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thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, extends to heaven as well as to earth; so that if our Lord is only the highest of all creatures, we shall find him on his knees not the worshipped, but a worshipper; and from his lofty, and lonely, and to other creatures unapproachable pinnacle, looking up to God, as does the highest of the snow-crowned Alps to the sun, that, shining far above it, bathes its head in light. We have sought him, I shall suppose, in that group where his mother sits with the other Marys, sought him among the twelve apostles, or where the chief of apostles reasons with angels on things profound, or where David, royal leader of the heavenly choir, strikes his harp, or where the beggar, enjoying the repose of Abraham's bosom, forgets his wrongs, or where martyrs and confessors, and they which have come out of great tribulation, with robes of purest white, and crowns of brightest glory, swell the song of salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. He is not there. Rising upwards, we seek him where angels hover on wings of light, or, with feet and faces. veiled, bend before a throne of dazzling glory. Nor is he there. He does not belong to their company. Verily, he took not on him the nature of angels.

Eighteen hundred years ago Mary is rushing through the streets of Jerusalem, speed in her steps, wild anxiety in her look, one question to all on her eager lips, "Have you seen my son?" Eighteen hundred years ago, on these same streets, some Greeks accost a Galilean fisherman, saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus." Now, were we, bent like his mother on finding, like these Greeks on seeing him, to stay a passing angel, and accost him in the words, "Sir, we would see Jesus,” what would he do? How would his arm rise, and his

finger point us upward to the throne as he fell down to worship, and worshipping, to swell the flood of song which in this one full stream mingles the names of the Father, and of the Son--Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Such a glorious vision, such worship, the voices that sounded ou John's ear as the voice of many waters, the distant roar of ocean, are in perfect harmony with the exalted honor and divine offices which Paul assigns to our Lord in the words, All things were created for him.

In directing your attention now to the purpose for which Christ created all things, I remark—

I. That my text furnishes another proof of our Lord's divinity.

He is in the position of a servant who works for others; he of a master, who by other hands, or his own, works for himself. Applying that remark to the case before us, look to the condition of man. Whatever office man fills in providence, he is a servant; and on crowned monarchs, who are, and should consider themselves, but upper servants, as well as on the lowest menials, Paul lays this duty, Whether, ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. God being our end, as well as our beginning, we are to do nothing for ourselves; but everything for him. Nor do angels, though holding a much higher rank in creation, differ much from us in this respect. Far from it. Even as we see that law which rolls every drop of water to the ocean, and rounds the tear on our cheek, illustrated on its grandest scale in those skies where suns roll, and stars rise, and wandering comets travel, so, if we would see the law of love producing perfect service,

and perfect servants, we must look to heaven. Nor wing flies, nor harp sounds, nor heart beats yonder, but in divine harmony with the great law of God's moral kingdom, Do all to the glory of God. They are all and ever engaged in God's service. Hear what is said of them, "He shall give his angels charge over thee," "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify," "See thou do it not," said the angel, "for I am thy fellowservant," "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Thus, whether they descend on our world to open the bars of a prison, or to roll back the gates of the sea, to predict the birth of a Samson, or celebrate the advent of a Saviour, to blow the coal that dresses Elijah's meal, or kindle the fire that lays Sodom in ashes, to sing "peace" over the rude cradle of a newborn babe, or sound the trump that rends the tomb and wakes the dead, they do nothing for themselves. Not ashamed of their service, but glorying in it, they respond to the call, Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Now, whose pleasure does my text represent our Lord as doing? For whom, in the work of creation, does it represent him as acting? All things were created not only by him, but for him. For him! What a depth of meaning, what a manifest divinity, in that plain, little word! "For him!" You might pile one lofty expression on another up to heaven, but you could say nothing more of God. Nay, it is said of God, as his own peculiar and divine prerogative, "The Lord hath made all things for himself."

Some have attempted to evade the argument for

Christ's divinity, which is based on the fact of his hav ing created all things. They cannot deny the fact, but they deny the inference. They object and allege that, although Christ created all things, he did so not by his own inherent power, but by such power as Elijah received from God to restore the widow's son, or Elisha to lay bare the bed of Jordan. But, apart from other answers with which such objectors may be triumphantly met, observe how my text cuts the ground out below their feet. Did Elijah bring back the dead, and his successor divide the flood for themselves? Was it for their own glory, or for any other ends of their own? That will not be alleged. If not, then there is no analogy whatever between their miraculous and our Lord's creating works.

If our Lord Jesus Christ was other and less than God, then, in kindling yonder sun, in lighting up the starry sky, he no more acts for himself than the domestic does, who, appearing at my call, lights my lamp, or stoops on the hearth-stone to kindle my fire. It is the very nature of a creature to be a dependent, and hold a servant's place. Nor, as I read my Bible, was any man ever more justly condemned to die than Jesus, if he were but a man. In that case he did undoubtedly lay himself open to the charge of blasphemy, since—as the Jews truly averred, and he never denied, nor so much as attempted to explain it away—he made himself the Son of God, " equal with God." No doubt our Lord did that; in such plain terms claiming divine equality, as to justify the use by Paul of this bold language, "He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And, as the rainbow looks the brighter the blacker the cloud it spans, the majesty of his claim is brought out by the meanness of the circumstances in

which it was made. Deserted by the world, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, dependent on a few humble followers for the most common necessaries of life, within some hours of an ignominious end, his foot already on the verge of the grave, he rises to the loftiness of Godhead; and, turning an eye that was to be soon darkened in death on earth and heaven, he claims a community of property with God. All things, he says, that the father hath are mine. To the "all mine are thine," this dying man adds, " thine are mine." He speaks to God. Thine, thy eternity, thy throne, thy glory, thy crown, thy sceptre, all are mine. Great words, pregnant with the strongest consolation and most glorious truths! For, if in the very nature of things all that is God's is Christ's, and according to the terms of the New Covenant, all that is Christ's is ours, these words draw everything that belongs to God into the hands of the humblest believer! What a faith is that! What comfort should it give you! What courage should it impart to you! What gratitude should it beget in you! Rich amid poverty, full in emptiness, and in weakness strong, with what blessed peace may the believer lie in Christ's arms, saving with David, I will fear none evil; or with Paul, as he addresses himself to work or war, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

II.

My text teacheth us that the glory of God was the original purpose of creation; "All things were created-for him."

Sin has to some extent blighted the beauty of creation. Still, to borrow the words of the Psalmist, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work. Day unto day uttereth

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