clared not guilty in a court of justice, would be considered as libellous, and expose the slanderer to the consequences of his calumny. And who shall lay ANYTHING to the charge of God's elect?' exclaim we with St. Paul. It is GOD that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? It is CHRIST that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right of God, who also maketh intercession for us.' Rom. viii. 33, 34.

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Yes, brethren, in Christ they are acquitted; their pardon is full and final. Fly open wide, ye prison doors! arise and go free, ye burdened mourning captives! The Lord has said, I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more!' Heb. viii. 12. He hath also declared by his prophet Joel, MY PEOPLE SHALL NEVER BE ASHAMED;' and would it not be a breach of promise to cast their pardoned sins again into their teeth, and to cover them with confusion at the bar of heaven, by reproaching them with cancelled guilt? Nay, we Nay, we are assured in another place, that when the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all the statutes of his God, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him.' Ezek. xviii. 21, 22. And for these reasons the Spirit testifies by the Psalmist, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered! Blessed

is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.' Psalm xxxii. 1, 2.

III. The PARTIES INTERESTED in all these privileges will form the next ground of inquiry,'In whom we have redemption.' We,-believers,

—those to whom pertaineth the adoption: for the objects of redeeming love are those, whom the Father hath given to the Son in his eternal purposes, according to the good pleasure of his will: but such as perish in their sins, unforgiven, unholy, and without God, never profit by the blood of Jesus. They, alas! found no interest in it to keep them out of hell; and how shall they experience any benefit from it when they are lost for ever? That precious blood, efficacious for the salvation of millions, never cleansed their guilty stains during the continuance of time,-how then can it moderate the torture of the worm that never dieth, or quench the violence of eternal flames?

That thousands of those who are gone have not profited by this redemption is a melancholy truth; while thousands daily die, of whom there are no grounds for indulging any comfortable hopes. But whether any of those, who are still ignorant of Christ, shall ultimately be converted and be found, however late, among the remnant of the redeemed from the earth, events alone can show. Many, who once were as far off as the farthest of these

may now be, have yet been brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus; and many of those, whom we consider most hopeless, may appear, by the fruits of a future change, to have been written down in the Lamb's book of life. Therefore while we cannot tell who the elect are, till by their works they are shown, for previously to their conversion there is no mark upon their foreheads to distinguish them, we may hope about all, and consequently preach to all! And what can be more consistent with the scriptures than this? The gospel net, to refer to one of our Saviour's parables, encircles all sorts and kinds of fish, both good and bad: or to put the same truth in another form, the wheat and the tares grow together in the gospel field. But while many are called, few are chosen :' when the fish are taken from the net, the bad are thrown without exception away: when the field is reaped, the tares are bound in bundles to be burnt, and are presently committed to the flames.

Thus, too, are there many unbelievers within the pale of the visible church,-many, that are vile and worthless, whom the Lord in his inscrutable counsels has rejected. But it is not for us to say who are reprobated: nay, we must wait for the great consummation, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed; but in the mean time, we call upon all men to repent and believe the gospel; we testify to all that the Saviour died for them; we promise life and immortality to all, upon

repentance and faith; and in so doing we follow the pattern of the scriptures, and the preaching of the first apostles and evangelists. But as it was then, so is it now, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed,'-' the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved;' and these alone are the people who have redemption through a Saviour's blood,' even the forgiveness of their sins."

IV. Such, then, are the parties interested; the INTERVENING OR MEDIATING AUTHOR next claims

He

our notice,-In whom In whom we have redemption through his blood:-In whom,-that is Christ In human contracts there are bondsmen and sureties, and Christ is the daysman' between God and sinners in his covenant with them. became the surety in the heavenly convention, and gave security to the Father, having offered himself, in the wonderful scheme of redemption, before the world was, to go forth in his own person, to pay the debt of his people in the appointed time! Created angels, glorious in power as they are, and beautiful in holiness, were utterly unequal to the task. Even they are charged with folly before Him, in whose presence the very heavens are not clean and how could they presume to make intercession for the fallen race of man? But when thrones, and dominions, and. principalities, and powers, in heavenly places, were unable to redeem the humblest being of

Adam's fallen race, and stood mute at the Father's inquiry, whom shall we send?' conscious of their own insufficiency, and abashed at their comparative insignificance; then appears in behalf of șinful, perishing man, the eternal and only begotten Son:-When he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor, then his own arm brought salvation, and his righteousness, it sustained him.' Then did the Son, the brightness of his Father's glory, as well as the express image of his person, beaming in the beauty of holiness, truth, and love, and travailing in the plenitude of his power, exclaim, 'HERE AM I, SEND ME: Give me, O Father, a chosen people from the midst of these perishing mortals, and while thine infinite justice condemns them all, without exception or extenuation, let thy boundless and inexhaustible mercy be magnified on many. Yea, send me, for I have found a ransom: though I be rich, yet for their sakes will I become poor. I will take unto myself their miserable nature. I will uphold it, sanctify it, and present it before thee without spot or blemish, or any such thing. I will become a man, be born of a woman, and die for the guilty. With sinless obedience will I keep thy holy law, and pay, by the shedding of my blood, the transgressor's debt. I who know and can know neither sin or guilt, will be made sin for them. I will be delivered for their offences, and rise again for their justification. I will taste even of the bitterness of death for them;

grace