thing good, and that the creation, whether animate or inanimate, as it rose from his hands, presented no trace of imperfection or pollution. But evil mysteriously gained entrance, and, origi sometimes be exhibited as though one were superior to the others. At one time they may be spoken of with reference to their attributes, and then the language will mark perfect equality; at another, with reference to their of-nating in heaven, spread rapidly to fices, and then it will indicate a relative inferiority. And it is only by thus distinguishing between the attributes and the of fices, that we can satisfactorily explain our text and its context. The apostle expressly declares of Christ, that he is to deliver up his kingdom to the Father, and to become himself subject to the Father. And the question naturally proposes itself, how are statements such as these to be reconciled with other portions of Scripture, which speak of Christ as an everlasting King, and declare his dominion to be that which shall not be destroyed? There is no difficulty in reconciling these apparently conflicting assertions, if we consider Christ as spoken of in the one case as God, in the other as Mediator. If we believe him to be God, we know that he must be, in the largest sense, Sovereign of the universe, and that he can no more give up his dominion than change his nature. And then if we regard him as undertaking the office of Mediator between God and man, we must admit the likelihood that he would be invested, as holding this office, with an authority not necessarily permanent, which would last indeed as long as the office, but cease if there ever came a period when the office would itself be abolished. So that there is no cause for surprise, nothing which should go to the persuading us that Christ is not God, if we find the Son described as surrendering his kingdom: we have only to suppose him then spoken of as Mediator, and to examine whether there be not a mediatorial kingdom, which, committed to Christ, has at length to be resigned. And you cannot be acquainted with the scheme of our Redemption, and not know that the office of Mediator warrants our supposing a kingdom which will be finally surrendered. The grand design of Redemption has all along been the exterminating evil from the universe, and the restoring harmony throughout God's disorganized empire. We know that God made every earth. And henceforwards it was the main purpose of the Almighty to counteract evil, to obliterate the stains from his workmanship, and to reinstate and confirm the universe in its original purity. To effect this purpose, his own Son, equal to himself in all the attributes of Godhead, undertook to assume human nature; and to accomplish, in working out the reconciliation of an alienated tribe, results which should extend themselves to every department of creation. He was not indeed fully and visibly invested with the kingly office, until after his death and resurrection; for then it was that he declared to his disciples, "all power is given unto me in heaven and earth." Nevertheless the Mediatorial kingdom had commenced with the commencement of human guilt and misery. For, so soon as man rebelled, Christ interfered on his behalf, and assumed the office of his surety and deliverer. He undertook the combat with the powers of evil, and fought his first battle. And afterwards all God's intercourse with the world was carried on through the Mediator-Christ appearing in human form to patriarchs and saints, and superintending the concerns of our race with distinct reference to the good of his church. But when, through death, he had destroyed "him that had the power of death," the Mediator became emphatically a king. He "ascended up on high, and led captivity captive," in that very nature in which he had "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." He sat down at the right hand of God, the very person that had been made a curse for us; and there was given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth." And ever since he hath been "head over all things to the church;" and God has so delegated his power to the Mediator, that this Mediator has "the keys of hell and of death," and so rules human affairs as to make way for a grand consummation which creation yet expects. It is certainly the representation of Scripture, that Christ has been exalted to a throne, in recompense of his humiliation and suffering; and that, seated on this throne, he governs all things in heaven and earth. And we call this throne the mediatorial throne, because it was only as Mediator that Christ could be exalted; because, possessing essentially all power as God, it could only be as Godman that he was vested with dominion. He must reign," saith St. Paul, "until he hath put all enemies under his feet." The great object for which the kingdom has been erected, is, that he who occupies the throne may subdue those principalities and powers which have set themselves against the government of God. Already have vast advances been made towards the subjugation. But the kingdoms of the world have not yet become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Sin still reigns, and death still reigns, and only an inconsiderable fraction of the human population bow to the sceptre of Jesus. But we are taught to expect a thorough and stupendous change. We know from prophecy that a time approaches when the