hands of our great Intercessor never hang down, as Moses' did, nor does he need any one to hold them up. The same rod of God's power which was used by Moses to smite the rock (Atonement) was in Moses' hand on the hill (Intercession)."

Denney's Studies in Theology, 166"If we see nothing unnatural in the fact that Christ prayed for Peter on earth, we need not make any difficulty about his praying for us in heaven. The relation is the same; the only difference is that Christ is now exalted, and prays, not with strong crying and tears, but in the sovereignty and prevailing power of one who has achieved eternal redemption for his people."

A. Nature of Christ's Intercession. - This is not to be conceived of either as an external and vocal petitioning, nor as a mere figure of speech for the natural and continuous influence of his sacrifice; but rather as a special activity of Christ in securing, upon the ground of that sacrifice, whatever of blessing comes to men, whether that blessing be temporal or spiritual.

1 John 2:1-"if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"; Rom. 8:34-"It is Jesus Christ that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us - here Meyer seems to favor the meaning of external and vocal petitioning, as of the glorified God-man: Heb. 7:25-"ever liveth to make intercession for them." On the ground of this effectual intercession he can pronounce the true sacerdotal benediction ; and all the benedictions of his ministers and apostles are but fruits and emblems of this (see the Aaronic benediction in Num. 6:24-26, and the apostolic benedictions in 1 Cor. 1:3 and 2 Cor. 13:14).

B. Objects of Christ's Intercession. - We may distinguish (a) that general intercession which secures to all men certain temporal benefits of his atoning work, and (b) that special intercession which secures the divine acceptance of the persons of believers and the divine bestowment of all gifts needful for their salvation.

(a) General intercession for all men: Is. 53: 12-"he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors"; Luke 23: 34-"And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"-a beginning of his priestly intercession, even while he was being nailed to the cross.

(b) Special intercession for his saints: Mat. 18:19, 20-"if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"; Luke 22:31, 32—“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not"; John 14:16-"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter "; 17: 9-"I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me "; Acts 2:33-"Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear"; Eph. 1:6-"the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved "; 2: 18-"through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father "; 3: 12-"in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him; Heb. 2: 17, 18-"Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted"; 4:15, 16" For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need"; 1 Pet. 2:5-"a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ"; Rev. 5: 6-"And I saw in the midst of the throne.... a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth"; 7: 16, 17-"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes."

C. Relation of Christ's Intercession to that of the Holy Spirit. — The Holy Spirit is an advocate within us, teaching us how to pray as we ought; Christ is an advocate in heaven, securing from the Father the answer of our prayers. Thus the work of Christ and of the Holy Spirit are complements to each other, and parts of one whole.

John 14:26-"But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you"; Rom. 8:26-"And in like manner the Spirit

also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered"; 27-"and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

The intercession of the Holy Spirit may be illustrated by the work of the mother, who teaches her child to pray by putting words into his mouth or by suggesting subjects for prayer. "The whole Trinity is present in the Christian's closet; the Father hears; the Son advocates his cause at the Father's right hand; the Holy Spirit intercedes in the heart of the believer." Therefore "When God inclines the heart to pray, He hath an ear to hear." The impulse to prayer, within our hearts, is evidence that Christ is urging our claims in heaven.

D. Relation of Christ's Intercession to that of saints. - All true intercession is either directly or indirectly the intercession of Christ. Christians are organs of Christ's Spirit. To suppose Christ in us to offer prayer to one of his saints, instead of directly to the Father, is to blaspheme Christ, and utterly misconceive the nature of prayer.

Saints on earth, by their union with Christ, the great high priest, are themselves constituted intercessors; and as the high priest of old bore upon his bosom the breastplate engraven with the names of the tribes of Israel (Ex. 28: 9-12), so the Christian is to bear upon his heart in prayer before God the interests of his family, the church, and the world (1 Tim. 2:1-"I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men"). See Symington on Intercession, in Atonement and Intercession, 256-303; Milligan, Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord.

Luckock, After Death, finds evidence of belief in the intercession of the saints in heaven as early as the second century. Invocation of the saints he regards as beginning not earlier than the fourth century. He approves the doctrine that the saints pray for us, but rejects the doctrine that we are to pray to them. Prayers for the dead he strongly advocates. Bramhall, Works, 1:57-Invocation of the saints is "not necessary, for two reasons: first, no saint doth love us so well as Christ; no saint hath given us such assurance of his love, or done so much for us as Christ; no saint is so willing to help us as Christ; and secondly, we have no command from God to invocate them." A. B. Cave: "The system of human mediation falls away in the advent to our souls of the living Christ. Who wants stars, or even the moon, after the sun is up?" III. THE KINGLY OFFICE OF CHRIST.

This is to be distinguished from the sovereignty which Christ originally possessed in virtue of his divine nature. Christ's kingship is the sovereignty of the divine-human Redeemer, which belonged to him of right from the moment of his birth, but which was fully exercised only from the time of his entrance upon the state of exaltation. By virtue of this kingly office, Christ rules all things in heaven and earth, for the glory of God and the execution of God's purpose of salvation.

