for Adam and Abel and ourselves. By his own obedience no man has ever found acceptance before God. But the same Almighty grace which has rescued the believing sinners in this congregation, brought the first ransomed sinner to glory, and every other one since his time. We offer no new commandment unto you, but that commandment which has been from the beginning, that you should believe on him who has been set up from everlasting, as the one Mediator between God and man, in whose blood alone there is redemption for your souls, even the forgiveness of your sins.

II. How elevated is the view which this subject presents of the character of our Saviour Christ! His love how wonderful, that interposed for man in the moment of his transgression, when there was no arm that could save, and there seemed no possibility of finding any expedient by which the apparently inevitable punishment of sin could be turned aside. How great the power which has been exercised to accomplish this work of redemption in every age. Angels who have witnessed from the beginning his labours of love, know how worthy he is to receive blessing, and honour and glory for what he has done, and they gladly unite to praise him for all his goodness, and all his mercy. Unnumbered multitudes of ransomed saints in the enjoyment of the glory which he has purchased, ascribe all the praise for their redemption unto him. He is the head of all things in heaven and on earth, and all living beings live through him. To the once crucified and now exalted Jesus, the universe, which is upheld by the word of his power, unites to render its thankful homage.

How unspeakable is the privilege which this subject presents to the true believer in Jesus Christ! The least in the kingdom of heaven is united by an everlasting bond to the glorious assembly who have been redeemed through the blood of the Son of God. The Redeemer has but one church. Angels, and living saints, and dead, but one communion make. The

innumerable company of angels are subjected unto him. The ransomed believers in his power, from righteous Abel down to this day, are partakers of his glory; and to this holy and heavenly assembly, the weakest believer on earth is eternally united. The poorest Christian in the world is the constant subject of angelic protection and care. And though men may despise him, the hosts of heaven delight to watch over him, to minister to his wants, to console his sorrows, to defend him from dangers, and to bring him to the salvation of which he is made an heir. How delightful is the thought that we are never alone! In all our afflictions we have a great High Priest whom angels worship; who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and remembers whereof we are made. In our seasons of bodily suffering or family distress, in our periods of earthly adversity and want, he will be a present and all-sufficient help. When the shades of death are gathering around us, he will stand by us to alleviate our distress and to elevate our hope. He will pass with us through the dark valley that we may be in perfect peace. In the great day of judgment he will own us amidst assembled worlds, as the satisfying travail of his soul. He will proclaim to the universe that we are the jewels whom he has purchased for himself, and over whom he will rejoice for ever. He will accept us, poor and worthless as we are, freely through the value of his own blood, and crown us with everlasting glory in heaven. How unspeakable is the privilege of being united to the whole company of the redeemed, through the precious and all-sufficient offering which is published to us in the gospel; and that privilege belongs to every one who has sought for refuge in the precious blood of a divine and mighty Saviour.

How amazing is the conduct of those who persevere in rejecting the mercies which this gospel presents to universal acceptance! With what unutterable joy Adam must have heard of a hope of returning peace! With what transport

Abel must have taken possession of that home of glory to which he was carried so suddenly from the trials of the world! And why should any of you, who need a Saviour as much as they, and to whom the blessings of redemption are as freely offered as they were to them, take upon yourselves the voluntary and persevering rejection of all that Christ has done in your behalf. How much you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man when the wish will be entirely vain! It is a fact with the unconverted sinner,-despise the assertion of it as he will,-that the hour will come, when, trembling and astonished, he will crouch before the Son of · man, and beg and cry for the mercy which he has so often cast heedlessly away How amazing is it that the man who knows that death, and judgment and eternity are spread before him, should be willing to throw away a hope, the sufficiency of which he acknowledges, while he has no. thing to supply its place upon which he dare trust himself. And yet this is the conduct of every unconverted soul before There is not a man here, destitute of spiritual religion, with a heart unrenewed by the Holy Spirit, but is rejecting what he knows to be a sufficient hope, while the rejection of this hope leaves his soul utterly without comfort and peace. How amazing in the sight of angels must be this course. They wondered when mercy was proposed to man. They must wonder still more when this mercy is again offered, after it has been rejected. They must wonder most of all, if sinners still persevere in this rejection, and finally determine to choose darkness rather than light.

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LECTURE IV.

THE WISDOM OF THE GOSPEL.

We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory.-1 CORINTHIANS II. 7.

THE object which the gospel is to attain, the way in which it is to attain it, and the history of its attainment of this object in past ages, have occupied our attention in three former discourses. I wish now to speak of the several characteristics of the gospel itself, as a dispensation of divine grace and mercy to man; to show its unsearchable wisdom, as an expedient for man's salvation; its almighty power as an instrument for the accomplishment of this end; the grace and love which are displayed in the gift which it offers unto man, and its excellency and glory, as a revelation of the character and purposes of God in his relation to fallen man.

My present subject is the unsearchable wisdom of God, as displayed in the gospel, as an expedient or plan for man's salvation.

The text which I have selected contains St. Paul's description of this wisdom, as proclaimed by him and his fellow apostles. When he carried the gospel of Jesus to the enlightened and philosophical inhabitants of Corinth, he was aware that they sought after wisdom, and expected him to develope to them some new scheme of philosophy which should furnish matter for their own speculations. In opposition to this desire of theirs, he professes to them the single determination with which he came to them, which was to make

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known to perishing transgressors, Jesus Christ and him crucified, as the only foundation for hope or acceptance before God.

This preaching rejected all the enticing words of man's wisdom; all the false and delusive words of persuasion with which other teachers were accustomed to come to them, and depended for its whole success, upon the demonstration of the Divine Spirit and the power of God. He did not attempt to flatter them upon their own powers of understanding, nor to submit to the decisions of their natural and darkened reasons, the truths which he was sent to teach. He told them of their sins and dangers, and he held out to them freely the remedy which divine grace had provided for their wants. Such preaching, which dealt only with men as poor and depraved creatures, which addressed them from an eminence of authority, as those who were lost, was regarded by them as foolishness, and their proud hearts despised him for the bold assertions which he made of the necessity of man, and of the abundant mercy of God.

But though he has often adopted their own scornful expression, and called the preaching of the cross of Jesus foolishness, he denies that such was really the character of his preaching. "We speak wisdom," he says, "among them that are perfect," or able to understand us, “yet, not the wisdom of this world;" no wisdom of man's discovery. "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery; the wisdom which has been hidden, but which God ordained before the world to our glory."

The apostle here, as in many other places, calls the gospel the "wisdom of God." He describes it as wisdom which reveals such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived; as wisdom which is revealed to man solely by the Spirit of God; the Spirit which searcheth all