Sermon 11. The People's Christ

(No. 11)

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 25, 1855, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON

At Exeter Hall, Strand.

"I have exalted one chosen out of the people."-Psalm 89:19.

ORIGINALLY, I have no doubt, these words referred to David. He was chosen out of the people. His lineage was respectable,but not illustrious; his family were holy, but not exalted: the names of Jesse, Obed, Boaz, and Ruth, awoke no royal recollections,and stirred up no remembrances of ancient nobility or glorious pedigree. As for himself, his only occupation had been thatof a shepherd-boy, carrying lambs in his bosom, or gently leading the ewes great with young-asimple youth of a right royal soul, and undaunted courage, but yet a plebeian-one of the people. But this was no disqualificationfor the crown of Judah. In God's eye the extraction of the young hero was no barrier to his mounting the throne of the holynation, nor shall the proudest admirer of descent and lineage dare to insinuate a word against the valour, wisdom, and thejustice of the government of this monarch of the people.

We do not believe that Israel or Judah ever had a better ruler than David; and we are bold to affirm that the reign of theman "chosen out of the people" outshines in glory the reigns of high-bred emperors, and princes with the blood of a scoreof kings running in their veins. Yea, more, we will assert that the humility of his birth and education, so far from makinghim incompetent to rule, rendered him, in a great degree, more fit for his office, and able to discharge itsmighty duties. He could legislate for the many, for he was one of themselves-he could rule the people, as the people shouldbe ruled, for he was "bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh "-their friend, their brother, as well as their king.

However, in this sermon we shall not speak of David, but of the Lord Jesus Christ; for David, as referred to in the text,is an eminent type of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, who was chosen out of the people; and of whom his Father can say"I have exalted one chosen out of the people."

Before I enter into the illustration of this truth I wish to make one statement, so that all objections may be avoided asto the doctrine of my sermon. Our Saviour Jesus Christ, I say, was chosen out of the people; but this merely respects hismanhood. As "very God of very God" he was not chosen out of the people; for there was none save him. He was his Father's only-begottenSon, "begotten of the Father before all worlds." He was God's fellow, co-equal, and co-eternal;consequently when we speak of Jesus as being chosen out of the people, we must speak of him as a man. We are, I conceive,too forgetful of the real manhood of our Redeemer, for a man he was to all intents and purposes, and I love to sing,

"A Man there was, a real Man,

Who once on Calvary died."

He was not man and God amalgamated-the two natures suffered no confusion-he was very God, without the diminution of his essenceor attributes; and he was equally, verily, and truly, man. It is as a man I speak of Jesus this morning; and it rejoices my heart when I can view the human side of that glorious miracle of incarnation,and can deal with Jesus Christ as my brother-inhabitant of the same mortality, wrestler with the same pains and ills, companionin themarch of life, and, for a little while, a fellow-sleeper in the cold chamber of death.

There are three things spoken of in the text: first of all, Christ's extraction-he was one of the people; secondly, his election-hewas chosen out of the people; and thirdly, Christ's exaltation-he was exalted. You see I have chosen three words, all commencingwith the letter E, to ease your memories that you may be able to remember them the better-extraction, election, exaltation.

I. We will commence with our Saviour's EXTRACTION. We have had many complaints this week, and for some weeks past, in the newspapers, concerning the families. We are governed-and, according to the firm belief of a great many of us, very badly governed,-by certain aristocratic families.We are not governed by men chosen out of the people, as we ought to be; and this is a fundamental wrong in our government,-thatour rulers, even when elected byus, can scarcely ever be elected from us. Families, where certainly there is not a monopoly of intelligence or prudence, seems to have a patent for promotion;while a man, a commoner, a tradesman, of however good sense, cannot rise to the government. I am no politician, and I am aboutto preach no political sermon; but I must express my sympathy with the people, and my joy that we, as Christians, are governedby one chosen out of the people." Jesus Christ is the people's man; he is thepeople's friend-ay, one of themselves. Though he sits high on his Father's throne, he was "one chosen out of the people.Christ is not to be called the aristocrat's Christ, he is not the noble's Christ, he is not the king's Christ; but he is "onechosen out of the people." It is this thought which cheers the hearts of the people, and ought to bind their souls in unityto Christ, and the holy religion of which he is the Author and Finisher. Let us now beat out this wedge of gold into leaf,andnarrowly inspect its truthfulness.

