arouud our globe the liquid atmosphere; he gave them space and expansion to admit all who move and breathe, and furnish every living thing with a never-failing supply of vital air. And in redemption, the last and greatest of all his works, where he has outdone all the productions of his hands, and eclipsed all the former manifestations of his wisdom and power, are we to suppose that his resources have not risen to the height of the great enterprise? Has he encountered difficulties with which he cannot grapple, met with maladies beyond the reach of his might, and too desperate for the resources of his love? Are there cases of guilt and wretchedness where his benevolence is overcome; and, notwithstanding all his kindness and compassion for the penitent, he sinks beneath the dreadful undertaking, and finds himself unable to save?

Jesus is almighty. He is God as well as man. He speaks, and it is done: he gives the commandment, and all things stand fast. And is there any thing too hard for God? Is any service too complex or arduous for him who suspends creation on his arm, and wields at pleasure all the energies of omnipotence? And whilst as God his power is almighty; as Mediator, by the union of the Divine with the human nature, his atonement is possessed of unbounded value, and perfectly sufficient for the free, complete, and everlasting salvation of mankind. Let the applicants for his grace be ever so numerous, and their crimes ever so malignant and atrocious; yet, on collecting into one all the sins of all the children of Adam, to what more could the whole black and odious mass amount, than one infinite heap of filth and loathsomeness? And can the obedience, the sufferings, and sacrifice of a person of the Divine dignity, and the matchless excellencies of Immanuel, be less than infinite?

Let, therefore, your former character and present condition be what they may; though you have run to the excess of riot, wrought unrighteousness with greediness, and been almost in all evil; though you have been guilty of the most impenetrable hard-heartedness, the grossest ingratitude, the basest treachery, and the most vile and provoking rebellion against the God of grace; yet if, after

all, you are ashamed and confounded for your transgressions, and longing for restoration to his favour, you may with safety and confidence come unto Jesus, and intrust into his hands the whole of your eternal interests. “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God?" The sea has deeps capable not only of concealing molehills, but of burying the largest mountains. And in the ocean of redeeming mercy there are deeps sufficient, not only to hide small offences, but also to cover the most horrid and enormous transgressions. "The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin."

And whilst there is an inexhaustible efficacy and worth in the obedience, in the sufferings, and sacrifice of our Divine and adorable Redeemer, to pardon all the guilt, and to justify the persons of the whole human race, if they will only come to him; can you for a moment suppose that,

II. The magnitude of your crimes has excluded you from the hope of mercy, and that he has any reluctance to receive you on your return, or any backwardness to bestow upon you the blessings of his grace?

Can you argue his reluctance and backwardness from the universal calls and free offers of the Gospel? from the repeated and positive commands given to all to believe on his name, and to accept the blessings of his salvation? from his affecting expostulations with the impenitent, his gracious promises to every one who comes to him, and the awful denunciations which he pours out against all who reject the provisions of his mercy? or from the past exercise of his grace, and the instances in which he has saved the most profligate and abandoned?

Can you argue his reluctance to receive you, however guilty, on your return, and his backwardness to bestow the blessings of his grace,

1 From the universal calls, and the free offers of the

Gospel, addressed without discrimination and without reserve to sinners, whether great or small?

Into whatever corner of the sacred volume you cast your eyes, you find the most ample and delightful proof that the Gospel of peace is not a well shut up, nor a fountain sealed; that it does not confine its immense and invaluable blessings to a dozen or a score, to a few of a family, or the remnant of a tribe; but lays open its rich and ineffable treasures to the enjoyment and use of all the children of Adam. Its calls and invitations reach the utmost ends of the earth, and embrace, in their generous and heavenly provisions, every class and description of human wretchedness. The language in which it lifts up its voice, and addresses itself to the ears of mortals, uniformly runs in terms such as these: "To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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." And in the same spirit of genuine, ardent, unrestricted liberality; in his last commission to the Apostles, Jesus charged them to "go into all the world, and preach the Gospel unto every creature." He well knew what a set of criminals our globe contained: he well knew how low some were sunk in ignorance and brutality, and how furious and ungovernable others were in vice and profligacy. But without limitation or reserve he commanded the Gospel to be preached to the basest and most hardened of the whole. Have you ceased to be inhabitants of the earth? Is your depravity more deep and dreadful than can be exhibited by human creatures? If not, then you have the most abundant encouragement to return to the Lord, and lay hold on the offers of his grace: for after this solemn charge to make a universal

proclamation of the Gospel, he adds, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."

Can you argue that your sins are too great to be forgiven; or that God has any backwardness, on account of their magnitude, to receive you, and bestow upon you the blessings of his grace,

2. From his repeated and positive commands, not excepting the most vile and unworthy, to believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and to embrace the provisions of redeeming mercy?

use.

The bare communication of what is necessary to our welfare, constitutes a sufficient right to its enjoyment and When the poor are presented with alms, and the sick with medicine, this completely warrants them to accept them. The gift of reason, and the possession of the means of mental improvement, perfectly authorize us to exercise our understanding, and cultivate our intellectual powers. The mere opportunity of securing our safety, establishes a right to escape from the crush of a falling edifice, or from the yawning of an earthquake. And when our souls are poor and wretched, diseased and dying, sunk in depravity, and in danger of being swallowed up by everlasting destruction; after the God of peace has placed the Gospel of his grace within our reach; that Gospel which contains all that is requisite for our temporal happiness and eternal welfare; what more than this marvellous manifestation of his mercy can you desire, to entitle you to lay hold on the salvation which it reveals, and secure all the immense and inexhaustible blessings which it brings?

After God has given us eyes and ears; instead of disputing about who has a right to enjoy and use them, I would like to know who is debarred from the privilege of possessing them, and of availing himself of all the advantages and comforts which they impart? After the almighty arm of Jehovah has hung out the effulgent orb of day to illumine and cheer the countless millions of our race; instead of disputing about who has a right to look on his radiance, I would like to know who is discharged from basking in his beams, and taking the full benefit of

his light and heat? And when the ever-blessed God has sent his mercy after us; when he calls on all the helpless and miserable wanderers of our race to return to the arms of his love, and find their heaven of heavens in his presence and favour: instead of contending about who has a right and title to go to him, or to believe on him, I would like to know where is the man or woman who is prohibited from approaching him, and from embracing the offers of his compassion, and the provisions of his beneficence? When a king sends to a city, languishing under the horrors of famine, a supply sufficient to meet their wants, and appointed expressly for gratuitous distribution amongst all the sufferers; who has a right to intercept the flow of his bounty, or to cut off the meanest and most obscure within the walls from the effects of his munificence? And when God has so loved the world, that he has given his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; when the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost, and invites all to look to him, and be saved: I would like to know who has a right to come betwixt us and the allglorious Mediator, and arrest the generous current of his kindness? Has the most indigent and starving a right to the royal bounty? And shall the vilest and most abandoned of our race, upon his application, be debarred access to the adorable Redeemer, and excluded from embracing the blessings of the common salvation?

But if the mere universal offer of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, authorizes all to accept it; tell me how mightily, how irresistibly, this right is strengthened and confirmed, when the gift of salvation is accompanied by an express injunction to receive it? Now, in order at once to cut up every fear and jealousy by the roots, and to lay the controversy at rest for ever respecting the right and warrant of sinners to go to the Saviour and embrace the blessings of the great salvation; we are commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is represented in the Scriptures not only as practicable, as warrantable, and lawful; but as our positive, binding, and indispensable duty. "This is his commandment, that ye should be