Notwithstanding that you have sinned against him, times and ways without number, yet there is plenteous redemption for you in Christ. There is nothing that can exclude you from happiness, except you obstinately refuse Christ, and the plan of salvation through him. But if you really believe that God will give life and salvation to you through Christ, you shall certainly have it. "For he that believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him."

7. True believers only, have an actual interest in these great and precious promises. For by faith they take hold of God's Covenant of Grace; and in this way they are brought within the bond of the covenant. Like David, they are pleased with the whole tenor of the New Covenant. In their view, it is well ordered in all things and sure. This is all their salvation and all their desire. In a particular manner they lay hold on some gracious promise contained in the holy scriptures, such as the following: "I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you." It is upon the footing of these or other gracious promises, that the sinner, viewing God as reconciled in Christ, says in the language taught us in the prophet, "Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." Thus he who was a poor, destitute sinner, becomes, like Isaac, an heir of the promise, and shall undoubtedly in due time be put in full possession of the inheritance.

In the second place, in order, if possible, to recommend these promises to your esteem, I am to mention some of their excellencies, for "they are exceeding great and precious.”

1. They are great and precious with respect to their author. It is the great God of heaven and earth, who hath given us the promises of life and salvation through Christ Jesus. You know that among men, a promise made by one possessed of great riches and dignity and power, is usually more highly es teemed than the promise of one in the lower spheres of life; partly because of the ability of the person in high station, to perform his promise; but chiefly because it indicates that he to whom the promise is made, is an object of favor. Now, does it not set forth and illustrate the greatness, the excellence, the precious nature of the promises of the New Covenant, that they are all given us by God, who is possessed of all perfection, glory and blessedness? He is the fountain whence every good and perfect gift proceeds. None, surely,

can question the ability of Jehovah to perform. He is the Almighty, and has all fullness in himself. All power is in his hand. And, then, again, are not these promises of the New Covenant which he has given us, a very strong evidence of his favor and love towards poor, needy sinners? Next to his sending his own Son, his well-beloved, into our world, to redeem sinners from the curse of the law, which blessing he exhibited to the church under the old dispensation, by types and prophecies, which are now accomplished and may be considered as the grand evidence of God's love to a lost world; next to this, the greatest evidence that God has given of his love to sinners of our fallen family, is the fact that through Christ he hath given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.

2. These promises are great and precious with respect to the matter contained in them. How highly does a condemned criminal, among men, esteem the promise of pardon? Oh! how much more precious is that promise of forgiveness, which God hath given us, who are by nature the children of wrath, even as others! Great as this blessing is, it is one of the promises which God hath given us. "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more." If any one among men were to promise to bequeath or to make over to another, a large sum of silver and gold, or a very large estate, the promise would be justly reckoned great. How inconceivably greater is the promise which God hath given us, of the true riches of the heavenly inheritance! "This is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. 1 appoint unto you a kingdom, even as my Father hath appointed unto me.' The promise of assistance, when one is under some pressing difficulty, is justly reckoned great, although it be from a fellow creature. Oh! how inconceivably greater is the promise which God hath given us, never, never to leave nor forsake us! Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death." Thus we might go over all the promises. We will find them all to be exceeding great and precious.

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3. The promises of the New Covenant are great and precious, because they are all of them most free. They are not clogged with conditions to be performed on our part, before we may lay claim to the blessings promised. Some of the

promises appear at first view to be conditional, such as this: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." But faith is only to be considered as a condition of connection, or, in other words, faith is absolutely necessary on the part of the sinner, as the means of investing him in the blessings of salvation. But it should be carefully observed, that this same faith, which seems to be the condition of salvation in this last cited promise, and others, is itself made the matter of absolute promise in other passages of scripture. It is said, for example, "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced."

4. These promises are exceeding great and precious, if we consider that they are all infallibly true. However great a promise may be, with respect to the author, and the matter which it contains, and however truly it be made, yet if a suspicion should arise in our minds about its truth in point of fulfillment, it will not be great and precious to us. But in the case before us, the promise is made by the unchangeable God, who cannot lie, who has both power and will to fulfill it; and who for the confirmation of our faith, has added to his promise his oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

5. Another excellence of the promises is, that they are all most suitable to us in our several necessitous cases. Life, light, liberty, pardon, adoption, sanctification and eternal glory, are blessings which we all unquestionably need: and these are some of the blessings contained in the promises.

