of a person from one condition to another, not more happy or advantageous. A mere exchange of circumstances does not come up to the meaning of the word redemption. If a slave is forcibly torn from the hands of one tyrannical and cruel master, and placed under the control of another, not less austere, inhuman, and abusive; though, in one respect, he experiences a change of condition, yet, strictly speaking, he has received no de liverance he is still an abject miserable slave, and his redemption is an event still to come. And if one, in order that he may be proved with kindnesses, is removed from under the care and munificient offices of one liberal benefactor, and placed under those of another, equally generous and communicative; or if he is removed from a state of comfort and happiness to that of misery, whether in a greater or less degree, it would not be called a redemption. If Israel had suffered nothing from the Egyptians, when in their land, God's carrying them out with never so much pomp of majesty and power, would not have been redeeming them. And if no restraint had been laid upon them by the Egyptians, to prevent their departure, the case would have been the same. To be the subjects of redemption, properly so called, they must have been, in some way, an oppressed and suffering people, and under a prohibition of leaving the scene of their calamity, so as to need a deliverer. Gospel redemption supposes, that all those, for

whom it is wrought, were, before their redemption, in an unhappy condition. On some account or other, they stood in need of a benevolent interposition to alter their state; to emancipate them from evil, and bring them into the possession of good. And what the evils are, under which men universally labour, and on the account of which they are in urgent need of a Redeemer, none can be so blind as not to see. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.' There is a curse upon all natural unredeemed men, consisting in the entire and eternal loss of God's favour, which implies the weight of his avenging fury, poured out upon the sinner without any mixture of comfort. This heavy penalty, inflicted by the justice of God, is the common inheritance of the unsanctified. It is due to every transgressor of the divine law; and lies treasured up in store against all, who are uninterested in the great Redeemer. "He that believeth not is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him." The sin and pollution, which have overspread the world, and infected the hearts of all men, have opened the floodgates of divine vengeance, and poured in a deluge of misery upon the world of mankind; so that death eternal awaits allthe guilty sons of men: Here occasion calls for the gracious offices of a Redeemer. And these offices are performed by Christ, who

delivered us, as the apostle observes, from the wrath to come. The proper business of the Saviour is described by the apostle John in the words following; "For this purpose the son of God was manifested,that he might destroy the works of the devil." As a malicious adversary, the devil has set himself to work to put a blast upon the well being of the universe, to destroy all the happiness, and propagate all the misery, in his power. This is that work of the devil, which Christ has undertaken to destroy. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." To make the miserable happy, or to confer eternal life, where death was due, as the wages of sin, is that redemption, which he accomplishes for the subjects of his grace. This leads us to inquire

4. Into the method of his carrying into effect this great and glorious redemption. If a happy state of the system is the thing aimed at by him, who was sent into the world for the redemption of his people, no doubt he has some precise and determinate course to take, in compassing so desirable an object. And what course is so obviously proper, as to proceed directly against those things, which have originated the mischief, and in which it is rooted and grounded? This was the method pursued, when Israel was to be redeemed from Egyptian bondage. The first step taken was with the power, that had enslaved them, and brought them

under the yoke which was henceforward to be broken. Moses was ordered to the court of Pharaoh, to demand the surrender of his prisoners. And when he refused compliance, he was pursued with repeated judg ments, until he was subdued, and was no longer able to retain the victims of his barbarous and unrelenting despotism. In this way suffering humanity obtained relief. By a similar process is the captive soul made free, or redeemed from the curse, or penalty, of that law, which denounces death against the sinner. Misery may always be traced back to sin, as the baleful and bitter root out of which it grows. To redeem men from wo, it is, therefore, necessary first to redeem them from sin. The first effects of sovereign grace appear, therefore, in the renovation of the heart, in setting the soul at freedom from those lusts, which war in our members and bring forth fruit unto death. When the Israelites saw the dead bodies of the Egyptian host, their former op-pressors, struck dead by the arm of the Almighty, they felt as if they had nothing more to fear from their haughtiness and cruelty: and to the children of God, who are in Christ, and partakers of his fulness, it is a comfortable saying, as in the words of the apostle, "For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him (Christ) that the

body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." When sin is purged from our souls, death is swallowed up in victory. Christ, therefore, redeems men from the eternal plagues of hell, by preparing them for heaven; by taking the stoney heart out of their flesh, and giving them a heart of flesh. Thus they are translated out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son. This comports with such scriptures, as represent Christ Jesus as exalted with the right hand of God to be a prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sin. The prophet foreshews the redeming influences, which he would put forth towards the objects of his merciful regard, when he says: "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."

And the apostle says that "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." As Christ redeems his people from their sins, cleanses them from all unrighteous. 、ness, and makes them holy, that they may be prepared to reign with him in his kingdom of glory; so he is not induced to un