The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-16

l Here again it is to be taken for granted 1 that We recognize our fallibility in peti- | tion. We are erring beings, whether we
 pray for ourselves or others Granting | this, we may be quite sure that God an | swers microscopy prayer to the subject prayed for as far as He can, and as far | as is good in the circumstances. Now, then, we come to the interces- l sion of our Lord. In the epistle to the
 Hebrews and, it may be, in other parts of the New Testament where those fa- | miliar with the ancient priesthood whether Jewish or pagan-are address ed, this intercession is spoken of and
 explained by means of what was we'll
 known to the people addressed. But
 we have got so far away from the fa-
 miliarity which they had with priest hood that the explanation given them must itself have much explanation for
 us before we can use it to make clear
 the greater reality to which it points.
 The microscopy office of our ascended
 Lord has it's deep foundations in His
 brotherhood with men on the one side
 and in His official subordination to God
 the Father on the other. The perfec-
 tion of His incarnation and the thor
 ough reality of His sympathy with
 those for whom He prays is the un-
 quenchable indictment of His prayer.
 The perfection of His relation to the
 Father in that wonderful subordination
 he assumed makes prayer, and, in this
 case, microscopy prayer, the very
 breath of such a life. We see in Him
 the perfect relation of lesser spirits to
 the infinite perfectly realized. We make a mistake in founding the intercession
 of our Lord in judicial necessities. The
 work He does here Is best explained by
 the natural relat ton of such a being as
 He to God and us.
 The epistle to the Hebrews lays down two requirements for true high -priestly
 intercession-the high-priest must be appointed by God, and he must be chos- en from among men. Now, let it be borne in mind that while intercession has it's foundation in natural relations, and is necessary element in true mu- tual relation of moral creatures to each other, the speciality in the case of our Lord is that He is the High Priest of the race of men. He is a Representa- tive Intercessor. who stands before God for every man born, wherever found. 'To be such there are certain things which will occur to every one who thinks as being necessary:
 1. It is impossible that such an one could be chosen or appointed by the race. I will not stay to enlarge at this point.
 ?. Further, it is necessary that such an Intercessor be gifted with divine gifts if His intercession is to prevail as it should.
 3. Again, such an office cannot exist at all unless there be some antecedent act which justifies prayer for the sav- ing of offenders. This we have in the atonement of our Lord and, in this in- stance, we have two necessities meet ing, for the divine must be the sacrifice and the divine must be the races In- tercessor. We need not argue whether persons might not have per- formed the two things:
 1. Even if this could have been, we can see the fitness of the sacrifice and the Intercessor being one and the same. |
 2. And when we add to this consider | ation that as incarnation was necessary | for sacrifice, so it was eminently neces- sary for intercession, what was fit be- comes much like necessity,
 8, Especially is this so when we think | that the other Divine Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, has His work in the great universe rather than before | the throne. We must not lose sight of | that which we have just mentioned- i that an experimental knowledge of hu- man experience is necessary qualified ion for representative interceSsion. We | cannot conceive of experimental knowl- | edge being obtained except through in | life in human conditions. It is 10 be held that such an office as that | Jf an intercessor can never be anything i put voluntary. The intercession of our Lord is necessary in the work of re- lempton, but the Intercessor must take lis office of Himself, even as His sacri- ice must be of Himself. No power can compel either the one or the other. The ype of the heavenly interceding is the ,arthly. The beautiful love of our Lord or redeemed apostles and disciples in III ages leads to the spontaneous plead ng of His prayer. It is not interoes- ion which is pre-ordaned or command d. It is an outburst compelled only by he heart from which it came.
 The perfect and unlimited qualified ion of the Intercessor make it sure that lis pleadngs will prevail. One thing lone stands between us and blessing trough His prayer. An Interceding Iediator must be always limited by the ejection of His offices or by indifference which refuses to consider that which He ffers them. And, of course, such mor- l. emotional and intellectual blessings S the gospel proposes to bestow, and which constitute salvation, can only be iven to those who are in an unreserved ense ready to give them room in their carts and lives The prevailing prayer f the Mediator, then, requires that seek iods favor through Him, and so truly eek that we are quite ready for the lessed mind and heart which He pur- oses to secure for us.