all things for our good,—that He will give grace and glory, and that no good thing will He withhold.

Now here is indeed a blessing, if it can be but realized, of unspeakable value. How richly suited to our necessities! Oh how directly and fully such an offer meets the want and misery of the human heart,-how completely fitted to fill the void! Without expecting any one to be prepared to seek it; without imagining it at all likely that the moral tendencies of all men would lead them to look earnestly after a life of holiness and conformity to the will of God, yet we ask, is there not that in the offer which ought to make it unspeakably acceptable? If we could rise above those sensual and unholy inclinations which fetter us to earth,-if we could throw off the dread bondage of iniquity,—is there not in this eternal life, in a perfect conformity to the will of God, and an unclouded enjoyment of His presence, is there not that which would do more to make us happy than all which we elsewhere know? If we could follow the best and wisest convictions of our own minds, and seek a destiny really worthy of our original powers, does not this present to us a sphere of operation infinitely more satisfactory than the highest pleasures of this present world?

Secondly. But then comes the question, How far is this blessing accessible to us,-how far is any man warranted to hope that it is attainable by him? Where is the point of meeting, where he may be brought in contact with this extraordinary privilege? And the Scripture answers, This eternal life is in the Son of God. God the Eternal Father sent His Son into the world by an extraordinary incar

nation, as the only, but the effectual, means of reconciling and redeeming the lost souls of men. And this work, which from all eternity He covenanted to do, He hath completely done, and reconciled a ruined world to God; so that whosoever will, may now drink of this stream of salvation from death and hell, this splendid privilege of eternal life, and holiness, and happiness, without restraint and without alloy. Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," to every one who will receive Him.

This eternal life is in the Son of God, as the sole meritorious cause of it. He is the Person for whom alone, and in virtue of whose sole merits, this blessed redemption and deliverance is vouchsafed. A guilty world lay before God burdened with unpardoned sin; none of us could do anything towards removing either our sin or our sinfulness; we were perishing, we were going down to the grave and to hell, when this divine and gracious Saviour undertook our cause, plunged into the very depths of our ruin, snatched us as brands from the burning, and opened for every one who will now avail himself of these ample means of grace a joyful deliverance. Nothing appears here in the way of merit, or ransom, or aid, but in the person of the Saviour himself. He is the victim, the sacrifice, the propitiation, the surety, the redeemer, the advocate, the intercessor. He stands alone, the One Mediator between God and guilty man, wearing the nature of the ruined race, and wearing it to make by His death an effectual atonement. If one soul is saved, the whole good of that salvation from the deserved penalty is due to Christ alone; and so of the many millions in all ages. "There is none

other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." All mercy to the guilty race flows through that one channel, and in that channel it flows effectually and freely. It is God as a Sovereign extending the sceptre of pardon and peace to the rebel that awaited an everlasting destruction.

But, again, this eternal life is in Jesus Christ the Son of God, as in a treasury or a fountain, out of which we may receive it. We are told that "it hath pleased the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell;" and the whole character of the christian dispensation is the putting of honour upon the Son of God, by the grace of this redemption, that He may be glorified thereby. The purpose of God is to "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth," and to glorify the eternal Son of God by making Him the centre, and the source, and the channel, and the eternal fulness, of all spiritual blessings. And to Him therefore only we are to come for salvation. There is no other means of access to the Father. The attention, the affections, the devotions, of men, are to be directed to the incarnate Son of God, as the only point on which our minds are to rest with the hope of peace and safety. Turn where we will, all else is to be unsatisfactory, dark, and desolate. The whole range of creation is appointed to refuse us that fulness and repose which we need; but we are to look on Jesus Christ as "the way, the truth, and the life," and to believe that "no man cometh unto the Father but by Him;" but that if we are really brought by the teaching of the Scripture and of the Holy Spirit to a right knowledge of the doctrine of Christ,

then we are indeed safe and happy. As a scion of a vine is grafted into the tree and bears fruit, so he who really believes is grafted into Christ, and receives of the root and fatness of the tree; and as the living graft is made part of the tree, and receives of its vital nourishment, and is identified with it, so the man who really believes the testimony of God to the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, is really and truly united spiritually to this blessed Saviour, and receives the blessed influences of His Spirit, which are the emanation of an eternal existence; he is made a partaker of the divine nature. The believing in Christ, which is itself a mercy bestowed on the once dark and dead soul, is the precise point of reconciliation; and when that point is gained, then the spiritual blessing flows to the soul continually, like a ray of light from the sun, and gradually enlightens it, and prepares it for eternal glory. It is the breath of the living God coming upon the soul, and giving it a new life, the life of God, that it may live holy and happy with God for ever.

