clined the exercise of regal power, on all occasions; although he did not conceal the fact, that he is a king; but confessed it, and taught and preached that he is a king; and that his kingdom is not of this world, but is nigh at hand. He neither received the title, nor exercised the power of a king; though Pilate, in contempt of the Jews, as well as in honor of the Just One, inscribed this title over his head, as the accusation, for which he was nailed to the cross! (Mark 15: 26.)

Therefore, the idea that his offices are from the first concurrent, is not countenanced in the gospel; but quite the contrary, it seems to me. A marked line of distinction was observed on earth, by which he bounded his prophetic office, and separated it, from both his priesthood and his crown. And it is not too much to believe, that he preserves the same distinction in heaven, separating the office of Priest from that of King; and discharging now only the office of High Priest, as upon earth, he discharged only the office of a Prophet. His prophetic office was temporary; his priesthood is enduring; but his crown and throne are eternal.

"We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;" (Heb. 8: 1,) of whom the apostle avers, only four verses further along, that, "if he were on earth, he should not be a Priest, seeing that there are priests, that offer gifts according to the law." So it would seem to be essential to the Priesthood of Messiah, that he should leave the earth, and enter within the veil, and sit "on the right hand of God, angels, and authorities and powers, being made subject unto him." (1 Pet. 3: 22.) There he received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, spoken of in the 2d Psalm, and in Acts: "Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this-therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, both Lord and Christ :"

(Acts 2: 33, 36;) both Lord and Christ, by anointing him with the fulness of the Holy Spirit, in earnest of that kingdom of which he is the appointed heir; and is, in due time, to be the actual Lord; even when the time comes for the saints to possess the kingdom.

And Jesus now sheds down the same Spirit on the heirs of the promises, (which Spirit he received of the Father,) in token of their adoption to be the sons of God; and as the earnest of their future inheritance, in the kingdom of Messiah, when Jesus will take possession of the purchase he has made with his own blood, the day of redeeming it from the dominion of the god of this world having fully come.

These two things I take for certain by universal con

sent:

1. That Jesus has finished the personal discharge of his prophetic office.

2. That Jesus is now personally officiating, as our High Priest, in heaven.

And it is reasonable, that, in the end of time, he will conclude his personal priesthood in heaven, as he has already finished his prophetic office on earth: and then he will per. sonally come, (Rev. 3: 21,) the king of everlasting ages, on his own throne; to which office he is anointed already; the Son of God," whom he hath appointed heir of all things;" and who is at the right hand of the Father, "expecting, until his enemies be made his footstool." That is the day of "the redemption of the purchased possession," (Eph. 1,) and "the redemption of our body;" (Rom. 8: 23,) even the resurrection of the dead.

In Heb. 7: 17, it is written: For he testifieth, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedeck. Es tov aiwva, "forever," is just as properly translated "to the end of time." In that form, it would read: "Thou art a priest to the end of time, after the order of Melchisedeck." And this translation expresses the fact exactly, that Christ is a Priest from

the time he said of his prophetic office, "It is finished;" to the end of time; when he will come in his everlasting kingdom: "and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1: 33.)

One thing interesting may be noted, in this connection: that the Lord, in the Apocalypse, reveals himself repeatedly to his servant John, with overwhelming glories, in the heavens, but never as wearing a crown, until he comes to gather the harvest of the earth. To determine this matter, the reader must peruse Revelation for himself; but in chap. 14, v. 14, he will find the first vision of our Lord wearing a crown; which is soon followed by another, in which he ap pears at the head of the heavenly host, wearing MANY CROWNS, in the great day.

The office of High Priest was one of highest dignity and glory; and it was of greatest authority, over all the ministers of the temple, and the true worshippers of the Lord. But it was distinct in kind from that of the regal office, which is above all. Jesus is our High Priest in glory, on the Heavenly Father's throne, our Advocate and Intercessor there, until the end of the world. Then he will be King on his own throne, and on the throne of his father David, in the re-union of earth to heaven, all things being restored and made anew in the resurrection of the dead. And thus we see how identical with all the hopes of a christian, as well as with the doc. trine of the gospel, is the hope of the resurrection of the dead.

1

Our sacred melodies are stored with sentiments of this kind, which we have accustomed ourselves to understand in a figure, trusting to the Egyptian's ladder, rather than to the faith of Israel. But reflection will show, that the poet himself did not use the expressions metaphorically, but literally with the prophet. "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves." (Ez. 37: 12, 13.) Such is the return of the Jews. A "thus saith the Lord God" should be exempted from that liberty, we use with the language of the poet; but in this day of strong delusion, when many have not the love of the truth, they accustom others to treat "thus saith the Lord" with the freedom of a poet's fancy; and, therefore, why should not the faithless generation of Carthage, as well as of Rome, be suffered to believe the lie; if that is it, which preaches the kingdom of heaven in this world, in the church, and in the gospel dispensation, whether it receive, or reject the Roman bishop for its vicegerent?

The truth is, Paul cherished no hope, he preached no gospel that did not keep the name of Jesus and of the resurrection united together. Indeed, he put the whole gospel, on many public and solemn occasions, into the form of the single hope of the resurrection of the dead. But, now, what particular hope has the church, (I admit her undoubting faith in the doctrine;) but what cherished hope has the church in the resurrection of the dead? I think a very faint, indefinite, and cheap value she puts on this doctrine of apostolic glory, and of the heavenly kingdom, while those in her outer courts are for turning the whole thing into a figure of speech.

This great and glorious and blessed doctrine of the gospel is opened in the utmost extent of its grandeur, to the right apprehension of a very pagan, by the simple truth of the

kingdom of Jesus, and of heaven at hand. I would enlarge upon it, and upon other topics of highest interest; but I forbear, lest by many words the doctrine of the coming king, in his everlasting kingdom, should be overlaid, and by any means shaded from the reader's sight. I leave them here, with a full conviction, that the doctrine of the kingdom, which at first view, seemed to some, not very important, if true, will finally prove to every mind that embraces it, on a careful study of the Bible, what the river Alpheus was, under the hand of Hercules, to the accumulations of thirty years, from three thousand cattle, in one royal stable: it did not harm the cattle, nor the stable, but it cleansed and sweet. ened and changed all, down to the very foundations: and so will this doctrine gently remove all the refuges of lies, the lurking places of dark error, the musty walls of sectarian division, the foul slanders and calumnies of brethren; and it will perfectly restore in their original simplicity and majesty and beauty, the "one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism" of the primitive church it will exhibit in their grandeur the distinct offices of Christ, as our Prophet, Priest, and everlasting King: it will unfold in light the doctrine of Faith, the duty of Repentance, the hope of Salvation, and the kingdom of the Resurrection: and it will enable us the better to understand the difference between this world, and the world to come.

HOLY CHARITY.

The glory, however, that it throws upon the mysterious character, and office of the Holy Spirit, is too interesting to my own mind, and solemn, and, at the same time, wholly new, to allow me to stop, until I have briefly shown it. I am not worthy to discourse on a theme so holy. I am a sin