ling luft, thou for all these,

mayeft hereafter be chargeable ; there is a full, an eternal redemption, even the forgiveness of fin according to the riches of his grace. Are thefe the true sayings of God, receive them for thine immediate confolation and support. Is the holy law, once broken by thy tranfgreffions and uttering its curfes against thy crimes, now pacified through the merits of thy faviour's crofs; does it proclaim, there is no condemnation to them that are in Chrift; do the holy angels announce, peace on earth, and good will, all complacency towards men: Is the everlasting father well pleafed for his righteoufnefs fake, mayeft not thou repose thy foul with. all confidence beneath this covert from the ftorm? Shall not the blood of Chrift, who, through the Eternal Spirit offered up himself to God, purge thy confcience from dead works to ferve the living God. O thou of little faith, wherefore doft thou longer doubt? Lift up thine head, and appropriate the ancient and joyous exclamation, Why art thou caft down, O my foul, and why art thou difquieted within me; Still truft in God, for I Jhall yet praife him, who is the health of my countenance and my God. Thefe humble triumphs of faith will fhortly be fucceeded by the bolder and nobler fong of Mofes and of the Lamb, Unto him that loved us and washed us from our fins in his own blood; and hath made us kings and priests to God, and his father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. AMEN.

The agency of God the Father in the appointment of Chrift to his Mediatorial undertaking. A Sacramental Sermon.

ROMANS, iii. 25.

WHOM GOD HATH SET FORTH TO BE A PROPITIATION THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD.

WE rarely find more than one excellence eminently to adorn the fame individual.As it appears to be the general arrangement of providence, that every man should poffefs fome amiable or refpectable quality, to raise him above. abject infignificance and contempt; it appears to be equally its order that no man fhould combine in himself all that is amiable or refpectable, left he rife to univerfal admiration, and to unlimited influence in the world. In every character, even the most debased, there is difcernable fome fhade of merit which fecures a portion of esteem; fo in the moft exalted, important character there is generally fome capital defe&t that finks him nearly to a level with the mass. Although Job is held forth to all ages as an illuftrious pattern of patience, Mofes of meeknefs, Solomon of wifdom, Paul of ardent zeal, and

P

Peter of heroic, unfhaken fortitude; yet neither of these perfonages was diftinguifhed for all thefe endowments. But in Jehovah every poffible excellence exifts, in equal, infinite perfection: Here is wisdom which never errs; which never fails to employ the beft means for executing the moft important purposes: Here is juftice, abfolutely inviolate, which ever holds the balance with equal hand, and renders to all rational agents their due: Here is goodness ever flowing, ever diffufing happinefs through his creation in a manner confiftent with the honor of his government: Here is holiness without the least spot of pollution; which can neither tempt, nor be tempted; which cannot behold iniquity without abhorrence; which cannot look upon rectitude without complacence and delight: Here is truth which will inviolably, and infallibly accomplish all that is threatened, and all that is promifed.Thefe perfections of God which appear obvious in all his works, burft forth with ten-fold effulgence through the crofs and mediation of his Eternal Son. There we fee juftice abfolutely refufing to fpare fin, and mercy ardently expoftulating to fpare the finner; we fee wifdom interpofing, by offering a plan that will bring glory to God in the falvation of man ; and love delivering up his only fon to the awful, arduous work, Him hath God fet forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.

THE Son of God, on a late occafion, was held forth as the end of the law for righteousness; as anfwering all its requirements by the obedience of his life, and removing its penalty by the facrifice of his cross; confequently all who believe in him, who accept the gift of his all-perfec righteousness, as offered in the word of reconciliation, are inftantly and everlaftingly delivered from the law in its covenant form : Interested in the facrifice and satisfaction of Jesus their subftitute, they are confidered no longer under the law; they are not fubject to its authority, binding them to obedience at the peril of condemnation, but under grace; they poffefs a title to every bleffing, temporal, fpiritual and eternal, as the free gift of Jehovah, without any respect to their own works as the procuring cause.

THE verfe chofen for our confideration at prefent exhibits the Redeemer under a character very fimilar and equally encouraging; it reprefents him as fet forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.

CHRIST is here called a propitiation. There is in this paffage a direct allufion to one of the moft coftly and inftructive appurtenances of the Jewish temple. A covering of pure gold, called the propitiation or mercy-feat, was placed over the ark of the covenant; and on this Jehovah appeared in the vifible manifeftations of his glory,