Inference 1. The wonderful love of God, in giving us such exceeding great and precious promises.

2. The unreasonableness, and the damning nature of unbelief.

3. The happiness of those who have obtained an interest in the promises.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF THE REV. THOMAS HAMILTON.

Mr. Hamilton is the only native American minister, of the Associate Church, whose life we have been called upon to sketch in this volume. Our first supply of ministers had, of necessity, to come from the parent church, in the land of our fathers. And according to the ordinary course of human events, these might be expected to be first removed.

Mr. Hamilton was a native of the county of Washington, near the borough of Washington, in the state of Pennsylva nia; of which county his father was a highly respectable citizen, and for some time held the office of high sheriff of the county. He had an elder brother, George, who succeeded his father in the sheriff's office, of the same county. As his father was much engaged in public business, it is probable that Mr. Hamilton was chiefly indebted, as a means, to the early instructions of a pious mother, for his first religious impressions.

And although we are not in possession of such facts as would warrant our speaking very particularly of his first religious impressions; yet we are authorized to say, that he early gave indications of a serious and pious turn of mind, and of an inclination to devote himself to the work of the ministry; which was properly and prudently cherished by his friends. Mr. Hamilton received the rudiments of his education at the grammar school at Canonsburgh, Pa., which has since risen to the rank of a college, of a highly respectable literary character. But he completed his collegiate course at Dickinson college, at Carlisle, Pa.

He entered the study of theology under the care of the late Dr. Anderson, in what may be called the first class of students educated in the Associate Church in America; two students only having been previously licensed, and these sepa

rately. [See Introduction, p. 105.] This class consisted, besides Mr. H., of Messrs. Ebenezer Henderson, Thomas Alison and Samuel Murdoch ;* and completed their course under the care of the professor, about the year 1800, or 1801. They were immediately afterwards taken on trial for license. to preach the everlasting gospel; to which, after due trial, they were admitted.†

After Mr. Hamilton had preached for some time in other vacancies of the Associate Church, he was sent to supply in the city of New-York; where, as has already been noticed, (Introduction, p. 79,) a congregation had been organized, by Mr. Beveridge, in the spring of 1785. Although that congregation contained, at its organization, men of distinguished energy and zeal in supporting and extending the Secession cause; such as Mr. Gosman, Mr. Wright, and others, whose names are doubtless familiar to many still living in the Associate Church; yet it appears that for at least fifteen years after the organization of the congregation, it remained destitute of a settled dispensation of gospel ordinances: a circumstance which is doubtless to be ascribed chiefly to the paucity of ministers and preachers, during that period, in the Associate Church in this country. Some time before Mr. Hamilton was sent to New-York, Mr. F. Pringle, late Clerk of Synod, had arrived in New-York and supplied there for several months. The congregation, desirous of obtaining a stated dispensation of ordinances, and judging themselves able to support a minister, resolved on taking measures to have either Mr. Hamilton or Mr. Pringle settled among them. When the vote of the congregation was taken for this purpose, it appeared that Mr. Hamilton was the choice of the majority. He accordingly received the call, which he accepted, and was ordained to the office of the ministry, and installed pastor of the congregation early in the summer of 1802. Some of those, however, who voted for Mr. Pringle did not acquiesce in the choice of the majority with that cordiality which would have been desirable, and indeed, which duty in such cases requires. This was a source of some grief to Mr. Hamilton, and not less re

* Now Doctor Samuel Murdoch, of Washington, Pennsylvania, who, after completing a regular theological course of studies, turned his attention to the study of medicine. He has been long known to the public, as a scientific and successful practitioner of medicine, as well as for his exemplary and consistent Christian deportment.

† An apology is due to the public and the friends of Mr. H. for the want of exactness respecting this and some other dates which should have been given in this sketch. The paper on which the memoranda were entered has been mislaid, and the loss was not discovered until it was too late to remedy it, without delaying the publication.