every where represents God to be love in his own nature, and every part of the creation bears the stamp of his perfections: the whole earth is full of his goodness. The Scripture teaches us that God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God commandeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loves us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation of our sins. These passages speak a language that cannot be mistaken, they plainly assert that the gift of the Son was the fruit of the Father's previous love; from this it must be evident that Jesus did not come into the world to engage the Father to love the world. But should any one ask, did not the death of Christ produce some important change in God? I answer, none at all; for it was by the grace of God that he tasted death for every man. The death of Christ was not designed to produce any change in God; he suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, and not God to us. We must trace the effects of the death of Christ upon the heart of the sinner, and not in the character of God.

2. By the righteous appointment of God, Jesus was constituted the person through whom he was to dispense all his blessings to the human family, and by whom we are to have access to God. Jesus Christ is the messenger of God to man, who was every way qualified to reveal his will, and to be the Saviour of the world. We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. God communicates his grace and mercy to Christ, and he to us. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; for it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell. And again, "God gave not the Spirit unto him by measure. He was full of grace and truth, saith the apostle, and of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace. As Christ was filled with all the fulness of the Godhead by God himself, so by Christ we may be filled with all the fulness of God.

That my views on this subject may be rightly apprehended, I would observe, that the instrumentality which we ascribe to Christ in the work of redemption, is active and not passive, an instrumentality in which the benevolence and faithfulness of the person employed is exhibited, on whose benevolence and faithfulness the execution of the plan was necessarily suspended. God gave his Son in the same way of goodness to the world, as he affords particular persons the friendly assistance of their fellow creatures, when, without it, their temporal ruin would be the certain consequence of their follies. In the same way of goodness, I say; though in a transcendent and infinitely higher degree. And the Son of God loved us, and gave himself for us, with a love which he himself compares to human friendship; though, in this case, all comparisons must fall infinitely short of the thing intended to be illustrated by them.

Had Jesus, when he was appointed to be the Saviour of the world, declined the office, as necessarily involving him in a scene of sufferings, or had he proved unfaithful, and betrayed the trust reposed in him, it is easy to perceive that the present plan of salvation could never have been carried into effect. But the fact has been otherwise; he readily accepted the appointment, and faithfully executed the order of his Father, not by constraint, but of a ready mind. Hence, says the apostle, Christ loved us, and hath given himself for us; and was faithful to him that appointed him. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and thus he sacrificed his life in the execution, and proved himself worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessings. This is an important view of the subject, and shows that we are under obligation to the Son as well as the Father; and also shows in what sense eternal life is connected with a knowledge of the Son as well as the Father.

The ideas which have been expressed in the foregoing inferences are contained in a declaration of the apostle, in his epistle to Titus, iii. 4-7. After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his own mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by his grace, we shall be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The original cause of our redemption is here represented to be the kindness and love of God the Father, who is likewise called our Saviour, because all the blessings of salvation originated in him. But this kindness and love of God, these blessings of salvation, are shed upon us through Jesus Christ, who is also said to be our Saviour, for God has constituted him such; has exalted him at his own right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour; and from him we receive grace for grace. It is, however, by the Spirit, the power and energy of God, that the work of salvation is wrought upon the heart, and the grace and mercy of God conveyed to the soul.

3. We remark, lastly, that all the stones of the building rest upon the foundation, and are equally dependent; thus they have equal rights and equal privileges. Christ is the only Master of Christians; their faith must stand in the power of God, and not in the wisdom of men. There is a perfect equality among all Christians; they are a family of brothers, a society of equals, who are all to be subject to their head, the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament is the standard of their faith, and the rule of their life; and every one is to exercise his own understanding in ascertaining its true import, both in relation to doctrine and practice, and conscientiously discharge a sense of duty to God and man. Jesus is the only foundation, Lord, Lawgiver, King and Master; he has left no successor, vicegerent, or authorized interpreters. Those who assume these characters

are usurpers, they are tyrants, and belong to the kingdom of antichrist; and those who support their unauthorized claims, partake of the same spirit, and belong to the same kingdom. As the stones in a building are all united and cemented together, so should all the disciples of Christ be united in the temper and spirit of their Master, which is love. They should keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Nothing can supply its place, and without it there can be no Christian union. The untempered mortar, which is used by the greater part of the builders, I mean subscription to a human creed arranged by fallible men, is wholly unauthorized by the New Testament, and in direct opposition to that equality which ought to exist among the disciples of Christ, and the right of private judgment, which has been secured to all the members of the family by the great head of the church. But such builders may daub with this untempered mortar as much as they please; they may weary themselves in attempting to weld the iron and clay, and incorporate their hay, wood, and stubble materials; but nothing but the pure gold will abide the fiery ordeal that must try all these builders' works of what sort it is.

