On a late occasion, I endeavored to prove that salvation is not to be expected by the covenant of works; that no flesh can be justified with Jehovah by their moral excellence, or attainments. But this inspired oracle promulges a different method for our acceptance; a method more august in itself, more honorable to each perfection of Deity, and more suitable to the present circumstances of man; it exhibits the eternal Son as finishing transgression, and thus becoming the end of the law for righteousness to all the chosen." And while we humbly aim at illustrating the excellence, the all-sufficiency of this redemption, may a ray of Messiah's glory beam on every understanding; may his rich, unequalled, unmerited love captivate and constrain every heart in this assembly.

The Lord Jesus may be pronounced the end of the law for righteousness, because,

1. He freely obeyed the precept, and endured the penalty of the law. His whole life, from its commencement in Bethlehem to its consummation on Calvary, was a course of the most cheerful, uninterrupted obedience to the will of his Father. Every duty which was incumbent upon him as man and Mediator, whether in a private, or social, or religious capacity, he discharged with constant fidelity, and unspotted perfection. As a child he cheerfully submitted to the authority of his parents; as a son of Abraham, and consequently included within the Jew

ish pale, he received the seal of circumcision; as a member of the Gentile church, and the author of the christian dispensation, he submitted to the ordinance of baptism; as a man, indulging the finer feelings of the human heart, he "went about doing good;" he relieved such as were in circumstances of wretchedness, and mingled his tears with the disconsolate mourner; as a subject of the Roman government he paid tribute, and "thus rendered unto Cesar the things that were Cesar's;" as the prophet of his church he diligently instructed the multitude, and "preached righteousness in the great congregation; as the high priest of our profession he offered up fervent prayers and intercessions for the people; he sought mercy in behalf even of his betrayers and murderers; "Father," he affectionately expostulates, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do ;" as a king he displayed his almighty power and royal prerogatives by performing a series of miracles the most splendid, alternately feeding the hungry, healing the diseased, raising the dead, and casting out "devils from the bodies of those that were possessed." He thus upon all occasions obeyed the law in its most rigorous requirements. It "was his meat and his drink," his desire and delight, to "do the will of his Father that sent him, and to finish his work. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners." Pilate, who condemned him, was constrained to acVOL. 2.

N

وو

knowledge, "I find no fault in him;" the Jews, whose hands were encrimsoned with his blood, could not "accuse him of sin ;' and the powers of hell, although wrankling with a fury the most implacable, yet reluctantly exclaim, thou art THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.

As he obeyed every precept of the moral law, he fully endured its penalty; he sustained all that wrath which was denounced against the breach of the covenant, and is inflicted on the impenitent either on earth or in hell. No trial can be conceived, either temporal or spiritual, which the Son of God did not sustain in the extreme; he suffered in his body, in his soul and reputation; he experienced, in their turn, "weariness, hunger, thirst, poverty, and nakedness;" he was disowned and abandoned by his friends, derided and persecuted by his enemies. But as the small rivulet is lost when it empties into the fathomless ocean, so all the sorrows which this "man of sorrows" endured in his life, are forgotten when we contemplate the infinitely more exquisite agonies of Gethsemane and Calvary. There it "pleased the Lord" pre-eminently "to bruise him, and put him to grief; those hands, which had been often extended in offices of love to man, were tortured "with nails;" that head, which had worn the crown of universal dominion, is mangled with the mock "crown of thorns;" those lips, which had been uniformly occupied in imparting

instruction to man, and offering praise to God, break forth in the plaintive exclamation, "is there any affliction like unto mine affliction? Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me;" that side, which had often heaved with emotions of pity for his brethren, and concern for their salvation, is pierced by the accursed spear; that soul, which had been all devotion to God, and benevolence to men, is now melted by the lightnings of divine indignation.-"He made his soul an offering for sin; he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

Christ is the end of the law for righteous

ness,

2. As he both obeyed and suffered in the nature which had sinned. It was indispensably requisite, in order to our reconciliation, that the law of Jehovah should be honored, both in its precept and penalty, by our nature, which had offered the insult.He, therefore, who appears in the character of a mediator for man, must himself be man, that he might be capable of suffering in the same nature which had sinned.

“Man disobeying,

Die he or justice must; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction, death for death."

Justice demanded that as man had committed the offence, he should make satisfaction; that as he had injured the glories of the law, by trampling on its requirements, he should repair those injuries either in his

own person, or the person of a surety. Suppose that a being however exalted had appeared in the form of an angel; had rendered the most uniform, perfect obedience to every precept of the moral law, and endured ten thousand sorrows: this obedience, these sufferings could neither have atoned for our transgression, nor restored us to the favor of our offended Sovereign. As man had deliberately offered the insult, it is a principle, supported alike by sound reason and divine revelation, that his nature should both suffer and satisfy. The Son of God, therefore, interposing as mediator, appears in "the likeness of sinful flesh, and becomes obedient unto death." He assumed a body. to suffer and expiate as a substitute for their bodies, and a soul as a substitute for the souls of his people. The apostle thus mentions with peculiar emphasis, "verily he took not on him the nature of angels," he was not substituted in their room, he did not satisfy for their salvation, “but he took on him the seed of Abraham. For as much as the children were made partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." "This Word was made flesh," is the testimony of an evangelist unerringly directed by the same Spirit; the eternal Son, the essential WORD of Jehovah "was made flesh," assumed the manhood into real union with his Godhead "and dwelt among us;"