faid: but I have mentioned it by itself, because befides that sense of the obligation and purity of the law of God, which must pave the way to a sinner's acceptance of the righteousness of Chrift, there is a discovery of the evil of fin, and its abominable nature, in every part of this "myf

tery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh," and the truths founded upon it; so that the more these are believed, and the more they are attended to and recollected, the more must the believer be determined to hate and abhor every wicked and false way; every new view which he takes of the gospel of his salvation, every act of trust and confidence exerted upon it, must increase his horror of fin, and excite him to fly from it.

ment.

Let us confider a little what views are presented us of the evil of fin in the doctrine of Christ, and of him crucified. Here we see that a holy and just God would not forgive fin without an atoneWhat a demonstaation is this of its malignity, if carefully attended to, and kept constantly in our eye, as a part of our very idea of the Divine Nature! The difficulty in this case is our partiality in our own cause; we are unwilling to think sin so very blame-worthy, because this is condemning ourselves: but, let us confider what views an all-wife and impartial God hath of it, and form ours upon his. And that we may VOL. I.

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not so much as once blafphemously imagine, that he also is partial on his own side, let us remember that he is the God of love, who, by this very falvation, hath magnified his love in a manner that passeth knowledge. He shews his sense of the evil of the crime, even whilft he is contriving, nay, in the very contrivance of a proper way for the criminal's escape. He is not, so to speak, fetting forth the malignity of the offence, in order to justify the severity of his own vengeance, but he is exerting his amiable attribute of mercy, and yet here must the evil of fin appear.

Confider, in a particular manner, upon this subject, the dignity and glory of the perfon who made this atonement. The value of the purchase may be seen in the greatness of the price; the evil of fin in the worth of the propitiation. " For we are not redeemed with corruptible

things, such as filver and gold, but with the " precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb with" out blemish and without spot*." It was no less a person than the eternal and only begotten Son of God, who was before all worlds, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, who suffered in our steadWhoever confiders the frequent mention in the facred oracles, of the glory and dignity of the person of Chrift, must be satisfied that it is not without design; and none can truly relish or improve these truths, but such as thence learn the evil of fin, the immenseness of that debt which required one of so great, nay, of infinite and inexhaustible riches, to be able to pay it. A creature indeed behoved to suffer; and therefore he became the son of man, but intimately united to the Creator, God blessed for ever. It was one of the first and earliest confeffions of faith, That Jesus Christ was the Son of God; and this belief must have the strongest influence in shewing us the evil of fin, which none else was able to expiate.

In many passages of Scripture, God's sending his own Son into the world to save sinners, is represented as the strongest proof poffible of his compaffion and love. The nearness of the relation teaches us, as it were, to suppose some reluc. tance in bestowing him, in allufion to which there is a beautiful expreffion of the apostle Paul, "* He that spared not his own Son, but deli"vered him up for us all, how shall he not with " him also freely give us all things?" The very same thing shews, with equal clearness, his abhorrence of fin. However strongly disposed to save finners, he would have fin to be expiated, though his own Son should be the victim : if any thing could have made him dispense with it, this

should furely have had the effect: and therefore the condemning of sin seems to have been as much in view, as the salvation of the sinner.

Every light in which we can view this subject, contributes to set before us the evil of fin. I shall only mention further, the greatness and severity of the fufferings of our Redeemer, as they are represented both prophetically, to shew how much was exacted, and historically, to shew what was paid. As the whole of his life was to be a state of humiliation and forrow, it is said, " * As many " were astonished at thee, his visage was so mar"red more than any man, and his form than the " fons of men." Again, " He is despised and " rejected of men, a man of forrows, and ac" quainted with grief; and we hid, as it were,

our faces from him; he was despised, and we " esteemed him not." Once more, "He was

wounded for our transgrestions, he was bruised " for our iniquities: the chastisement of our "peace was upon him, and with his stripes we " are healed." In the history of his life in the new testament, we see all this verified, in the meanness of his birth, and the continued infults and reproaches thrown upon him during the course of his life. There is one remarkable pafsage, John viii. 57. "Thou art not yet fifty "years old, and haft thou seen Abraham?" The

:

* Ifa, lii. 14. liii, 5, 5.

meaning meaning of this is hardly obvious, unless we suppose that his natural beauty and bloom was fo wasted and decayed by forrow, that he seemed to strangers near twenty years older than he really

was.

In the close of the gospel, we have an account of the last scene of his fufferings, in the garden, and on the cross. "He was fore amazed, and

very heavy. His foul was exceeding forrow" ful, even unto death.-His sweat was as it

were great drops of blood, falling down to the "ground." He was at last stretched on an accursed tree, where the pain of a tortur'd body was but small to the anguish of an overwhelmed spirit, which constrained him to utter this heavy complaint, " My God, my God, why hast thou "forsaken me?" Let the Christian stand at the foot of the cross, and there see the evil of fin, which required so costly an expiation. Let him there see the holiness and justice of God in its punishment. Let him hear the most High, saying, "Awake, O fword, against the man who is my " fellow." And let him thence learn, how much fin is the object of divine detestation.

Hath a believer then a firm perfuafion of all these truths? Are they the frequent theme of his meditations? And must they not necessarily fill him with an abhorrence of fin, inflame him with a hatred of it, and excite in him a self-lothing on