SERMON XIV.

CHRIST A STRONG HOLD.

ZECHARIAH ix. 12.

Turn you to the Strong Hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.

THE advent of the Redeemer is the grand subject of the prophecies to Jesus all the prophets give witness, in the most eminent manner. The testimony of Jesus is, indeed, the spirit of prophecy. This is its all-pervading and ruling principle. This invests it with its lustre, its dignity, its power. If the redemption of mankind by the Messiah were not considered

to be the great object of prophecy, it would be inconsistent and confused, low and uninteresting, dark and inexplicable. "But, viewed in this light, we behold in it a harmony which delights, a grandeur which astonishes, and from the result of the whole arises such evidence as carries conviction to the understanding."

To advert to the prophecy of Zechariah, from which the text is selected. Taken as a whole, perhaps, the predictions of Zechariah are more obscure than any other of the twelve minor prophets: yet towards the close of the book they become more luminous and plain. In the verses preceding the text, the prophet evidently refers to the advent of the Messiah; and he congratulates the Israelites, on the peaceful entry which the Saviour of mankind should hereafter make amongst them-" Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem behold, thy King cometh

unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and He shall speak peace unto the heathen, and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. As for Thee also, by the blood of Thy covenant I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." And then he addresses them in the encouraging language of the text"Turn you to the Strong Hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee."

"Turn you to the Strong Hold, ye prisoners of hope." Mankind are here addressed under the appellation of " prisoners of hope;" and the appellation is peculiarly expressive of their condition. All men who have sunk into the grave,

with their sins unrepented of and unforgiven are indeed "prisoners;" but, alas! their captivity is entirely without "hope.” Their day of grace is for ever closed. The mercy of Christ, which is omnipotent on earth, saves no sinner in the in visible world. It is only in time that the hope of salvation is set before us. And therefore no voice of compassion addresses the dead in these cheering accents, "Turn you to the Strong Hold." But, blessed be God, all who are yet in the land of the living, although they are "prisoners" too, are yet "prisoners" of another class -they are "prisoners of hope."

Every person in an unconverted state may very properly be called a "prisoner," because, having broken the righteous law of God, and being unable to redeem himself from the curse of that law, he is therefore arrested by the hand of Divine Justice. But although we are all placed in this lamentable condition by nature,

we are not without " hope." The light of God's Spirit, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, not only shews us our present sad state, but also points out to us the way of salvation. By it we are instructed, that a Redeemer is come, who proclaims deliverance to the captives, the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound; who announces in our ears the welcome tidings, that the year of release, the year of jubilee is arrived. This mighty Saviour has found out a ransom for us; by shedding his blood upon the Cross, He has purchased our freedom, and has opened before us a door of "hope" which no power in earth or hell can close. Salvation is now placed within our reach. And these are the easy terms upon which it is dispensed -"Believe, and thou shalt be saved." And although we have despised this glorious hope of salvation which has been achieved by sovereign grace, and