less a free gift, from it's being accompanied with the conditions of something being done by another in favour of the criminal, and of something being done by the criminal himself, before he can avail himself of the mercy which is offered to him. The passage of Scripture on which the objection is founded, when fully quoted, stands thus: " Being justified freely by

his grace (God's favour) through the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom "God hath set forth to be a propitiation, “through Faith in his Blood."

The doctrine of the Bible with respect to the ruin and recovery of mankind, when briefly expressed, seems to be thisAdam sinned by trangressing a divine command, and by that transgression brought death upon himself and all his posterity; and hence we justly collect God's extreme displeasure against disobedience to his will. The reason of such

displeasure we cannot conceive to be any cruel, proud, vindictive passion in God; for it is quite contrary to reason to

attribute

attribute human passions to the divine nature; but we humbly suppose that it may proceed from his certain knowledge that misery must, by a necessary consequence, ever attend disobedience to his will.

Christ transgressed no divine command, but in all things obeyed the will of God, and by his obedience obtained for human-kind that eternal life which had been lost by Adam; and hence we justly collect God's pleasure (for, humanly speaking, pleasure and displeasure may be attributed to God) in the perfect obedience of his creatures to his will; and we humbly suppose that this pleasure proceeds from his certain knowledge that happiness must, by a necessary consequence, ever attend obedience to his will.

We all may be said, in a certain sense, to have sinned in Adam, inasmuch as we all suffer death from his disobedience; and we all may be said, in a certain sense, to be justified in Christ, inasmuch as we all, through his obedience, are

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made alive,-brought into a capacity of obtaining that immortal life which, through Adam's disobedience, we were not unjustly deprived of. I have said, brought into a capacity of obtaining immortal life;" but the actual possession of that life is conditional-it depends, as Adam's possession of it did, on our obedience to the will of God; and in case of disobedience, on our sincere repentance, and on our trust in the mediation of Christ. Should any one ask, why repentance is necessary for our acquiring possession of eternal life? The answer is obvious-Repentance is a change of mind, producing a change of conduct; and it does not seem fit, it is not perhaps possible, that our sins should be forgiven when they are not forsaken. But why must we trust in the mediation of Christ? Because the Scripture hath told us that "if any man sin, we have "an advocate with the Father, Jesus "Christ the righteous ;"-and that "there

is one mediator between God and men,

"the

σε

"the man Christ Jesus," whom God sent to be "a propitiation for our sins."

But

you do not understand how Christ can become a propitiation for our sins-the fact however may be so, though you do not understand the reason of it, and the Scripture expressly says that it is so; and you will do unwisely if, rejecting the word of God, you rely upon reason in a matter certainly not contrary to it's dictates, but above it's comprehension.

You perceive, brethren, from what has been said, that the opinion of the speaker leans to that of those who give a literal rather than a figurative interpretation to those texts which represent Christ-as laying down his life for his sheep-as purchasing the Church with his bloodas putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. There are many other men, both in this and in other countries, of great piety, probity, and learning, who reject a literal interpretation as irreconcileably hostile to the justice, the benig. nity, the holiness of the Almighty.

Both

Both of these two classes of Christians cannot be free from error, for two contradictory propositions cannot both be true; but it is not, I trust, a profane presumption to hope that both of them may, in the sight of God, be free from blame. He, and He alone, knows the extent of our individual talents, the strength of our prejudices, the rise and progress of our habits of thinking; and therefore He, and He alone, can tell to whom the innocence or the culpability of error is justly to be imputed.

Suffer me, in conclusion, to exhort you, not to permit a diversity in opinion, on this or on any other religious doctrine, to generate in you either an indifference towards all religious persuasions, or a bigoted attachment to your own: for indifference generally ends in unbelief, and bigotry begins in ignorance or in interest, and always ends in self-sufficiency and intolerance.

In natural philosophy, in moral philosophy, in every branch of human learning,

as