times of anointings of various kinds, and for many purposes. The general meaning of the act was to designate, set apart, consecrate, and qualify. Thus, Cyrus is called God's anointed, because God had consecrated him to the work of releasing the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. And so also, but in a far higher sense, Jesus is called Jehovah's anointed One in the second Psalm, and in other Scriptures. And hence also in the Bible, anoint, anointed, and anointing, are employed in a variety of forms to illustrate the sanctifying influences of divine grace upon the soul.

At least three significant kinds of anointing are found in the Scriptures :

1. One for health and cleanliness, as for sundry diseases, and under this head we perhaps should class the anointing of the dead body. 2. Anointing of guests and strangers, as when the woman who was a sinner washed Jesus' feet. Among the Egyptians this was the ordinary method of making a guest feel his welcome. 3. The great anointing, however, was for the consecration and inauguration of a person to some part of divine service-thus the designating to the service of God, or to a holy use, the vessels of the tabernacle and the priests, and subsequently kings and prophets. Proof is abundant from the monuments that this custom prevailed in Egypt as well as among the Jews. It was the usual way of investiture into any sacred office among the ancients. The appellation, then, belongs to our Lord in a pre-eminent degree. First, He was anointed by His Father's designationbeing pre-ordained to his work; secondly, He was anointed typically in the Jewish priests and kings and prophets. The proof that they were anointed and were types of the Messiah is so well known, that no citations or illustrations are needed. And as the Messiah unites the func

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tions of Prophet, Priest, and King, so typically He was anointed, and so pre-eminently anointed as combining all in one, that his name expressed his official title-THE ANOINTED ONE. Jesus was anointed typically to the prophetical office, and to the priestly office and the kingly office in all the prophets, priests, and kings that God gave to his people in their typical economy.

And thirdly, JESUS was actually anointed with the Holy Spirit. He fulfilled all righteousness, was circumcised, and was baptized with water. And the Holy Spirit descended upon him at his baptism. Isaiah had foretold this, saying: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord God hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isaiah lxi. This prophecy Jesus explained and applied to himself in the synagogue of Nazareth. And St. Peter tells us that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power."

As to the question, When did Jesus become "The Anointed One ?" it must be remembered that the whole work of Redemption was decreed in the Eternal Mind from all eternity. Our salvation by the work of God's dear Son is not, therefore, any "after-thought" of the Almighty, by which to "mend" or repair his works of creation that had been marred by Satan. In the Divine Mind, God's Son was contemplated as incarnate and cru

cified from all eternity. The actual incarnation was when the Word was made flesh-when the two natures, "the Godhead and the manhood, without confusion of substance," were inseparably united in one Divine Person, whom we know as Christ. The great Hooker says, Jesus "took the very first element of our nature, before it was come to have any personal subsistence, and the flesh and the conjunction of the flesh with God began both at one instant; his making, and taking to himself our flesh was one act, so that in Christ there is no personal subsistence but one, and that from everlasting."

In the incarnation of the Son of God his glory was put into the form and habit of our flesh, so that the Apostle says, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the onlybegotten of the Father." It was this taking of manhood into God, when the Word was made flesh, that the Apostle Paul speaks of as the mystery of godliness: "God manifest in the flesh." It is quite enough, then, for our purpose in this discussion, to say, first, that Jesus was anointed of God, when, in the Divine purposes, “He was set up from everlasting." "He was foreordained before the foundation of the world." He was sent from the Father. He came from God, appointed to this work. Secondly, He was anointed typically under the Old Testament. Thirdly, He was anointed actually with the Holy Ghost. And his anointing was accredited by his miracles, and by the outpouring of his Spirit in conversions, and the building up of his kingdom.

For the Redemption of sinners by the Messiah consisting in their deliverance from a state of sin and death, and in bringing them into a state of righteousness and eternal life, it was necessary that He should offer a sacrifice propitiatory, and hence it was necessary that Messiah should be a PRIEST. And as deliverance from sin could not be

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obtained without the revealing of God's will to us concerning our salvation, so there was a necessity that the Messiah should be a prophet. And as the salvation of sinners implies their translation from a state of darkness into the light of God's kingdom-from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of heaven, and this requires the authority and power of a king-even of the Son of God, who was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil-our Redeemer must therefore be a king. And thus we see that in every particular Jesus has the unction, the threefold anointing, and is indeed the Anointed One, our Saviour.

"Jesus Christ is our anointed Saviour, anointed to be our King, our great High Priest, and our Prophet, and in all those our Saviour; our Prophet, to teach the way of salvation; our Priest, to purchase it for us; and our King, to lead and protect us in the way and bring us safe to the end of it. A name full of sweetness and comfort. It is a rich ointment, and in the real and true preaching of the Gospel it is an ointment poured forth, diffusing its fragrant smell for believing souls."—Leighton.

Finally, we should believe and profess this article, 1st. Because unless Jesus is Christ we have no Saviour. If He is not the Prophet of God, He could not reveal the way of salvation; nor could He work out salvation for us, if He is not a Priest; nor could He confer salvation upon us, unless he is a king. But we have proved that Jesus is the Messiah who was to come, and that he was anointed to all the offices of a Prophet, Priest, and King. We therefore have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; and having such a High Priest over the house of God, we may draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. Heb. x. 19.

2. We must profess this article, and prove by our lives that it is true, or we practically say Jesus is not the Messiah. "For whosoever believeth that Jesus is Christ, is born of God." And again saith St. John, "Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This man is the antichrist, as denying the Father and the Son." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Whosoever believeth shall be saved.

Christ died for us that we should live to Him. He bought us with a price. We are therefore not our own, but must glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are God's.

3. This profession of faith must be an individual, personal one. "I believe in Jesus Christ." We must receive him as the Redeemer of God's elect as our Prophet, Priest, and King. It cannot be done by proxy.

Whence is our name Christians? Are we not so called after CHRIST? Have we then His spirit? Do we rejoice at this name as the early Christians did? When it was given to them it was a name of reproach, but they loved it, and they suffered all manner of persecution and death for His sake. "Let every one then that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Christ was the Anointed One, a Prophet, a Priest, and a King. Are we, like Him, consecrated to God? Do we teach the way of salvation, and offer ourselves a living sacrifice to God, and labor and pray for the coming of His Kingdom? If we are really Christians, then we have an unction from Him, for God hath established and anointed us in Christ to be Kings and Priests unto Him. What think ye then of Christ? Dost thou believe on the Son of God? O that every one of you may be able to say, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. Amen.