Christ, by his very birth, was one of the people. True, he was born of a royal ancestry. Mary and Joseph were both of them descendants of a kingly race,but the glory had departed; a stranger sat on the throne of Judah; while the lawful heir grasped the hammer and the adze.Mark ye well the place of his nativity. Born in a stable-cradled in a manger where the horned oxen fed-his only bed was theirfodder, and his slumbers were often broken by their lowings. Hemight be a prince by birth; but certainly he had not a princely retinue to wait upon him. He was not clad in purple garments,neither wrapped in embroidered clothing; the halls of kings were not trodden by his feet, the marble palaces of monarchs werenot honored by his infant smiles. Take notice of the visitors who came around his cradle. The shepherds came first of all.We never find that they lost their way. No, God guides the shepherds, and he did direct the wise men too, but they losttheir way. It often happens, that while shepherds find Christ wise men miss him. But, however, both of them came, themagi and the shepherds; both knelt round that manger, to show us that Christ was the Christ of all men; that he was not merelythe Christ of the magi, but that he was the Christ of the shepherds-that he was not merely the Saviour of the peasant shepherd,but also the Saviour of the learned, for

"None are excluded hence, but those

Who do themselves exclude;

Welcome the learned and polite,

The ignorant and rude,"

In his very birth he was one of the people. He was not born in a populous city; but in the obscure village of Bethlehem, "thehouse of bread," the Son of Man made his advent, unushered by pompous preparations, and unheralded by the blast of courtlytrumpets.

His education, too, demands our attention. He was not taken as Moses was, from his mother's breast, to be educated in the halls of a monarch;he was not brought up with all those affected airs which are given to persons who have golden spoons in their mouths, at theirbirths. He was not brought up as the lordling, to look with disdain on every one; but his father being a carpenter, doubtlesshe toiled in his father's workshop. "Fit place," a quaint author says, "forJesus; for he had to make a ladder that should reach from earth to heaven. And why should he not be the son of a carpenter?" Full well he knew the curse of Adam: "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Had you seen the holy child Jesus,you would have beheld nothing to distinguish him from other children, save that unsullied purity which rested in his verycountenance. When our Lord entered into public life, still he was the same. What was his rank? Did he array himself inscarlet and purple? Oh! no: he wore the simple garb of a peasant-that robe "without seam from the top to the bottom,"one simple piece of stuff, without ornament or embroidery. Did he dwell in state, and make a magnificent show in his journeythrough Judea? No; he toiled his weary way, and sat down on the curb-stone of the well of Sychar. He was like others, a poorman; he had not courtiers around him; he had fishermen for his companions; and when he spoke, did he speak with smooth andoilywords? Did he walk with dainty footsteps, like the king of Amalek? No, he often spoke like the rough Elijah; he spokewhat he meant, and he meant what he said. He spoke to the people as the people's man. He never cringed before great men; heknew not what it was to bow or stoop; but he stood and cried, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Woe unto you,whitewashed sepulchres." He spared no class of sinners: rank and fortune made no difference to him. He uttered the same truthstothe rich men of the Sanhedrim, as to the toiling peasants of Galilee. He was "one of the people."

