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The Fourth Sunday in Advent.

EVENING SERVICE.-First Lesson: Isaiah xxxii.

Verse 2.-" And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

THE titles appropriated to our Lord in the sacred Scriptures are about 200 in number. Notwithstanding all this variety, there is not one of them insignificant and void of effect. They all shew, either what He is in Himself, or what He is in His connexion with the Father, or what He is in His connexion with us. Some of those titles describe Him in His nature as God, others describe Him in His nature as man, whilst others describe Him in His capacity as Mediator between God and

man.

We regard the text as referring especially to Him, for neither Jew nor sceptic can point out any other person to whom the epithets contained in it are fully applicable. Some indeed have attempted to prove that Hezekiah was here intended, but the spiritual and permanent tendency of the whole prophecy shews that a greater than Hezekiah is here. In the first verse He is called a King: "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness." His kingdom is not of this world: still He is a King. He is a good King. He is also a man King. His kingdom is established in righteousness, and is to be universal. "And princes shall rule in judgment." Meaning, probably, His apostles, to whom He promised, that they should "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." From the text we shall observe, First, Christ's character as a man; and Secondly, The benefits derived from Him in that character.

I. Our Saviour's character as a man.

He is God, coequal and coeternal with the Father, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." But He is no less man for all that. Man, in all the properties of His soul and body, possessing a perfect human soul in all its faculties, and a perfect human body in all its functions. He was born (though not conceived) as another infant. He grew in strength and stature as another child. He performed all the functions of life as another man. He died at last (though with inconceivably greater torture) as another human being. "In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren."

The Scriptures uniformly declare the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that whenever He is represented as subordinate to the Father, He is spoken of as man. When Scripture speaks of Him as God, He is spoken of exclusively, as existing alone in conjunction with the Father, He and the Father being one; but when it speaks of Him as man, it speaks of Him generically as possessing things in common with other He is not merely man, but a man.

men.

The necessity of His being man is clear when we consider the object for which He came into the world. That object

was,

1. To atone for man's transgression, and to reconcile that man to God and God to him. To effect this object it was absolute that He should possess the same nature as the offender. Man being the offender, none but man could atone for the offence. God's justice was inexorable; the divine law having been violated, there could be no forgiveness without satisfaction. That satisfaction involved the suffering of death, and was demanded from the man, either in his own person, or in the person of a surety possessing the same nature. The sufferings of beasts and of birds could not suffice, as they possessed an inferior nature. The suffering of angels could not be accepted, as they possessed a superior nature. Therefore God saw fit to "send forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,

that we might receive the adoption of sons." The Son of God "took not upon him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.' "Forasmuch then," says the apostle Paul, "as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

2. He was made man that He might sympathize with man in his afflictions and sorrow.

One individual cannot possibly sympathize with another, unless he has passed through precisely the same circumstances, and experienced the same feelings. Hence the difficulty to meet with a human friend who can enter fully into the nature of our particular case. We may pity, and feel for each other, but we cannot feel with each other without possessing the same experience, derived from the same circumstances. Our Saviour as man did this. "In all their afflictions, he was afflicted."

We may remark here that our Lord's sufferings all proceeded from external infliction. His human nature being sinless, we have no reason to believe that He was subject to diseases arising from natural causes. All those proceed from the violation of natural laws, from which violation He was exempt. We do not read of His ever being attacked by epidemics, such as measles, small-pox, fevers or plagues; or that He was subject to consumption, paralysis, leprosy, or any other of the varied complaints to which frail man is subject. Still, having suffered so keenly in both mind and body, He can enter fully into our feelings in all our infirmities. "For we," says the apostle in writing to the Hebrews, "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Being man, and having suffered, He is therefore a Friend in need, and a Friend indeed. Let us consider

II. The benefits derived from Him in His character as

man.

"And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

We, who have ever lived in this temperate country, cannot fully realize the images brought before us here. Although we know in a measure what it is to be exposed to the wind, and the tempest, and what it is to suffer thirst and weariness by means of heat; yet, none but those who have travelled in Eastern countries have felt the extremes of those inconveniences. We are told the wind and the tempest in the sandy deserts of Arabia and Africa, as well as in many other parts of the East, so much exceed anything that we have experienced, as the roar of a lion exceeds the chirp of a bird. In many places the wind uproots the strongest trees, casts down the firmest buildings, and plunges a country into desolation and ruin. When the tornado sweeps over the desert it agitates the sand into waves mountains high, and buries a whole caravan in its bosom without hope of recovery. Then, who can tell the suffering endured from the parching thirst, and the piercing rays of a tropical sun but those who travel along those sandy deserts? To walk day after day on burning hot sand, with the tongue swollen from want of moisture, and the whole skin scorched and blistered by the excessive heat, is a position which none can conceive but those who have experienced it. But try to imagine it, and then think of the antidote in contrast to the bane. Think that if

a man saw the cloud of sand rising at the distance, warning him that the tornado was on its march; and if on the other hand, he saw a secure hiding place to cover him from the pending evil, how he would appreciate that boon, and run to avail himself of it. Or think that if a man had been travelling for days over that burning soil without a particle of water to quench his thirst, and if he saw at a short distance before him a rippling stream gliding pleasantly along, how his heart would leap for joy! and further, when near that stream, there arose a cooling rock that would shade him from the rays

of the noonday sun, how that would add to the value of the blessing, and to the height of his pleasure.

Now, the Man of our text is all this, and much more to His people. We can realize the images spiritually, although we cannot physically. We are travelling over a sandy desert, in a weary land. The wind- of temptation, and the tempest of affliction often rush upon us here. We feel their force to be more powerful than even the monsoons of the East, and the simooms of the desert. We are scorched with the heat of a guilty mind, and are ready to faint with a sorrowful heart. But there is a Man from whom we may obtain relief, and who is ever ready to do all things for us that we need. "And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of waters in dry places, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

Here there are three things which Christ is to His people. 1. A hiding-place and a covert. Under His protection we may find safety from all the storms and tempests of the temptations, and afflictions, and trials, and persecutions that may assail us in this world, and also from the storms of God's wrath and indignation to which the wicked will be exposed in the world to come. He invites us to Himself and says: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." In contemplating the safety of God's people under this covert, St. Paul says, "There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."

2. He is "as rivers of water in a dry place." This image is peculiarly adapted to the blessings flowing from Christ to His thirsting people. As the rivers of water are cleansing, refreshing, reviving, and reanimating to the desert-worn traveller, so are the blessings of Christ's salvation to the weary pilgrims of the heavenly Zion. As the gushing streams from the smitten rock in the parched desert, revived and animated all the