of his gracious sway-death. Virtually, indeed, it has been done already on the field of law, though not of fact. "Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil." (Heb. ii. 14.) "He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross.”—(Col. ii. 15.) There he ABOLISHED," or “DESTROYED DEATH.”—(2 Tim. i. 10.)* A legal basis had to be obtained for the actual destruction of so righteous a penalty as death, "the wages of sin.” In the righteousness of that penalty, Satan was strong. On that field, but for Christ's death, he was invincible. In this sense, "the accuser of the brethren” had “the power of death ”— power to insist on its infliction, on the same eternal principles of the Divine government by which himself was ruined as a sinner-power to see it invested, in its approaches to men, with unmixed terrors, with "fearful lookings for of judgment and fiery indignation, to devour the adversaries"-power to have a hand in mixing "the cup of trembling" to the dying sinner. Yes!" the sting of death is sin, and the strength is the law;" nor could the Son of God himself override these awful securities for the execution of vengeance. But that vengeance he could draw off, by placing himself under it as Jehovah's substitutionary Victim; and this he did-" through death" not actually "abolishing" death, but obtaining a legal title to abolish it from the Throne. He met the enemy on his own chosen field, that proud arena "where was the hiding of his power;" and having "taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted," he has gone up to "divide his spoils.”— (Luke xi. 21, 22; compare Isa. liii. 12.) And the distribution is going gloriously on. The sweet sense of pardon and reconciliation—the envy of Satan-is one of the spoils he divides. Superiority to the "sin that dwelleth in us,” is another of the spoils left on the field of battle, and which, falling into the Redeemer's hands, he divides to his people. But It is the same word (zaτagyśw) in both places.

the death of death is reserved for the last. Already he is unstinged; so that, though he tears asunder soul and body, leaving what Christ redeemed a lifeless carcass, in this he is no longer Satan's but Christ's servant, who "to this end both died [and rose] and revived, that he might be LORD both of the dead and living" (Rom. xiv. 9), and who, as such, “ hath the keys of death and of hades."-(Rev. i. 18.) Still the enemy lives. While his victims lie rotting in the grave, he is not "abolished," "destroyed," " put under his feet.” But it must, and it shall, come to that. The Redeemer “ expects" that what he accomplished sacrificially on the field of law, shall be made good royally in the region of fact. The prey shall be taken from the terrible, and the lawful captive delivered; and thus, in the most absolute and comprehensive sense, shall He 66 see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied."

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It now only remains, before dismissing this grand passage, that I advert to the "delivering up of the kingdom." Not that it has any thing to do with our subject-it relates to a stage of the kingdom beyond the limits of our question. But it would be unsatisfactory to take leave of it without some reference to this very remarkable statement with which it closes. Two ideas, then, seem to be included in this "delivering up" of the kingdom.

1. It is the Mediator "giving an account of his Stewardship.” It is fit that this should be done. As Infinite Rectitude will have his intromissions judicially investigated and pronounced upon, so his own fidelity desires and demands it, that his work may, in this sense, be taken off his hands. He will have it publicly owned, and Himself as the Doer of it. For this purpose, he advances to the Throne. His dead people summoned from their graves, and his living ones changed in the twinkling of an eye, are all around him"a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;" and as their crowns are cast before him, and his ear is

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filled with their grateful hallelujahs,-while "glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe"-he turns to "Him that sitteth upon the Throne," as Judge of his work, saying, "Behold I, and the children whom thou hast given me : The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; and they are one, even as we are one.”—(Heb. ii. 13; John xvii. 22.) The Trust committed to him was awful; the wheels of it were so high that they were dreadful” (Ezek. i. 18); the issues suspended upon the successful execution of it were infinite; the glory of the Godhead was bound up with it: and Jesus, knowing all this, and exulting in the consciousness that his work will abide the lustre of Divine Inspection, will have judgment given upon it, that his ear may be greeted from the Throne with that sound-sweeter to him than celestial music-"Well done, Good and Faithful Servant!" But,

2. This "delivering up" of the kingdom seems to imply the end of the kingdom in its present form.

"Then cometh the end"-the end, certainly, of something; and the words which immediately follow, "when he shall have delivered up the kingdom," seem naturally to suggest this as the thing ended. That a termination of some kind is intended, we gather not from the word rendered “deliver up❞—a word which does not necessarily imply, either in classical or Scripture usage, a giving away of the thing spoken of, as critics have shown; but we gather it from what is stated at the end of the whole passage, as the object in view. "The kingdom," says the apostle, "shall be delivered upthat God may be all in all." Now, explain this as we may, it seems to imply something more than the mere presentation of the kingdom to the Father, for the purposes of judicial investigation. Even those who seem disposed to rest in this as the whole sense of the apostle, allow nevertheless, that, in point of fact, there will be a change of form, and a termination of not a few things now going on in, and now characterizing the kingdom. And if so, why should we be so jea

lous of admitting this to be what the apostle means to express?

When the Redeemer said, as he was on the wing for heaven, Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" he gave out a commission which will undoubtedly be at an end when the time arrives of which our apostle speaks. His concluding words imply as much: “ And lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Now, this commission is prefaced with the delightful announcement, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth; Go ye, therefore"-implying that both the authority to issue that commission, and the power to sustain in the execution of it, were given to the Mediator expressly for those saving purposes. When, therefore, the work is done, the whole Commission is at an end-not merely the matters to be performed, but the whole Mediatorial Trust, and the whole Mediatorial Furniture, of authority and power, of gifts and graces, committed to him for the ends of that Trust.

But does it follow from this, that the Mediator, as such, will sink and disappear? By no means. The termination of which we have spoken leaves all mediatorial relationships untouched; and in the two following respects they will undoubtedly be eternal:

(1.) In his mediatorial merit Christ must for ever be recognised by the redeemed, and be in that character the Object of their unceasing contemplation and praise. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" -that dearest utterance of every heart that has ever been sprinkled with his blood-must get out. Nor will it go forth merely in one sublime shout, bursting simultaneously from the lips of all, as they "enter in through the gates into the city"—to die away, or be lost in some other and unknown feelings, kindled by the sight of an altered Lord. No.

Nothing will ever content the ransomed of the Lord, but still to discern "in the midst of the throne a Lamb as it had been slain"-ever fresh, so to speak, from the Altar. They will love to feel the eternal freshness of his merit, and its righteous power to keep them where they are. As he unveils himself to them in this overpowering character, and they gaze upon him in the vivid, adoring perception of that in him which brought them from hell to heaven, those melodious notes will steal upon his ear, and fill it gratefully through all duration, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen."

(2.) His Mediatorial Person will be the eternal SEAT of Divine manifestation; the MEDIUM of communication between the Unseen One and all heaven; and the very PILLAR of the eternal system. It is on this point that the heart is ready to tremble, as it hears of his "delivering up the kingdom to God, even the Father-that God may be all in all," as if it were meant to intimate that, somehow or other, the mediatorial character of its Lord would merge and evanish -a thought abhorrent to saved and grateful souls. But on this point other Scriptures gloriously reassure us. The heavenly state is in one place called " THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.”—(2 Pet. i. 11.) In another, it is called, "The kingdom of CHRIST and of GOD."-(Eph. v. 5.) And what this last passage expresses nakedly is in the Apocalypse (as usual) symbolically represented: "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of GOD and of the LAMB. And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of GOD and of the LAMB shall be in it"-the new Jerusalem.-(Rev. xxii. 1, 3.) Here, God and the Lamb are named with emphatic distinctness; and the pure river of the water of life is seen flowing from the throne of