only to exhibit more fully the need of it. He permitted the Gentile world to follow the vain imaginations of their own hearts till they forgot God, and became the prey of unbridled lust and wickedness. He suffered his own chosen people, Israel, to proceed to the awful length of rejecting their own Messiah, and then was at length exhibited the fulness of the truth-" God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Let us briefly consider the greatness of that price on the part of God the Father, and on the part of our Lord Jesus Christ.

, 1. On the part of God the Father, it was the most precious gift which he could bestow in exchange for the souls of his lost creatures. Even in this world, where the image of God is only seen in a defaced and discoloured form, there is no price which a human heart would not give to secure the happiness of the supreme object of its af

fections.

Would not the wealth of the Indies be counted as a feather in the balance to ransom a lost and only child? And what is there in the world which a father would exchange for his first-born and only son? Even here, the supreme object of affection is above all price, is the dearest treasure of the heart. And what then must be the value of the supreme object of divine affection? If the love of a finite and fallen being stamp its object with such a value, how must the infinite and perfect God esteem the object of his love? And if one frail and faulty creature can thus attract the affections of his fellows, what must that love be with which the eternal and only-begotten Son inspires the everlasting Father? He who says of himself, "I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing alway before him.” If such be the love which is the growth of a few short years, what must be the love of eternity? And it is thus that the Apostle reasons: "He'

that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all-how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”*

2. But, again, let us glance at the value of this price on the part of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What was it that he gave? As God, he As God, he gave up "the glory which he had with the Father before the world was;" and though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor; that we, through his poverty, might be rich." He "emptied himself," as the scripture expresses it. He laid aside, for a time, not merely the outward insignia of royalty, but the glory of his own divine perfections. It was not glory, it was not heaven, it was not the universe that he gave up-it was GOD-HEAD.

And what was it that he gave as man? When he took on him our nature, be it observed, he took on himself a new capacity

for self-sacrifice.

He had the opportunity

*Rom. viii. 32.

of enjoying the glory, the happiness, the comforts, the pleasures of a new state of existence. But these opportunities only presented themselves to be refused. And let it not be thought that this was a cheap and insignificant sacrifice, compared with that which he had previously made; for in either case, the sacrifice was proportioned to the strength. It was the Almighty God, who laid aside the glory of Godhead; it was the infirm, the tempted, the feeling "Man of sorrows," who rejected "the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;" who "resigned the ease and comforts of domestic life, and the endearments of family love;" who " gave his back to the smiters, and his cheek to those that plucked off the hair;" who cried upon the agonizing cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" who, for our sakes, lived the life of the righteous, but died the death of the sinner. All this must be considered if we would understand

the full meaning of the Apostle, when he says, "He loved me and gave HIMSELF for

me."

And for whom was this price paid? Not only for man in the touching helplessness and comparative innocence of infancy, but for man, the hardened rebel, who lifts his bold front in defiance of his Maker; for man, with all his faculties matured and his affections ripened, only to show their alienation from God and their willing bondage to "the world, the flesh, and the devil;" for those of "whom every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts is only evil continually;" for those who, "when they knew God, did not like to retain him in their knowledge;" for "his own," who, when he came unto them "received him not;" for the mocking crowd, the railing malefactor, and the wantonly cruel soldier; for us who have crucified him afresh by our sins." Herein is love, not that we loved God,

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but that he loved us, and sent his Son to