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with jod supplied by zere; as in 1 Sam. xxv. 26, 33, translated "avenging," but which would be more literally rendered "even to save (or recover) thine hand to thee." The change to Joshua converts the verb into a substantive; denotes the agent, not the recipient only, of salvation; the Saviour, instead of the saved one. Joshua received it when he was constituted the leader of the people of Israel, and so became the chief personal type of the great "Captain of our salvation," the Lord Jesus, who leads his people to their everlasting inheritance, and conquers all their enemies. There is a remarkable passage, Zech. ix. 9, where our Joshua is spoken of as " just, and having salvation” (“saving himself," marg.; but it should be, "saved himself,") therefore able to save his people.

The name Joshua was not uncommon among the Jews. It was the work of salvation which Christ came to perform, which He only could perform, and which the name Jesus denoted, that gave to his name its emphasis, and proclaimed him The Saviour, "before whom every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Our Lord, on his birth, was announced by the angels to the shepherds as "a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke ii. 11); and Simeon expresses the person of the Saviour by the word Salvation, saying, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation" (Luke ii. 30). Under the word salvation the person and work of Christ are frequently shadowed forth in the Old Testament. Of Him Moses sings, Exod. xv. 2, "My strength and my song is Jah, and He hath been to me for salvation;" repeated in that triumphant song, Psal. cxviii. 14, 22, when " the Stone which the builders refused shall become the head of the corner;" and also Isai. xii. 2. Of him,too, it is declared, in Isai. xlix. 6, "I will give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth." In these instances the personal pronouns embody the work of salvation in a person: and it is still more strikingly done in Isai. Ixii. 11, "Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy Salvation cometh; behold his reward is with him, and his work before him:" taken to himself by our Lord, Rev. xxii. 12; "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

But it is in the open manifestation of the purpose of God at the second advent that the name Jesus is made known as impersonating the salvation of God. In Psal. xxvii. the waiting time of his people (ver. 14); the time of trouble, when the Lord hides them in his pavilion and tabernacle (ver. 5); when the hosts of the wicked stumble and fall, then "the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" So also Psal. xcviii., “O sing

unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory (the new song of Rev. xiv. 3, xv. 3): and then shall it be said "The Lord hath made known his salvation:" (ver. 2), " All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God" (ver. 3); and the whole creation rejoice" before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity." Jesus himself assumes this title, when, returning from the destruction of his enemies, he proclaims himself (Isa. Ixiii. 1) "speaking in righteousness, mighty to save," and " their Saviour" (ver. 8). And the exhibition of the Salvation of God, thus made in the person of our Lord, is called in Scripture the exhibition of God: and truly is so, being made by Him who is "the Brightness of the Father's glory, and the express Image of his person," and who declared of himself, " he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." It is so written in Psal. 1. wherein "the mighty God, even the Lord," having called to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people (ver. 4), declares (ver. 23), that "to him that ordereth his conversation aright he will shew the Salvation of God;" literally, "shew in Salvation (Jeshua) God (Elohim)." According as it is so magnificently predicted in Job xix. 25, "Yea, I know my Redeemer, the Living One: and hereafter over dust he shall rise up" (see Job xiv. 12; xxxi. 14): " And after my awaking thus destroyed, even of my flesh I shall behold God; whom I shall behold of me" (such as mine), "and mine eyes shall behold, and not a stranger" (no stranger to me).

Such are a few of the infinite treasures of knowledge shut up in the name JESUS, of which one of the Fathers has well said, "Quum nomino Jesum, hominem mihi propono mitem et humilem corde, benignum, misericordem et omni denique honestate et sanctitate conspicuum; eumdemque ipsum Deum omnipotentem, qui suo me exemplo sanet et roboret adjutorio. Hæc omnia simul mihi sonant quum insonuerit Jesus. Sumo itaque mihi exempla de homine, et auxilium a potente-semper tibi in sinu sit semper in manu, quo tui omnis in Jesum et sensus dirigantur et actus."

From the name Jesus the title Christ should never be disjoined. We do always, in fact, imply both when we name either; for Jesus is The Christ, The Messiah, The Anointed; and Christ is the only Saviour, The Jesus: according as Tertullian expresses it, "Sive Jesus tantummodo positum est, intelligitur et Christus, quia Jesus unctus est: sive solummodo Christus, idem est et Jesus; quia unctus est Jesus. Quorum nominum alterum est proprium, quod ab angelo impositum est, alterum accidens, quod ab unctione convenit." When Jesus was announced to the shepOr contend against, or re-constitute, or establish dust; or, bring living substance from dust (Deut. xi. 6, margin).

herds (Luke ii. 11), he is called "a Saviour, Christ the Lord;" and the end of Peter's preaching (Acts ii.36) was, "that all the house of Israel might know assuredly that God had made that same Jesus, whom they crucified, both Lord and Christ." Anointing was an essential part of the ceremony of inauguration to the three high offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; and by it was signified that unction of the Holy Spirit which was necessary for the right discharge of either of these offices. Now, though Jesus Christ, as the Anointed One, was full of the Holy Ghost from the beginning," for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him" (John iii. 34); yet there appears to have been an unction setting him apart manifestly for his several offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.

