legions of angels" stood ready at his call. When he died, the sun was darkened, the rocks rent, the earth quaked, and the dead arose. When he was laid in the grave, the bands of death could not confine him-He broke them in sunder, and plucked away the sting of death for the benefit of all his followers. In his very submission to his enemies, he triumphed over them; and defeated their designs, by those events in which they thought them fulfilled. "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Exalted to his father's right hand, God hath "set him far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be head over all things to the church." Do we adore the justice of the Deity? How inflexible was that justice which did not spare in Christ the incarnate God, when he became the sinner's substitute; but cried, "awake, O sword, and smile the man that is my fellow." Are we transported with the divine mercy? Behold, in the Redeemer the God of mercy dying for sinful man. "Feed the church of God, said the apostle Paul to the Ephesian elders, which he hath purchased with his own blood." "He loved not his life unto the death. He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." And hence it is triumphantly declared, that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Would we confide in the truth and faithfulness of our heavenly Father? "By two immutable things-his promise and his oath-in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us: which hope we have, as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth with that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." In this manner, it would be both easy and pleasing to pursue our subject, till we had shown how all the attributes of God are united, rendered harmonious, highly illustrated, and made strikingly visible to the eye of faith, in the character and work of the great Redeemer. Leaving this, however, to employ, as it often will, the retired hours of every real Christian, let us endeavour to improve what hath already been said on this subject, by reflecting,

In the first place, how absolutely we are dependent on God for our salvation. To effect it we have seen that a work of creation must be wrought on the heart. How ought the reflection to awaken our concern, and quicken our diligence? But to what purpose, it will probably be said, would be our most strenuous endeavours? The work is not ours but God's; to renew the heart, it has been affirmed, is beyond the reach of human power and finite exertion. This objection, however intended, expresses a solemn, and what ought to be an affecting truth. Would to God that those in whose mouths it is the oftenest found, felt in their hearts its high importance and its just consequences. It would not then be so frequently pleaded as an excuse for sinful indulgence. It would be the most powerful of all motives to watchfulness and care. Are sinners dependent on God for the renovation of their natures? and yet are they careless how much they offend him? how many provocations they give him to withhold the necessary influence of his Spirit for so important a purpose? Do men act thus, when they feel that they are utterly dependent on a fellow creature for an im

portant favour? Remember, then, O sinner! that although you cannot save yourself, yet you may destroy yourself-You may put yourself, if not absolutely beyond the reach, certainly beyond the reasonable hope of salvation. And this you are in danger of doing, if you plead an appointment of God, as an excuse for offending him-It may be said. of you, as of Ephraim of old, "he is joined to his idols, let him alone." Ah, remember!-there is such a thing as divine dereliction; and that when it takes place the individual whom it affects, is as sure of perdition as if he were already in the place of torment. In infinite goodness and condescension, God has instituted certain means, for your instruction and reformation. In what manner these means possess an influence on the absolute determination of God, we know not. But we know the facts of the case-We know, that without the use of the means—which are as much in our power as any thing can be in our power-we have no just ground to expect or hope for the divine interposition. And on the other hand, we have reason to hope that if we are diligent and faithful in the use of the appointed means, and at every step look earnestly to God to attend them with his blessing, to work in them and by them a work of saving grace on our hearts-the result will be salutary. Not, be it remembered, as a matter of merit, or desert, but a gratuitous favour conferred on those who are found in the way, in which he has commanded sinners to seek him. Pervert not, therefore, the divine sovereignty into an argument for careless impenitence, and stupid security in sin. Use it rather as the most powerful motive to diligence and care; lest you provoke God to give you up to strong delusion to believe a lie. Cry mightily to him for his effectual aid, and endeavour, without delay, to cast yourselves truly and unreservedly on his mercy in Christ Jesus. Never did he spurn from the foot of his throne of grace, the soul that humbly resolved to be saved or to perish there.