whole world shall be evangelized; when there shall not be the tribe, no, nor the individual upon earth, who fails to love and reverence the Mediator. Christ hath yet to set up his kingdom on the wreck of all human sovereignty, and so to display himself that he shall be universally adored as "King of kings and Lord of lords." And when this noble result is brought round, and the whole globe mantled with righteousness, there will yet remain much to be done ere the mediatorial work is complete. The throne must be set for judgment; the enactments of a retributive economy take effect; the dead be raised, and all men receive the things done in the body. Then will evil be finally expelled from the universe, and God may again look forth on his unlimited empire, and declare it not defiled by a solitary stain. Then will be "the restitution of all things." Then will it be evident that the power committed to Christ has accomplished the great ends for which it was entrusted, the overthrow of Satan, the destruction of death, and the extirpation of unrighteousness. And if it be the declaration of Scripture that the Mediator shall thus at length master evil under its every form, and in its every consequence, will not this Mediator finally prove himself a king-demonstrating not only the possession of sovereignty, but the employment of it to those illustrious purposes which were proposed by God from the foundation of the world? Yes, we can say with St. Paul, we see not yet all things put under him." But we see enough to assure us that "him hath God exalted as a Prince and a Savior." We see enough, and we know enough, to be persuaded, that there is kingdom within kingdom; and that, whilst God is still the universal Monarch, the Omnipotent who "telleth the number of the stars," and without whom not even a sparrow falls, the Mediator superintends and regulates the affairs of his church, and orders, with absolute sway, whatever respects the final establishment of righteousness through creation. And therefore are we also persuaded, on the testimony which cannot deceive, that this Mediator shall reign till he hath brought into subjection every adversary of God; and that at last-death itself being swallowed up in victory-the universe, purged from all pollution, and glowing with a richer than its pristine beauty, shall be the evidence that there hath indeed been a mediatorial kingdom, and that nothing could withstand the Mediator's sovereignty. Now it has been our object, up to this point of our discourse, to prove to you, on scriptural authority, that the Mediator is a king, and that Christ, as God-man, is invested with a dominion not to be confounded with that which belongs to him as God. You are now therefore prepared for the question, whether Christ have not a kingdom which must be ultimately resigned. We think it evident that, as Mediator, Christ has certain functions to discharge, which, from their very nature, cannot be eternal. When the last of God's elect family shall have been gathered in, there will be none to need the blood of sprinkling, none to require the intercession of "an advocate with the Father." And when the last enemy, which is death, shall have been destroyed, that great | render all kingly authority; to descend purpose of the Almighty-the conquest from his throne, having made his ene of Satan, and the extirpation of evil, will be accomplished; so that there will be no more battles for the Mediator to fight, no more adversaries to subdue. And thus, if we have rightly described the mediatorial kingdom, there is to come a time when it will be no longer necessary; when, every object for which it was erected having been fully and finally attained, and no possibility existing that evil may re-enter the universe, this kingdom may be expected to cease. And this is the great consummation which we are taught by our text and its context to expect. We may not be able to explain its details, but the outlines are sketched with boldness and precision. There has been committed to Christ, not as God, but as God-man, a kingdom which, though small in its beginning, shall at length supersede every other. The designs proposed in the erection of this kingdom, are the salvation of man and the glory of God, in the thorough extirpation of evil from the universe. These designs will be fully accomplished at the general judgment; and then, the ends for which the kingdom was erected having been answered, the kingdom itself is to terminate. Then shall the Son of man, having "put down all rule and all authority and power," lay aside the sceptre of majesty, and take openly a place subordinate to Deity. Then shall all that sovereignty which, for magnificent but temporary purposes, has been wielded by and through the humanity of Christ, pass again to the Godhead whence it was derived. Then shall the Creator, acting no longer through the instrumentality of a mediator, assume visibly, amid the worshippings of the whole intelligent creation, the dominion over his infinite and now purified empire, and administer its every concern without the intervention of one "found in fashion as a man." And then, though as head of his church, Christ, in human nature, may always retain a special power over his people, and though, as essentially divine, he must at all times be equally the omnipotent, there will necessarily be such a change in the visible government of the universe, that