covenanted, and systematised in him and through him before the foundation of the world. These two propositions are so intimately connected, that they are generally asserted in the same portions of scripture. For example: "He hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Tim. i. 9. Again, "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but has in due time manifested his word through preaching." Titus i. 1, 2:* "He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Eph. i. 4. Indeed, Jesus himself intimates that the whole affair of man's redemption, even to the preparation of the eternal abodes of the righteous, was arranged ere time was born: for, in his own parable of the final judgment, he says, " Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit a kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matth. xxv. 34. And Peter settles the matter for ever by assuring us that we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Christ, then, is the lamb that was foreordained, and "slain from the foundation of the world." Therefore, says Jesus to his Father, speaking doubtless in contemplation of his work," Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world;" and thus, as Matthew quotes a prophet speaking of him," he uttered things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world "

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VI. Evident then it is, that the whole remedial or gospel system was purposed, arranged, and established upon the

* In the original the phrase in these two passages is pro chronoon ainonoon, translated sometimes, "before the times of the ages -before the Jewish jubilees or ages began; and means that God's purpose to call the gentiles was antecedent to the covenants with Abraham and the Jews. Thus understood, it only proves that the purposes and promises of God in Christ were formed and expressed before the days of Abraham. But it is equally true as respects the beginning of time for the phrase pro and apo katabole kosmou, found ten times in the New Testament, literally indicates the foundation of the world, We quote Eph. i. 4.; Matt. xxv. 31.; 1 Peter i. 19., as unequivocally declarative of this.

basis of the revealed distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and by these, in reference to one another, before the foundation of the world; and that all the institutions and developments of religion in the different ages of the world, were, in pursuance of that system, devised in eternity, and consummated some two thousand years ago.

VII. Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, was elected, or rather, was always the elect, the beloved of God, and appointed to be the foundation of this new creation. "Behold," said Jehovah seven centuries before his birth, "I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner, a sure foundation," called by Peter" an elect stone," though disallowed by the Jewish builders. Again, by the same prophet he is called the elect of God: "Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delights! I have put my Spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles," &c. "He shall be for salvation to the ends of the earth."

VIII. In consequence of these gracious purposes of God, the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us—the Son of God was sent by his Father; became a Prophet, a High Priest, and a King over men, that he might be the mediator and administrator of an institution of grace. He became the righteous servant of Jehovah, a voluntary sacrifice for us; died, was buried, and rose again; ascended where he had been before; then, in union with his Father, sent the Holy Spirit, who proceeded forth from the presence and by the authority of the Father and the Son, to consummate the sanctification of his people. He is now placed upon the throne of God; head over all things to complete the triumphs of his cause; to lead many sons to glory; to raise the dead, judge the world, and revenge Satan and all that took part with him in his rebellion, whether angels or men: to create new heavens and a new earth, and to establish eternal peace, and love, and joy through all the new dominions which he shall have gained, and over which he shall have reigned: for he must reign till all his and our enemies shall have been subdued for ever. Then he shall resign into the hands that gave him this empire, all that species of authority which he exercised in this great work of human deliverance. Then God himself, in his antecedent character and glory, as he reigned before sin was born, and this administration began, shall preside over all things in all places for ever and ever.

IX. The present elect of God are, then, those who are in Christ, and not those out of him: for it was in him that God has set his affection upon them, and choose them to eternal life before the world began. God is not, indeed, in this whole affair a respecter of persons. It is at character, and not at person, that God looks. He has predestinated all that are in Christ "to be holy and without blame before him in love," and, at his coming, to be conformed to him in all personal excellency and beauty, and to share with him the bliss of a glorious immortality. So that "we shall be like him;" he the first born, and we his junior brethren, bearing his image in our persons as exactly as we now bear the image of the earthly Adam the father of us all.

