died for thee; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life. 2. But although the sacrificial death of Christ be the grand means and the cause whence human salvation flows, yet there are other means which God devises in order to make this effectual: the LAW of God must be published, to shew man His righteousness. It must enter, that sin may be seen to abound: by this law is the knowledge of sin, for no man can see his guilty state, and the ruin to which he is exposed, unless he examine his conduct and the workings of his heart by the law: in vain is salvation preached, unless sinners are shewn that they need it. What are they to be saved from? Is it not the curse of the law? Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. This curse has fallen on every soul of man, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And who sees the worth of the Gospel who does not know the exceeding sinfulness of sin! He who does not preach this law, strongly and fully, does not use one of the principal means which God has devised that His banished be not expelled from Him. 3. When this is done, and the sinners become terrified, and fearfulness surprises the hypocrites, then Jesus must be announced, as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world: His incarnation,-His agony and bloody sweat,His cross and passion,-His death and burial,-His glorious resurrection and triumphant ascension,-with His mediation at the throne of God, must be all distinctly and powerfully announced, as proclaiming the way, the truth, and the life; and proving, that no man can come unto the Father but by Him. If JESUS be preached without the LAW, sinners become either hardened or lost in their own presumption: if the LAW be preached without CHRIST, sinners are driven into despair. Shew Israel that he has destroyed himself: then shew him that in this omnipotent Saviour his help is found. 4. But even all this Scriptural and rational preaching will avail nothing, unless another means of God's devising be superadded, in order to give it effect-the influence of the HOLY SPIRIT-that Spirit that convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment; that Spirit of light and fire, that pene trates the inmost recesses of the soul, dragging forth to the view of conscience the innumerable crimes that were hidden under successive layers of deep darkness, when through this luminous, burning agency, the sinner is obliged to cry out, What shall I do to be saved! Save, Lord, or I perish! Heal my soul, for it has sinned against Thee! When this conviction of sin is deepened in every part, and utter selfdespair has taken full possession of the understanding and 1udgment, then that same Spirit will take of the things that are Christ's, and shew them to the broken heart:-it will excite strong confidence in the sovereign availableness of His merits, who, by the grace of God, has tasted death for every man; and when, through His mighty working, the penitent has laid hold on the Hope set before him in the gospel, that Spirit despatched from the throne of justice and grace, will bear witness with his spirit, that the great Sacrifice is accepted in his behalf, and he shall immediately hear, by no equivocal voice, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee! On this news from above, he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory; finding that he is begotten again unto a living hope; knowing that if he abide in this faith, rooted and grounded in love, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, having his robes washed and made white by the blood of the Lamb, he shall soon obtain that inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven for all the sons and daughters of God. 5. Besides these which are the grand means and cause of salvation, God devises many others, humanly speaking, of a minor character, suited to the various complexions and circumstances of men; to bring the thoughtless man to a sense of his danger, and a conviction of His readiness to save. Several of these are beautifully detailed by Elihu, in his pathetic address to Job, chap xxxiii. 14. :—in dreams and visions of the night, He often opens the ears of man and seals his instruction, ver. 15, 16. ;-He reduces his strength by sickness, chastening him with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain, and terrifies him with the fear of approaching death, ver. 19–22. :—in the course of His gracious Providence, He sends some of His faithful servants to visit him in his sickness, to shew him his sinfulness, and the Ransom which the Lord hath provided for him, ver. 23, 24, : -thus He delivers his soul from going down to the pit, and K 2 VOL. II. 15 his life sees the light, ver. 28. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. 6. In short, there is scarcely an occurrence in Providence, that has not the same gracious tendency: as He is continually pressing every thing into the service of man, in order to his conversion, and causing all things to work together for good to them that love Him. And all this devising of means, and constructing that apparently complex and astonishingly contrived apparatus of human redemption, justifies and illustrates that strong assertion of the Lord by his prophet:— Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his way ana live? As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live-Turn ye! turn ye! from your evil ways! for WHY will ye die, O house of Israel. Ezek. xviii. 23. ; xxxiii. 11. Thus, reader, it is demonstrated, that though we must needs die, and are as water spilt upon the ground, that cannot be gathered up again, and that God respecteth no man's person, yet doth He devise means that His banished be not expelled from Him. Then, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, receive the gift of His Holy Spirit, and thou shalt not perish, but have everlasting life! Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy; to the only wise God our Saviour; be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. March 22, 1829. SERMON XXI. TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ANSWERED. PSALM xv. 1-5. 1. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2. He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 3. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. 5. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. THAT divinely inspired man who has been called emphatically the Apostle of the Gentiles, has informed us that, Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Rom. xv. 4. Now, as he speaks here to those under the Christian dispensation, of those who lived under the Jewish dispensation, and consequently of those Scriptures which were given to Moses and the Prophets, by the inspiration of God; we learn that those Scriptures were not designed for the use and benefit of that people only, but were intended for the edification of both Jews and Gentiles, to the end of time. If, therefore, we were even to suppose that this Psalm were written toward the conclusion of the Babylonish captivity, and that it related to the settlement of the returning captives, in their own land, and pointed out the re storation of the temple worship, and the character of the persons, who should be found fit to be employed in it: yet still, from the authority of the Apostle, we have a right to claim it as designed for us also, and expect from it instruction, lessons of patience, comfort, and hope. But, losing sight of this point, we see that the subject is of the most general utility, and demands the most serious attention of all who believe in the immortality of the soul, and are concerned for their character here, and their future happiness. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? yer. 1. As it may be necessary to make a little alteration in the translation, it will be proper to introduce the original; the alteration, however, though important, will be very slight: Yehovah, mi yagur be-aholeca; mi yishcon be-har kodsheca ? "O Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in the mountain of thy holiness?" -יהיה מי יגור באהלך מי ישכן בהר קדשך The word abide refers to a permanent dwelling, a settled habitation, which is not the meaning of r yagur, in the text. It is derived from u gar, or, “ gur, to dwell any where for a time; to inhabit as not in a settled dwelling; to sojourn as a stranger; and rather means a temporary lodging, or a sojourning, answering to the tabernacle, to which it refers: and the word " yishcon, from 1 shacan, to remain, rest, sit still, or remain at rest, is properly enough translated dwell, or abide, i. e. to rest permanently, answering to the temple, or holy hill of God-Zion, to which it refers in the second clause of the verse. Now, for the better understanding of this twofold question, we should note the following particu lars: 1. The Jewish tabernacle, which was a kind of moveable temple, and was migratory with the Israelites, in all their peregrinations from Egypt till their settlement in the Promised Land, is allowed by all to be a type of the church militant, or the state of the people of God in this world. 2. Mount Zion, or the mountain of God's holiness, where Solomon's temple was built, and the divine worship in all its ordinances became established, is allowed by the general voice of Jews and Gentiles, to be a type of the kingdom of heaven. The ark, there became stationary, being absorbed in the tem |