the Son shall seem to sur mies his footstool, and take his station amongst those who obey rather than rule; and thus shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, the Son also himself shall be subject unto him that put all things under him ;" and God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, "God shall henceforwards be all in all." Now it is upon this latter expression, indicative as it is of what we may call the universal diffusion of Deity, that we design to employ the remainder of our time. We wish to examine into the truths involved in the assertion, that God is to be finally all in all. It is an assertion which, the more it is pondered, the more august and comprehensive will it appear. You may remember that the same expression is used of Christ in the Epistle to the Colossians-" Christ is all and in all." There is no disagreement between the assertions. In the Epistle to the Colossians St. Paul speaks of what takes place under the mediatorial kingdom; whereas in that to the Corinthians, he describes what will occur when that kingdom shall have terminated. At present, whatever in the divine government has reference to this earth and its inhabitants, is not transacted immediately by God, but mediately through an Intercessor, so that Christ is all in all. But hereafter, the mediatorial office finally ceasing, the administration, we are assured, will be immediately with God, and therefore will God be all in all. We learn then from the expression in question, however unable we may be to explain the amazing transition, that there is to be a removal of the apparatus constructed for allowing us communications with Godhead; and that we shall not need those offices of an Intercessor, without which there could now be no access to our Maker. There is something very grand and animating in this announcement. If we were unfallen creatures, we should need no Mediator. We might, as did Adam, approach at once the Creator, and, though awed by his majesty, have no fears as to our reception, and experience no repulse. And therefore, whilst we heartily thank God for the unspeakable gift of his Son, we cannot but feel, that, so long as we have no access to him except through a Mediator, we have not altogether recovered our forfeited privileges. The mediatorial office, independently on which we must have been everlastingly outcasts, is evidence, throughout the whole of its continuance, that the human race does not yet occupy the place whence it fell. But with the termination of this office shall be the admission of man into all the privileges of direct access to his Maker. Then shall he see face to face; then shall he know even as also he is known. There are yet, and there must be, whilst God's dealings with humanity are carried on through a Mediator, separating distances between our race and the Creator, which exist not in regard of other orders of being. But the descent of the Son from the throne, to which he was exalted in recompense of his sufferings, shall be the unfolding to man the presence-chamber in which Deity unveils his effulgence. In ceasing to have a Mediator, the last barrier is taken down; and man, who had thrown himself to an unmeasured distance from God, passes into those direct associations with Him "that inhabiteth eternity," which can be granted to none but those who never fell, or who, having fallen, have been recovered from every consequence of apostacy. And therefore, it is not that we depreciate, or undervalue, the blessedness of that condition in which Christ is all in all to his church. We cannot compute this blessedness, and we feel that the best praises fall far short of its deserts; and yet we can believe of this blessedness, that it is only preparatory to a richer and a higher. Whilst overwhelmed with the consciousness that I owe every thing to a Mediator, I can yet feel that this Mediator must lay aside his office as no longer necessary, ere I can stand in that relationship to Deity, and possess that freedom of approach, which belong to the loftiest and holiest in creation. To tell me that I should need a Mediator through eternity, were to tell me that I should be in danger of death, and at a distance from God. And, therefore, in informing me of the extinction of that sovereignty by which alone I can be rescued, you inform me of the restoration of all which Adam lost, and of the placing humankind on equality with angels. It is not then, we again say, that we are insensible to benefits, overpassing all thought, which we derive from the mediatorial kingdom; it is only because we know that this kingdom is but introductory to another, and that the perfection of happiness must require our admission into direct intercourse with our Maker-it is only on these accounts that we anticipate with delight the giving up of the kingdom to the Father, and associate whatever is most gladdening and glorious with the truth, that God, rather than Christ, shall be all in all through eternity. But there are other thoughts suggested by the fact, that God himself shall be all in all. We have hitherto considered the expression as simply denoting that men will no longer approach God through a Mediator, and that their happiness will be vastly augmented by their obtaining the privilege of direct access. There is, however, no reason for supposing that the human race alone will be affected by the resignation of the mediatorial