but no particulars of moment have appeared in the public papers-In Brazil, the representatives of the abdicated emperor still retain the reins of government, but great discontent and frequent commotions prevail, in most parts of the empire-Mexico we hoped had nearly reached a state of settled peace; but it appears that there are some military corps opposed to the government, that are not yet subdued. The Mexican congress have decreed that money and effects belonging to churches and convents, to the amount of a million of dollars, shall be applied to the payment of the national debt; and that their own vessels shall pay twenty per cent. less import duty, than is levied on all foreign vessels. The latter decree will give foreigners great dissatisfaction-In Colombia, President Santander is doing every thing in his power, and with some success, to serve his country; but a very uncertain state of things still exists in this great republic-In Peru there occurred, on the 18th of September, a most tremendous earthquake. Arica, the capital of the province of that name, and Tacua, another large town not far distant, have been almost entirely destroyed. But thirteen or fourteen houses are left in Arica, and six or seven hundred lives have been lost in these two towns. An elevated ridge of land had sunk to nearly a level with the ocean. Two islands had totally disappeared-the sea, it is said, rose thirty feet-The whole of Southern America is yet in a deplorably unsettled state. Nor will it be otherwise, till the conflict between those who wish for full religious liberty, and those who wish to restrain it, shall be terminated. It is perfect folly to talk of liberty, when men are not permitted to discharge freely the first and most sacred of all duties and obligations-the worship of God, according to the dictates of every man's own conscience. Popish superstition and tyranny, are really at the bottom of the troubles among our southern neighbours; and while the causes last, there must and will be trouble and confusion. Religious tyranny must either be dominant or extinct-it cannot be the former, since the revolution; and how long it will be before the latter shall take place, none can tell-The United States, with general health at present throughout our whole land, with a superabundance of the products of the earth, and, as it is affirmed, with an uncommon amount of monied capital in the country, are languishing under a general stagnation of all kinds of business, the want of confidence in monied institutions, and the consequent want of it among individuals, who must depend on credit to perform their engagements and to carry on their operations. The cause of this strange and unprecedented state of things, has been, ever since the meeting of Congress, and still is, the subject of ardent discussion and debate in both houses of our national legislature. On this topic, we leave our readers to form their own opinions, every one for himself. But in our character as a Christian Advocate, we say, that every praying man in our beloved country, will neglect an important part of his duty, who does not daily and earnestly pray, that God may give wisdom to our rulers and legislators, to discern what the true interests of their constituents demands, and fidelity and firmness in doing what justice and the public good require.

TO OUR READERS.

It will be perceived that we have excluded what is called the double column, from the greater part of the pages of our present number. It is of no other use than to assist the eye, in tracing and distinguishing the lines on a wide page; but our pages are not wide, and we find that the best religious periodicals, like those of a merely literary character, now make but little use of this expedient to facilitate vision. We gain about a page and a half of letter press in each number, by the change.

We thus publicly return our thanks to two of our patrons who have volunteered to obtain and forward the names of additional subscribers to the Christian Advocate. Will not others use a little exertion in the same way? We hope they will.

ERRATA.

We regret that the correction proposed by our correspondent, J. L. G., in the verses he kindly furnished for our work, did not reach us till his poetic lines had passed the press-We do not think they stand in much need of correction.

ERRATA in our last number.

In the Latin lines in page 539, in line 4th, for and read et. In page 541, first col., line 10 from bottom, for Tuesday read Thursday.

THE

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

L

FEBRUARY, 1834.

Religious Communications.

A SACRAMENTAL SERMON.

Christ the Believer's Peace.

EPHESIANS ii. 14, first part.-" For he is our peace."

These words, my brethren, point us to the Redeemer of the world. He who is called JESUS, because he saves his people from their sins; he who is called CHRIST, because he was anointed of the Father for this great purpose; he through whom all the manifestations of the divine mercy that were ever made to the children of men have been conveyed; he, of whom, the apostle affirms in the words which immediately follow the text, that he hath "broken down the middle wall of partition between the Gentile and the Jew, and hath made both one;" he of whom it is declared, in the verse which precedes the text, that "now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" HE is our peace; he alone is our peace; he is an unfailing peace-maker.

