more. Jesus' righteousness laid upon them. Because Jesus was cut off, but not for himself, we shall live for ever. Every synagogue in London is a standing testimony to the truth of the prophecy of Daniel. Lambs and goats bleed for the sins of the people no Where, my Jewish brethren, are your great atonement, where the morning and the evening lamb, where the great sacrifices for sin? Have you not read, that without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin? Where is the shedding of blood? Why is it not? Rabbi and Jew are silent? Why? I can tell. Because the Messiah in the midst of the week was cut off and made the long-prefigured sacrifice, and ended the oblation for sin. Every Jew upon the streets unconsciously cries, "It is finished;" every synagogue in the land protests, "It is finished;" every memorial of the suffering of that persecuted race, their insulation from the nations of the earth, their clinging to Levi, and to the land of their fathers, all proclaim, "It is finished." our heartfelt joy that "it is finished!" It is so. glory be to God. "'Tis finish'd; the Messiah dies May it be Thanks and 395 LECTURE XXVII.. THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks: the streets shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."-Daniel ix. 25. AFTER having explained at some length the priestly office of the Messiah, as that office is unfolded in verse 24, viz. "To finish transgression, and to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness," I have thought that I cannot close this first part of the visions of Daniel, which we have contemplated before on successive Sabbath evenings, without some remarks upon that most important office of the Messiah, the kindly office, or Messiah the Prince. That Jesus is the High-Priest of his church, all true churches fully admit that he is the only Prophet whose word is infallible, all true Christians equally admit. His royal office is equally important. Scripture speaks as often of the kingly office of the Messiah as of his priestly and his prophetic offices; and there is no doubt that his royal functions are just as precious as his sacerdotal, in practical value to us, or they would not have been so often and so distinctly unfolded in Scripture. In all his offices Jesus is the object of the faith and hope of believers. Let me proceed to give some instances of scriptural allusions to the princely or kingly office of the Messiah. In prophecy we read-"A sceptre shall rise out of Israel"—that is, Christ the Messiah shall be king. Again: "His name shall be called [that is, in prophetic language, he shall actually be] the Prince of peace." Again: "I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign." Again, in Micah: "Thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." It was in the belief of these prophecies, or from their having heard the echoes of them sounding over all the earth, that the Magi, when they came to Jesus, guided by the prophetic star, asked, “Where is he who is born King of the Jews?" Again, Nathanael said, "Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel." And Jesus, speaking of himself on that last day when all destiny shall be settled, and the great drama of this world shall be wound up for ever, says, "Then shall the King say to them upon his right hand." Pilate, addressing Jesus, asked him, "Art thou a king?" Jesus answered in the affirmative, "Thou sayest:" that is, translated in modern phrase, "I am a king." And as if the rays of his kingly glory could not be repressed as if the splendour of that diadem which the scorn, the insult, and reproach of the world were combined to tarnish, could not be hidden, it is declared that his very foes inscribed, under a mysterious influence they could neither explain nor resist, these words upon his cross, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." When the priests, alive to the force of these words, said, "Say not the King of the Jews, but write that he said, I am the King of the Jews," Pilate, the unconscious minister of a sublime purpose, was made to authenticate the truth of the inscription when he said, "What I have written I have written;" Jesus of Nazareth is King of the Jews. In him, in short, centre all the royalties of David, all the righteousness of Melchisedek, all the peacefulness of Solomon. He is "King of kings," "the Prince of the kings of the earth.” Hidden he may now be; denied by the world he is; thousands may shout, "We will not have this man to rule over us;" but in temples some of which the sun gilds with his earliest rays, and on others of which linger his retiring beams, these joyful words are sounding from pious hearts and glad tongues-"Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!" In viewing this royal office of the Lord Jesus Christ, and investigating the meaning of the expression of Daniel, "Messiah the Prince," I may state, first