the chief among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven," &c. "He is altogether lovely."

LovE enters into and is the very essence of all service and worship whatever; "Love is the fulfilling of the law." If ye love me, said Jesus, ye will keep my words. The Mediator loved his people, and gave himself for them, and washes them from their sins in his own blood; in doing so his divine excellence shines forth, and demands their love and esteem. The same supreme love is due to him, which is due to the Father; because the Father will have. áll men to honour the Son even as they honour himself. But where there is no love there can be no honour, and where the love is not equal the honour cannot be equal. If believers love the Mediator even as they love the Father, they will not fail to ascribe to him the same divine honour. The greatest danger is incurred by such as do not love Jesus supremely," If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema, Maranatha." The faith and love of believers meet in the Mediator, in whom they find all fulness and from whom they receive all divine blessings. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice, with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.". 1 Peter i. 8.

4. SUPPLICATION and prayer. To hear and answer prayer is the prerogative of God alone; because none but he is able to perform such things, and confer such fa- ' vours, as we find necessary to our salvation. Prayer implies two things-Want on the part of the supplicant, with total inability to relieve himself-And that the object of prayer is able and ready to help in all possible cases. Though we ask and receive favours from men, yet it is not in their power to confer such as to lay a

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foundation for prayer, as a religious exercise and a part of divine worship. They depend entirely upon God even for what is in their power to confer.

INFINITE power, wisdom, goodness and knowledge, are necessary in the object of prayer. He must be able to know the case of the supplicant, of numberless supplicants, at the same time; to discern whether such things as are prayed for, are properly adapted to the situation of the supplicant, and what may be the most proper season for giving an answer: and as prayer is not merely for temporal favours, but also for spiritual, the whole condition, frame and circumstances of the soul ought to be known; even the disposition of the heart, whether feigned or sincere; and the design, whether proper or not. He must possess a fulness adequate to all the wants of all his people, otherwise it will be in vain for them to supplicate him. The dependant condition of believers, their own weakness, the dangers to which they are exposed, and the number and strength of their enemies, render it necessary that he should be both almighty and infinitely wise. Every part of the Christian's warfare, and every religious duty which he performs, demands divine counsel and aid; and unless the object of prayer can give them, in vain shall he present his supplications to him.

BUT all such qualifications, necessary in the object of prayer, exist in the Mediator. He is God Almighty; counsel and sound wisdom are his; he knows all things; ' and it hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell. Being thus a fit and proper object of prayer, we find his people presenting their supplications to him; sometimes along with the Father and Spirit, sometimes by himself. "Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Cor. i. 3. This form of prayer occurs frequently. In Rev. i. 4, 5. the Spirit is included. "Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness." There is no access to God but in his gracious character; no petition can be presented to him, nor any answer received, but in his gracious character, through the Mediator. In these passages, God is the God of peace, and the Father of his people, in Christ; and Jesus is the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, only in his mediatory character. In this character prayer is offered to him along with the other divine persons. The apostolic benediction is of the same import. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." THIS solemn act of worship is often expressed by, "Calling, or calling upon." "Call upon me," says God, "in the day of trouble." extensive than praying, yet includes prayer. The Mediator is often so addressed. "All that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Cor. i. 2. Here he stands in the same relation to believers as in the words of our text. They invoke him as the object of their faith, worship and obedience, their head and Lord. So did the proto-martyr Stephen when sealing the truth with his blood. "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' Acts vii. 59, 60. Thus he prayed to the Mediator both for himself and his persecutors. The thief on the Ss 2

This expression is more

cross prayeed, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom;" and Jesus heard and answered.

PRAYING to the Mediator is no more inconsistent with praying to the Father in his name, than any other act of worship or obedience. Christ enjoined his disciples to believe in him as they had believed in God; and the apostle says that "by him we believe in God." 1 Pet. i. 21. Agreeably to the economy of grace all our access to God is through the Mediator, we must then come to him first in all acts of divine worship, as our way unto God, and so in the duty of prayer. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." John xvi. 23.

Christ's name here is not his personal but mediatory name. He is High Priest over the house of God, through whose sacrifice every favour is secured, and through whose intercession every blessing is conveyed. This is the name through which we are to invoke Jehovah. But in doing this we must rely on him to present our prayers and obtain an answer; which is still worshipping the Mediator. The economy of salvation establishes an order of operation among the divine persons, which we must attend to in all our intercourse with them. In prayer we ought to implore the aid of the Spirit to help our infirmities, and rely on him for it; we must put our prayers into the hand of the Mediator to present them to his Father, and procure a gracious answer to them. This economical order does not destroy the equality of these persons, nor do they lay aside these perfections which render them the proper object of worship. If the Spirit were not God he could give us no aid in prayer, or any duty; and were the Mediator not God he could not secure the acceptance of our prayers with God. Jesus promises to answer our prayers, which evidently

"If ye

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proves that they may be presented to him. shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." xiv. 14. As a divine Mediator he receives our prayers and presents them to the Father, and he also receives the answer from the Father and conveys it to us. To him then we must, in the first instance, present our prayers for whatever we want; and on receiving it acknowledge him. But this leads me to remark farther,

5. THE ascription of praise, thanksgiving, adoration and blessing.

IN doing doing this we do not enhance the blessedness of the object, nor render him more glorious than he is in himself. This is impossible. We only account and esteem him, in our hearts, worthy of all honour and glory and blessing, and pronounce it with our lips. When God honours or blesses any, it is by making them honourable and blessed; but when we honour and bless God we only acknowledge him as possessing all divine honour and blessedness, as a being of infinite perfections.

THE Father will have all men to honour the Mediator even as they honour himself. The honour of both is so inseparably connected that, to deny it to the one is to rob the other of it. In consequence of this we find the holy angels employed in the ascription of the highest adoration and honour to the Mediator. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." Rev. v. 12. Rev. v. 12. The church follows in the same path. "Now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour, and glory, for ever. Amen." 1 Tim. i. 17. He is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who