In discoursing on the words, I will endeavour, in reliance on divine aid, to illustrate them in the three following views:

I. As referring to the method in which God was rendered reconcileable to fallen man.

II. As descriptive of the manner in which a convinced sinner first obtains solid peace of conscience.

III. As pointing out the source from which the real Christian derives all his consolations and comforts.

After this, a short improvement shall conclude the discourse. First, then, let us consider the words as referring to the method in which God was rendered reconcileable to fallen man.

Before the birth of time, my brethren, even in the ages of eternity, when "the counsel of peace was between them both," the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the foresight of the fall of man and the ruin of our race, engaged to the eternal Father, in the covenant of redemption, to satisfy divine justice in behalf of his elect people, who were given to him in that high and mysterious transaction. Hence, when man had actually fallen, he was not, like the rebel angels, consigned to immediate and hopeless perdition, but received the early promise that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." Hence too, the obedience and death of Christ became, by anticipation, the ground of all the favours conferred on a guilty world before his actual appearCh. Adv.-VOL. XII.

G

ance in the flesh. Through the efficacy of his work, to be performed in "the fulness of time," the saints under the ancient dispensation obtained both grace and glory; for he was the "lamb without blemish and without spot-slain from the foundation of the world:" and since his incarnation and death, his merits and intercession have still remained the rich and abounding fountain, from which have flowed forth all the blessings, both of a temporal and a spiritual kind, which the race of man has experienced.

Dwell on the thought for a moment, my brethren, that if you exclude from the system of the divine administration as it respects this world, the benefits of the Redeemer's undertaking, you exclude every thing but sin and sorrow. You open hostilities between heaven and earth, and guilty, feeble man, becomes a creature, in whose present situation and future prospects you can discern nothing but guilt and sufferings. This was once actually his condition. Into this condition he was brought by the violation of the covenant under which he was originally placed-It was the condition of Adam, after his fall, and before the promise of a Saviour. The law of Jehovah had been transgressed, and his justice was pledged to punish the offence. Man had become a rebel against his Maker, and the glory of God was concerned to see that the rebellion should not escape its deserved punishment. The inviolable declaration had gone forth-"In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, was the awful penalty and doom of the first transgressor, and of all his descendants. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

This view of the condition of man, as condemned and lost, serves to show, most clearly and impressively, the nature and necessity of the Redeemer's undertaking. Having humbled himself to assume our nature, he performed what in the covenant of redemption he assumed to do, as the surety of his people. In this character "he fully discharged their debt"*-He completely satisfied the divine law and justice in their behalf. Having restored the violated honours of the law, by a perfect and sinless obedience, he paid its penalty by his sufferings and death. 66 Surely," says the evangelical prophet, "he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all"-Of the same tenor is the language of the apostles-"He bare our sins in his own body on the tree-Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree-He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." It is on this very ground that the great apostle of the Gentiles says, "we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God." It is on this ground that the extension of favours to our guilty race has became consistent with the rights and claims of Jehovah, and that a treaty of peace is opened between God and man. In a word, here is the plan on which "God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Christ, then, is our peace, inasmuch as he hath rendered offended

* Confession of Faith, Chap. xi. Sec. 3.

Deity propitious. "Him hath God set forth to be a propitiation. through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God-To declare I say at this time his righteousness; that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Hence, at the nativity of the Saviour, the angels proclaimed "peace on earth and good will to men." The dispensation which he established was a dispensation of peace. The commission which he gave to his apostles and ministers was, to "preach the gospel"-the good news of salvation-" to every creature." It is in virtue of what he hath done, and in virtue of that only, that salvation has become possible, and reconciliation with God attainable; that we are able, with truth, to proclaim to guilty men, that they may return to their offended Creator, with the hope of acceptance; and that all the ordinances of revealed truth are dispensed for this purpose.

