forsaken me?" But as God, he conferred immortal bliss upon a confessor; he said to the penitent thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." I am,

IV. To assign some reasons why it is necessary he should be both divine and human. I will consider these two separately; and first, as to his divinity.

1. It is necessary Jesus Christ should be divine to make his sacrifice of sufficient efficacy to purge away the sins of the world. No creature could accomplish the great work of human redemption. "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever." "But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for he shall receive me." (Psalm xlix. 7, 8, 15.) Jesus Christ appeared before God under the character of our substitute; and therefore our sins were imputed unto him. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." (Isaiah liii. 6; 1 Pet. ii. 24.) Accordingly he suffered in our stead. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.' "He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken." "It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,” etc. "Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many.' (Isaiah liii. 5, 8, 10; Heb. ix. 28.) Now reflect, that every sinner deserves everlasting punishment; that no man can redeem a single brother from the grave, much less from hell; that our sins were imputed to Jesus Christ, and that he suffered for them; and you will be convinced that he must be a divine person, or he could not have been the Saviour of the world.

The scriptures speak of Christ as divine, even when they speak of his sufferings. "Awake, O Sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my

fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." (Zach. xiii. 7; Acts xx. 28; 1 John iii. 16.) The sword of divine justice awakes, and asserts its rights, not against a creature, but "against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord." The church of God was not purchased with the blood of a creature, but with his own blood. You are not called upon to behold, and admire, the love of a creature in dying for you, but "the love of God, because he laid down his life for us."

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It has often been objected against the doctrine of the atonement, that Christ did not suffer all that sinners merited; for, it is said, they merited eternal punishment; but he suffered only for a limited period. There are two ways of answering this objection: First. The divine nature of Christ might enable the human nature, by virtue of their union, to endure punishment infinite in degree, and this is equal to infinite in duration. Upon this supposition, he might suffer the whole demerit of sin in a very short time. Those scriptures seem to favour this sentiment, which speak of all our iniquities as being laid upon him-of his not being spared-of his being full of fear and sore amazed-of his sweating blood, and of his crying, when upon the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Second. Some have contended, that the atonement derives its efficacy, not so much from the quantum of suffering, as from the dignity of the person who suffered; and that since Jesus Christ is God as well as man, his divinity might stamp importance upon the sacrifice of his humanity, and render it commensurate with the demands of divine justice, though he did not suffer all that a world of sinners merited. Upon either of these suppositions the objection is fully answered; but which of them is true, is not revealed; most probably, because it was not necessary to be known. It is sufficient to all the purposes of piety to know, that Christ was substituted in our stead, and hath redeemed us from the curse of

the law, by being made a curse for us; and that, consequently, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Thus a foundation is laid for the strongest confidence in the believer, the glory of salvation is effectually secured to the Redeemer, and every pious sentiment and emotion is excited which qualifies for the happiness of heaven. This is enough, and it would be unreasonable to require more; divine revelation is not intended to gratify idle curiosity, but to promote piety and virtue.

Some of you are oppressed with a load of guilt, and are inquiring, what must we do to be saved? Those who deny the atonement, ask you if you have committed murder; or, whether some Methodist parson has not been bawling damnation in your ears? They can account for terrors of conscience in no other way. They tell you that many are worse than you are— - that you have not much to answer for-and that you have a merciful God to deal with. They bid you go home and say your prayers, do your duty, and dismiss your fears. But you cannot receive this doctrine. You have found out that it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against God; that prayers do not operate upon God Almighty, as charms are by the vulgar supposed to do on witches; and that though you have the disposition to do your duty, yet you want the power; hence your torment of mind increases. Hearken unto me. You say, your crimes are many and great, and that they have cried long and loudly to heaven for vengeance on your guilty head: you have sinned against the light of the gospel, the strivings of the Spirit, the exhortations of ministers, and the instructions and prayers of parents you deserve the lowest place in hell, and you fear that you will be doomed to it. All this may be very true, and yet you need not despair. Suppose your sins to be infinite in number, and infinite in magnitude, you must recollect that the precious blood of Christ is infinitely meritorious, and infinitely efficacious. You have no room to doubt the virtue of a sacrifice offered by so divine a person. "Come now

and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (Isaiah i. 18; 1 Tim. i. 15.)

You dread divine justice-you think it requires your condemnation: but remember that justice has taken its course upon your substitute, so that God can now be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Rom. iii. 26.) Make, then, but a humble and sincere confession of sin, and the justice and faithfulness of God, which are so big with terror to the impenitent, will both be engaged in your favour. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.)

You perhaps believe in his ability, but you doubt of his willingness to save you say, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He will. Could he give greater proof of his gracious disposition towards you, than by laying down his life for you? Consider such invitations and promises as these; they leave no room for despondency. "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth, say, come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." (Matt. xi. 28, 29; Rev. xxii. 17; John vi. 37.)

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2. It is necessary our Saviour should be divine, that he may save us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world is an enemy to the christian. Many of its customs, maxims, manners, and fashions, are not of the Father. Man is a social being, and there is a principle in his nature, which inclines him to render himself

agreeable to others, as far as possible. He cannot please the world, without conforming to it. Hence its influence over him, and his danger from it. How is this influence to be counteracted, and this danger to be avoided? You say, a man becomes dead to the present world, through the hope of a better hereafter : true; but who, or what inspires that hope? The answer is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Col. i. 27; Gal. vi. 14.)

The radical corruption of human nature is, in the present day, a very unfashionable doctrine. We are told that man comes into the world without any bias to evil. Let him make his debut on the stage of the world as much a saint as you please, it is universally acknowledged that sin soon makes its appearance. It would be beside my present purpose to prove the doctrine of derived depravity; though I think it impossible to account fully for the general degeneracy of mankind which prevails, upon any other principle. Since it is confessed that man is in the pit of moral corruption, the question which we have now to consider is, not whether his father and mother pushed him in, or whether he fell in through his own carelessness, but how he may get out again. Much is said about

the ample resources which we possess in our own minds to correct our moral pravity. Most people, however, satisfy themselves with mere assertions of this nature. I say, try; set old nature to work; serve her as a West India planter serves his slaves; flog her, and make her do her utmost; what will be the result? You will only extort this mortifying confession," For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." (Rom. vii, 19—23.)