Notice his doctrine. Jesus Christ was one of the people in his doctrine. His gospel was never the philosopher's gospel, for it is not abstruseenough. It will not consent to be buried in hard words and technical phrases: it is so simple that he who can spell over,"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," may have a saving knowledge of it. Hence, worldly-wise men scorn the scienceof truth, and sneeringly say, 'why, even a blacksmith can preach now-a-day,and men who were at the plough tail may turn preachers,' while priestcraft demands, 'What right have they to do any suchthing, unauthorized by us?' Oh! sad case, that gospel truth should be slighted because of its plainness, and that my Mastershould be despised because he will not be exclusive-will not be monopolised by men of talent and erudition. Jesus is the ignorantman's Christ as much as the learned man's Christ; for he hath chosen "the base things of the world and the things that aredespised." Ah! much as I love true science and real education, I mourn and grieve that our ministers are so much dilutingthe Word of God with philosophy, desiring to be intellectual preachers, delivering model sermons, well fitted for a room fullof college students and professors of theology, but of no use to the masses, being destitute of simplicity, warmth, earnestness,or even solid gospel matter. I fear our college training is but a poor gain to our churches, since it often serves to weanthe young man's sympathies from the people, and wed them to the few, the intellectual, and wealthy of the church. It is good to be a fellow-citizen in the republic of letters, but better farto be an able minister of the kingdom of heaven. It is good to be able like some great minds, to attract the mighty; but themore useful man will still be he, who, like Whitfield, uses "market language," for it is a sad fact that high places and thegospel seldom well agree; and, moreover, be itknown that the doctrine of Christ is the doctrine of the people. It was not meant to be the gospel of a caste, a clique,or any one class of the community. The covenant of grace is not ordered for men of one peculiar grade, but some of all sortsare included. A few there were of the rich followed Jesus in his own day, and it is so now. Mary, and Martha, and Lazaruswere well to do, and there was the wife of Herod's steward, with some more of the nobility. These, however, were but a few:hiscongregation was made up of the lower orders-the masses-the multitude. "The common people heard him gladly;" and his doctrinewas one which did not allow of distinction, but put all men as sinners naturally, on an equality in the sight of God. Oneis your father, "one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." These were words which he taught to his disciples,while in his own person he was the mirror of humility, and proved himself the friend of earth's poor sons, and the loverof mankind. O ye purse proud! O ye who cannot touch the poor even with your white gloves! Ah! ye with your mitres andyour croizers! Ah! ye with your cathedrals and splendid ornaments! This is the man whom ye call Master-the people's Christ-oneof the people! And yet ye look down with scorn upon the people;ye despise them. What are they in your opinion? The common herd-the multitude. Out on ye! Call yourselves no more the ministers of Christ. How can ye be, unless, descending fromyour pomp and your dignity, ye come amongst the poor and visit them-ye walk amongst our teeming population and preachto them the gospel of Christ Jesus. WE believe you to be the descendants of the fishermen? Ah! no, until ye doff your grandeur,and, like the fishermen, come out, the people's men, and preach to the people, speak to the people, instead of lolling onyour splendid seats, and making yourselves rich at the expense of your pluralites! Christ's ministers should be the friendsofmanhood at large, remembering that their Master was the people's Christ. Rejoice! O rejoice! ye multitudes. Rejoice! rejoice!for Christ was one of the people.

II.Our second point was ELECTION. God says, "I have exalted one chosen out of the people." Jesus Christ was elected-chosen.Somehow or other, that ugly doctrine of election will come out. Oh! there be some, the moment they hear that word, election,put their hands upon their foreheads, and mutter, "I will wait till that sentence is over; there will be something I shalllike better, perhaps." Some others say, "I shall not go to that place again; the man is ahyper-Calvinist." But the man is not a hyper-Calvinist; the man said what was in his Bible-that is all. He is a Christian,and you have no right to call him by those ill-names, if indeed an ill-name it be, for we never blush at whatever men do callus. Here it is: "One chosen out of the people." Now, what does that mean, but that Jesus Christ is chosen? Those who do notlike to believe that the heirs of heaven were elect, cannot deny the truth proclaimed in this verse,-that Jesus Christ isthe subject of election-that his Father chose him, and that he chose him out of the people. As a man, he was chosen outof the people, to be the people's Saviour, and the people's Christ. And now let us gather up our thoughts, and try to discoverthe transcendent wisdom of God's choice. Election is no blind thing. God chooses sovereignly, but he always chooses wisely.There is always some secret reason for his choice of any particular individual; though that motive does not lie in ourselves,or in our own merits, yet there always is some secret cause far more remote than the doings of the creature; some mightyreason unknown to all but himself. In the case of Jesus, the motives are apparent; and without pretending to enter the cabinetcouncil of Jehovah, we may discover them.

1. First, we see that justice is thereby fully satisfied by the choice of one out of the people. Suppose God had chosen an angel to make satisfaction for our sins-imagine that anangel were capable of bearing that vast amount of suffering and agony which was necessary to our atonement; yet after theangel had done it all, justice would never have been satisfied, for this one simple reason, that the law declares,-" The soulthat sinneth IT shall die." Now,man sins, and therefore man must die. Justice required, that as by man came death, by man also should come the resurrection and the life. The law required,that as man was the sinner, man should be the victim-that as in Adam all died, even so in another Adam should all be madealive. Consequently, it was necessary that Jesus Christ should be chosen out of the people; for had yon blazing angel nearthe throne, that lofty Gabriel, laid aside his splendours, descended to our earth,endured pain, suffered agonies, entered the vault of death, and groaned out a miserable existence in an extremity of woe,after all that, he would not have satisfied inflexible justice, because it is said, a man must die, and otherwise the sentence is not executed.