Thirdly. Let us notice the way in which this blessing of eternal life is presented to us. It is a gift,—a free, unmerited gift. God has given to us

eternal life. We have seen that there is no merit whatever in man; that his circumstances were those of sin, humiliation, and curse; that there is not in him one point of character or conduct on which he could safely venture to build a particle of hope for eternity, and for acceptance at the bar of God. We have no means of propitiating an offended God. We had no power to bring down a Saviour from heaven; no means of over-ruling our own prejudices, or our unbelief; no means of controlling that dislike

which we all have naturally to spiritual and eternal things; no means of making obedience to the law praeticable or pleasing. And in these circumstances God appeared for us, sent forth His Son as a willing Saviour, gave us in the crucified Jesus this His inestimable gift, and calls upon us to believe that in Him we have eternal life; that by His blessed work of obedience and suffering all the evils of our state are done away; and the heaven of heavens,-the life of everlasting holiness and glory,— opened to us, as the pure, undeserved gift of our Heavenly Father's love.

This is certainly a most wonderful truth, but so are all the truths around us, if we would consider them rightly. The whole system of created things is most extraordinary; almost every point of creation baffles our keenest intellectual acumen. We cannot fathom the creation of a blade of grass. It is vain, then, to object to the freedom of divine grace, because it is extraordinary; we might as well object to the many mercies which daily crowd upon our path, and refuse to partake of the universal comforts of life, because we cannot see why they should be given to us, and because the hand that bestows is far above out of our sight. Certainly the gift of eternal life to sinners, through the Son of God, is the most sublime and splendid of all God's gifts; but we grant this, we admit this, without qualification, only we say that is no reason for denying and refusing it. Surrounded as we are by mercies, it is no reason to resist any one mercy, because it seems greater than all others; it is the greatness of it in our great necessity which makes it suitable. No, we have only to satisfy ourselves of the reality of our need,

and the truth of the inspired revelation, and then, great as is the offer, and unseen and untried as the blessing yet is to us who still live upon the earth, we must receive it with simplicity, and with joy and gratitude. We grant it is an extraordinary gift, bestowed through an extraordinary channel. Eternal life in the glorious mansion of the blessed God, given to us as guilty rebels, through the condescension and suffering of the Son of God in the flesh, is an unspeakable gift. If, as wanderers on the face of the earth, and about shortly to leave it by the agonies of death, we can once believe this, we may well look at it with wonder. No language can adequately express the richness of that mercy which provides and offers such a blessing, and enables each one who receives it to say, "He hath saved me, and called me with an holy calling, not according to my own works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." He hath shewn me that my sin is blotted out; that, lost and degraded as was my soul, and wretched as was my prospect for eternity, He has cancelled the debt, He has blotted it out for ever, He has torn the accusing page out of His book, He has nailed the handwriting of accusation to His cross, and I am pardoned, redeemed, numbered among His chosen and sanctified children, and a heaven of happiness and glory awaits me at the hour of death.

Now this is the main statement of the revealed word of God. It is a

declaration of peace and mercy to the guilty, and of sanctification to the polluted, and of eternal life to the dying. It is an entire and effectual remedy for all the evil of our present state; it meets us in our sin, our ignorance, our suffering,—and our expectation of death, and judgment, and eternal misery,-with the hope of deliverance, founded upon the testimony of God, that He has given to us eternal life, and that that life is in His Son; and that it is so in Him, that whosoever believeth on the Son hath life. We shall have occasion hereafter to take some other important views of the intention of this statement.

