heralded at his birth by choirs of angels, proclaiming, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." From Bethlehem to Calvary, from the manger even to the cross, in every step of his most holy life there is a winning pathos. As he grows in wisdom and in stature, we see him do thy will, O GOD. Baptized in Jordan, baptized of water and of the Spirit, he enters on his great mission to save souls. Amid signs and wonders, he is GOD manifest in the flesh. He appoints his ministry; he opens on the world a new era of divine grace. But he is despised and rejected; he is a man of sorrows; in Gethsemane, he tastes his cup of anguish; he is betrayed, condemned, and numbered with transgressors; he is mocked, and smitten, and afflicted. Yet he opens not his mouth. He is led forth out of Jerusalem, as a lamb to the slaughter. There, on Calvary, behold him crucified, — his blood spilled, his body writhing in great torture, and his soul sorrowful even unto death. The accumulated sufferings which had awaited untold myriads, are at once laid on him, and he is wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.

The throne of the MOST HOLY had long been intercepted by a dark, angry cloud, that hid God's face from us; a cloud, charged with mighty thunders and fierce lightnings, — the thunders of judicial wrath, and the lightnings of incensed indignation. Now all that wrath and indignation, concentrated in one bolt of vengeance, falls upon this SUBSTITUTE FOR SINNERS. Upon him is laid, at once, the iniquity of us all. The terrors of the cloud of wrath are all poured forth; and the fierce lightning flashes on the victim. All the weeping and the wailing in reversion for the whole race of man, is then borne, at once, by JESUS, in his own body on the cross. O was there ever sorrow like unto his sorrow! The sins of the whole world! Overwhelmed by the afflictive hiding of his Father's face, he utters a loud cry of bitterness, "My God, my GoD, why hast thou forsaken me !" It was a pang which he alone could bear. But he endures it for our sake, my brethren; and, when it was finished, in a convulsion of the elements he bows his head, and gives up the ghost.

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Then all things in heaven at once wear a new aspect. black cloud is dissipated. We may discern the throne of mercy, and, there seated, our reconciled Father in CHRIST JESUS, with his angelic throng of great and precious promises, all beckoning, and pointing, and entreating us, to look upon "Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." JESUS, my dear brethren, died for you. He expiated your guilt, by the precious blood of his atonement. reconciled to you as sinners; and he is now waiting, that sinners may become reconciled to him, through CHRIST. The pardon of sin, brethren, has been obtained, and may be appropriated by each one of you, through FAITH IN THE GREAT SACRIFICE. As sinners, you have but to accept the offered pardon, and to be justified and sanctified. Atonement has been made for the sins of the whole world, and of each one of you. GOD is propitiated, reconciled unto us, through the death of his Son; and JESUS has become, to every one of you who will flee to him, a Saviour from the wrath to come, opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Whatever spiritual blessings GOD can give, or man can ask, are to be found here. Of the vast circle of divine truth, the central point from which all its rays of glory emanate, is RECONCILIATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

CHRIST redeemed us to GoD, when we were yet sinners. He found out a way of salvation for us; and now we may come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. He has identified our salvation with his glory. Yes, brethren, his mediatorial work, the wonder of the higher orders of intelligences, is involved in the redemption of us sinners. And as he has procured your pardon, at so great a price, O how earnestly does he direct you to his cross, appealing to you, by his bitter agony and death, to come to him that you may obtain salvation! Well might an inspired servant of the Holy One exclaim, Such love passeth knowledge; for no seraph's wing can ever reach its elevation, and no cherub's voice can tell its deep counsels, they are unsearchable.

The mere story of the Crucified has a distinctive charm, that can arrest men's thoughts and move their sympathies. But to discern in the manifestation of this love of CHRIST "the sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction" made for sinners; to view the doctrine of a dying Saviour, as a constituent part of that mediatorial work in which are set forth to us the enormity of SIN, and the requirements of JUSTICE; to feel at heart the need of One to save, and that without a Mediator and Redeemer we must inevitably perish; to be convinced that there is none other name given among men whereby we may be saved, but only the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST; to apprehend this truth, as it is in JESUS; to be touched with a deep feeling of contrition for sin, in view of the bitter sufferings of Him who died for us, — oh then it is, that an emotion is awakened, which is the essence of true Gospel faith.*

The believer's view of what his Saviour has done for him, is the spring and ruling principle of all his thoughts and his affections. Convinced that he is bought with a price, he lives not unto himself, but unto Him who died for hitn; and he adopts as his undeviating rule, The will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning me.

