righteousness; pure from every defilement; complete in Him.” "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. v. 19). It was the "everlasting righteousness," named in this prophecy, which was wrought out by the active and passive obedience, the sufferings and death of Christ, that was imputed to Abraham; for He said to the unbelieving Jews, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad;" and that righteousness which has been will still be imputed and imparted to every child of God to the end of time; for "He made Him to be sin who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. v. 21).

Thus clearly is the doctrine of Justification. by Faith without the deeds of the Law expressed by Old Testament Prophets, as involved in the death of Christ; thus clearly distinguished in its most essential features from all human systems; and thus is it a system that exactly applies to the condition of our fallen race. It is this doctrine for which so many martyrs have shed their blood; it was by this, that under God, Luther, and Calvin, and Cranmer, and Knox, and other Reformers, achieved their triumphs over the errors of Popery; and it is the saving belief of this that emphatically

constitutes the Church of Christ-that true church respecting which so much is said in the prophetic writings of the New Testament, particularly in the Book of Revelation; and which is destined to have a universal triumph over every system of error and apostasy, whether in the shape of Mohammedism, Popery, Infidelity, Socinianism, or any other human scheme of salvation; and in which the Jew as well as the Gentile shall ere long be enabled to rejoice.

It may be observed, that the difference between all these systems and the Gospel, or the doctrines set forth as representing the great event of the death of Christ, which have been briefly noticed above, is wide as the east is from the west, as heaven is from hell. The former propose, in all their varied ramifications, salvation by works--by something meritorious in what man, fallen man, can do ;-the latter ercludes human merit altogether, as having any thing to do in the great work of salvation. Its language is, "By grace are ye saved; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." If Divine justice could not be satisfied, after the covenant of works had been broken by our first parents, without an atonement of infinite value, and which atonement could only be made by an Infinite Being, and which Infinite Being could only be found in God himself; what mercy can they expect who fly to other refuges, which can be

only refuges of lies, and who count the blood of this covenant an unholy thing? Let it be remembered that God has said, "There remaineth NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SIN, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries...... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. x. 26, 27, 31).

And this brings to my mind an observation made by the late excellent Mr. Howels, of Long-Acre Chapel, in one of the last sermons he ever preached, "that God, in passing sentence upon the human race, could only act as in a similar case an earthly judge would actthat is, pass the sentence according to the law -for that the Divine plan was established; that all the Divine attributes were engaged for its faithful execution; and therefore that God in like manner had only to pass sentence accordingly". -or words to that effect. For man, therefore, to expect mercy at the expense of justice, or at the expense of the Almighty acting contrary to his essential perfections, is a vain and delusive hope. As our immortal poet says, with great truth,—

"Die he or justice must; unless for him

Some other able, and as willing, pay

The rigid satisfaction, death for death."

And this satisfaction has been paid; and it is the all-important event pointed at in this pro

phecy, and that which marks the termination of this period of 490 years.

As the deliverance from Egypt, on the night when the first-born of the land were all slain, was perpetuated throughout all the generations of Israel by the institution of the Passover, which conspicuously typified the death of Christ; so, on the very evening when this type was to vanish for ever, the introduction of a new dispensation was appointed to be commemorated by another more simple and significant standing ordinance, to be observed for an assigned period in the Christian, as that had been in the Jewish church-and this was the institution of the Lord's Supper. "On the night in which he was betrayed he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" (1 Cor.xi.).

Whilst the remembrance of this awful and illustrious transaction is thus kept up by the church on earth-not once a year only, as was the Jewish Passover, but many times in the year-throughout the whole of the Chris

tian world, it is not less the theme of the glorified spirits and the angelic hosts of heaven. Of the former it is said in Revelation, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation: and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth." Of the latter it is said-and it is a proof what interest this higher order of beings take in the great work of redemption, though it is so much neglected by those who alone have an interest in it-" And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" (Rev. v.).

Our attention, however, is not only drawn, in the 24th verse of the chapter in which this prophecy is contained, to those four essential points of doctrine which have been briefly noticednamely, the finishing of transgression, making an end of sins, making reconciliation for iniquity, and bringing in everlasting righteousness;-two other important circumstances are mentioned,