The

Now a grand and important question occurs here, How far are we warranted to lay hold upon this hope and find peace in it? We take it for granted, as determined by painful experience, that here we have no peace. peace of thoughtlessness, infidelity, and reckless daring, is no peace at all. It is only the solemn pause before the blowing up of a mine that spreads ruin all around. But the question is, How far are we individually authorized to derive peace from this statement of God's mercy? And here evidently the question is not how far have we wandered from the path of rectitude, and what is the degree of impediment, for all have wandered so far as to render certain their eternal undoing; it is not a question of more or less of original iniquity, nor of more or less sorrow on account of sin; but it is a question as to the reality of faith in the testimony of God to the gift of eternal life. Do we now be lieve? Are we willing to believe? Does our own lost case come before us as it ought, with deepening experience of its evils, and with deepening humiliation on their account? Are

we conscious that we have offended the God who made us, and that we are strangers to Him? Do we look forward to death with natural horror, on account of sin? and do we dread to meet Him whom we believe that we must meet as our Judge? And then, do these Scriptures come before us satisfactorily, as a revelation declaring to us the testimony of God? and if we regard those Scriptures as speaking from heaven, do we admit their witness, in all its fulness, to the truth that Jesus Christ is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," and that "whosoever believeth on Him hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation?” And do we now receive that testimony? Do we look to the cross of Christ as the ransom paid for the souls of men,—for our souls, individually? Are we ready to take God upon the strength of His own testimony, and believe “the record that He hath given of His Son," and believe to the saving of the soul? Certainly any one who will receive it, is warranted to receive it. The offer is made to all, without qualification and conditions. No previous fitness or meetness is required. The statement is simple: you are lost, and God has made faith in the death of His Son your remedy. "Believe the record." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

We are fully aware that the power of the Spirit of God must go with the preached word, to enable men to believe. But we believe that it does so accompany the word; that the object of the Scriptures and of the preaching of the Gospel is to offer this salvation to men, and that the agency of the Spirit of God carrying conviction to the heart enables them to receive it.

They feel, as they never did before, their guilt and corruption; they see, as they never did before, the riches of Divine mercy; and they turn to God with all their heart, as finding in Christ a relief, a hope, a peace, to which before they were entirely strangers.

Have we, then, so received the statement of the revealed record? Do we believe that we are saved,-that we are ransomed, washed, justified, sanctified? Have we this consciousness, this assurance? Have we this "hope as an anchor within the vail?" Have we the witness in ourselves? Does the Holy Spirit bear witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God? Has the character of our prospects for eternity changed, through our belief of the salvation of the Gospel, so that we can commit ourselves with confidence to sleep at night, or to the various risks of the day, knowing that however suddenly death may come, eternal life is our portion beyond the grave? If we have not good hope of this,—a calm, and peaceful, and happy conviction and expectation of this, we do not say that we are not Christians, for in many cases that would be going beyond what we are warranted, but that we are not all that we ought to be as Christians; for if we were, we would "rejoice in hope of the glory of God," and "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Many are not Christians at all, are totally destitute of belief,

and know nothing whatever of the Gospel; but there are those who appear to have a certain degree of hope in the Gospel, but have little confidence and little real enjoyment, little sense of reliance upon the word of God, and the richness and freeness of His pardoning mercy. These are persons who are not faithful and honest to themselves; for if they receive the record, and believe the work of Christ, and the freeness of His grace, as given independent of any merit in man, why is it that they continue irresolute, doubting and distressed? Purely because much is yet wanting on their own part. Nothing is wanting in the gift of God. It is a want of real, hearty faith, and uncompromising acceptance of, and separating unto the Gospel of God. It is that the mind is darkened by worldly compliances and indulgences. If there was simplicity of faith, there would be simplicity of joy. If we had really renounced this world, we should see our interest brightly in the other. If we had looked away from things temporal, we should be enabled to rejoice in the prospect of things

eternal.

Let us then consider this as our own case seriously, and rest assured of the issue, that whenever we give ourselves in faith unreservedly to the salvation of the Gospel, our interest in it will be clear, and our peace and joy full.

Φωνη τεθνηκοτος.