X. In all these gracious purposes of God, two things are most remarkable:-First, that he has elected and called certain persons to high and responsible stations as parts of a grand system of practical philanthropy; such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Paul, &c. &c. These were chosen and elevated not for their own sakes, so much as for public benefactors and blessings to the human race. It is not for its own sake that the eye is so beautiful, or performs the functions of vision; nor that the ear is so curiously fashioned, and performs the office of hearing; but for the general comfort and safety of the whole body. So stand in the family of God-in the body of Christ, all apostles, prophets, preachers, reformers, and all specially called and chosen persons. As the Lord said to Saul of Tarsus, so may it be said of all those sons of oilthose elect ones; "I have appeared to you to make you a minister and a witness for me, to send you to the Gentiles," &c.—to make you a public benefactor. Next to this remarkable fact is another still more remarkable;-that according to the purposes of God in reference to the whole human race, things are so arranged and set in order, that all enjoyments shall be, as respects human agency, conditional; and that every man, in reference to spiritual and eternal blessings, shall certainly and infallibly have his own choice. Therefore, life and death, good and evil, happiness and misery, are placed before man as he now is, and he is commanded to make his own election and take his choice. Having chosen the good portion, he is then to "give all diligence to make his calling and election sure."

CHAPTER IX.

RELIGION FOR MAN AND NOT MAN FOR RELIGION.

I. Religion, as the term imports, began after the fall; for it indicates a previous apostacy. A remedial system is for a diseased subject. The primitive man could love, wonder, and adore, as angels now do, without religion; but man, fallen and apostate, needs religion in order to his restoration to the love, and worship, and enjoyment of God. Religion, then, is a system of means of reconciliation-an institution for bringing man back to God-something to bind man anew to love and delight in God.*

II. It consists of two departments;-the things that God has done for us, and the things that we must do for ourselves. The whole proposition of necessity, in this case, must come from the offended party. Man could propose nothing, do nothing to propitiate his Creator, after he had rebelled. against him. Heaven therefore overtures; and man accepts, surrenders, and returns to God. The Messiah is a gift, sacrifice is a gift, justification is a gift, the Holy Spirit is a gift, eternal life is a gift, and even the means of our personal sanctification is a gift from God. Truly we are saved by grace. Heaven, we say, does certain things for us, and also proposes to us what we should do to inherit eternal life. It is all of God: for he has sent his Son; he has sent his Spirit; and all that they have done, or shall do, is of free favour; and the proposition concerning our justification and sanctification is equally divine and gracious as the mission of his Son. We are only asked to accept a sacrifice which God has provided for our sins, and then the pardon of them, and to open the doors of our hearts, that the Spirit of God may come in and make its abode in us. God has provided all these blessings for us, and only requires us to accept of them freely, without any price or idea of merit on our part. But he asks us to receive them cordially, and to give up our hearts to him.

* Religo, with all its Latin family, imports a binding again, or tying fast that which was dissolved.

III. It is in the kingdom of grace, as in the kingdom of nature. Heaven provides the bread, the water, the fruits, the flowers; but we must gather and enjoy them. And if there be no merit in eating the bread which heaven has sent for physical life and comfort, neither is there merit in eating the bread of life which came down from heaven for our spiritual life and consolation. Still, it is true, in grace, as in nature that he that eats not, shall die. Hence there are conditions of enjoyments, though no conditions of merit, either in nature or grace. We shall, therefore, speak in detail of the things which God has done, and of the things that we must do, as essential to our salvation. First, of the things that God has done :

CHAPTER X.

SACRIFICE FOR SIN.

I. The history of sacrifice is the history of atonement, reconciliation, redemption, and remission of sins. These are not, at least in the Jewish and Christian style, exactly synonymous terms. Sacrifice atones and reconciles. It propitiates God, and reconciles man. It is the cause, and these are its effects on heaven and earth, on God and man.

II. For form's sake, and, perhaps, for the sake of perspi cuity, four questions ought here to be propounded and resolved, at the very threshold of our inquiries. 1. What is sacrifice ? 2. To whom is it to be offered ? 3. For whom is it to be offered? 4. By whom is it to be offered? The answers are as prompt and brief as the interrogations. 1. In its literal and primary acceptance, it is "the solemn and religious infliction of death upon an innocent and unoffending victim, usually by shedding its blood." Figuratively, it means the offering of any thing, living or dead, person, or animal, or property to God. 2. Religious sacrifice is to be offered to God alone. 3. It is to be offered for man. 4. It is to be offered by a priest.

Hence

III. The greater part of sacrifices were lambs. Christ is called the LAMB OF GOD, not because of his innocence or patience, but because "he taketh away," or beareth "the sin of the world." It is rather, then, with reference to his death than his life, that he is called the Lamb of God.

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