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christian apostacy. Speak the truth, and uncharitableness will never find access. We fear not, therefore, to affirm with all the principles of this most Holy Book, with all the testimonies of its ablest preachers on our side, that Infidels, and Socinians cannot, as such, be saved: and, when we tell them so, we prove ourselves most charitable, most meek, most kind. These are the two alternatives: "Look to Jesus as your Prophet, Priest, and King, and be saved; look not, and be condemned."

Another year has heard its funeral knell, and its spirit has entered the mansions of eternity. You are yet spared in the land of the living, and in the place of hope. Your temporal concerns in life, have perhaps been abundantly proshave you perous; your means and opportunities of grace have perhaps been many: What return have you rendered to the Lord? Where the trophies of sins mastered? Where the proofs of love, and joy, and benevolence, and peace you have acquired? Alas! are ye not where you were a year ago, as prayerless, as graceless, as godless? And yet, (oh, the long-suffering of God,) you are not cut down as cumberers of the earth. But you are destined, some of you, not to see the close of 1834, as you have seen the close of 1833. But hear the Gospel: this very day, my friends, notwithstanding all, the Mediator is standing over the books in which are registered your multitudinous, your innumerable sins, your abused mercies, your neglected means; and if you will hear his address, "Look to me and be saved," he will expunge the record of your sins, and wash their very vestiges away in his blood, and be merciful to your sins, and your iniquities remember no more.

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SPEAKING BETTER THINGS THAN THE BLOOD OF SAUL.

REV. A. BRANDRAM, A. M.

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, SAVOY, FEBRUARY 23, 1834.

"Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil."-2 SAMUEL, i. 21

THESE words form a part of that song of lamentation which David composed after that Saul, and Jonathan his son, had fallen in battle with the Philistines. The death of Saul was in the eyes of David an exceedingly grievous event; an event in connexion with which he considered that no small degree of guilt had been incurred; because Saul was the Lord's anointed: and so grievous, and so guiltful, if we may use such an expression, was that event in the eyes of David, that in this solemn lamentation he imprecates divine vengeance even upon the very place where the foul deed had been perpetrated; he prays, that henceforth on these mountains of Gilboa there might be neither dew nor rain nor fields of offering. Now one great use of the histories that we meet with in the Old Testament, and a legitimate use of them, is that of drawing from them illustrations of important truths and doctrines that are submitted to our notice, whether in the Old or in the New Testaments. Such a use of many of those histories we find having the sanction of inspiration itself; such a reference is made to many of those histories by the writers of the New Testament ; and such a use, I conceive, we may make, even of some of those passages for which we have no such authority, provided that when we so use them we do it with humility, with sobriety of mind, and guided by those general principles with which the Scriptures furnish us, in the examples that they have given us of a like application of Old Testament histories.

Now I conceive that we have a like example in another passage of Old Testament history, which is brought forward by St. Paul in the epistle of the Hebrews, in illustration of an important New Testament doctrine. The passage to which I allude is to be found in the fourth of Genesis, where we have recorded the account of the death of Abel; a deed in which there was an enormity of guilt. We find it said of that deed, that Abel's blood cried from the ground for vengeance upon Cain; the Apostle, in the twelfth of the epistle to the Hebrews, referring to that event says, that those who believe in Christ are come unto "the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel." In the murder of Abel there was an enormity of guilt, and there was a cry for vengeance; in the death of Christ there was indeed an enormity of guilt, far surpassing that which is to be found in the case of Abel, but the result is widely different; his blood crieth not for vengeance, but for mercy.

Now I conceive that we may, in like manner, draw improvement from the

passage now before us. We may take occasion from it to illustrate the enormity of that sin of which those were guilty who embrued their hands in our Saviour's blood; and we may take occasion to draw a like contrast with that which the Apostle has drawn in the case of Abel; and we may dwell with delight upon the encouraging fact, that while the blood of Saul that was thus shed called for vengeance on the very spot where it was shed, the blood of Christ calls for nothing but blessings, the very opposite of these curses.

