whole earth shall be overshadowed by the branches of the cedar of God. II. We proceed to consider, with a little more particularity, the import of this evangelical prophecy. It describes the character and mediatorial kingdom of Christ, and the blessings which he confers upon his people. 1. His character and mediatorial kingdom. “I will take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and plant it upon a high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it.” Christ, as concerning the flesh, is of the seed of Abraham—a rod issuing from the stem of Jesse, and a branch growing out of his root. “As the new vine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it;” so the children of Israel were spared, notwithstanding their perverseness and their backslidings, because they were the cluster from which should be expressed in due time the new wine of the kingdom—because from them was to come forth the blessing, the promised seed in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The Word that was in the beginning with God, one with God in essence and in attributes, in the fulness of time assumed our nature, and tabernacled and dwelt among us. Here is the union of God and man. Here is the great mystery of godliness—God manifest in the flesh. But I have only time now to take off my shoes, and draw near the burning bush, and gaze a moment upon this great sight. The Father is represented as preparing a body for his Son. He goes to the quarry to seek a stone, a foundation stone for Zion. The angel said to Mary:—“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” The eternal lays hold on that nature which is hastening downward, on the flood of sin, to the gulf of death and destruction, and binds it to himself. Though made in the likeness of sinful flesh, he was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He did no iniquity, neither was guile found in his mouth. The rod out of the stem of Jesse is also Jehovah our righteousness. The child born in Bethlehem is the mighty God. The Son given to Israel is the everlasting Father. He is of the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh; but he is also the true God and eternal life. Two natures and three offices meet mysteriously in his person. He is at once the bleeding sacrifice, the sanctifying altar, the officiating priest, the prophet of Israel, and the Prince of Peace. All this was necessary, that he might become “the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.”