Finally, there is but one building, and this building includes all genuine disciples, all the devoted followers of Jesus Christ. When the Christian church is spoken of collectively in the New Testament, it is always represented as a unity-one body, one kingdom, one building. No duty is more strongly enforced, no maxim more frequently inculcated, than the preservation of this unity. By this shall all men know, said our blessed Lord, that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. It is by maintaining this spirit of love, that the unity is preserved. The present divided state of the Christian church into sects and parties, is wholly unauthorized by the law of the kingdom. Those who have fomented these divisions, have mangled the body of Christ, torn asunder his seamless garment, and set his disciples in hostile array against each other. And to maintain this state of things, every principle of the gospel is prostrated to the shrine of sectarian bigotry, and the example of Jesus is openly violated as unworthy of imitation. But we hope the day is rapidly advancing, when a new state of things will be introduced, when he shall reign whose right it is. Till that day shall arrive, let us console ourselves with the happy reflection, that the foundation stands sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.

DISCOURSE XXV.

Christ the Great Physician.

“But when he heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not the physician, but they that be sick."-Matt. ix., 12.

The envious Jews ever sought occasion to reproach our Lord, condemn his conduct, and bring his character into suspicion. Being filled with a deadly hatred against him, and stung to the heart by his growing and increasing popularity, they left no means untried to cast a shade over his popular fame, to tarnish his glory, and to bring him into contempt among the common people. At one time he was accused of violating the Sabbath for healing a man of an infirmity on that day. From this charge our Lord successfully vindicated himself, by adverting to a long-established custom among them, of performing works of necessity on that day. What man, said he, shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much, then, is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day. At another time, he was accused of performing his miracles by the agency of an evil spirit. To this charge our Lord replied, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; every city or house divided against itself shall not stand; and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. At another time they asserted that he could not be a good man, for he ate with publicans and sinThis charge Jesus acknowledged, but denied the inference which they drew of his conduct. He justified himself on the common maxim, that a physician should be among his patients-that it was not common for a skilful physician to spend his time among the hale and hearty of mankind, but among the sick and infirmthat, as the restorer of public morals, it highly became him to mingle with all classes and conditions of society, but more especially among the profane and profligate, where he could exercise his personal influence in correcting iniquity at its very fountains. Thus our Lord exonerated himself from the charges which his enemies preferred against him.

ners.

I. In speaking from these words, we shall take occasion to observe, in the first place, that sin is the disease of the soul. There are diseases peculiar to the mind, as well as those which are peculiar to the body. Hence, the mind of man may become sickly and disordered as well as

the body. In tracing the effects of disease upon the mind, we shall do it by the way of analogy; by drawing a comparison with the effects of disease upon the body. Any disease of the body more or less affects the whole outward man. So sin disorders every power of the soul. It spreads darkness over the understanding, forgetfulness through the memory, rebellion and stubbornness over the will, disorder and turbulence over the affections, and guilt and pain over the conscience. Hence, when the mind of man is under the influence of sinful passions and perverted appetites, reason loses the helm of government, and this monster in human shape becomes resolutely bent on the execution of his infernal purposes. The force of evidence does not convince him, the power of eloquence does not persuade him; the man is beside himself. Sin has beclouded his mind, darkened his understanding, alienated his affections; in one word, it has transformed his soul into the image of the devil. It has robbed man of his innocence and peace, and infused its deadly poison into all the avenues of the heart. The once lovely form, covered with glory and grandeur, is now marred in all its features, and bereft of all its beauty.

2. Diseases of the body enervate the whole system, produce weakness and inability, and render man incapable of attending to his usual avocations in life. So sin paralyzes the energy of the soul, and disqualifies man to attend to moral and religious duties. In the same proportion as the corrupt passions and vicious appetites of man are excited by this moral malady, and strengthened by the indulgence of habit, in the same degree the moral powers and energies of the soul are all paralyzed. Hence we see with what ease and facility the vicious part of mankind are carried away by the seductions of vice, and hurried into the commission of one crime after another, until they become ripe for destruction. Such persons not unfrequently make resolutions for amendment. But, alas! their vows are generally prostrated before the first temptation. They very much resemble a man who attempts to stem a powerful current, who, after a few feeble efforts, perceives his weakness, becomes discouraged, and yields himself up to be carried away by its mighty force. Instance the man who has contracted the habit of intemperance; he perceives that the evil is dragging him along in a wretched course, and must, sooner or later, prove his utter ruin; he summons up his resolution to reform; but, alas! how feeble are all his efforts; his appetites continue to prey upon him and plead for indulgence; at length he yields to the most powerful impressions, and returns to his wonted course.

3. Diseases of the body produce a sense of weariness and disgust, even in those pursuits and employments of life, in which, otherwise, we should take pleasure. So sin is the bane of human happiness, the destroyer of the peace of mankind. It excites in the breast of man restless and ungovernable tempers. It calls into exercise the most hateful and vicious passions. These tempers and passions are con