Be especially reminded, that it is wholly in virtue of what Christ hath done, that you, the people of my charge, have so long and so richly enjoyed the means of grace; that you have been waited upon, from week to week, and from year to year, with the messages of peace; that you have been and constantly are entreated, urged, and persuaded, to be at peace with your God; and that all the most cogent motives and affecting considerations are pressed upon you, to induce you to choose so safe and so wise a part. Let us now-

II. Consider the text as descriptive of the manner in which a convinced sinner first obtains solid peace of conscience. In the process of this work, the mind is enlightened by the spirit of grace, to see the reality and importance of the truths that have just been stated. The sinner is made to feel, with a power that nothing can resist or evade, that "God is a consuming fire to the wicked." The eyes of his understanding are opened, it may be gradually or suddenly, to behold the abounding of iniquity in his life and in his heart, and every excuse and palliation is seen to be of no avail. Conscience brings home the charge, in the language of Nathan to David, "thou art the man"-Thou art the sinner who hast offended thy God; thou art the very one against whom the divine law and justice point their accusations; thou art the guilty defaulter who owest ten thousand talents; who art chargeable with sins that are of a crimson colour and a scarlet dye; who art, at this moment, deserving and liable to be banished forever from all good; and yet thou art the very soul who canst make no reparation for thy offences-Ah! when this conviction of guilt thus takes hold on the conscience, in what an interesting light does it then appear, that Christ Jesus is our peace. The convinced sinner sees-I should rather say he feels-feels with the keenest sensibility, that but for Christ peace would be impossible.

And when this convicted sinner is enabled to embrace the gospel offer, and by faith to lay hold on Christ, in an appropriating act, as his own Saviour; when he feels a holy freedom, delight, and desire, drawing him away, to make a full and unreserved surrender of himself-of his all of hope and happiness, into his Redeemer's hands; when the suitableness and excellence of the plan of redemption beams on the soul, with such a lustre of evidence and beauty as to constrain it to cry out "this is all my salvation and all my desire"-then is every sorrow turned into joy; and with a sweet outgoing of spirit, not to be described, he will say, "Christ is my peace: here is that peace for which I have so ardently panted; here, at length, I have found it. I have

been viewing myself as the enemy of God, and God as my enemy. It seemed as if his very honour was engaged to punish such an unholy wretch as I have been. But-it must be by the enlightening influence of his own blessed Spirit-he now gives me to see, not only that a reconciliation is possible, but that its taking place will even advance his declarative glory, by showing how "mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other," in the salvation of the chief of sinners by Jesus Christ. I feel a supreme delight in contemplating this very method of salvation. I am sure it is that which I would choose, if I had ten thousand choices. And it is freely proposed -yea I am commanded to accept and trust it. I do accept it cordially -I am conscious that I do. It is therefore-O the overwhelming thought of joy!-it is, it must be mine. Yes, and here I will hold, in defiance of all the enemies of my peace. Let the tempter no more persuade me to despair or to despond. I know my sins are great and numerous; I know they have gone to heaven and cry for vengeance. I know, too, that I have no strength-that in myself I am very weakness. But I see every thing that I need in Christ my Saviour. I see a value in his blood that answers to every demand of God's holy law against me. If my sins have gone to heaven, he too has gone to heaven, to plead his merits before the throne to which my sins have risen. If they cry for condemnation, he shows his merits; he answers the demands of law and justice, and thus grants peace and pardon. He ever liveth to make intercession for me, and he can save even to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. He can, and he will, supply all my need from the riches of his grace and fulness. Begone, then, ye insidious tempters to unbelief; ye treacherous enemies of my peace begone: for to all your insinuations I will still oppose this one incontrovertible answer-the fulness of Christ. On this I feel a freedom to rely this is the rock of my peace, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

But

III. The words before us point out the source from which the real Christian must, and will, continue to derive all his consolations and comforts-For we are to remember that Christ is not only the author and cause of the freedom which is first obtained from the condemning sentence of the law, and the accusations of a guilty conscience, and of the first peace and joy which follow on believing; but he is also, throughout the whole of the Christian course, the bestower of all the spiritual blessings which the believer is made to possess. Let me illustrate this part of the subject, by leading you to view the offices sustained by our glorious Redeemer.

My brethren, it is not a tenet derived originally from the love of system, or the affectation of nice distinctions; it is not merely the creed of children, or the sound of words, when we speak to you of the offices of Christ. The doctrine is derived from the scripture itself, and whoever knows the power of godliness, will know, practically and substantially, if not formally, its important meaning.

Christ is a king. God hath "set his king on his holy hill of Zion;" and hath "committed all things into his hands;" and hath "given him to be head over all things to the church." "He must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet." In the execution of this kingly office of the Redeemer, the peace of the believer is rendered secure, against the numerous and powerful enemies, who would otherwise wrest it from him in a moment. The great adversary of our souls is ever busy