2. But there is another reason why Jesus Christ was chosen out of the people. It is because thereby the whole race receives honor. Do you know I would not be an angel, if Gabriel would ask me. If he would beseech me to exchange places with him, I wouldnot, I should lose so much by the exchange, and he would gain so much. Poor, weak, and worthless, though I am, yet I am aman, and being a man, there is a dignity about manhood-a dignity lost one day in the gardenof the fall but regained in the garden of resurrection. It is a fact, that a man is greater than an angel-that in heavenhumanity stands nearer the throne than angelic existence. You will read in the Book of the Revelation, of the four-and-twentyelders who stood around the throne, and in the outer circle stood the angels. The elders, who are the representatives of thewhole church, were honored with a greater nearness to God than the ministering spirits. Why man-elect man-is the greatestbeing in the universe, except God. Man sits up there-look! at God's right hand, radiant with glory, there sits a man!Ask me who governs Providence, and directs its awfully mysterious machinery; I tell you it is a man-the man Christ Jesus.Ask me who has during the past month bound up the rivers in chains of ice, and who now has loosed them from the shackles ofwinter, I tell you a man did it-Christ. Ask me who shall come to judge the earth in rigteousness, and I say a man. A real,veritable man is to hold the scales of judgment, and to call all nations around him. And who is the channel of grace?Who is the emporium of all the Father's mercy? Who is the great gathering up of all the love of the covenant? I reply a man-theman Christ Jesus. And Christ, being a man, has exalted you, and exalted me, and put us into the highest ranks. He made us,originally, a little lower than the angels, and now despite our fall in Adam, he bath crowned us, his elect, with glory andhonor, and hath set us at his right hand in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might shew theexceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.

3. But, my brethren, let us take a sweeter view than that. Why was he chosen out of the people? Speak, my heart! What is thefirst reason that rushes up to thyself? for heart thoughts are best thoughts. Thoughts from the head are often good for nothing;but thoughts of the heart, deep musings of the soul, these are priceless as pearls of Ormuz. If it be a humbler poet, providedthat his songs gush from his heart, they shall better strike the cords of my soul than thelifeless emanations of mere brain. Here, Christian: what dost thou think is the sweet reason for the election of thy Lord,he being one of the people? was it not this-that he might be able to be thy brother, in the blest tie of kindred blood? Oh! what relationship there is between Christ and the believer? The believer can say

"One there is above all others

Well deserves the name of friend;

His is love beyond a brother's,

Faithful, free, and knows no end."

I have a great brother in heaven. I have heard boys say sometimes in the street that they would tell their brother; and Ihave often said so when the enemy has attacked me-" I will tell my brother in heaven." I may be poor, but I have a brotherwho is rich; I have a brother who is a king; I am brother to the prince of the kings of the earth; and will he suffer me tostarve, or want, or lack, while he is on his throne? Oh! no; he loves me; he has fraternal feelingstowards me; he is my brother. But, more than that: think, O believer! Christ is not merely thy brother, but he is thyhusband. "Thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name." It rejoices the wife to lean her head on the broad breastof her husband, in full assurance that his arms will be strong to labor for her, or defend her; that his heart ever throbswith love to her, and that all he has, and is, belongs to her, as the sharer of his existence. Oh! to know by the influenceof theHoly Ghost, that the sweet alliance is made between my soul and the ever precious Jesus; sure, tis enough to quicken allmy soul to music, and make each atom of my frame a grateful songster to the praise of Christ. Come, let me remember when Ilay like an infant in my blood, cast out in the open field; let me recollect the notable moment when he said, "Live!" andlet me never forget that he has educated me, trained me up, and one day will espouse me to himself in righteousness, crowningme witha nuptial crown in the palace of his father. Oh! it is bliss unspeakable! I wonder not that the thought doth stagger mywords to utter it!-that Christ is one of the people, that he might be nearly related to you and to me, that he might be thegoel, or kinsman, next of kin.

