draw near with a true heart in FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." In this passage, does the apostle,-does the Holy Spirit,expect a penitent to approach the throne in the "full assurance" that he is actually accepted, and that he shall and must be finally saved? No; he is to approach with a full assurance and confidence that even he may be accepted and saved, and that "he who cometh shall in no wise be cast out."

Suppose a messenger had been commissioned to go through all the camp of Israel to announce the provision of the brazen serpent as a medium, for healing all those who had been bitten by the fiery serpents. Suppose any one in the camp-suppose each and all to say, "Do you really mean for me individually?" Would not the messenger cheerfully and honestly say, "Yes, I mean you, and whosoever is bitten." From such a testimony every one bitten might look up to the brazen serpent, in the full assurance of faith, that there was healing in it for him, and each might say of it, "Which regards me, and was lifted up for me."

It is to this assurance that every faithful herald of grace wishes to bring every sinner who hears him, even to the belief and assurance that Jesus Christ "loved him, and gave himself for him." Is the prominency which I give to this subject startling? Then I can only take up my lamentation that it has not been before made more prominent in the ministrations of truth, that its whole outline and features might have been more familiar to every hearer of the gospel. It is high time that it should take its due place in the ministry of the gospel. In this discussion are you jealous for the credit of some human system of theology? What?-would you rather that sinners perished, than that they be saved to the detriment of a theological system? It is to be lamented that in the Christian church, as well as in the Jewish, the "traditions of men" have the attachment and homage which are due only to "the commandments of

God." Let God be true, whatever theological system be found a liar. Let Christians and divines consent rather to sustain the crash of all the théological systems in the world, than reject or unsettle one stone in the temple of divine truth.

I will now state the evidences which prove that it is the bounden duty of every man who hears the gospel, to believe that Jesus Christ died for him, and made atonement for his sins.

I. The testimony of the holy scriptures plainly shews that the death of Jesus Christ concerns every man in the world.

For the fullest and clearest evidence of this proposition, I refer the reader to the following passages: John iii, 14-17; iv, 42; i, 29; iv. 51; 2 Cor. v, 10, 19. 1 John ii. 2; iv. 14; Mat. xviii. 11. 1 Tim. iv. 10; ii. 4, 5, 6. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. Tit. ii. 11. Heb. ii. 9, 10.

There is not a hint in the scriptures that can suggest the apprehension to any sinner that Christ did not die for him. There is not the remotest allusion to any class of sinners for whom Christ did not die; though there are many references to classes for whom he died in vain. There is no text of scripture that expresses the sentiment that Christ did not die for every

man.

The class of passages which assert that Christ died for "his sheep," and that he gave himself for "his church," do not at all exclude others. Such passages only point out the actual result of his death, and not its design, and aspect, and adaptation. Suppose an Antislavery society had ransomed all the slaves of our colonies, and designed to remove them to another country. Some slaves, nevertheless, proved so fond of their slavery, and so attached to their oppressor, that they would not take the benefit of the ransom. If the Society, or the historian of the society, speaking of the slaves actually emancipated, should say, "We redeemed you with a high ransom," or, "a great ransom was laid down for them" no reader would infer that the ransom had

not embraced the rest, who had loved slavery more than freedom.

The passages which I have marked above give a clear, simple, and unsophisticated testimony, concerning the applicableness of the death of Christ. Good sense and right reason require no warrant for believing a testimony, but its truth. This is truth, that Christ tasted death for every man; therefore, every man can say, and ought to believe, that Christ died for him. He can use the language of Paul, "who loved me, and gave himself for me."

II. The gospel comes to every sinner as an authoritative message to invite him, to require and demand of him to accept and partake of the benefits of the death of Christ.

Let the reader refer to the following passages:-Mat. xi, 28, 29; xxii, 2, 3, 4. John viii, 37. Isa. lv. 1—7. Rev. xxii, 16, 17. John vi, 29; xii, 35, 36. Acts xvii, 30. 2 Cor. v, 20 to vi, 2.

