wretched; and such have been the feelings of my carnal heart, and inbred corruption, that thou hast concluded the Lord would never notice thee; the Lord has been waiting for just such characters; the Lord exhorts thee to come to the waters of life, and take them freely since thou hast no money, to bring as a fee for thy salvation. This is a doctrine that will not suit proud nature. The pharisee thinks he can do something to recommend himself to the favour of God, and is offended with that doctrine that will not allow of any boasting. It is just the same as a poor man, who is filled up with pride, and whom a rich man meeting, says, My friend, I have had it in my mind some time, to make you a present of a coat, out of charity, seeing you have hardly clothes fit to be seen in. The man would turn round, and say, Keep your coat, for those who cannot afford to purchase, as for me, I can buy one for myself, you insult me by your offer, I want none of your charity. This is the very case of a parcel of proud pharisees, who never can stoop to the doctrine of imputed righteousness, because it abases them; they cannot away with that doctrine which is all of sovereign, rich, free, and unmerited grace. No, no, they want to bring a price in their own hands, and think God is as well pleased with them, as they are with themselves. Not so with a poor beggar, who is at his wits' end, and has not a farthing to procure a morcel of food with, and who cannot get work, and does not know where to lay his head, when he is asking for relief at the door of a rich man, and the answer is, Do not plague me, I have nothing to give, and for aught I know, you may be an impostor; the poor beggar knowing he is in want, and starving, and has no where to go for a lodging, and knowing he has power to relieve him, his case makes him more importunate, and he will not be denied, so to quiet the

man, he gets relieved. I know there are many worthless characters, who make begging their trade, yet I could not help noticing a man, who called at my dwelling, and who, my wife could not get rid of, that I went myself to the door, when he told me such a pitiful tale, that it was sheer necessity made him beg, that I gave him a trifle, as he would take no denial. Now it is just so with a poor sinner. Are any of you poor in a spiritual sense, in rags; come then, filthy as you are, come in your wretchedness, come in all your misery, come just as you are; though Satan would make you appear as black as himself, never mind, come, tell the Lord your case. If there should be some poor bankrupt soul here tonight, I would say, Come, though as it respects your soul you are all in rags and tatters, come; though writing bitter things against yourself, that you are so filthy, the Lord will not look upon you; oh come to the waters of life, come just as you are, and beg. Cry on, poor soul, though the Lord seems to take no notice, do not give up. Did you never hear of the poor woman, who came to our Lord in her distress, and besought him to heal her daughter, he seemed to take no notice, and the disciples wished him to send her away because she cried after them, but Jesus being full of compassion, said, Not so, and he turns round, and says, “It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs." Truth, Lord, I confess I am a dog; I confess I am not better; I am as vile as a dog; yet, Lord, the dogs have a privilege, they eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Our Lord could withstand no longer, he turned and replied, "Oh, woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." Come, and may God Almighty help you to come. Tell him, you are unworthy. comes in, telling you how black and

If the enemy

defiled you are, confess it before the Lord. If he tells you, you are unworthy; acknowledge your unworthiness, tell him it is the truth. If he says, the Lord will never look upon such a brat of hell; tell him Christ came to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Should the devil say, It is presumption to cry; beg of the Lord to keep you from presumptuous sins. Oh, the Lord's dear family will, if the devil attacks them fifty ways, turn every way to meet him. Does the devil tell the soul he is deceived? the poor soul cries out, Lord let me not be deceived." Does the devil say he is presumptuous, he cries out, Lord, keep thy servant back from presumptuous sins."

Come ye that have no money; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Though it says, without money and without price, it says, Buy. This is true, though without money and without price, yet it is to be bought. Say you, Do not contradict yourself, man. Though to you it may appear a contradiction, I mean. the Lord enabling me, to stand by it. It is a free gift, yet it is bought. Oh, say you, we shall have you down, if you do not mind, amd then we will tie a few knots about you, so that you will be set fast. Well, let us look at it. The word of God says in another place, describing as it were a barter between God and the soul, I will give them beauty for-for what? prayer, being a member of a church many years, and never bringing any reproach upon it, or being a deacon for fifty years, and never brought any reproach upon the cause?-no, none of these things,-" Beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning; the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.' Here is a solemn barter that takes place between God and the soul. Come then, ye poor insolvent needy helpless souls, that cannot tell what to do,

Come, then, with all your wants and wounds; Your every burden bring.

