sorrow,

of evil to which we are exposed, of every every weakness to which we are subject. Whatever may have been his nature, he was as a man among men during the whole period of his earthly sojourning; only he knew no sin. Christ the Saviour overcame, and as Christ the Saviour he overcame; and so may we contemplate him as overcoming ever. In the wilderness of his temptation, he overcame; when, almost famishing with hunger, after a forty days and forty nights' fasting, he might have commanded the very stones lying about him to be made bread, then he overcame; when still unknown, and without followers, he might have made some signal display of his supernatural power, such as throwing himself from a pinnacle of the temple, and falling unhurt, and thus attract to himself the astonishment and superstitious devotion of the world, then he overcame; when, still despised and rejected of men, he might have asserted his authority over all the kingdoms of the earth, and clothed himself in all the magnificence of temporal power, then he overcame. The scene changes. He leaves the mountain and its temptations behind him; and in the consciousness of a freedom which all the powers of darkness could not take from him, and in the consciousness of divine strength and of a divine purpose, he went forth to the work which had been given him to do, still to overcome, however, and to overcome; but his battling now is with the powers of darkness, that organic presence of evil, of sin, with which our poor human nature is so terribly burdened and threatened. But the end is not yet. Behold him in Gethsemane,- that garden of intensest mortal struggle, — his .very heart riven with anguish, and his body sweating great drops of blood, in view of the cruelties that awaited him, of the cup which could not pass from him: then he overcame. Behold him once more, on the cross now, railed at, mocked, scourged,

the object of every indignity human nature could invent: then, too, he overcame. And to him it is granted to sit down with the Father in his throne; to him is given authority, dominion, power, over mankind, over the world, such as it belongs to the Father to exercise, power to move human hearts, to awaken human sympathies, and to change human souls into a divine likeness. The authority, dominion, power, which Jesus shares with the Father, is that mighty influence which he is exerting this day throughout the world by the power of his religion and the efficacy of his life in renewing, elevating, and ennobling the human race. In a far profounder sense than we know or can understand, the place which he occupies this day in the affections of Christendom, in the homage of a believing world, he earned for himself by overcoming. The Father granted it to him because he proved himself worthy. True, he was the Son of God, and the Messenger of the Divine Love and Mercy to man; and I undertake not to solve the mystery of his incarnation. When he came a Saviour in the world, he took not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham; and it was as the seed of Abraham that he passed through the discipline of earth, and overcame, and was given a seat in his Father's throne. "I see, and I adore;" but I cannot understand. "Being found," says the apostle, "in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Whatever may be our individual opinions of the nature of Christ, or whatever may have been in reality his nature,

it is as the seed of Abraham that we must regard him, when we contemplate him as our example, as our strength, and our encouragement. It was as the seed of Abraham that he finished the work that was given him to do in the flesh, that he labored and suffered, that he was tempted, and that he overcame, and earned for himself the glory that everywhere attaches to his name; the seed of Abraham, exalted, it may be, by its indwelling life, far above what Abraham was or what Abraham could conceive; still the seed of Abraham.

Therefore, — and this is the vital, practical consideration from the discussion of this occasion, therefore it is permitted unto us, indeed our noblest distinction, cumbered as we are with human infirmities, and beset with temptations on every side, to aspire to a participation in the authority and dominion which the Saviour exercises over mankind, to a seat in his throne. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." According to this teaching, Christ does not separate himself from his disciples, but makes himself one with them,—“I am the vine, ye are the branches," — and offers to them a full share in all his glory and honor. Such is our encouragement and our exceeding great reward in Christian discipleship. Goodness is the same everywhere; virtue is the same everywhere; spiritual freedom is the same everywhere, the same thing in the Father and the Son, in the Redeemer and the redeemed, in the teacher and the disciple, even as all light there is in the world is the same light of the sun from which it all proceeds. And here is where all Christian disciples may share in the same sovereignty, and all may exercise the same authority, and all work in the same great work. So far as you or I, my hearer, overcome as Christ the Saviour overcame, and thus

vindicate the greatness of our natures as he did the divinity of his, we live to the same purpose, we labor to the same end, and we share with him in the moral regeneration of the world. How this oneness of life with Jesus Christ, and, of course, oneness of sovereignty with him, is symbolized by the communion of the Supper, whose affecting elements are now spread before us!" He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."

Again: in this work of overcoming, of resisting evil, in this work of placing ourselves on the high vantage-ground of spiritual freedom, which is the great work of life, the Saviour is at the same time our example, our encouragement, as well as the divine grace that is within us. But not Christ alone: the apostles' glorious company, and all the martyrs' noble host, all faithful believers and confessors of all ages, share with him in the glory and honor of his throne. They, too, are our example and our encouragement, and a power truly spiritual. Among the means which God every day is blessing for the regeneration of the world, for the emancipation of the human race from sin and sense, the tears of the great and good of earth can never be held in any inferior regard. There is a divine efficacy in them,- a power to move our hearts and arouse our sympathies. Living or dead, they are the world's benefactors and the world's renovators. Virtue never dies; spiritual freedom, as a principle in the soul, can never be destroyed. Once incarnated, they never leave the flesh. All men, the very worst of men even, honor, yea, they reverence, moral principle. The virtue that has been tested; the strength that has overcome temptation, and withstood the allurements of the world; that has been proved to be mightier than all the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them, no man dares to decry this; no

man finds it in his heart to do otherwise than have it in

profoundest homage.

It is thus that the great and good share with Christ in his throne. By their virtues, by their strength of principle, by their adherence to right, and resistance of evil, they affect us in somewhat the same way that he does by his character. They incite us to generous purposes; they awaken within us holier desires; they elevate our aims, and exalt our ideas of life. Who can read the biographies of Pascal, of Fénélon, of Wesley, of Clarkson, of Swedenborg, of Follen and Channing and Tuckerman and the Wares, and scores and scores of such, found in every branch of the Christian Church, of whom the world was not worthy, and not have his better feelings deeply moved by the divinity which lived in their lives and spoke in their words and acted in their noble deeds? They do indeed sit with Christ in his throne, and with him sway the sceptre of spiritual empire over mankind. Their spirits govern, although their clay be cold. What is more noble to the contemplation, what more quickening, more elevating, to our higher natures, than firm, consistent, unwavering adherence to principle, that moral energy and force of holy purpose which can sacrifice worldly distinction, fortune, personal comfort, even life itself, to truth and right? In such principle, there is power to move the world, — a power which does move the world.

In view of what I have said, I remark, in the first place, in conclusion, that the true end of life is to educate, draw out, and perfect the higher principles of our nature. To this end, God placed us in this world; a world of temptation and hardship and trial; a world in which we are exposed to evil influences on every side, which sadly try our principles, and menace our souls; a world in which we become virtuous only by overcoming evil; in which every