Let us then proceed, first, to consider, THE ENORMITY OF GUILT CONTRACTED BY THOSE WHO SHED THE SAVIOUR'S BLOOD, AS THAT GUILT MAY BE ILLUSTRATED BY THE ENORMITY OF THE GUILT OF THE DEATH OF SAUL. What was the principal circumstance upon which David dwelt, but that Saul was the Lord's anointed? Saul had been called of God in a very remarkable manner to be king over Israel; he had been set apart in a very solemn manner to that high and responsible office; and it was known unto all that were round about him, both far and near, that he was in a pre-eminent sense, in those days," the Lord's anointed," and his person therefore accounted to have been holy and sacred; and the sin of touching a person thus sacred was necessarily of no small amount. But if it be said of Saul, that he was the Lord's anointed, how much more may it be said of Christ, whose very name-Messiah, signifies the Anointed, or the Christ of God. And shall we not, when dwelling upon this point, profitably call to remembrance the many infallible proofs that he gave while he lived and dwelt among us men, that he was the Lord's anointed? May we not refer, not only to the remarkable events connected with his work in the days of his infancy, but more especially to those wonderful works which he wrought, because God was with him, to that anointing of the Holy Ghost by which he was distinguished, and by the power of which he thus displayed these wonderful works in the midst of the children of Israel? May we not profitably refer to the evidences that are afforded to us by his spotless character, by his boundless benevolence, by all those evident tokens of goodness which shone forth with so much clearness and with so much majesty in him? It was indeed manifest to every unprejudiced mind, by the whole course of our Saviour's history, that he was indeed the Lord's Anointed-the Son of God.

Now if we look into the history of Saul, we shall find, that there are many circumstances which greatly diminish the enormity of guilt connected with his death; and then turning to the history of our blessed Saviour we shall find the like variety of circumstances, all tending to heighten that guilt. It may be said of Saul, that he richly deserved that death, that untimely death, with which he met. It is recorded of Saul, that he had on more than one occasion rejected the Lord, rejected the authority of that God who had caused him to be anointed king over Israel. Moreover, it appears from the history of Saul, that he had been a murderer in intention and in purpose, if not in deed, as it respected David; on more than one occasion he had, in the bitterness of his wrath and in his malice, sought the life of David; though he had not been permitted in the providence of God, to accomplish his deadly purpose. What shall we say, therefore, in contrast, with reference to our blessed Saviour? He glorified and adorned the doctrines of his heavenly Father, by the most unreserved, entire, and continued obedience; so that the great adversary of man when he came to search and to sift him, could find nothing in him; yea, his very accusers had nothing that they could allege or prove against him, when they had arraigned him And how remarkable was his own character for benevolence and for good

will to man? How did he shew himself, on a variety of occasions, the friend of man, and bent upon promoting man's real happiness, and advancing his best interests? If we turn again to the history of Saul, we shall find David dwelt upon the disgrace connected with his death, as adding bitterness to the event-that he had been slain by the hands of the Philistines, the sworn enemies of the Children of Israel. If we turn to the history of our blessed Saviour we shall find that there were still more embittered circumstances in his history, which made his cup even still more cruel: we find he fell by the hands of the Romans; that his fall was accompanied by many previous acts of indignity that were done to him. How was he reviled? How was he taunted with the execrations and the malice which men poured forth? How at the very moment when he ought to have called forth the sympathies of all who pretended in the slightest degree to kindness of feeling, at the moment when he hung upon the cross, how were those indignities repeated? How were all the dishonours that men could heap upon him poured out in the most abundant measure?