(a) With respect to the universe at large, Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of power; he upholds, governs, and judges the world.

Ps. 2:6-8-"I have set my king.... Thou art my son.... uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession"; 8:6-"madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet"; cf. Heb. 2:8, 9" we see not yet all things subjected to him. But we behold.... Jesus. . . . crowned with glory and honor "; Mat. 25:31, 32- -"when the Son of man shall come in his glory.... then shall he sit on the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all the nations"; 28: 18-"All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth"; Heb. 1:3-"upholding all things by the word of his power "; Rev. 19:15, 16-"smite the nations .... rule them with a rod of iron.... King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

Julius Müller, Proof-texts, 34, says incorrectly, as we think, that "the regnum naturæ of the old theology is unsupported, - there are only the regnum gratiæ and the regnum gloria." A. J. Gordon: "Christ is now creation's sceptre-bearer, as he was once creation's burden-bearer."

(b) With respect to his militant church, it is a kingdom of grace; he founds, legislates for, administers, defends, and augments his church on earth.

Luke 2: 11-"born to you.... a Savior, who is Christ the Lord "; 19:38-"Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord"; John 18:36, 37-"My kingdom is not of this world.... Thou sayest it, for I am a king

. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice"; Eph. 1: 22-"he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all"; Heb. 1:8" of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever."

Dorner, Glaubenslehre, 2: 677 (Syst. Doct., 4: 142, 143)—“All great men can be said to have an after-influence (Nachwirkung) after their death, but only of Christ can it be said that he has an after-activity (Fortwirkung). The sending of the Spirit is part of Christ's work as King." P. S. Moxom, Bap. Quar. Rev., Jan. 1886: 25-36—"Preeminence of Christ, as source of the church's being; ground of the church's unity; source of the church's law; mould of the church's life." A. J. Gordon: "As the church endures hardness and humiliation as united to him who was on the cross, so she should exhibit something of supernatural energy as united with him who is on the throne." Luther: "We tell our Lord God, that if he will have his church, he must look after it himself. We cannot sustain it, and, if we could, we should become the proudest asses under heaven.... . If it had been possible for pope, priest or minister to destroy the church of Jesus Christ, it would have been destroyed long ago." Luther, watching the proceedings of the Diet of Augsburg, made a noteworthy discovery. He saw the stars bestud the canopy of the sky, and though there were no pillars to hold them up they kept their place and the sky fell not. The business of holding up the sky and its stars has been on the minds of men in all ages. But we do not need to provide props to hold up the sky. God will look after his church and after Christian doctrine. For of Christ it has been written in 1 Cor. 15:25-"For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet,"

"Thrice blessed is he to whom is given The instinct that can tell That God is in the field when he Is most invisible." Since Christ is King, it is a duty never to despair of church or of the world. Dr. E. G. Robinson declared that Christian character was never more complete than now, nor more nearly approaching the ideal man. We may add that modern education, modern commerce, modern invention, modern civilization, are to be regarded as the revelations of Christ, the Light of the world, and the Ruler of the nations. All progress of knowledge, government, society, is progress of his truth, and a prophecy of the complete establishment of his kingdom.

(c) With respect to his church triumphant, it is a kingdom of glory; he rewards his redeemed people with the full revelation of himself, upon the completion of his kingdom in the resurrection and the judgment.

John 17:24-"Father, that which thou hast given me, I desire that where I am, they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory "; 1 Pet. 3:21, 22-"Jesus Christ; who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him "; 2 Pet. 1:f1-"thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." See Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, preface, vi- "Rev. 1:6-'made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father.' Both in the king and the priest, the chief thing is power, influence, blessing. In the king, it is the power coming downward; in the priest, it is the power rising upward, prevailing with God. As in Christ, so in us, the kingly power is founded on the priestly: Heb. 7:25-'able to save to the uttermost,. seeing he ever liveth to make intercession'." Watts, New Apologetic, preface, ix-"We cannot have Christ as King without having him also as Priest. It is as the Lamb that he sits upon the throne in the Apocalypse; as the Lamb that he conducts his conflict with the kings of the earth; and it is from the throne of God on which the Lamb appears that the water of life flows forth that carries refreshing throughout the Paradise of God."

Luther: "Now Christ reigns, not in visible, public manner, but through the word, just as we see the sun through a cloud. We see the light, but not the sun itself. But when the clouds are gone, then we see at the same time both light and sun." We may close our consideration of Christ's Kingship with two practical remarks: 1. We never can think too much of the cross, but we may think too little of the throne. 2. We can not have Christ as our Prophet or our Priest, unless we take him also as our King. On Christ's Kingship, see Philippi, Glaubenslehre, IV, 2:342-351; Van Oosterzee, Dogmatics, 586 sq.; Garbett, Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King, 2:243-438; J. M. Mason, Sermon on Messiah's Throne, in Works, 3:241–275.

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