"In ties of blood with sinners one,

Our Jesus is to glory gone;

Hath all his foes to ruin hurled-

Sin, satan, earth, death, hell, the world."

Saint, was this blessed thought, like a necklace of diamonds, around the neck of thy memory; put it, as a golden ring, onthe finger of recollection; and use it as the king's own seal, stamping the petitions of thy faith with confidence of success.

4. But now another idea suggests itself. Christ was chosen out of the people-that he might know our wants and sympathize withus. You know the old tale, that one half the world does not know how the other half lives; and that is very true. I believesome of the rich have no notion whatever of what the distress of the poor is. They have no idea of what it is to labor fortheir daily food. They have a very faint conception of what a rise in the price of bread means. Theydo not know anything about it; and when we put men in power who never were of the people, they do not understand the artof governing us. But our great and glorious Jesus Christ is one chosen out of the people; and therefore he knows our wants.Temptation and pain he suffered before us; sickness he endured, for when hanging upon the cross, the scorching of that broiling sun brought on a burning fever; weariness-he has endured it, for weary he sat by the well;poverty-he knows it, for sometimes he had not bread to eat, save that bread of which the world knows nothing; to be houseless-he knew it, for the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but he had not where to lay his head. My brotherChristian, there is no place where thou canst go, where Christ has not been before thee, sinful places alone excepted. Inthe dark valley of the shadow of death thou mayest see his bloody footsteps-footprints marked with gore; ay,and even at the deep waters of the swelling Jordan, thou shalt, when thou comest hard by the side, say, "There are thefootprints of a man: whose are they?" Stooping down, thou shalt discern a nail-mark, and shalt say. "Those are the footstepsof the blessed Jesus." He hath been before thee; he hath smoothed the way; he hath entered the grave, that he might make thetomb the royal bedchamber of the ransomed race, the closet where they lay aside the garments of labor, to put on the vestmentsofeternal rest. In all places whithersoever we go, the angel of the covenant has been our forerunner; each burden we haveto carry, has once been laid on the shoulders of Immanuel.

"His way was much rougher and darker than mine;

Did Christ my Lord suffer, and shall I repine ?"

I am speaking to those in great trial. Dear fellow-traveller! take courage: Christ has consecrated the road, and made thenarrow way the King's own road to life.

One thought more, and then I will pass on to my third point. There is a poor soul over there, who is desirous of coming toJesus, but he is in very great trouble, lest he should not come right; and I know many Christians who say, "Well, I hope Ihave come to Christ; but I am afraid I have not come right." There is a little foot-note to one of the hymns in dear Mr. Denham'scollection, in which he says, "Some people are afraid they do not come right. Now, no man can comeexcept the Father draw him; so I apprehend, if they come at all, they cannot come wrong." So do I apprehend, if men comeat all, they must come right. Here is a thought for thee, poor coming sinner. Why art thou afraid to come ?" "Oh!" sayestthou, "I am so great a sinner, Christ will not have mercy upon me." Oh! you do not know my blessed Master; he is more lovingthan you think him to be. I was once wicked enough to think the same; but I have found him ten thousand times more kind thanIthought, I tell you, he is so loving, so gracious, so kind, there ne'er was one half so good as he. He is kinder thanever you can think; his love is greater than your fears, and his merits are more prevalent than your sins. But still you say,"I am afraid I shall not come aright; I think I shall not use acceptable words." I tell you why that is: because you do notremember that Christ was taken out of the people. If Her Majesty were to send for me to-morrow morning, I dare say I shouldfeelvery anxious about what kind of dress I should wear, and how I should walk in, and how I should observe court etiquette,and so on; but if one of my friends here were to send for me, I should go straight off and see him, because he is one of thepeople, and I like him. Some of you say, "How can I go to Christ? What shall I say? What words shall I use ?" If thou wertgoing to one above thee, thou mightest say so: but he is one of the people. Go as thou art, poor sinner-just in thy rags,justin thy filth-in all thy wickedness, just as thou art. O conscience-stricken sinner, come to Jesus! He is one of the people.If the Spirit has given thee a sense of sin, do not study how thou art to come; come anyhow; come with a groan, come witha sigh, come with a tear,-any come, if thou dost but come, will do, for he is one of the people. "The Spirit and the Bridesay, Come; let him that heareth say, Come." Here I cannot resist giving an illustration. I have heard, that in the deserts,when the caravans are in want of water, and they are afraid they shall not find any, they are accustomed to send on acamel, with its rider, some distance in advance, then after a little space follows another; and then, at a short interval,another: as soon as the first man finds water, almost before he stoops down to drink, he shouts aloud, "Come!" The next one,hearing the voice, repeats the word, "Come!" while the nearest again takes up the cry, "Come!" until the whole wildernessechoes withthe word "Come!" So in that verse, "the Spirit and the Bride say, first of all, Come: then let him that heareth say, Come:and whosoever is athirst, let him come, and take of the water of life freely." With this picture I leave our survey of thereasons for the election of Christ Jesus.