If we turn again to the history of Saul, we shall find a variety of other particulars, all lessening the enormity of the guilt; and we shall find the contrast again heighten the guilt of our Saviour's death. In the history of Saul we find it recorded, that in the hour and in the day of his distress, instead of having recourse to God, instead of seeking divine direction, instead of seeking comfort from on high, he resorted to the Witch of Endor, thereby shewing that he no longer trusted in God, but in that which was expressly forbidden of God, that against which God had by his law denounced the severest punishment upon those who should be guilty of it. It was the withdrawing the trust from God, and the placing that trust on forbidden objects. If we look at that history of Saul, we shall find, that in the very article of death, when he was reduced to the greatest straits and necessities, his concern was not how he should appear in the sight of God, but what man would think of him; he could not hear the idea of falling by the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, and therefore he added to his other sins, the grievous sin of suicide. It is true, that in the passage now before us, in this song of lamentation, David writes upon the information the Amalekite had brought to him, who pretended that he had himself been the occasion of his death, according to Saul's request; but he only invented this tale in order to secure to himself a reward, as he supposed, at the hands of David. But Saul had been more careful about his own reputation, more careful about the world's esteem than about God, and the judgment that he might form concerning him. If we turn to the history of our Saviour, and especially to the closing parts of that history, we shall find them marked, in a very high and in a very singular degree, by acts of the most unreserved dependence upon God, and we shall find him exercising the most unreserved submission to his Father's will; "Nevertheless," said he, "not my will, but thine be done the cup that my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" We shall find that our Saviour in this solemn moment was distinguished by calmness, as well as by resignation; all the horrors of the scene were present to his mind before they actually occurred; but did he shrink back? Did he decline the bitter cup? Did he not in all the most dignified calmness go forward to meet his adversaries, and to receive the stroke of death at their hands? And when he was thus tried, how did his loveliness beam forth with greater and with greater brightness? Though he was reviled, yet he blessed; he returned not railing for railing, nor cursing for cursing, but contrariwise blessing.

You well recollect how, in that solemn moment he prayed, even for his murderers "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

And whilst in the case of Saul, we may observe, that it was made most manifest in the hour of his death, that he had not the fear of God before his eyes, it was made most manifest to all those who surrounded our Saviour as he hung upon the cross, that he was indeed the Son of God; and this confession was wrung from those who were appointed to carry the execution into effect, this confession was wrung from their lips-" Doubtless this man was the Son of God." And the crowds who had come from Jerusalem to be present on that occasion, returned apparently overwhelmed, many of them, with the consciousness of the enormity of that deed of which they had been guilty, in crucifying him who had been proved to be guiltless, and blameless, yea and righteous, both before God and man.

Perhaps it may be considered, that in the event that has now been passed for nearly two thousand years, we can by comparison have little concern; but oh, my brethren, may it not be said, that these solemn scenes are in a manner re-enacted even to this day? Are there not those who crucify to themselves afresh the Son of God, who do despite to the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing? All this wickedness may be, and alas is, wrought over again in the hearts of the children of men, even unto this hour; and there are none, who when they come conscientiously and strictly to examine themselves, as to the manner in which they have been, and in which they are, affected by the consideration of the death of Christ, but must be ready to plead guilty to not having thought of that event as they ought to have thought of it, to not having been influenced by it in their conduct as they ought to have been influenced by it; and therefore they have contracted a measure of the same enormous guilt which belongs unto those who actually were guilty of shedding the Saviour's blood. If our Saviour were to deal with us as we deserve, for the manner in which we have treated the momentous and solemn subject of his death-for the manner in which we have regarded all those promises of God which rest on that event as their foundation-for that thoughtlessness of mind with which we have treated that event- for that slighting of him which we have manifested-oh, who is there that can escape?

But we turn to the second part of the subject, and that is, TO DRAW AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE CASE OF SAUL, AND THE VENGEANCE OF HIS DEATH-IN CONSEQUENCE OF HIS HAVING BEEN THE LORD'S ANOINTED -THE VENGEANCE THAT WAS IMPRECATED BY DAVID. We need not dwell upon these circumstances: it may be fairly admitted that the language of David is poetical where he prays, that there may be neither dew nor rain upon the mountains of Gilboa; "Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings." And we may, therefore, at once turn to the striking, but all-important contrast which may be obtained as it respects the death of Christ. Had they been dealt with according to their deservings, the vengeance would have come on those who were guilty of our Saviour's death, and that without remedy. And had we been thus judged ourselves, we may add, we should long since have been cut off, or left without any hope towards God. But what is it that the Scriptures teach concerning the effects of the blood of Christ? That it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel; instead of crying aloud that there should be neither dew, nor rain, nor fields of offering on those who had been guilty of