The Lord takes away the rags, the filth, the wretchedness and the devilishness, of all who are led to cry to him from a feeling sense of their need, though he may bear long, yet he will help them from on high, the same as when Joshua stood before the Lord, with Satan at his right hand to resist, and the Lord commanded them to take away the filthy garments, and clothe him with a change of raiment. How much like the poor prodigal. See how bare the prodigal was, ah, you reply, you know what the poor prodigal is. Blessed be God, I hope you do in two senses. I know I do, and to his merey I owe it. I know what the prodigal is in a spiritual point of view. Here is the sweetness of the blessing. This is a mercy indeed. Like the prodigal, the Lord's children run from their Fa ther's house into a foreign land, and there become bankrupts, and beggars, but beginning to feel hungry, oh, how the proud spirit says, I will never stoop to go home to my father, I will never bend to let him know my dis. tress; which is the case with the Lord's children, who rebel, and say they never will put up with such kind of treatment, but the Lord lays afflictions on the loins, trial after trial, rod after rod, till by and by he begins to feel the pangs of hunger, and then he says, "How many hired servants hath my father with bread enough and to spare.' Then he considers his case, and says, It is no use stopping here, I cannot feed on this; and he looks at his poor worn-out apparel, and says I cannot do with this legal stuff, this do and live;' this' if you do your duty God will be merciful;' which puts the poor soul on such a round of duties, which he finds he cannot perform, and he is ther brought to say, I will arise and go to my Father, just as I am, for there I shall get sweet food that my soul can relish, but here I am like to starve

with hunger. It is of no use, go I must and tell him, I am not worthy to be called his son, and ask him to make me his servant, for here I am in rags, I have no shoes to my feet. So the poor prodigal sets off; but the father's eyes see him a long distance, and he knows it is his son, and his bowels yearn over him, and he runs to meet him, and he takes him in his arms and embraces him. The son says, Father, I am not worthy to be called thy son, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight." But the father calls his servants, and says to one" Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet." He not only commands his servant to bring a change of raiment in place of his rags, but also to put a ring on his hand, a token of love; and shoes on his feet, having his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; then tells them to have the fatted calf killed, that all may eat, drink and be merry, for " this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Had it been according to the arminian's God, he would have turned him out of doors. But he was a son, and the Lord looks, with sympathy on his children, and watches over them wherever they go. Oh this is love. The love of God is from everlasting to everlasting: the dateless love of God. May the Lord ever enable me to lift my voice like a trumpet, and shew his people their transgressions, and their iniquities, for, blessed be God, his gospel is not a yea and nay gospel, but yea and amen in Christ Jesus. The first and the last, ever made fast and secured to all the purchase of Christ's blood. Come, ye poor and needy ones, helpless insolvents, lift up your heads; why hang them down? Look not into yourselves, though you may say, you are so blind and ignorant, God never will have mercy upon you. Oh, do you feel your need; are you crying and May, 1845.]

sighing because of the evils in thy heart? then mercy is preparedfor you, heaven and eternal life are prepared for you, and a rich wedding robe in which you shall shine throughout a never ending eternity. Come then, as ruined, lost, undone, helpless sinners; the broken hearted are just the very characters the Lord has a love for, and he will bring you home to his house to be in rest and peace for

ever.

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Come then, buy wine and milk, without money and without price." Here is water for thirsty souls, wine for those who are faint-hearted and ready to droop. Here is milk for babes. Blessed be his dear name he has provided all things for his church and family; for all who stand in need. Here is wine for the heavy-hearted, water for the thirsty, meat for young men, and milk for babes. When you, at times, feel so faint, you think you never can stand, but must give all up, and at last will perish, remember the Lord will give you some of the good old wine of the kingdom to revive your fainting souls, which will make the lame man to leap as an heart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing. It will make the poor soul as strong as a giant refreshed with new wine. Thus, my dear friends, it is with the Lord's little ones, when a promise is dropped into the heart, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you;" when the Lord comes and drops a good word with power into the heart; oh how the poor soul revives; and where the poor soul feels a little of the sincere milk of the word dropping into his soul, it makes him still and quiet, and the storm is hushed. Then the soul begins to be a little humbled, meekened, and softened before God. The poor soul clings close to the Lord, clings close to (rod, and the word of his grace, because he feels he draws sweetness and pleasure from it. May the Lord command his blessing for his name's sake. Amen.

P

CHRIST MADE SIN.

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."-2 Cor. v. 21.

I was said of our blessed Jesus while manifest in the flesh, and preaching the kingdom of God, that no man ever spake as he did; and it may be said of the scriptures which testify of him, that no other writings speak as they do.

There is a majesty and glory, a comprehensiveness and simplicity, and an adaptation to our wants in the word of God, which makes it far su perior to all the words of men, however excellent, they may be in themselves. Frequently one short sentance contains the whole plan of salvation, emanating from Jehovah's eternal mind, opening up through all the lapse of time, and will be completed only in eternity to come. Among these comprehensive expressions our text holds a prominent place; for it opens up a scene, vast as eternity, boundless as the love of Jehovah to the church, deep as the infinite malignity of sin, high and mysterious as the mind of God, in putting it away by the sacrifice of his Son.

In order to imbibe some of the sweetness of this precious portion, we shall by divine leave, take notice, first of the persons spoken of, and then secondly, of what is said concerning them. And oh, may the sweet unction of the Holy One, through the merits of our exalted High Priest, distil upon both writer and reader, that we may know the things which are freely given us of God.

