It is also a "holy" sacrifice.

Unlike the sacrifices of the law, which derived all their sanctity from their divine institution, the Christian sacrifice is holy in its nature, in its effects, and in the means by which it is performed. It is a solemn and entire renunciation of the baneful dominion of sin; it engages us to the practice of every virtue; and thus leads us to become holy, as the God to whom we devote ourselves is holy and this sacrifice is commenced and completed in the strength of that Divine Spirit who is the everlasting fountain of holiness.

This sacrifice is also acceptable unto God.

It is acceptable to God, because it leads us to renounce those evil passions and pursuits which insult his authority, contemn his justice, defy his power, and abuse his mercy; and because it excites us to cultivate those graces and virtues that conform us to his image, and that testify that we are deeply affected with a sense of the infinite obligations that bind us to him. When, through faith in the merits of his eternal Son, and relying on the efficacious aids of his grace, assured and pledged to us by the ministry and in the ordinances of his church, we present unto God the homage of pure and upright hearts, and the grateful obedience of our lives, we offer unto him a sacrifice more acceptable than all the costly oblations that were poured forth on the altar of the Jewish sanctuary. We have no longer cause to inquire, in the language of doubt and anxiety, "Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord, and bow ourselves before the most high God? Shall we come before him with burntofferings, and calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thouVOL. III.

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sands of rivers of oil? Shall we give our first-born for our transgression, the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

And it is a further commendation of this sacrifice that it is a reasonable service.

It is indeed with great propriety styled a service; it is claimed by our almighty Creator, our bountiful Benefactor, our merciful Redeemer, our most compassionate Father and Friend. Every principle of our nature, every rule of justice, every feeling of gratitude impels us to serve him, who, as the greatest and best of Beings, receives the homage of all the works that he has made. It is therefore not only a service, but a reasonable service. The duties which it enjoins are all of high and obvious obligation; they all tend to promote the peace and the perfection of our natures. Piety to God, justice and charity to man, temperance and purity in the government of ourselves-these are duties which, in all their various and important exercises, reason cordially and fully approves; they are the law of our being, a transcript of that eternal law which constitutes the harmony of the universe, and in which all intelligent creatures find their glory and their happiness. The Christian, therefore, in solemnly devoting himself to the practice of these exalted duties, in renouncing the tyranny of sinful passion, so destructive to his peace, so degrading and corrupting, engages in a reasonable service.

I have thus exhibited to you the nature of the Christian sacrifice, and its exalted characteristics. It embraces the supreme devotion of all our

powers and affections to the service of our Almighty Lord and Sovereign. It enjoins us thankfully to adore that infinite power and goodness which sustain and comfort us, and to renounce those sensual passions which are not more offensive to the divine purity than degrading to ourselves. It teaches us to rely, for the acceptance of this supreme and holy oblation of ourselves, on the merits and grace of him through whom alone guilty creatures have access to the throne of offended justice. This sacrifice, therefore, comprehends the whole of that religious service which the law of God enjoins, and which reason dictates and approves. The active and animated service which this living sacrifice requires, will constitute our everlasting employment and happiness; purifying our nature, and conforming us to the holy image of God, it is the most acceptable service which we can render to him-a service not more enjoined by reason than agreeable to every good principle of our nature.

Recommended, then, as this sacrifice is by its exalted qualities, we behold in them motives sufficiently strong to lead us to present ourselves a sacrifice to God.

But this duty is urged by other considerations, that make the most powerful appeal to every generous and amiable feeling.

III. For "the mercies of God" are the motives which the apostle urges, in my text, as the most constraining and powerful principles of Christian duty.

He does not display the awful majesty and power of Jehovah, which demand the reverence of his creatures; he does not make bare that arm of

justice which will not spare the transgressor; the holy apostle does not assume the severe tone of command, or the more appalling language of denunciation; he exhibits the mercies of God as the motive to present ourselves a sacrifice to him, and he therefore uses the mild language of persuasion, as more congenial with the theme on which he intends to dwell.

"I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God." By the mercies of God, your Creator, who raised, from an inert and shapeless mass, those bodies which now erect look towards heaven, and breathed into them the breath of life; who endowed your souls with those spiritual and immortal powers which distinguish you from the brutes that perish, and which constitute your perfection, dignity, and happiness by the mercies of him in whom you live, and move, and have your being, I beseech you, present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto him.

By the mercies of God, your Benefactor and Preserver, who continually sustains you, who protects you in danger, succours you in misfortune, and crowns you with the rich blessings of life-by the mercies of him who giveth you richly all things to enjoy, I beseech you, present yourselves a sacrifice unto him.

By the mercies of God, your Redeemer, who hath revealed to you, in the Gospel of his Son, his eternal Being and perfections, every truth connected with your duty and your happiness; who spared when we deserved punishment, and in his wrath remembered mercy; who, in your lost estate, laid help on one that is mighty, and by his eternal Son wrought your deliverance from condemnation and

death-by the mercies of him who is the sure and everlasting refuge of the penitent, the Author of life and glory to all who believe in him, I beseech you, present yourselves a sacrifice to him.

You are not called, brethren, to an unreasonable duty, to a severe and degrading service; for it is the honourable, the dignified service of him who is the source of goodness as well as of power, and who is infinitely exalted above the most perfect of the creatures he has made. The service of that beneficent God in whom is the fulness of felicity, must be productive of the highest pleasures which our nature can receive or enjoy: it confers here, a peace which passeth understanding-and it conducts us hereafter, to those immortal glories which eye hath not seen, which ear hath not heard, and of which the heart of man cannot conceive. If we neglect a service thus honourable and exalted, thus rich in present peace and in immortal felicity, and wilfully refuse to engage in it, though urged by the mercies of our Maker and Preserver, our Redeemer and God, what can we look for but that indignation which Jehovah hath denounced against his adver-. saries? Even that mercy which we have insulted and spurned will pour upon us the vials of wrath. And when mercy, that so long pleaded for our pardon, is roused to vengeance, who can stand?

The mercies, brethren, of God, our Creator, our Preserver, our everlasting Redeemer, now invite us. Bound to him by infinite obligations, as our "reasonable service," to him let us devote ourselves "a living sacrifice." Through thy grace. God, may it be a "holy" sacrifice, and through thy mercy in Jesus Christ thy Son, an "acceptable" one unto thee.