How, then, could God manifest that mercy to sinners, by which love to himself and to his law would be produced, while his infinite holiness and justice would be maintained?

The moral law is set forth in the Scriptures as holy, just, and good, in its character: and whatever may be its effects upon the soul itself, that its character is such no intelligent being in the universe can doubt, because it requires of every one perfect holiness, justice, and goodness: it requires that the soul should be perfectly free from sin in the sight of God; and, as we have seen, God ought not to allow one sin; if he did, the law would not be holy, nor adapted to make men holy. But the more holy the law, the more conviction it would produce in the mind of sinners. If the law extended only to external conduct, men would not feel guilty for their wrong thoughts, desires, or designs; and if it extended only to certain classes of spiritual exercises, men would not feel guilty for those which it did not condemn; but, if it required that the soul itself-the spiritual agent--the "I" of the mindshould be holy, and all its thoughts and feelings in accordance with the law of love and righteousness, then the soul would be convicted of guilt for a single wrong exercise, because while it felt that the law was holy, just, and good, it could not but feel condemned in breaking it. When Christ came, therefore, every soul that was taught its spirituality, would be convicted of sin. One of two things men had to do, either shut out its light from their soul, and refuse to believe its spiritual and perfect requirements, or judge and condemn themselves by those requirements. And while the law thus showed sin to exist in the soul, and condemned the soul as guilty, and liable to its penalty, it imparted no strength to the sinner to enable him to fulfil its requirements: it merely sets forth the true standard, which is holy in itself, and which God must maintain; and, by its light, it shows sinners their guilt, condemns them, and leaves them under its curse.

Now, the Scriptures declare that this is the end which, by its nature, it is adapted to accomplish, and that it was revealed to men with the design to accomplish this end, and thus lead men to see and feel the necessity of justification and pardon by Jesus Christ. The Scripture saith, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." "The law worketh wrath: for where there is no law, there is no transgression." "Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Mark the following"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God; therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

We answer, in no way possible but by some expedient by which his justice and mercy would both be exalted. If, in the wisdom of the Godhead, such a way could be devised, by which God himself could save the soul from the consequences of its guilt by which he himself could in some way

The argument of the apostle in vindicating the holiness of the law, while it, at the same time, produced conviction and condemnation, is conclusive. "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet; (that is, I should not have felt covetousness to be sin, except the law had condemned it as such;) for I was alive (that is, not consciously condemned,) without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the commandment, which was ordained to life, (that is, which required the soul to be holy and therefore alive to God,) I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, (or acts shown to be sin by the commandment,) deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, (that is, sin which did exist-in the soul, was made to appear in its true evil character,) working death in me by that which is good; (that is, the holiness of the law showed the evil of sin;) that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." then, for deliverance from this bondage, he looks to ChristFor the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death," etc. And mark again-"Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righte ousness should have been by the law, (that is, while the law showed the soul to be unholy and condemned to spiritual death, it provided no means for the relief of the sinner; no influence by which love and holiness could be prodrced in the heart.) But the Scripture, (that is, the revelation of aw in the Scriptures,) hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed; wherefore the law was our school-master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

And

Now, from the above Scriptures, it is evident that the apostle understood the law not only to be adapted, but designed by its Author, to show the soul its guilty and lost condition, its inability to free itself from the condemnation to which it was liable, and to prepare it, at the proper time, to trust in and love Christ for salvation from sin, and spiritual death, the consequence of sin.

suffer and make self-denials for its good; and, oy his own interposition, open a way for the soul to recover from its lost and condemned condition, then the result would follow inevitably, that every one of the human family who had been led to see and feel his guilty condition before God, and who believed in God thus manifesting himself to rescue his soul from spiritual death-every one, thus believing, would, from the necessities of his nature, be led to love God his Saviour; and-mark-the greater the self-denial and the suffering on the part of the Saviour, in ransoming the soul, the stronger would be the affection felt for him.

This is the central and vital doctrine of the plan of salvation. We will now, by throwing light and accumulating strength upon this doctrine from different points, illustrate and establish it beyond the possibility of rational doubt.

1. The testimony of Jesus that it was necessary man should feel the want, in order to exercise the love.

Jesus uniformly speaks of it as being necessary, that previously to accepting him as a Saviour, the soul should feel the need of salvation. He does not even invite the thoughtless sinner, or the Godless worldling, who has no sense of the evil or the guilt of sin, to come to him. Said Jesus, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick." "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Thus, the points which have been shown to be necessary, from the constitution of things, in order to the soul's

loving God, are presented in the same light by Jesus himself; and upon the principle which they involve, he acted during his ministry.

2. The testimony of the Scriptures that God did thus manifest himself as suffering and making selfdenials for the spiritual good of men.

"God was in Christ," says the apostle, "recon ciling the world to himself;" that is, God was in Christ doing those things that would restore to himself the obedience and affection of every one that believed. Christ represents himself as a ransom for the soul; as laying down his life for believers. He is represented as descending from an estate of the highest felicity; taking upon him the nature of man, and humbling himself even to the death of the cross a death of the most excruciating torture; and thus bearing the sins of men in his own body on the tree, that through his death God "might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

It was thus, by a self-denial surpassing description-by a life of labour for human good, accomplished by constant personal sacrifices, and tending, at every step, towards the centre of the vortex, he went on until, finally, life closed to a crisis, by the passion in the garden-the rebuke, and the buffeting, and the cruel mockery of the Jews and the Romans -and then, bearing his cross, faint with former agony of spirit, and his flesh quivering with recent Scourging, he goes to Calvary, where the agonised Sufferer for human sin cried "IT IS FINISHED! and gave up the ghost'

Such is the testimony of the Scriptures; and it may be affirmed, without hesitancy, that it would be impossible for the human soul to exercise full faith in the testimony that it was a guilty and needy

creature, condemned by the holy law of a holy God; and that from this condition of spiritual guilt and danger, Jesus Christ suffered and died to accomplish its ransom-we say a human being could not excrcise full faith in these truths and not love the Saviour.

3. The atonement of Christ produces the necessary effect upon the human soul, in restoring it to affectionate obedience, which neither philosophy, law, nor preceptive truth, could accomplish.

The wisdom of Divine providence was con spicuous in the fact, that previously to the introduction of Christianity, all the resources of human wisdom had been exhausted in efforts to confer upon man true knowledge and true happiness. Although most of the great names of antiquity were conspicuous rather for those properties which rendered them a terror and a scourge to mankind; and although society, among the ancients, in its best estate, was little better than semi-barbarism; yet there was a class in society during the Augustan and Periclean age, and even at some periods before that time, that was cultivated in mind and manners.

From this class, individuals at times arose who were truly great-men distinguished alike for the strength, compass, and discrimination of their intellect. In all the efforts of these men, with the exception of those who applied themselves exclu sively to the study of physical phenomena, the great end sought was the means or secret of human happiness. All admitted that human nature, as they found it, was in an imperfect or depraved condition, and not in the enjoyment of its chief good; and the plans which they proposed, by which to obtain that happiness of which they believed the soul susceptible, were as various, and diverse from