And first of the persons spoken of; and these are distinctly three: for he hath made him to be sin for us: that is, Jehovah the Father, hath made Christ his well-beloved Son, to be sin for his spouse, the church. Among the deep mysteries, unfolded by divine revelation, the doctrine of the existence of the one Jehovah in three

distinct subsistances, stands foremost; and although incomprehensible by our limited understandings, yet it is most clearly asserted: it is our highest wisdom therefore, (as those who are of yesterday, and know nothing of God but what he pleaseth to reveal of himself,) implicitly to receive his testimony, and admire and adore, where we cannot comprehend.

The first person spoken of in the text, is that glorious subsistance in the one Jehovah, who made all things for his own glory, and his people for his peculiar treasure: chose them because he loved them, set them apart for his own service, gave them to Jesus Christ to be preserved in him from the ruin of the fall; and predestinated them to the effectual calling, quickening, and indwelling of Jehovah the Spirit, that they might thus be saved in himself, with an everlasting salvation, Deut. vii. 7, 8; John xvii. 6; Jude 1; Isaiah xlv. 17.

The second person alluded to in the text, even the wondrous Him, spoken of, is another of those divine subsistances, in the one Jehovah, who received his church from the hand of the Eternal Father, espoused her as his bride, and in full foresight of all the ruin, that sin would make in her natural father's family, and the poverty, and degredation, to which she would be subjected, made himself responsible for all that was necessary, to raise her from her dunghill filthiness, and to make her meet for his own sweet society, in the pure realms of celestial glory. And so much was his loving heart set upon this great undertaking, although it cost him pain, and shame, and death, that he would be the first to intimate the glad tidings to the human family; he therefore came down into Eden's blissful bowers, in the cool of the day, and breathed the first syllable of gospel to the church, in that wondrous promise that he would bruise the serpent's head. It was he who revealed his mediatorial complex cha

racter to Jacob, while sleeping on his stony pillow, in the field of Luz; by that wondrous ladder, reaching from earth to heaven. It was he who appeared to Moses in the burning bush; thereby preaching to him, the safety of the church, notwithstanding all her fiery trials, because he himself dwelt in her midst. It was he, who revealed himself to Joshua in Gilgal, as the captain of Jehovah's hosts, and thus strengthened his faith, while standing in the midst of his enemies. It was he, who was faintly represen. ted, by patriarchs, prophets, priests and kings; by altars, arks and sacrifices by roses and liles, by moun. tains of myrrh, and trees of life, and by every lovely object conceivable by all our senses. To him, the church is indebted for all the blessings she enjoys, in nature, providence, grace and glory. We shall not attempt to describe this glorious Son of God, and Son of man, for the Holy Ghost has long ago taught the spouse in the Song of songs to say every thing that human language can express, by calling him the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.

In noticing the two first glorious persons in the text, we anticipate the opposition of the socinian, the arian, the unitarian, and the infidel: but we shall not now stop to combat with these, for the text has a peculiar bearing against another species of error, more widely spread, and of far more pernicious consequences; mean the doctrine of universal atonement.

we

So dark is the human understanding, and so congenial is this notion to fallen man, that none but those who have been shewn into the horrid chambers of imagery of their own hearts, and have had to do business in the great waters of soul trouble, can discern its fallacy; yet the mind thus enlightened by God the Spirit, can scarcely conceive of a doctrine more absurd and inconsistent: for while it extends its arms to save all, it de

stroys the possibility of the salvation of any. It represents the omniscient God as laying out a vast expense upon that which he knew would turn to no account; of giving a price of infinite value for that which he knew he would never possess (Matt. xxv. 12.); of giving his dear Son to obey perfectly, and to suffer inexpressibly, for those whom he determined never to save, yea whom he had of old ordained to condemnation (Jude iv.) and made even for the day of evil. (Prov. xvi. 4.) Jehovah declares that his people shall be saved in himself with an everlasting salvation, and that the glorious Messiah is his salvation; consequently his active and passive obedience constitutes the essence of their salvation; but this figment of human brains, declares all this to be of no avail, unless the broken arm of free will is stretched out to receive the blessing. Thus it is not of grace, but of works, that all the host of free willers may boast!

In the fiftieth Psalm, the Lord complains of the wicked, that they thought he was altogether such an one as themselves, but our modern arminians charge him with such folly as they would resent with indignation the imputation of to themselves; surely there cannot be a more clear evidence of the truth of what is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

We come now to glance at the third character alluded to in the text, designated by the plural pronoun us. And these are not all the human family as the arminian saith, but the elect of God as the Holy Ghost saith: and could we at one glance, comprehend all that is said of them in the scriptures of truth, we should be overwhelmed with astonishment: for although in their present condition, they are wretched and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked; tempted and buffetted by Satan; hated and despised by the world, and dragging