ning of the world, through patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and a Gospel ministry.

As a Priest he came to promote the cause of holiness among a universe of creatures throughout eternity. He came to "magnify the law and make it honorable," and to give energy to a moral government by supporting the empire of a moral law. This he did by obeying that law under circumstances the most trying, obeying it "unto death, even the death of the cross." When he says in reference to his death, "This commandment have I received of my Father," he alludes to no precept distinct from the moral law; for that law which requires us to "love the Lord" our "God with all" the "heart" and our "neighbor as" ourselves, binds us, when the providence of God renders it necessary, "to lay down our lives for the brethren." This obedience, by which he earned, and received as his own reward, all the positive blessings intended for Adam's race, gave God an opportunity to bestow all positive good as the reward of a perfect obedience to his law, and to refuse to grant the least blessing on any other terms. This had been the rule of Eden and of heaven; for in both cases the least transgression forfeited every blessing. And the adherence to this rule prevented "one jot or one tittle" of the law from being given up. But the chief support yielded to the law was by his sufferings and death in our stead, by which he answered all the purposes of our punishment and rendered the infliction no longer necessary. What is the design of punishment? It is to uphold the autho

rity of the law by showing the unalterable determination of the lawgiver to execute its penalty on future offenders. And when the beloved Son of God took the place of sinners, and the Father would not spare him, but drained out his life to the very dregs, it showed the inflexible certainty of punishment, more than the eternal destruction of Adam's race would have done. It proclaimed in the ears of heaven and earth, "If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" This was the atonement.

But the enemies of the atonement profanely say, that his death was designed merely to confirm his doctrines. What then is the meaning of texts like these, which cover the pages of the Old Testament and the New? 66 Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.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.-The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.-For the transgression of my people was he stricken.-When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.-He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people,-to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.-And after three score

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and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." "He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die; but God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

Indeed if the death of Christ had no other use than to confirm his doctrines, what can be the meaning of that whole system of typical, vicarious, and atoning sacrifices which are set forth in the Old Testament, and constantly displayed in every part of the worship of the Hebrew Church for near fifteen hundred years? When a man had sinned, he brought his victim to the altar, whose life was accepted in the room of his life, and the sinner lived. This was expressly called an atonement. The word is every where applied to the sacrifices of the ancient Church. And what could be meant when the high priest brought the scape-goat, and laid both his hands upon his head, and confessed "over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them

upon the head of the goat and" sending "him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness;" the goat, as it is expressly said, bearing "upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited ?"

Having thus fulfilled the office of a Priest in the outer tabernacle, Christ entered into the inner sanctuary "to appear in the presence of God for us;" and there" he ever liveth to make intercession for"

us.

He ascended also to reign as a King over the Church and over the universe ;-to take the charge of the sanctification and protection of his people, to employ angels to minister to them, to curb and counteract the rage of devils, to manage the whole world in reference to their interests, and to bring them safely home to glory. Thus he administers the divine government in a Person that can be seen and apprehended by creatures. That same Person will judge the world. And "when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power," he then will deliver "up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.”

In his whole mediatorial character he is "the chiefest among ten thousand" and "altogether lovely." In him the lost and helpless children of Adam have precisely what they need. Not a want can be named but he has enough to supply it. Are you dead in trespasses and sins? He that called Lazarus from the sepulchre can reanimate you. Are you fast bound in the snares of Satan? He that could expel seven devils from one and a legion from another, can deliver you. Are you mourning un

der guilt? He who bore your sins in his own body on the tree, can make your scarlet stains as snow and your crimson spots like wool. Do you complain of a heart of stone? He that could subdue a Saul of Tarsus, can soften you. Are you blind to spiritual glory? He who restored sight to the blind men of Jericho, can make you see. Do you groan under ignorance and confusion of thought respecting the way of salvation? He who composed the madness of the men among the tombs,-who brought so many bewildered Jews to clear conceptions of Gospel truth,-who has sent forth all the light which for six thousand years has cheered the abodes of Zion, can dispel your confusion and change your darkness into day. Are you falling before your spiritual enemies? He nailed them all to his cross and triumphed over them when he arose. Poor, helpless, diseased mortals, come and hear the joyful tidings, that an all-sufficient Saviour is provided, at whose word guilt, diseases and demons fly; who restores the whole man,-eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, light to the bewildered, and life to the dead. There is balm in Gilead and an able physician there: O that you would go to him and be healed.

II. I am to show that he is a friend which sticketh closer than a brother.

But where shall I begin or where shall I end? His whole Gospel is one unequalled expression of kindness for a dying world. The tenderest assurances of his love are enstamped on every page. Nor has he stopped at mere professions. His con