in the face of the universe, and appeal for protection to the righteousness of God. But WHERE ARE THEY? Is there one man now living upon the face of the earth who can say with truth, I have made my heart clean, I am free from sin? Nay, was there ever one mere man, from Adam downward to this hour, who fulfilled, in all its strictness and extent, the holy law of God. No, verily, not one. Yet the law is binding, and its claims are immutable. What, then, is to be done? Shall the transgressor substitute ceremonial observances in the room of moral obedience? He may attempt it, indeed; for what will man in such circumstances not do? But in doing so, he offers that which is comparatively base for that which is intrinsically excellent; and the Righteous Judge may well be expected to frown indignantly on the unworthy compensation. Shall, then, the blood of animals be shed in fancied expiation of acknowledged guilt. It may; but what natural right has man to make the brute creation suffer for his delinquencies; or (even supposing that he has), what proportion is there between the life of an irrational victim and that of an immortal soul? Shall, then, a still higher atonement be resorted to, and shall the father, in an agony of remorse for his own misdeeds, plunge the sacrificial knife into the side of a first-born? What then? not the guilt of former sins aggravated, instead of being cancelled, by the perpetration of a new one? and is it not obvious that, so far from bettering his condition, he but increases its horrors by thus adding iniquity to sin? Shall he, then, repent him of the past, and resolve upon obedience for the future? He may; but no penitence which he may feel can undo

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what has already been done; and, even if it could, the repentance of a sinful being is so stained by selfishness that even this would need to be repented of. Shall he, then, cast himself at once upon the Judge's mercy, and (disclaiming all pretence to merit) implore forgiveness as an act of sovereign grace? This were, indeed, the most rational of all conceivable devices; for God is merciful, and willeth not the death of a sinner. But there are other considerations which discourage even this hope; for mercy is not the only attribute of the Divine nature. He is just, and his retributive justice must be glorified; he is a governor, and his authority must be upheld; he is a lawgiver, and either his laws must be obeyed, or the breach of them avenged. His truth also is pledged for the execution of punishment upon the guilty; and how then can the sinner reasonably expect to be placed in the condition of an innocent or righteous person ? Reason and law alike forbid it. Let him multiply sacrifices to infinitude-let him inflict upon his own person the most cruel tortures-let him deny himself to every comfort and convenience-let him undertake the most toilsome and expensive pilgrimages-let him give all the substance of his house away for supposed purposes of piety-and, this being done, spend the residue of his years in voluntary mortifications-let him, in one word, put ingenuity to the torture, and do all that ingenuity thus tortured can devise; still his unrighteousness remaineth on him, and he lies, as before, under the curse of a violated law. Wretched man that he is! who can help him? Not any of his fellow mortals; for they, like him, are sinners, and can

not ransom their own souls, far less redeem their neighbour's. Not the unfallen angels who do the will of God in heaven; for holy and good as they are, they do nothing but what it is their duty to perform, and they have no righteousness to spare for the wretched posterity of Adam. Men, then, it is evident, neither have righteousness by nature, nor can fall on any reasonable device by which to make up for the want of it. Created beings, even of the highest order, are unable to assist them. Evil spirits would not help them if they could; and good angels could not if they would. Whether they look to the right hand or to the left, there is no one to care for their souls.

But in the substitution of Christ for the guilty there is righteousness provided for the sinner. Thus can God be adored as just, even while he justifies the ungodly. Although by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, yet by the obedience of another many are made righteous. It is this which so broadly and gloriously distinguishes the religion of Jesus from every other under heaven. It takes men just as they are, and it offers to them what, in their hours of seriousness, they wish above all things to have. It comes to them as sinners, and proposes to them righteousness. It addresses them as guilty before God, and makes known to them how they may be reputed innocent. It offers to place them, all unrighteous as they are, in a position of sinless beings. It invites the greatest transgressor to receive that which shall not only absolve him from punishment, but entitle him to a reward. It calls upon the guilty sons of men to take that which will set them on a far

higher ground than even that which Adam occupied before his fall. Such is the perfection of his obedience, that it is available to myriads; and there is needed only the exercise of a lively faith in it to realise unto the guilty bosom the peace that passeth all understanding.

4. It is scarcely necessary to say much in order to show that the last of those conditions which we mentioned above, as necessary to render any proposed substitution available, is clearly fulfilled in regard to the vicarious work of Christ.-God the Father has declared to all men his acceptance of it by raising him from the dead. But for this we should have had no security that the atonement was complete, and that the justice of the Supreme Governor was satisfied. True, indeed, all nature appeared to sympathise with his dying agonies; the rending of rocks, the opening of graves, the darkening of the sun's light at noon, and other terrific accompaniments of his crucifixion, gave awful intimation of the purpose. His latest words, too, loudly proclaimed that the work which he had undertaken was finished. But had this been all, fear might still have been felt that all was not paid; and the very horrors that attended his crucifixion might have been so misinterpreted as to encourage the apprehension that some other sacrifice was yet necessary. But not so, now that he has been raised with power. To know that God the Father is well pleased with his obedience unto death, to be convinced that the offering which he made has been accepted and that it is everlastingly meritorious, to be assured that all has been rendered which law or justice could demand, we have but to look into yonder tomb where once our sub

stitute was confined. He is not there; and by the mighty earthquake which caused the watchmen to run off in terror, by the angels who sat in white raiment within, by the sepulchral garments so carefully folded up, and by the oft-repeated visits of Jesus himself to those whom he called to be his disciples, we are taught that nothing which needed to be done for our salvation has been left undone; that the guilt of transgression has been cancelled; and that the condemning power of the law has ceased for ever. Who shall now lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Let them first confine, if they can, the Lord of Glory; let them keep under the dominion of the grave Him that is the Prince of Life.

Yes, Christian, when at any time the adversary of souls would seek to persuade you that your sins are too great to be forgiven, when conscience writes bitter things against you, and it would seem as if no man living cared for your relief, point to the empty grave of your Redeemer, and ask, Who is he that condemneth? Rest assured that if the substitution had not been graciously accepted, Jesus would have lain to this hour and moment in the narrow house. But no: He has risen, and you may now go with confidence to the holiest of all.

Yea, more than this, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ did himself, before all worlds, devise the wondrous plan. No wonder then that his Grace accepted in time what his Wisdom had purposed in eternity. Now, therefore, may the mourners rejoice, now may the penitent be glad; for in Him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: