work of God, but the horrid work of Sin; not the ordinary course of Nature, but the ruin of human nature introduced by Sin. The transgression of Adam was but one, and it may appear to you a slight one; it was not in reality so, an act of presumptuous disobedience to the Will of God can never be a slight offence; you perhaps may be daily guilty of many, and of greater; be assured that the nature of Sin is not changed since the time of Adam, it's wages were then death, and you must not expect that it will now reward you with life. Nor is the nature of God changed; he was always merciful, and never willed the death of his creatures; he wanted not goodness to have pardoned the Sin of Adam, but consistently with his purpose of promoting Virtue and Holiness through the unbounded extent of his creation, we presume he could not have done it: Flatter not therefore yourselves, that if you continue in Sin, it will be possible for him to pardon you.

The last reflection which I would trouble

you

you with at this time is a short one, but it is one of the greatest consequence; and I heartily wish that it may not be negligently received, or hastily forgotten, by you; It is this-Whether you desire it or not, you will all be made alive in Christ —as surely as we shall all die through the disobedience of Adam, so surely shall we all be raised from the dead through the obedience of Christ. Our pleasure has not been consulted in either dispensation, both are the work of God. If there is any one in this assembly (I pray to God that there may be no such person) but if unhappily there should be one, who would be willing to relinquish the life purchased for him by the blood of Christ, who would abandon all his bright prospects of futurity, and be contented to lie hid, and rot, in the gloominess of the grave for ever; by the Spirit of truth I tell such an one, that his wish will not be complied with; by the terror of the Lord I warn such an one, to amend his ways, and to think of that day when he will be raised to everlasting glory, or everlasting shame.

VOL. I.

E E

He

He who hath defrauded his neighbour, and he who hath polluted his neighbour's wife; he who hath oppressed the poor, and caused the orphan and the widow to mourn; he who hath blasphemed his God, and never thought of his Sabbaths; he who hath corrupted his ways and wallowed in the filth of the flesh-All, all shall be made alive in Christ; by his unspeakable love we are all freed from the first death, and it must be our own fault if we are subject to the second.-I conclude with a most solemn declaration, worthy of our highest regard; listen to it, I beseech you, and let it sink into your hearts! It is not a declaration of my making, it is a declaration of Him who loved us and laid down his life for us, even of Christ himself"Marvel not (says he) at this: the time is

coming, in which all that are in their 66 graves shall come forth; they that have "done good, unto the resurrection of life; "and they that have done evil, unto the "resurrection of damnation."

SERMON IV.

Preached before The KING, at the Chapel Royal, 15th February 1897.

1 COR. v. 7.

CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED

TH

FOR US.

HE historical evidence for the truth of the Gospel is sufficiently convincing to those who have ability and inclination to examine it with an unprejudiced mind. The time and place in which Jesus Christ lived; the manner in which he spent the three or four last years of his life; the circumstances attending his death, r urrection, and ascension; are all detail in books, of the genuineness and authen city of which there are far stronger proofs, internal

EE 2

internal and external, than there are of the genuineness and authenticity of many profane books, to which all men give undoubted credit. Whence then is it, that there are and ever have been men utterly indisposed to admit the truth of the Gospel? This indisposition principally proceeds from two sources:-first, that the Gospels, besides ordinary historical events, contain an account of miraculous events; secondly, that they seem to state as doctrines proceeding from Almighty God, such as appear to be repugnant to human reason.

Such is the doctrine maintained, if not first introduced into the Christian Church, by St. Austin, in the fourth century,-That, in consequence of Adam's transgression, all infants dying before they have done either good or evil, except the infants of the elect, will be punished with everlasting torments in the fire of Hell. Such is the doctrine of the same father (and it is a doctrine still received by many Christians)

That, in consequence of Adam's transgres