of all, that he is represented in the Scriptures as the true Melchisedek, the king of righteousness; as that king, in short, who, in spiritual things, alone has legislative and conclusive prerogatives. He alone can repeal a law; he alone can create or re-enact a law. Paul, Peter, John, the ministers of the gospel, can say, "A new commandment is given?" but Christ could say, because he is Messiah the Prince, "A new commandment I give unto you." On the mount, in that sublime sermon, unrivalled for its beauty and simplicity-so grand that the greatest philosophers cannot exhaust its meaning, so sweet and so plain that the humblest peasant is refreshed and delighted with its truth-in that sublime discourse again and again he said, "Ye have heard, An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you;" these are the words of Messiah the Prince. The people felt it, the crowd exclaimed, "He speaks as one having authority." In short, in all that Jesus did, in all that he said, in all that he suffered, there are the irresistible signs of the presence of the priest, the prophet, and the king; and the unsophisticated multitude again and again admitted that it was so. He alone, as Messiah the Prince, repealed the ceremonial law, by presenting himself as its end, its aim, and its object. He alone, as the great Legislator of the church, as the Prince the Messiah, finished all the functions of Aaron, and unfolded in all their grandeur the lasting functions of Melchisedek. He alone enunciated laws; he alone unfolded new and glorious truths; and every doctrine that he taught, every law that he gave, are king's words; they bear the stamp and superscription of Messiah the Prince; they constitute a royal code: they are sublime pandects to last while the world lasts, the law and testimony of his people Israel. For any one now to add to the perfect law, or to step in, and say, "Christ hath said so-and-so; but I say unto you," would be constructive treason against the Prince of the kings of the earth. For any one to add laws to Christ's law, and to inculcate opinions or ecclesiastical truths, however good the one or the other may be, in their place, as if these were of equal authority with the law of Christ, is not only treason, but apostasy; it is to intrude into the king's place, to assume the king's name, to stamp the image and the superscription of Messiah the Prince upon our own vile brass, and give it currency among mankind. Thus Christ, as King, gives us laws; none else are competent to do so. His laws are in all cases conclusive. The law of Cæsar and the law of Christ may come into collision; such collisions have occurred, though not in our time, such possibilities may occur again; but when they do, as we pray they may not, we have no choice; whether it be right to obey God, or to obey Cæsar, judge ye. In the next place, it is as Messiah the Prince, or as the King, that Christ bestows forgiveness. It was as a priest he made it possible for God to forgive: it is as a king that he makes that forgiveness actual to us. It was upon his cross that he purchased forgiveness; it is from his throne that he bestows that forgiveness. If Christ had never died for us, the possibility of our forgiveness had not been; if Christ did not sit a prince upon his throne, the fact of our forgiveness could not be. Let us praise him that he died for us; let us praise him that he reigns for us. Let us rejoice that forgiveness is possible, for Jesus died; let us rejoice that forgiveness is obtainable, for Jesus reigns, Messiah the Prince. He alone could say, "I died for sins;" he alone can say, "I bestow the forgiveness of sins." It is, my dear friends, as much an encroachment on the kingly office of Christ to assume to forgive sin, as it is an encroachment on the priestly office of Christ to pretend to purchase, or to suffer for, or to deserve, the forgiveness of sin. The hand that bled upon the cross, that was pierced by the nail, is the only hand that can be stretched out to bestow forgiveness upon me. For any one to pronounce a judicial absolution is an intrusion into the kingly office of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who atoned alone can absolve. It is a remarkable fact, that during the first four centuries of the Christian church, when the pretensions of the priesthood began to be stretched to an extravagant pitch, and many of the fathers, such as Chrysostom, began to speak of the priesthood as the ordo divinus-" the divine order," there is not one instance recorded, of absolution being pronounced, by priest or prelate, in the first person singular, "I absolve." In all the very ancient offices, absolution was simply a prayer, and not a judicial act. And it is a pity that in the service of the Church of England, amid so many services that are beautiful, there is one—I admit, fallen very much into desuetude-in which is still a formula of |