Father. For he is 'the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.' Immutability is one of the crowning excellencies of the Saviour of the world. Besides, is heaven the place for benevolence to grow cold? Can the compassionate Saviour desire less in his exalted state than when on earth, bearing our nature, and mingling his sympathies with the afflicted and disconsolate?

'By mercy's hand upheld,

Firmly his purpose stands:
What love his bosom filled!

What kindness moved his hands!
What pity warmed his pleading breath,
Who meekly blest his foes in death!

Now, raised to realms above,

Where boundless mercies shine,

Will Christ forget his love?

Forget this heart of mine?

O, no; his favors never end;

He's there, as here, the sinner's Friend.'

III. The certainty of salvation. On this proposition, our remarks will be very brief; for many of the passages which assert the extent of salvation speak equally positive respecting its certainty. One is asserted as plainly as the other. Indeed, the moment we admit a Saviour, we must admit the absolute certainty of his mission. Are not the means as certain as the end? Where a failure exists, there must be either a want of power, or wisdom, or disposition. Now it cannot be said that Jesus is wanting in either. During his whole ministry, we find his wisdom equal to any emergency; he is never foiled in any of his plans, or entrapped by the cunning of his enemies.

He meets and overthrows their plots with a single word. We see the mightiest exhibitions of power. Disease in every form flies before him. The graves open at his word. The winds and the waves become calm at his approach. Indeed, the physical, intellectual, and moral departments of creation were perfectly within his control. And that every doubt might be removed from the minds of his followers, he came, just on the eve of his ascension, and spake unto them, saying, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.'

In the days of Jesus, there seems to have been no doubt on this point. When the Apostles became finally convinced that their Master was the true Messiah, they reposed the utmost confidence in him as the Saviour of the world. It remained for a later age to dispute that point. The faith of the great Apostle was so strong and clear that he even contemplated the work as finished. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him.'* Mark the singularity of the exception! The Apostle ranges the universe, and in faith sees every being subdued to the Saviour of the world. Then he pauses for a moment, and makes an exception, not of a single human being, but God himself!

But we need not dwell on a point so plain. If, in the final winding up of the great drama of human existence, all are not saved, then Jesus cannot wear upon his crown, in eternity, the broad, blazing title

* 1 Cor. xv. 27.

of the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD! If he fails, then the great plan of redemption lies unfinished before the eye of God and the universe forever! And what a failure! It is not that of a human being, but of a God! The desire of the righteous is not granted! The blood of Christ is shed in vain! Angels cease forever to rejoice at the return of the sinner! Their golden harps remain untuned to the song of redeeming love! Darkness, gloom, despair, sorrow, settle down upon God's universe forever! Can this be? Heaven forbid ! No. It cannot be. For we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."

'Before the world was made,

Or sun or planets shone,
Salvation's base was laid

In God's anointed Son,

Who came to spread the truth abroad,
And reconcile a world to God.

Hail, all-triumphant hour

In which my Saviour rose!
The grave has lost its power;
My soul, forget thy woes.
Widely he'll spread his grace abroad,
And safely guide a world to God.'

LXVIII. SERVANT.

'Behold my Servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.'

Matt. xii. 18.

THIS word is applied to the Saviour in ten instances. It is the same word that is used for slave; but then a servant differs materially from a slave, for the one performs the work assigned to him with the concurrence of his own will, but the other must fulfil his task whether he will or not. His will is absorbed in that of his master, without a right of calling it in question. Of course we are not to view our Saviour in that sense, for though he came to perform the will of the Father, yet there was a perfect harmony between them both, and such a union as the world never has seen in any other instance whatever.

The motto is taken from a passage in Isaiah, quoted by our Lord himself. This whole subject may be embraced under three heads.

I. A servant must not create his message.

II. He must be properly qualified for his work. III. He must do his duty, whether his message is received or not.

I. A servant must not create his message. Jesus said, 'For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will, that of all which he hath

given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.'* When standing before Pilate, in the judgment hall, he said, 'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.' The message of this Servant was prepared for him long before he came into the world. And what a message! It was full of love and tenderness to the human family; full of grace and truth. 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, *** not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.' 'Herein is love.' The universe is crowded with proofs of the benevolence of God, but here is a proof that outweighs them all! How much he loved us, we can never know; we have no line with which to fathom, no standard with which to compare; but he so loved us that he gave his only-begotten Son, that the world through him might be saved. Such, then, was the message which this Servant brought to man.

II. A servant must be properly qualified for his work. And how eminent were the qualifications of this Servant of God! He knew what was in man.' He could weigh every motive, and see every desire within the chambers of the soul. Therefore he could penetrate every heart, reveal every hidden plan, and adapt his instructions to the mass of mind by which he was surrounded. To the ignorant he could impart knowledge; to the wayward, stability; to the mourner, consolation; to the despairing, hope. His nature was sweet; his manners humble; his words Ib. iii. 16, 17.

* John vi. 38, 39. † Ib. xviii. 37.