III. And now I am to close up with his EXALTATION. "I have exalted one chosen out of the people." You will recollect, whilstI am speaking upon this exaltation, that it is really the exaltation of all the elect in the person of Christ; for all thatChrist is, and all that Christ has, is mine. If I am a believer, whatever he is in his exalted person, that I am, for I ammade to sit together with Christ in heavenly places.

1. First, dear friends, it was exaltation enough for the body of Christ to be exalted into union with the divinity. That washonor which none of us can ever receive. We never hope to have this body united with a God. It cannot be. Once has incarnationbeen done-never but once. Of no other man can it be said, "He was one with the Father, and the Father was one with him." Ofno other man shall it be said, that the Deity tabernacled in him, and that God was manifest in hisflesh, seen of angels, justified of the spirit, and carried up to glory.

2. Again: Christ was exalted by his resurrection. Oh! I should have liked to have stolen into that tomb of our Saviour, Isuppose it was a large chamber; within it lay a massive marble sarcophagus, and very likely a ponderous lid was laid uponit. Then outside the door there lay a mighty stone, and guards kept watch before it. Three days did that sleeper slumber there!Oh! I could have wished to lift the lid of that sarcophagus, and look upon him. Pale he lay;blood-streaks there were upon him, not all quite washed away by those careful women who had buried him. Death exultingcries, 'I have slain him: the seed of the woman who is to destroy me is now my captive!' Ah! how grim death laughed! Ah! howhe stared through his bony eye-lids, as he said, 'I have the boasted victor in my grasp.' 'Ah!' said Christ, 'but I have thee!'And up he sprang, the lid of the sarcophagus started up; and he, who has the keys of death and hell, seized death, groundhisiron limbs to powder, dashed him to the ground and said, "O death, I will be thy plague; O hell, I will be thy destruction."Out he came, and in turn the watchmen fled away. Startling with glory, radiant with light, effulgent with divinity, he stoodbefore them. Christ was then exalted in his resurrection.

3. But how exalted was he in his ascension! He went out from the city to the top of the hill, his disciples attending himwhile he waited the appointed moment. Mark his ascension! Bidding farewell to the whole circle, up he went gradually ascending,like the exaltation of a mist from the lake, or the cloud from the steaming river. Aloft he soared: by his own mighty buoyancyand elasticity he ascended up on high-not like Elijah, carried up by fiery horses; nor like Enochof old, it could not be said he was not, for God took him. He went himself; and as he went, I think I see the angels lookingdown from heaven's battlements, and crying, 'See the conquering hero comes!' while at his nearer approach again they shouted,'See the conquering hero comes!' So his journey through the plains of ether is complete-he nears the gates of heaven-attendingangels shout, "Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!" The glorious hostswithin scarce ask the question, "Who is the king of glory;" when from ten thousand thousand tongues there rolls an oceanof harmony, beating in mighty waves of music on the pearly gates and opening them at once, "The Lord strong and mighty, theLord mighty in battle." Lo! heaven's barriers are thrown wide open and cherubim are hastening to meet their monarch.

"They brought his chariot from afar,

To bear him to his throne;

Clapp'd their triumphant wings and said,

'The Saviour's work is done.'"

Behold he marches through the streets. See how kingdoms and powers fall down before him! Crowns are laid at his feet, andhis Father says, 'Well done, my Son, well done!' while heaven echoes with the shout, 'Well done! well done!' Up he climbsto that high throne, side by side with the Paternal Deity. "I have exalted one chosen out of the people."

