; then the cause of good must infinitely triumph as far as this earth is concerned, or else indeed there can be no truth in Prophecy.

We see then, how that our Lord Jesus Christ is the real subject of all Prophecy for good. We see how his resurrection and ascension into heaven are its entire fulfilment. All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen.

For now what is the case before us? Our ex

perience of life tells us, that it has many troubles; that good, such as we see it, has constantly its portion of affliction. This Prophecy recognized; there are pictures of suffering frequently joined to the most exalted pictures of triumph. And so it was with Christ. He bore the troubles which are the portion of man: he turned not back even from that death which seems most to prove the enemy's conquest over us. When he was taken down from the cross and laid in the sepulchre; he in whose life there had been no sin, he who speaking of his human nature merely had been so truly the child of God;—when his disciples, in the sorrow of their hearts, said, "We trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel;" we did trust so once, but behold our hope is buried in his grave;then was there, if I may so speak, the trial moment, the agony of Prophecy: what could be any more hoped from its promises, if evil and death had triumphed even over him, in whom there was no sin? And so, when the third morning came, and death's triumph was broken, and he rose from the dead to die no more, then was there the justification of all Prophecy; for it was well at last with the righteous, well infinitely, well eternally; all power was given to him in heaven and in earth; all things were put under his feet; death was swallowed up in victory.

And now we see that it was not arbitrarily or capriciously that so many passages in Scripture are

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 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