twain, and the second covenant be opened. If we step beyond what Christ has said, we may as well give up the Scriptures, and trust to our own vain imaginations. There sin will end; and that is dismission, pardon or redemption from it. "O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law-but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now, here it is represented, that our victory, over sin and death, is when we rise to immortal glory. Our victory over sin is at the same instant with our victory over death; and who will deny that our victory over death *will be at the resurrection? The objector may as well deny our victory over death at the resurrection, as to deny our victory over sin at that period. The whole is said to be "through Christ. He was our "forerunner" and "first fruits" to represent our condition there. When he expired, he was free from pain, and when he arose, he was free from temptation. So when we pass the same scene, we shall be like him, who is our "resurrection and life," otherwise the harvest will not be like "the first fruits."

God, then, pardoned the human race, in Christ, when he made them. How? Ans. by ordering their existence in such a manner, that they should be freed from sin through death and the resurrection. That is the day of our final discharge-the day, when the prisoner shall be set free-the day, when our redemption shall come. But asks the objector, are we not to realize our pardon in this world? Ans. only through faith in the reality. We look forward, and anchor our hope withn the veil of death, and enjoy our pardon, or

redemption, only by an eye of faith. This 'faith works by love and purifies the heart." It causes us, in a great measure, to break off our sins by righteousness. But this has no influence, whatever, over the sins already committed. For them, we must still continue to feel miserable. Punishment is certain. From the sins that are committed, we only enjoy our pardon or redemption from them through faith in Christ the resurrection. Paul told the believers, that if there were no resurrection, their faith was vain, they were yet in their sins. This proves that they only enjoyed the pardon of their sins through faith in the resurrection, otherwise I see no force in his language.

But inquires, the reader, why do you pray that God would pardon our sins? Ans. I de not pray to turn the Almighty from his will and purpose; but humbly trust, that I spend my days in searching out what "that perfect will of God is," and then pray in reconciliation to his revealed will. It is wicked to pray what we do not believe. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." I believe that God pardoned us from the beginning, and that this pardon will be realized through death and the resurrection. And when I pray that God would pardon our sins, I mean that he would grant us an evidence of that pardon, which unchangeably existed in his eternal mind, by enlightening our understanding in

the

Scriptures of truth, and giving us correct views of his character as a Being of tenderness and compassion to the children of men. So when we say, God has pardoned us, we do not mean that he has been moved by our petitions to do a new act; but that through the appointed means, he has so far enlightened our minds, that we have received an evi

dence of that pardon which existed with him from the beginning, and by faith we look forward, believing it will take place through death and the resurrection, as Christ has proved. By this faith we perceive the love of God, and break off our sins by righteousness. But while in the flesh, we feel a thorn-a hell of conscious guilt for the sins we have committed, and though the penitent may beseech God, that this messenger of satan, buffeting him, may depart from him, yet the answer will be, "my grace is sufficient for thee."

We now perceive how God pardons sin, and yet punishes us for it. The misery, sin brings upon us, is our just punishment, and to be released from it, by the free grace of God, through death and the resurrection, is our pardon and redemption-For examplewe say, in a cloudy day, "the sun does not shine;" but still he does. The clouds, just above our heads, prevent his rays from shining upon us. The change is not in the sun. The clouds disperse, and we say, "the sun shines," while in fact he is ever the same. The Scriptures say, “our God is a sun." He is unchangeably the same in all his brilliant perfections. "Sin like a cloud, and transgression like a thick cloud," rise over themind, and darken the understanding. Through this dark medium we look up to God, and think he has changed-that he is angry, and thunders are rolling from his hand, while in fact the whole change is in us. The moment our

minds are enlightened by the beams of truth we rejoice, and say God has forgiven us. We receive an evidence of pardon, and enjoy it through faith, while God has remained unchangeably the same.

While we are children in christianity, we

speak and act like children; and think if we join together, and pray as loud as we can as though the Lord were "deaf, or all asleep or on a journey," that we can prevail, and make him do as we wish. And while we are children, if we sin, we think the Lord is our enemy, and is angry. Now, this is all well enough for those whose experience has gone no further. We are not to "despise the day of small things," but kindly receive such an one as a babe in Christ, and feed him with milk. But still it does appear to be a pity that thousands, under the gospel, should live and die children.

"Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Now, we are to forgive as God does. How is that?To hold a grudge one day, and if they ask our pardon, to forgive them the next? No, we must uniformly possess a kind, tenderhearted, forgiving_spirit, laying up nought against any one. Forgiveness does not consist in laying up a store of malice and vengeance, till our enemy come, and formally ask our forgiveness. No-he might never come, and then we could never forgive him. We are commanded to love and forgive our enemies whether they ask it, or not. our Saviour on the cross,and we are to exercise the same spirit of benevolence and meekness. We must, as our context says-put away all malice, wrath, and evil-speaking from among us, and be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving.

So did

Our Father in heaven is the most lovely and adorable of all beings! Under the light of his character, every uncomfortable thought vanishes, and the dawn of a blessed eternity bursts upon us in a flood of glory. By faith

we penetrate the veil of immortality, and read our pardon, and justification in letters of blood. Within that veil, we anchor our hope. Faith triumphs over the ruins of death, smiles at the darkness of the tomb, and through Christ within, the hope of glory, bids defiance to the crushing hand of death, and lights up its dreary mansions with the cheering beams of immortal day.

L

SERMON XIX.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"-1 Peter iv: 17, 18.

Upon this passage, the believers in endless misery lean for the support of that sentiment, and on many occasions it is quoted with an air of triumph, as though the passage itself, without comment, were sufficient to silence all objections. Here they have one advantage of Universalists; and of this advantage they do not forget to avail themselves--viz: the prejudices of early education. But we sincerely call their application of this pas sage in question, and shali stand forth in defence of the triumphs of Jesus Christ over all sin, and pain and death, fully believing that the hand of heaven "shall wipe tears from off all faces." We will attempt to show,

First-What we are to understand by judgment beginning at the house of God.