4. The last exaltation of Christ which I shall mention is that which is to come, when he shall sit upon the throne of hisFather David, and shall judge all nations. You will observe I have omitted that exaltation which Christ is to have as theking of this world during the millennium. I do not profess to understand it, and therefore I leave that alone. But I believeJesus Christ is to come upon the throne of judgment, "and before him shall be gathered all nations; and heshall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Sinner! thou belevest that thereis a judgment; thou knowest that the tares and wheat cannot always grow together-that the sheep and the goats shall not alwaysfeed in one pasture; but dost thou know of that man who is to judge thee-that he who is to judge thee is a man? I say a man-aman once despised and rejected.

"The Lord shall come, but not the same

As once in lowliness he came:

A humble man before his foes;

A weary man, and full of woes."

Ah! no. Rainbows shall be about his head; he shall hold the sun in his right hand as the token of his government; he shallput the moon and stars beneath his feet, as the dust of the pedestal of his throne, which shall be of solid clouds of light.The books shall be opened-those massive books, which contain the deeds of both quick and dead. Ah! how shall the despisedNazarene sit triumphant over all his foes. No more the taunt, the jeer, the scoff; but one hideous cry ofmisery, "Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne." Oh, ye, my hearers, who now look with contempt on Jesusand his cross, I tremble for you. Oh, fiercer than a lion on his prey, is love when once incensed. Oh, despisers! I warn yeof that day when the placid brow of the Man of Sorrows shall be knit with frowns; when the eye which once was moistened bydew-drops of pity, shall flash lightning on its enemies; and the hand, which once was nailed to the cross for our redemption,shall grasp the thunderbolt for your damnation; while the mouth which once said, "Come unto me, ye weary," shall pronouncein words louder and more terrible than the voice of the thunder, "Depart ye cursed!" Sinners! ye may think it a trifle tosin against the Man of Nazareth, but ye shall find that in so doing ye have offended the Man who shall judge the earth in righteousness; and for your rebellionye shall endure waves of torment in the eternal ocean of wrath. From that doom may Goddeliver you! But I warn you of it. You have all read the story of the lady, who, on her marriage-day stepped up stairs,and seeing an old chest, in her fun and frolic stepped inside, thinking to hide herself an hour, that her friends might huntfor her; but a spring lock lay in ambush there, and fastened her down for ever; nor did they ever find her, until years hadpassed, when moving that old lumbering chest, they found the bones of a skeleton, with here and there a jewelled ring andsomefair thing. She had sprung in there in pleasantry and mirth, but was locked down for ever. Young man! take heed that youare not locked down for ever by your sins. One jovial glass-it is all. "One moment's step." So said she. But there's a secretlock lays in ambush. One turn into that house of ill-fame-one wandering from the paths of rectitude-that is all. Oh, sinner!it is all. But dost thou know what that all is? To be fastened down for ever. Oh! if thou wouldst shun this, list to me,whilst-for I have but one moment more-I tell thee yet again of the Man who was "chosen out of the people."

Ye proud ones! I have a word for you. Ye delicate ones, whose footsteps must not touch the ground! ye who look down in scornupon your fellow mortals-proud worms despising your fellow worms, because ye are somewhat more showily dressed! What thinkye of this? The man of the people is to save you, if you are saved at all. The Christ of the crowd-the Christ of the mass-theChrist of the people-he is to be your Saviour! Thou must stoop, proud man! Thou must bow, proudlady! Thou must lay aside thy pomp, or else thou wilt ne'er be saved; for the Saviour of the people must be thy Saviour.

But to the poor trembling sinner, whose pride is gone, I repeat the comforting assurance. Wouldst thou shun sin? Wouldst thouavoid the curse? My Master tells me to say this morning,-"Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will giveyou rest." I remember the saying of a good old saint. Some one was talking about the mercy and love of Jesus, and concludedby saying, "Ah, is it not astonishing?" She said, "No, not at all." But they said it was. "Why,"she said, "it is just like him: it is just like him!" You say, can you believe such a thing of a person? "Oh yes!" itmay be said, "that is just his nature." So you, perhaps, cannot believe that Christ would save you, guilty creature as youare. I tell you it is just like him. He saved Saul-he saved me-he may save you. Yea, what is more, he will save you. For whosoevercometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out.