kingdom. We may not believe that it is only over ourselves that Christ Jesus has been invested with sovereignty. It would rather appear, since all power has been given him in heaven and earth, that the mediatorial kingdom embraces different worlds, and different orders of intelligence; and that the chief affairs of the universe are administered by Christ in his glorified humanity. It is therefore possible that even unto angels the Godhead does not now immediately manifest itself; but that these glorious creatures are governed, like ourselves, through the instrumentality of the Mediator. Hence it will be a great transition to the whole intelligent creation, and not merely to an inconsiderable fraction, when the Son shall give up the kingdom to the Father. It will be the visible enthronement of Deity. The Creator will come forth from his sublime solitude, and assume the sceptre of his boundless empire. It will be a new and overwhelming manifestation of Divinity-another fold of the veil, which must always hang between the created and the uncreated, will have been removed; and the thousand times ten thousand spirits which throng immensity, shall behold with a clear vision, and know with an ampler knowledge, the Eternal One at whose word they rose into being. And it is not, we think, possible to give a finer description of universal harmony and happiness, than is contained in the sentence, "God all in all," when supposed to have reference to every rank in creation. Let us consider for a moment what the sentence implies. It implies that there shall be but one mind, and that the Divine mind, throughout the universe. Every creature shall be so actuated by Deity, that the Creator shall have only to will, and the whole mass of intelligent being will be conscious of the same wish, and the same purpose. It is not merely that every creature will be under the government of the Creator, as a subject is under that of his prince. It is not merely that to every command of Deity there will be yielded an instant and cheerful obedience, in every department, and by every inhabitant of the universe. It is more than all this. It is that there shall be such fibres of association between the Creator and the creatures-God shall be so wound up, if the expression be lawful, with all intelligent being-that every other will shall move simultaneously with the divine, and the resolve of Deity be instantly felt as one mighty impulse pervading the vast expansion of mind. God all in all-it is that from the highest order to the lowest, archangel, and angel, and man, and principality, and power, there shall be but one desire, one object; so that to every motion of the eternal Spirit there will be a corresponding in each element of the intellectual creation, as though there were throughout but one soul, one animating, actuating, energizing principle. God all in all. I know not how to describe the harmony which the expression seems to indicate. This gathering of the Creator into every creature; this making each mind in the world of spirit a sort of centre of Deity, from which flow the high decisions of divine sovereignty, so that, in all its amplitude, the intellectual creation seems to witness that God is equally every where, and serves as one grand instrument which, at every point and in every spring, is instinct with the very thought of Him who "ordereth all things in heaven and earth"-oh, this immeasurably transcends the mere reduction of all systems, and all beings, into a delighted and uniform obedience. This is making God more than the universal Ruler: it is making him the universal Actuator. And you might tell me of tribe upon tribe of magnificent creatures, waiting to execute the commandments of God; you might delineate the very tenant of every spot in immensity, bowing to one sceptre, and burning with one desire, and living for one end-but indeed the most labored and high-wrought description of the universal prevalence of concord, yields unspeakably to the simple announcement, that there shall be but one spirit, one pulse, through creation; and thought itself is distanced, when we hear, that after the Son shall have surrendered his kingdom to the Father, God himself shall be all in all to the universe. But if the expression mark the harmony, it marks also the happiness of eternity. It is undeniable, that, even whilst on earth, we find things more beautiful and precious in proportion as we are accustomed to find God in them, to view them as gifts, and to love them for the sake of the giver. It is not the poet, nor the naturalist, who has the richest enjoyment when surveying the landscape, or tracing the manifestations of creative power and contrivance. It is the christian, who recognizes a Father's hand in the glorious development of mountain and valley, and discovers the loving-kindness of an ever-watchful guardian in each example of the adaptation of the earth to its inhabitants. No man has such pleasure in any of those objects which answer to the various affections of his nature, as the man who is accustomed to the seeing God in them. And then only is the creature loved, not merely with a lawful, but with an elevated and ennobling love, when regarded as bestowed on us by the Creator, and wearing the impress of the benevolence of Deity. What will it be when God shall be literally all in all? It were little to tell us, that, admitted into the heavenly |