ions, and of his examination of Scripture, on these points, may be described, in a few sentences, as follows:

First. It is the principle of the moral government of God (a principle of immutable justice), that, righteousness shall be rewarded, and sin punished. The analogy of that moral government, as far as it is subjected to our observation here, confirms the plain scriptural doctrine, that repentance in itself is not sufficient to avert the punishment of transgression. Something more was needed to demonstrate God's unalterable abhorrence of sin, and to reconcile his mercy with his justice. Now, God has himself bestowed upon us all that was required in order to the accomplishment of these ends. In the sacrifice of his only-begotten Son on the cross, he has provided a perfectly adequate atonement for the sins of mankind, in all ages; and thus it is, that the gate of Paradise is again thrown open, (on repentance,) to the whole human race. This great atonement was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world; and from the earliest ages of it, until the death of Christ, and especially under the Jewish institution, it was typified and foreshown by the rite of animal sacrifice. It was also the subject of prophecy the most detailed and explicit; and from the very numerous statements made on this fundamental doctrine by our Lord himself, and his apostles, as well as from the sacrificial phraseology in which those statements are couched, it plainly appears, that as the Jews of old were saved from the temporal punishment of their ceremonial and other subordinate offences, and were restored to their civil and external religious privileges, in consequence of their typical sacrifices-so men of every

name and nation may be delivered from the eternal penalty of sin, and may be restored to a real peace with God, and therefore to all true happiness, in consequence of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ—a voluntary offering, originating in the love of God and Christ towards the children of men.

Secondly. Nothing short of an absolute, uninterrupted, righteousness can possibly merit the reward of a joyful eternity. Our own righteousness is justly compared to "filthy rags." It has been defiled by inward impurity-it has been scattered and broken by multitudinous transgression. Our only claim on the heavenly inheritance, therefore, consists in this: that God is pleased to impute, to those who believe, the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ-who was "a Lamb without blemish and without spot," and whose fulfilment of the whole law, sealed by his death, was infinitely meritorious in the Father's sight.

And, further, it appears, that although we are commanded not to sin, yet, "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In this respect, as in many others, he is the all-powerful Mediator between God and his people. At the right hand of the Father, he is ever engaged in our support and defence. He rebukes our accuser, he presents our prayers, he ever lives" to make intercession for us."

Thirdly. While the Christian may rejoice in the sacrifice, the merits, and the advocacy, of Jesus, he is always to remember that none of these points in religion interfere with the unalterable decree of a righteous God, that into his kingdom, nothing" that defileth" can ever enter. Man in order to be eternally happy must be saved not only from guilt, but from sin. He must be born

again, changed, and sanctified. This essential work is begun and carried forward only through the operation of a divine and supernatural influence-the great promise of the Father under the Christian dispensation—the influence of the Spirit of God. This influence flows to mankind through the channel of Christ crucified. By his death on the cross, Jesus has procured for us the Spirit, and now freely bestows it on his people, for their help and salvation. The Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, is sent unto us from the Father, by the Son; and, as it was his office to effect the incarnation, immeasurably to inspire the ministry, and to assist the atoning offering of the Messiah himself, so is he the cause of the new birth, in the seed or children of the Messiah; and ever dwells in true believers, to illuminate, guide, strengthen, and console, them; and above all, by the work of sanctification, and by the diffusion of divine love in their hearts, to prepare them for the purity, peace, and joy ful unity, of the saints in bliss.

Such are the distinct, yet harmonious, features of the scheme which God has appointed for the redemption of man. Now, while in the purposes to which its several parts are directed, our inquirer beholds a satisfactory reason for the incarnation and crucifixion of the SON OF GOD-while his heart is filled with gratitude towards the Father who ordained; towards the Son who conducts; and towards the Holy Spirit who consummates, the plan of mercy, be presses forwards to the consideration of another question"What," he asks, "are those dispositions or principles of action in the human mind, by means of which I can appropriate these provisions of the love of God, and avail myself of the incomparable privi

leges offered to me in the Gospel?" The Scriptures answer, FAITH and OBEDIence.

On these esssential, practical points, the investigator of scriptural truth presently learns the following lessons. First, as to faith-that it is by faith the just man lives, and, that, without it we cannot please God-that our heavenly Father having bestowed upon us such evidences as are sufficient to convince our reason that he exists, and, that he is the omnipotent moral governor of the world, abounding in goodness towards his creatures, requires that we should place on him the affiance of our souls, in order to our happiness here and hereafter—that such affiance is well pleasing in his sight, and is the means of procuring the forgiveness of our sins— that one indispensable part of it, in those to whom the word of God is revealed, is a belief in that word —that the fuller the revelation, the more extensive the belief required-that under the dispensation of the Gospel, a right faith embraces all the essential doctrines of Christianity as its subjects; and the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, as its equal and inseparable objects-more especially, that as "God was IN CHRIST, reconciling the world to himself," the faith by which the Christian is saved, is principally faith in the incarnate Son-that by simply relying on the Redeemer as the atonement for sin, and as "our righteousness," the ungodly are justified, without the deeds of the law-finally, that this justifying faith in Jesus, is not the mere conviction of the understanding, but a living principle which works by love, and draws down on the believer the sanctifying graces of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, as to obedience—that the only standard

of action enjoined on us in the Bible, is obedience to the revealed will or law of God-that this obedience constitutes righteousness, and the contrary to it, sin— that God has written his moral law on the hearts of all men; or, in other words, has interwoven a sense of it with their very nature-that, independently of this universal principle, he has, in all ages of the world, maintained for himself a visible church, consisting of persons who have received an external revelation of his will-that, under the Mosaic dispensation, the moral law was specified and recorded in writing that a vast variety of ceremonial and other positive precepts were also enjoined on the Israelites and their ancestors-that whatsoever is the nature of the Lord's commandments, the duty universally required of those to whom they are addressed, is unqualified obedience—that such obedience must ever be grounded on faith, and that faith without it is absolutely dead-that under the dispensation of Christianity, the moral law of God is so far from being abrogated, that it is fully confirmed, and unfolded in all its strength and perfection-that the motives to obedience with which the Gospel furnishes us, are of so powerful and exalted a nature, that they are practically adequate to the extent and purity of the service which such a law requires—and, lastly, that the aid of the Holy Spirit never will be withheld from those who seek it, but will enable them to bear the fruit of righteousness, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

Such, then, is the whole course of study and investigation pursued by our inquirer, in his search after divine truth. He reads the New Testament-he satisfies himself, first, of its genuineness, and next, of