"to the flaughter, and as a fheep before her fhearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth. He was

taken from prifon and from judgment: and who "fhall declare his generation? for he was cut off "out of the land of the living: for the tranfgreffion " of MY PEOPLE was he ftricken." They, even that people whom the Lord calls "my people," were to be benefited by this great facrifice for fin, for that was the intent for which he fuffered: "It "pleafed JEHOVAH to bruise him; he hath put him "to grief: when thou shalt make his foul an offering "for fin, he fhall fee his feed, he fhall prolong his days, "and the pleasure of JEHOVAH fhall profper in his "hand. He fhall fee of the travail of his foul, and "fhall be fatisfied: by his knowledge fhall my ❝righteous fervant juftify many; for he fhall bear "their iniquities."-"Surely he hath borne our "griefs, and carried our forrows: yet we did efteem ❝him ftricken, fmitten of God, and afflicted. But

he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was "bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our "peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are "healed." Ifa. liii. 1—12.

The blood of the Pafcal Lamb was to be stricken UPON the door-posts of the houses of Ifrael, and it was to be the means of their falvation. When these things are confidered, I trust it will be held to be no far-fetched thought, that the words uttered by all the people, "His blood be upon us and upon our "children," like thofe uttered by Caiaphas, were not their own words, but PROPHETIC; nay more,

that

that the Jewish nation are now actually BENEFITED by that blood, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.-The great atonement hath been made.

I have good hope that fuch is the veneration of Chriftians of the present day, for God's most holy word, that wherever the doctrines of men, Mark vii, 7. are, on examination, found to be in contradiction to God's most holy word, they will be no longer retained; respect, even well-founded respect for those who have gone before us, fhould not fway our opinion: "One is our Father, which is in heaven;" and "One is our Master, even Chrift," Matt. xxiii. 8, 9. If our predeceffors have given into opinions fo injurious to our bleffed Lord, as to amount to an affertion that his laft prayer was not granted, it behoves us to act that part for which the Bereans are commended in the Acts of the Apoftles: "These "were more noble than thofe in Theffalonica, in

that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES "daily, whether these things were fo," Acts xvii. 11. There is a power in the words of Scripture which no other words poffefs; there is comfort to the foul which is as it were a live coal from the altar, Ifa. vi. 6. when we are by faith enabled to feed upon the word of God, for man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, Deut. viii. 3. Matt. iv. 4. Luke iv. 4. "It is the fpirit that quickeneth; the flesh pro"fiteth nothing: the words that I fpeak unto you,

"they

"they are spirit and they are life." John vi. 63. I appeal to the EXPERIENCE of the reader, whether whenever he has found his heart burning within him, it hath not proceeded from feeding upon the word of God in his heart, by faith with thanksgiving. His understanding hath been opened, that he might understand the Scriptures, Luke xxiv. 45. Whenever this is truly felt, it is a fulfilment of the promise of our blessed Lord: "I will pray the Father, and he "fhall give you another COMFORTER, that he

may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of

"truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it "feeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know " him; for he dwelleth with you, and fhall be in you. "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to "you."" He that loveth me not, keepeth not my "sayings: and the word which ye hear, is not mine, "but the Father's which fent me. Thefe things have

prefent with you.

"I fpoken unto you, being yet "But the COMFORTER, which is the Holy "Ghost, whom the Father, will fend in my name, "he fhall teach you all things, and bring all things "to your remembrance, whatsoever I have faid unto Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. "unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let ❝ it be afraid. Ye have heard how I faid unto you, "I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved "me, ye would rejoice, because I faid, I go unto "the Father: for my Father is greater than I." John xiv. 16-18. 24-28.

On

On the contrary, whenever unbelief prevails, and we find a difinclination to feed upon the word of God, Matt. iv. 4. I appeal to the reader's experience, whether all is not darkness about us; whether the heart is not as cold as ice, and no comfort in the foul.

Let me appeal to Perfeverans; let him read these words which I extract from the 31ft chapter of Jeremiah: "Thus faith JEHOVAH, which giveth the fun "for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon " and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth "the fea when the waves thereof roar; JEHOVAH "OF HOSTS is his name: if thofe ordinances de66 part from before me, faith JEHOVAH, then the feed "of Ifrael alfo fhall ceafe from being a nation before "me for ever," Jere. xxxi. 35, 36. Let him confider what is the moft grievous affront that can be offered from man to man, even the contradiction of a folemn affertion. Let him confider that these words are the words of the Great Creator of heaven and earth, JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, the God of Ifrael, who is the "GOD OF TRUTH," Deut. xxxii. 4. Let him meditate upon these words, and then let him turn to the 29th page of his letter to the English Ifraelite, in which he uses these words, "That the "Jews DO NOT EXIST AS A NATION at this "moment is quite clear."-When Nebuchadnezzar faw the deliverance of Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego, he said, "Bleffed be the God of Sha"drach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath fent ❝his angel, and delivered his fervants that trufted "in him, and have changed the king's word, ❝ and

६

"and yielded their bodies, that they might not ferve ἐσ nor worship any god, except their own God. "Therefore I make a DECREE, That every peo"ple, nation, and language, which SPEAK ANY "THING AMISS against the God of Shadrach, "Mefhach, and Abednego, fhall be cut in pieces, "and their houfes fhall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this "fort." Dan. iii. 28, 29. Let him confider what would have been his awful end if he had publifhed or uttered these words in Babylon; what judge or what jury could have acquitted him? There is no escaping from the presence of him against whom these words are fpoken: "Whither fhall I go from thy fpirit? or "whither fhall I flee from thy prefence? If I afcend 66 up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed "in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the "wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermoft t parts of the fea; even there fhall thy hand lead me, "and thy right hand shall hold me. If I fay, Surely "the darkness fhall cover me; even the night fhall "be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not "from thee; but the night fhineth as the day: the "darkness and the light are both alike to thee." Pf. cxxxix. 7-12. It is he that killeth and he that maketh alive; he woundeth and he healeth: neither is there any that can deliver out of his hand. Deut. xxxii. 39.

I must acknowledge myself utterly at a lofs to account for the MOTIVE that could induce Perfeverans thus to deny the folemn declaration and decree