In the second place-From what has been said, let us learn how important and sublime are the discoveries and employments of the Christian religion. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God, is the object which the gospel dipensation reveals, in every renewed mind. It leads to the contemplation of the Almighty, in all his majesty and in all his grace, as one of the most delightful exercises of all the true disciples of Christ. Is any thing more worthy than this of our rational nature? Is any subject of thought more noble, more sublime, more calculated to show the moral elevation of the human powers. Deprive man of his religious character, exercises, and hopes, and you condemn an immortal, immaterial being, to the concerns of a moment, and the indulgences of a brute. Never was there a more unjust and groundless slander, than that which the enemies of our holy religion have sometimes endeavoured to fix upon it, by representing it as an object suited only to weak, superstitious, and timid minds. What indication is there of a weak and timid mind, in delighting in the contemplation of boundless power, wisdom, and goodness? What can be more rational and important, than to discover the source of all our present and future happiness? What can be more firm and magnanimous, than, in confidence of his love and favour, to look up with holy boldness, satisfaction, and pleasure, to the King of kings, and the Lord of lords? Or in the decisive crisis of an endless existence, to exclaim in triumph, death where is thy sting! O grave where is thy victory!-Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Well might the Apostle say "if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." Assuredly men do not slight or revile religion because it wants

charms, but because they want sight to perceive, or taste to relish them. No sincere Christian ever yet complained, that his master's service was unimportant, unpleasing, or without reward. Its object is to honour and please the greatest and the best of Beings. Its pleasures are the purest and highest delights of an immortal soul. Its reward, is an eternity of unmixed and unsatiating felicity. Christians, I appeal to your own hearts-Which have been the happiest moments of your lives? Those in which the world has smiled most upon you? or those in which you have had the most intimate communion with your God and Redeemer? I know your answer-I am sure, you will testify, that the pleasures of religion have rendered the smiles of the world trifling, and its frowns contemptible. Now to rest the truth of any position on fact and experience, is to place it on its fairest, and firmest basis. To fact and experience, religion dares and wishes to appeal, for the confirmation of all its pretensions. Believe it, impenitent sinner, as yet you are ignorant of the noblest pursuits, and the highest gratifications, of which your nature is capable. And since your business, Christian brethren, is so noble, important, and pleasing-"forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, press toward the inark, for the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus." For to him, let us remember,

In the last place, we are under infinite and eternal obligations.Had not the Redeemer come in the flesh, vain would have been all our discoveries of the divine nature, even supposing that without him they might have been perfect. To little, or rather, to a dreadful purpose, should we have studied the perfections of God, had the employment, as it certainly would, only have taught us the more clearly, that they were all engaged for our destruction. The light that blazes only to destroy, may indeed possess its splendours, but it cannot be beheld without dismay and horror. Yet even this wretched condition of existence would not have been ours. The god of this world hath blinded the eyes of the children of men, and we should have gone blindfold to destruction. If we had amused ourselves with dreams of future happiness, they would all have been founded on dark and false conjecture; and the fire that never shall be quenched, would have flashed truth and torment together upon us. From this dreadful situation, Christ the Redeemer, at the expense of a life of sorrow and a death of agony and infamy, hath delivered our guilty race. To make a return adequate to so great a favour lies not within the limits of created capacity. Such a return is not required-The benevolent interposition of God our Saviour, was intended to be in every view entirely gratuitous. All that is demanded of us is, by ardent gratitude to the bestower, and true and steady obedience to the precepts he has left us, to secure to ourselves the benefits of his ineffable grace. These favourable terms are, themselves, new and strong ties of obligation. How justly aggravated, therefore will be the condemnation of those "who neglect so great salvation"-Sinner, blest with the clear light of the gospel, remember, that your lot is cast for an extreme. If you perish, no middle region, in the world of wo, will be your allotment. By the atonement and intercession of Christ, a way is opened to the highest heaven, or the deepest hell. The one, or the other, of these important alternatives, inevitably awaits us all. One would think there need not be any great hesitation in making a choice-Oh be determined, immediately "to kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way."