His anointing for the Prophetic office took place at his baptism, when John saw the Holy Spirit descend like a dove, and rest upon him. This Peter declares Acts x. 36: "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all); that word, I say, ye know; which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." And our Lord claimed this anointing for himself in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke iv. 18), when, reading from Isai. Ixi., "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor," he declares, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."

The anointing for the Priestly office took place on the ascension of our Lord; when God raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places (Eph. i. 20); a Priest for ever, after the order of Mechizedec (Heb. vi. 20, vii. 21); having an unchangeable priesthood (ver. 24), consecrated for evermore (ver. 28). And his priestly office could not begin while he lived; for it is written (Heb. viii. 4), " If he were on earth he should not be a priest:" and (ver. 3), " It is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer;" even "his own blood," by which he entered in once into the holy place as our High Priest; and "the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit (his anointing as Priest) offered himself without spot to God, shall purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. ix. 12, 14).

The anointing for the Kingly office shall take place "when Adonai, having spoken to his enemies in his wrath, shall be set (anointed) upon the holy hill of Zion" (Psal. ii. 6). When he shall "take to himself his great power and reign" (Rev. xi. 17). Having on his vesture and thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords" (Rev. xix. 16).

66

(To be continued.)

817

ON SEPARATING FROM A CHURCH.

On the only justifiable Ground of leaving a professedly Christian Church, and constituting a separate one; with practical deductions from the principle, applicable to the present times. OUR Lord has declared to us, that a house divided against itself must fall; and the destructive consequences of division furnish us with a most constraining reason for embracing that gracious precept, "Love one another, as I have loved you;" in other words, love one another with a perfect love. The history of man, whether we confine our observation to a family, or extend it to kingdoms and empires, contains a succession of proofs of the misery and destruction which follow upon disunion. It is hardly necessary to particularize any example, as so many must suggest themselves to every individual; but, for the sake of illustration, I will mention one well-known instancethat of Greece. As long as the different states preserved only a moderate union among themselves, they were enabled successfully to withstand the giant efforts of their foreign enemies; but when an unquenchable jealousy of each other got the better of their reason, they soon lost sight of the only ground of their common security-viz. union among themselves—and became an easy prey to the common enemy. Thence followed the withering of their moral and political strength, and they have ended in presenting a spectacle of utter degeneracy: or, more properly, their giving way to envy and jealousy of each other was the proof of a moral degeneracy, which will ever be found the true cause of political weakness; and, preferring the gratification of selfishness to the common weal, they all fell at last a sacrifice to their own divisions and the consequent weakness. It is not needful to dwell upon this principle of union, for I think it is obvious, and generally acknowledged amongst men, that without it no desirable object can be obtained: and those who do not admit it must be passed by with an entreaty to review the grounds of their opposition; because, as all reasoning must be based upon some admitted foundation, I am obliged to address myself only to such as do admit it. Yet, as I am unwilling that any should remain refusing so reasonable a postulate, I will propose a few questions, which I think cannot fail to suggest answers that will contain an admission of the reasons upon which all that follows is grounded. Suppose a schism in the members of the human body, what would be the consequence-if the hand say to the foot, I have no need of thee; and the foot to the hand, I have no need of thee; and so on throughout? Evident destruction of all. Again: if the soldiers of an army refuse to obey the orders of their officers, and each

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chooses a plan of operation for himself, what would ensue to them in the presence of an enemy? Confusion and defeat. For, observe, the evil spirit which prompts men to disobey is sure to be accompanied by other evil dispositions, towards their superiors and each other; and each, ceasing to desire others' preservation, would cease to strive for it. Again: what spectacle more fearful than that of a disunited family! what hatred so deep and fierce as the hatred of discordant brethren! what wars so dreadful and devastating as civil wars! Oh! it needeth but to contemplate with serious attention the fearful train of evils which flow out of dividing and divided parties, to be convinced of the necessity of union.

As my ends in these remarks are practical, I wish not to overleap the bounds of human life: my object is to keep a steady view of it as it is: and therefore I shall meet with no difference of opinion in asserting that no body of men, who have ever been associated together by laws, have been free from evil. The tares have ever been mixed with the wheat, as sad experience has without exception proved; and, therefore, in every community there have always been offenders and offensive acts: these are common characteristics of all human communities, from which even the church of Christ has not been free. But, before coming to the peculiar constitution of the Christian church, let us follow out in thought the natural process of division in a civil society of men. Let us first conceive of a number of men in union, and the professed object in which they all agree the common good. And here we must be careful to limit our conception to humanity as it is in fact circumstanced; and one invariable condition is, that of being surrounded by foreign powers jealous of any flourishing state in their neighbourhood; and, therefore, one necessary provision must always be against foreign invasion and oppression if this be not provided against, it would be absurd and chimerical to suppose that any thing like independence could be secured. And here, again, it must be admitted, that without independence the very conception which we have held above cannot for an instant be entertained; for whenever you imagine a community dependent upon the arbitrary will of a jealous neighbour, that moment you annihilate the conception of a self-subsisting society, and convert it into a member, or what may at any time become a member, of another state; and then its separate existence is lost, and our conception vanishes. From this, then, we are obliged to infer, that as independence is essentially necessary to the conception of any state, in order to its permanence and without permanence we cannot hold our conception-the first and indispensable care of a state is selfpreservation; preservation from outward enemies. As soon as a state loses this power it is virtually annihilated; it becomes

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