The parable of the marriage supper supposes the commission of the gospel to be, "As many as ye shall find, bid unto the marriage." If Christian ministers in their missionary search to "seek and to save that which is lost," find out every individual of the human race, they will act an unfaithful and a dishonest part, if they do not bid every one of them into the feast of provisions in the atonement of Christ. The gospel leaves out none; even rejecters and despisers are invited.

The belief or unbelief of a sinner cannot alter the fact of Christ's dying for him. A sinner cannot make it true by believing it, if it were not true before. Nor can he make that which was previously true, to be untrue, by his disbelieving it. The fact is unalterable, and cannot be annulled. That Christ died for many is true, whether believed or not; and that Christ tasted death for every man is as true as the Bible, whether believed or not. The sinner's belief of this testimony is an act of homage and obedience due from him to the declared will of God; it is a compliance with the invitations of

the gospel. His disbelief of this message is "making God a liar," and is, therefore, condemned as wrong and inexcusable.

In the message of the gospel God offers pardon, peace, and acceptance to all, "reconciling the world to himself" in Christ. God does not offer what he cannot honorably grant. As moral governor he cannot honorably grant pardon and reconciliation to any sinner, without an atonement for his sin, that is, he cannot offer acceptance to any sinner for whom Christ did not die. Unless atonement were made for a given individual, all the believing in the world would not save him; and to offer him salvation on his believing, would be horrible trifling. An offer of pardon to one who has never been atoned for, is an effect without a cause, a measure with

out a reason.

Christ is offered to the sinner as "the author of salvation," that is, as one that has made atonement for the sins of that sinner. An exhibition or an offer of Christ to the sinner, in any other character, is not the gospel. The gospel reveals and offers Christ to the sinner to redeem him, to cleanse him, and to save him. Christ cannot do these things for any sinner, without dying for that sinner. The Savior of man will not die again; therefore, since the gospel offers him as a Savior to every man, he has already died for every sinner-for all to whom the gospel can make an offer of him. Yes: this only is the ground of the broad and ample invitations of the gospel. The universal offer to every sinner, is not founded on God's foreknowledge that some will not comply, nor on the minister's ignorance as to the persons of the elect; but it is founded on the offering up of the atonement. The invitations of the gospel are founded on the actual provisions in the feast, and these are the same, whether those who are bidden hear, or whether they forbear.

III. Every sinner is now in the actual possession of mercies and blessings, which would never have come to him, but for the sake of the death of Christ for him.

The Lord Jesus Christ is "the Heir of all things, the "Head over all things;" for "the Father hath committed all things to the Son." Christ is the Heir and

owner of every man's health and life, talents and property, mercies and influence. He is the heir and owner of these things, not as God, but as Mediator-as the author of atonement.

Let me reason this point with my reader. How came you to be possessed of these mercies and favors? You know that God has no way of shewing any favor to a sinner, except through Jesus Christ. If he could shew any favor, he could shew every favor, irrespective of Christ; and then the atonement must appear a measure unnecessary and unreasonable. You have all the mer

grace, you

cies of this life, you have the means of have the strivings of the Holy Spirit. Did these come to you by natural descent from Adam? Came they by your own merits? Or, came they from mere arbitrary will of the divine Ruler? If you exclude the atonement, you cannot account for them.

Consider the three following facts:-every sinner is under the just curse of the divine government-the providence which extends any blessing to such a sinner, is the disposal of things by the atoning Mediator; and He is crowned with this authority, not because he is God, but because he tasted death for every man.

The mercies which you have are to you the effects of

his death for you. Had he not, on the fall of Adam,

interfered on the ground of his atonement, neither you, nor any other single child of Adam, would ever have come into being. Had this gracious interference not been for you, you would never have existed. Your existence, therefore, and all its mercies, come through him, and for his sake. It is for his sake that your life has been spared so long-it is He that has hitherto interceded for you, "spare it this year also." When you are ill, or any of your children, or friends ill, for whose sake do you pray for health to be restored and established? It is for Christ's sake; therefore, your health