To you, Christian brethren, who have already tasted that the Lord is

gracious, it would be natural to conclude that nothing need be said, to awaken a sense of obligation and gratitude. But alas! lamentable experience convinces us, that forgetfulness and ingratitude are not peculiar to unsanctified hearts; although in such hearts alone, can forgetfulness and ingratitude become habitual and predominant.-In the house of his friends the Saviour is often wounded. My brethren; can we seriously reflect on what the Redeemer of our souls endured for usthat he became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; that he was treated with indignity from his birth till his death-from the manger to the cross; that he endured the contradictions of sinners and the assaults of the powers of darkness; that in his agony he sweat great drops of blood falling down to the ground; that he expired on a cross, forsaken by his friends, and suffering even the hidings of his Father's face -O can we think of all this-of all this endured for our sakes; and yet act as if we wished to open his closed wounds anew, and to crucify him afresh by our sins! What baseness inutterable! What blushing, and shame, and self-abhorrence, should we feel, when we dishonour our Saviour before the world-yea when we think of that want of ardent love which is known only to him and to ourselves; of the defect of that purity of motive which should characterize all our services; of those imperfections which cleave to all we do; and of that lack of holy zeal, and of entire devotedness in his cause and service, of which we must be conscious. Let us remember it is but little that we can do for him, who has done and suffered much for us-O let not even this little be neglected-But "whatsoever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with our might;" that we may give evidence to the surrounding world, by our conduct as well as by our profession, that "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Amen.

CONSIDERATIONS RELATING TO CHRISTIAN OBLIGATION, PARTICULARLY AS IT PERTAINS TO THE APPROPRIATION OF PROPERTY.

Now that the great Head of the church is opening such an unbounded field to benevolent and missionary efforts, and making so many of his servants willing to go forth to publish the glad tidings of salvation, how very desirable it is that all the energies of the Christian church should be brought into motion. The particular object I now have in view is to call the attention of Christians possessing property, either in or out of business, to their obligation to consecrate that property to the service of Christ; it is a subject of immense importance, nor should I have entered upon it but for the conviction that it is generally too little thought of to be rightly understood. I desire, without offence to any, earnestly to engage the prayerful and conscientious regard of every one to it who has property entrusted to him.

Let it be asked, From whom have I received my property?-for what purpose?-and am I so using it, as that when the Lord shall say, "Give an account of thy stewardship," I shall be able to do so without confusion? Rather let it be considered thus: "I am called a servant of Jesus Christ; I often pray that I may live to him, that I may be entirely his; if at any time I so apprehend the love of God in Jesus Christ as to be suitably affected by it, and feel that I am not my own, but that I am bought with a price, then let me inquire what the will of the Lord is. Ch. Adv.-VOL. XII.

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One thing is certain, my obligation is always equal to my ability; let this be impressed on every heart." It is the high privilege of the true Christian to possess a motive to the discharge of this extensive obligation, combining with it the most exalted pleasure. This motive is beautifully expressed in 2 Cor. v. 14-"For the love of Christ constraineth us;" and following upon it is the end we should keep in view, "That we should live to him who died for us and rose again." In what is the love of Christ to constrain? In every thing. Are we warranted to plead a single exception? No. The healthful Christian desires not an exception; he knows that his happiness consists in being subject to this law of love to Christ, and he wishes to adjust all his conduct and practice by it. It is a deadly evil to be influenced in our practice in the affairs of business by the views of the world, or while under that excitement too often produced by our intercourse with it, rather than by a conscientious regard to the will of God. What peace and security would follow upon the daily consideration of these questions-Am I influenced by a regard to the glory of God in all my engagements?-and is there any thing connected with the management of my affairs contrary to Christian principle? To be conscientious in every thing is the Christian's security. The blessing of God, with whom are the secret springs of prosperity and adversity-this blessing will crown the devoted Christian. I do not suppose it would be attended with benefit for one Christian to determine for another what he should possess, what he should provide for his family, or what he should contribute to works of benevolence and mercy. No; all that is needful is this-and it is needful for every Christian, for ministers who possess property more than they really want, as well as for private Christians,-Am I living under the constraining power of a Saviour's love?-is my expenditure regulated by it?-is the amount of property entrusted to me appropriated by it?-do I hold back any sum which I could by some little sacrifice spare, and which, if rightly appropriated, would put in motion an agency which would rescue souls from death? Some one will ask, Do you forbid accumulation? I reply, Yes, unless you are constrained to it by the love of Christ, and a desire thereby to glorify God; it is sin without this. Whoever lulls conscience to sleep, and will not try every part of his stewardship by this test-Is this according to the will of Christ? such an one can never be a happy Christian? What is the gratification of self-indulgence, worldly splendour, or covetousness, compared with the peace of God ruling in the heart? When once the idolatry of covetousness is estimated by professing Christians, as it was by the apostle, a new course will be marked out, and instead of contributions to missionary societies being generally confined to sums of £1 to £5, the love of Christ will decide the ability to give, and the treasury of the Lord will be abundantly supplied. May the Author of every holy conviction attend this subject with his blessing!

Z.