be in so far partakers even now of the sin of those who condemned and crucified Him on this count, and join issues with them against the Lord and against His Anointed-opposing, it may be, our views of the Kingdom of Christ, and our plans of establishing it, to the views of it given us in Scripture, and to the purpose and counsel of God-to the " Decree" which says, and which shall surely be executed, "YET HAVE I SET MY KING UPON MY HOLY HILL OF ZION."

May the Lord now and always vouchsafe to us His promised "Spirit of Truth" to "lead us into ALL the Truth;" and "Unto Him who loved us and "washed us from our sins in His own blood, and "hath made us kings and priests unto God, even His "Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever "and ever. Amen."

THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

XVII. HIS CRUCIFIXION.

ST. JOHN xix. 30.

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is "finished: and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost."

"IT IS FINISHED:" expiring declaration. One more sentence only he uttered, supplied by St. Luke's narrative, who says, ch. xxiii. 46,—“And when Jesus had cried with a "loud voice, He said, Father into thy hands I com"mend my spirit: and having said thus, He gave up "the ghost"—" He yielded up the spirit."*

This was the Redeemer's

It is then a declaration memorable on this account : and yet more so, when we come to reflect on its pregnant import: for truly never was so much comprised in so few words-in one word, (Teréλoeta,), in the reference with which it was uttered; which we

*iivsus, only of the death of Christ, here and St. Mark xv. 37, 39.

are not left to conjecture as it is told us in the verse but one preceding-" After this Jesus knowing "that all things were now accomplished" or "were finished," the same word, (TerÉREOTα)" that the "Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now "there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they "filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon "hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus "therefore had received the vinegar"-this last remaining particular of the prophecies which had so minutely detailed His sufferings being fulfilled-" He said, It is finished." That is, the end for which He came into the world, the object for which He humbled Himself even to the death of the cross, was answered; the work of man's redemption was completed.

To this inspired comment on the words, we can add nothing in the way of exposition-nothing is needed. We can only direct attention to the application of this emphatic saying; to the several parts of the work which it thus pronounces "finished;" to the Redemption in its various aspects: that so, more fully comprehending the blessed consequences of the fact, we may, with the Divine blessing, be duly affected by it, and our thankfulness to God, the Father of all mercies,' for this His 'inestimable love' be proportionably increased.

REDEMPTION-the redemption of man and of the world was then accomplished,

I. In the first place, as regards the Power of The Enemy by whom Man in his natural state, in consequence of his Fall, is enslaved, even "Satan" "The Adversary," as this name signifies: an object and effect of the redemption not always taken into account in estimating that glorious work, though suggested by the term itself, which implies deliverance or emancipation. For, it should be remembered that man did not fall of his own mere act, uninfluenced and uncontrolled. No: His ruin was compassed and effected by a "subtle," adversary, thence called "the Serpent" as well as "Satan," whose hatred of God and of His creature man is veiled in mystery: a circumstance in man's favour, we might have ventured to hope, as compared with the guilt of that Evil One himself, and of the angels "which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation." He "deceived" and "beguiled" by the Tempter: they self-tempted, self-willed, selfacting.

And accordingly, not only is Man the object of mercy while to them is given no hope; but his redemption is from the first announced as the deliverance of one enslaved and oppressed; and the

Redeemer as his Avenger from the power of His Enemy. Thus, for example, the curse is primarily directed to the Serpent, the principal in the transgression and its first cause:-" "And the LORD God "said unto the Serpent, Because thou hast done this, "thou art cursed above all cattle, &c.;" while the promise of a Saviour to the victim of his malice and deceit is in the form of a judgment on him-the promise of one to come from her whose weakness he had practised on, "a seed of the woman," who should "bruise his head" and so "destroy" him. (Gen. iii. 14, 15).

2. But, how was this to be done? Not in the first instance by power: for it was not by superior power that Satan had triumphed. He had triumphed by seducing man to sin, and so obtained a legal right and power over his captive: getting the Law on his side which said "Thou shalt surely die," and availing himself (as he still ever seeks to do) of the word and truth of God. And by like means must he be met and defeated. In the way of Law must he be deprived of the power which by Law he thus held which is the meaning of that inestimably precious passage of Scripture, Heb. ii. 14, 15"Forasmuch as the children" (those whom Christ would make children of God) "are partakers of "flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part