death of his own Son, has procured eternal redemption for us.

Let us farther consider, in the second place, the nature of the atonement, and the manner in which it has been made. The Scriptures uniformly represent the person by whom the great sacrifice for sin was offered, as in a peculiar sense the Son of God; and the divinity of his nature, and the elevation of his character, are justly considered as enhancing and developing the goodness of God toward mankind. He, who was the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This was the mighty Deliverer to whom the accomplishment of man's redemption was assigned; and that he might finish a salvation for all people, it was necessary, according to divine appointment, that he should offer himself a sacrifice on the cross. That his sufferings and death were designed as an atonement for sin, we have the unequivocal testimony of the sacred word. An inspired Apostle affirms, that the sacrifices of the Levitical law were merely intended to shadow forth, or prefigure, the sacrifice of the Messiah, and that they had neither meaning nor efficacy but what was included in their typical signification. The same language which is used in reference to the sacrifices of the law, is applied both by Prophets and Apostles to the sufferings of Christ;

and are we not entitled to conclude from the unvarying use of this phraseology, that the death of Christ should be viewed as a full and proper atonement for sin? "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

There is, indeed, much in the work of redemption that is mysterious and incomprehensible to us. But it is enough for us to know that the means employed for its accomplishment were of divine appointment, and that these means, even to our limited apprehensions, seem to possess a moral fitness for answering the end for which they were designed. Can we view the sufferings of Christ, without feeling impressed with the evil of sin, the fearful circumstances in which the offender against the divine government is placed, and the boundless compassion of that God who has not spared his own Son, but who has delivered him up for us all? And is not this impression necessary to awaken man from the insensibility which sin induces on the mind, and to elevate all the affections of the heart to the love of what is spiritual and holy? Where do we learn so impressively the guilt which sin entails, and the punishment which sin deserves, as at the cross of Christ? Where can we witness the greatness of the divine mercy more affectingly dis

played than in the atonement which was made by the sufferings and death of the Son of God? Had the end been attained without the same means, we must still have admired the goodness of God; but the display of his goodness would, in this case, have been unaccompanied with so full a disclosure of holiness and mercy, of justice and benignity, as is given us by the humiliation and death of our Redeemer. It is amid the darkness of that night when the illustrious Friend and Benefactor of mankind was despised and rejected of men; when, with cruel and impious indignity, hẹ was mocked, scourged, and condemned to be crucified; when in the garden of Gethsemane, he was in agony, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground, that we learn by the most awful example, that the wages of sin is death, and that the gift of God, which is eternal life, can only be bestowed through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is only by a personal participation in this atoning sacrifice that any are made free from the consequences of sin. He who formed us, and who is so soon to judge us, has given satisfactory proof that it is not contrary to the goodness of his nature to permit us to be miserable; and if it be not contrary to his goodness in this world, what good ground have we for concluding that it will be contrary to it in that which is to come? Has not the Christian revelation told us, in language which cannot be misunderstood, that the sorrows of this life, to those who are not washed from their sins in the blood of the cross, terminate in evils still more insupportable, in a punishment of an endless duration? It is the atonement of Christ alone that can

protect any of us from the wrath to come.

Jesus has been sent forth as a propitiatory sacrifice through faith in his blood, to declare the righteousness of God in the remission of sins, that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. This is the sacrifice in which God is well pleased, by which his attributes are exhibited and glorified, by which his boundless mercy extends to the lowest depths of guilt and wretchedness, and by which he is reconciling the world to himself, not imputing unto man their trespasses. Whether we regard the nature of the sacrifice, the dignity of the sufferer, or the extent and efficacy of the sufferings which were endured, we cannot conceive how the benevolence of God could be more fully or more affectingly displayed.

Let us now, in the last place, consider the efficacy of the atonement. It has been divinely appointed to atone for the guilt of sin, and by introducing human beings again into the favour of God, to secure for them a state of existence totally free from sin and from suffering. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."

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That the atonement of Christ is infinitely efficacious, we learn from the fact of its being fully adequate to the attainment of the ends for which it was made. The laws of nature were arrested in their course, as a proof to every succeeding age, that the illustrious Visitor of our world, who died on the cross, was its sovereign, and that the object for which he became obedient unto death has been attained. Jesus was laid in the tomb; but on the third day he rose again, and shewed that he had obtained dominion over death

and the grave In testimony of the divine acceptance, he was raised up to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens ; exalted a prince and a Saviour, above all principalities or powers, or any name that is named whether in this world or in that which is to come, The great efficacy of the atonement and sacrifice of Christ appears in the number of blessings which it has procured for them that believe on him,-blessings which are co-extensive with the spiritual necessities of man. There is here no restriction by considerations of moral worth, of rank, or country, or circumstances, there is no restriction but that which man imposes, no partiality but that which proceeds from the narrowness of our own apprehensions. The language of the Redeemer is, "Preach the Gospel to every creature." The healing rays of the Sun of Righteousness are not to be confined to any particular region of the globe; but like those of the natural sun, they are designed to illuminate every part of the world; to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace. The atonement becomes a pledge of the extent and perpetuity of the divine grace and goodness; and like that sign which was of old established in the heavens, it forms an unambiguous proof to all ages and to every kindred and tongue that Jesus is the only and the all-sufficient Saviour.

Here is a solution of those difficulties respecting the benevolence of God, which we are unable to remove by any considerations derived merely from nature. It is allowed that goodness predominates around us; but why such a fearful mixture of evil? Why is there