This is the GOSPEL MOTIVE, my friends, which I would now preach.

II. WHATEVER VITALITY MAY BE DISCOVERED IN BELIEVERS, IS THE SURE RESULT OF THIS PRIME CAUSE OF ACTION. Their emotions and their conduct centre in the love of CHRIST. It is a diffusive energy, pervading the whole man, and giving a distinctive tone to all his thoughts and all his feelings; so that, contrasted with a stranger to this vital efficacy, there is discovered to us a new man. In the expressive language of our Homilies,† "Such is the power of the HOLY GHOST to regenerate men, and as it were bring them forth anew, that they shall be nothing like the men they were before."

* The characteristic views and feelings of the faithful, are expressed with a peculiarly hallowed glow of language, in our Church's formulary for THE COMMUNION, -more especially in the Invocation.

† Hoм. xxvii. Part 1.

The earthly, selfish, and debasing principle gives place to higher, holier affections. As in the attenuated arteries of our corporeal frame, so also in the vital current of our spiritual nature, there is to be felt a pulse without, that corresponds with the internal movement. Just as the renewed heart beats, so is the response given, in every thought, and word, and action of the believer.

By inducing an unreserved self-dedication to the LORD that bought us, the Gospel motive operates with so entire a moral influence, that it has power literally to transform men's hearts, from sin to holiness, from enmity against GOD to a supreme love of GOD. And it is also destined, in its final triumph, to bring to JESUS everlasting glory, in the salvation of a multitude which no man can number.

The contemplation of CHRIST's love, leads to the initial act of faith, a heartfelt conviction, that as he died for all, all must have perished but for his atonement. And as he redeemed us from our sins, it was expressly, that we should not live unto ourselves, but to the glory of his name.

In our text, the Apostle says, The love of CHRIST CON

STRAINETH US.

There is a singular propriety in the word which he here employed.* Wherever it is used in Scripture, it conveys a meaning, which depicts some one of the characteristic influences of our faith. It describes, at one time, a pervading, powerful affection of the body or of the mind; as in the case of those "taken with divers diseases and torments," (Matt. iv. 24, duvexoμévous. See also Luke iv. 38; Acts xxviii. 8; xviii. 5,) and those "taken with great fear." (Luke viii. 37.) It is used also, to describe the multitude who "thronged" our divine Master, (Luke viii. 45,) and the armies that were to keep in" Jerusalem on every side. (Luke xix. 43.) The same word is found also, where we read of the men, who, in the house of the High Priest, "held JESUS." (Luke xxii. 63.) It conveys, therefore, the idea of a pervading, powerful affection,

* The apostle's language is, 'Η γὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριςού συνέχει ἡμᾶς.

that sways the mind or body, not with a mere touch that is almost imperceptible, but by a grasp, which none can misapprehend, and from the power of which none can readily escape.

While our holy faith was in the freshness of its early bloom, the ancient records of the Church afford us striking illustrations of this Gospel power.

In the first ages, there were to be seen, animated with the spirit of an entire self-devotion, the Confessors and the Martyrs of our LORD, faithful in their most afflictive sufferings, faithful, even unto death. And as successive eras open on our view, we may discover numerous and ample testimonies to the constraining influence of the Gospel on men's hearts and lives. For eighteen hundred years, it has continued to impart a moral impulse, to which no parallel is to be found on any page of the world's history. At all times, and in all countries, it has surpassed the spirit that has governed heroes, statesmen, and philosophers; and when once admitted into any bosom, it has subordinated to itself the faculties and affections of the whole soul.

In apostolic times, we see a man infuriate with rage, hurrying on the highway to Damascus, and breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the LORD. There is a spiritual change effected in him; and he is soon beheld a holy man of GOD, kneeling down at Miletus, in all the earnestness of an affecting prayer with souls whom, by his ministry, he has won for CHRIST. These are but two aspects of the same person. (Acts ix. 1, 2; xx. 36, 37, 38.) They are a triumphant exhibition of the Gospel's power.

It was this convert to the truth in JESUS, who, in his Second Epistle to the Church at Corinth, wrote our text. And if he became the very chief of the apostles, and labored more abundantly than they all, it was because he was more habitually and more effectually under the constraining influence of the love of CHRist.

The great reason why we see so little of the POWER of the Gospel in our times, is our great dearth of Gospel MOTIVE.

If the hundreds of our sermons, every Lord's day, are productive of so little fruit, it is, in part at least, because we who