to" the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." If he lays before you the Scripture standard of that "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord," it is not to draw forth an unavailing regret for your own deficiency; but to shew you what graces you must ask God, to pour by his Spirit into your hearts. Your minister cannot point out a want, for which God does not point out a supply; he cannot warn you of a danger, from which God does not open a way for you to escape. To guide your feet into the way of peace, and to open to your view the everlasting doors of glory, is his duty, and his privilege; and he comes to you full of anxiety for your spiritual and temporal welfare, as the flock over whom God has made him overseer; and full of love to your immortal souls, as the dear purchase of Immanuel's blood. He bears you a message from his Master, the King of kings, replete with mercy and consolation, "that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them."

In this declaration, two facts are presupposed; there cannot be pardon without previous guilt, or reconciliation without previous enmity; and these facts are

in accordance with the whole tenor of Scripture, us well as with our daily experience.

It is true that man was created in the image of God, pure and sinless; but when he listened to the voice of the tempter, and broke the only commandment given, he became the willing slave of him whom he obeyed, and fell at once into "sin, which (we are emphatically told) is the transgression of the law." He fell from the holy likeness of his Maker, and became the creature of passion and self-will. His son was begotten in his own image; the fallen nature of his parents was transmitted to Seth: and if we trace our own descent through the patriarchal ages, through the histories of ancient times, down to our own; and compare what we have seen heard of our own immediate predecessors, and what we know of ourselves, we shall find that the same fallen nature is our own, and that it is truly said, "In Adam all died;" that is, all his children inherit from him a character whose end is everlasting death; for such has been the determined wages of sin, ever since it entered into the world, down to the present day. Yet even at that early period did God " devise a way, that

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his banished should not be expelled from him." To the first offender, he gave the momentous promise that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." St. Paul says, (Gal. iii. 16.) He spake not of seeds as of many, but of one, that is Christ;" who "should destroy the power of that old serpent, which is the devil." Even then "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself;" and this precious, though mysterious promise was preserved amidst the wreck of the world, in the breasts of his chosen servants. At length a clearer light began to dawn, when with " a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm, he had delivered his people out of Egypt, he graciously revealed to them, through lively types and shadows, that the promised salvation was to be wrought by a mighty sacrifice, itself guiltless, but made an offering for the sin of others; and that without shedding the blood of a guiltless victim, there could be no remission of sin, or acceptance of the polluted vows or offerings of the sinner. Who that victim was to be, the prophets more plainly declare, "Let thine hand, (said David,) be on the man of thy right hand; and on the Son of man, whom thou madest strong for thyself." By the mouth of

Isaiah, the Lord declares, "I, even I, am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake. I, even I am the Lord; besides me there is no Saviour." And again," He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no in-. tercessor, therefore his own arm brought salvation." "In the fulness of time, God sent forth his Son made of a woman;" his" name was called Immanuel, God with us; CHRIST, the anointed, and JESUS, a Saviour. "God was manifested in the flesh." He bore our nature, that he might bear our infirmities. He remained in the world, " going about doing good," that he might "set us an example that we should follow his steps."

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Despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," he drained to the very dregs the cup of human misery, and at length closed a life of woe, by a death of ignominy and torture; and for what? What awful cause drew the 66 Holy One of God" from the bosom of his Father? What made the Creator of all things a sufferer, and cast on him the weight of that mysterious woe, that wrung the perspiration from his frame at every pore? It was sin. died, the just for the unjust." He "bore our sins in his own body on the tree."

"He

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He was made sin for us who knew no sin." "He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities." "God laid on him the iniquity of us all." He made his soul an offering for sin." Thus, as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive. God does not now impute to us our trespasses, but in Christ is reconciled to us; and ready for his sake to receive every returning sinner.

But our text contains another very awful picture of the state of man by nature; he is not only under the displeasure of God for sin; but it is his nature to be at enmity with God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Of this truth, also, Scripture, experience, and our own hearts amply testify. When Adam and Eve had sinned, their first desire was to hide themselves from the sight of that God whose presence had hitherto been the sun of their paradise. They feared his justice; they shrunk from his holiness; his very mercy stung them with a painful remorse. We seldom now meet a blasphemer bold enough to say, that he hates the character of God. Yet, otherwise, whence the murmurings at his dispensations? Whence the disregard of his commands?