every thing in nature was cursed, and were it not for the goodness of God, and that communicated to us in the blessing of God the Holy Spirit, sin would soon destroy us, and every thing else. The exceeding sinfulness of sin consists in its tendency: it attempts to destroy, and if it were possible, it would destroy God himself. See a proof of this: Deity assumes manhood, and puts himself within the reach of the sinner, and what is the consequence-he crucifies the Lord of glory. Oh, my brethren, did we know the evil of sin and what it really is, we should weary God with supplication that he would subdue it in us. How often have we, by sinning, been militating against the attributes of Deity. Sin is the same thing in every being, whether an angel or man it is in all alike-rebellion against the authority and attributes of God. Oh may we lose sight of every object that is placed in competition with God. May we turn away our eyes from beholding vanity, and behold the Lamb of God.

Again: some may say, we did not know that sinning had thus a tendency to annihilate Deity, for if we did, we should not have sinned. Oh, my brethren, did not Judas know that Christ was the Messiah? Did not the devils know who he was? Did not the Jews themselves

know him, and see his miracles wrought by the power of God, and did they not madly persist in crucifying him? It is a solemn, awful, and instructive truth, and may it sink deeply into our hearts, and may we be enabled to take such a humbling view of ourselves as to live upon Christ, and by his strength to triumph over every evil principle within us.

Again we see in Christ's crucifixion the punishment due to sin, that it deserves eternal punishment? Did it not deserve infinite punishment, and could a finite atonement have been sufficient to pay the debt, it would have been injustice to himself, to give himself up a sacrifice for it.

Again we behold in the crucifixion of Jesus, sin fully atoned for: we behold him suffering that punishment fully, which was due to the sinner, and the Father receiving the atonement, at the hands of one who was God, as well as man. There could have been no atonement without an equivalent: justice in its nature is universally the same. It was the same justice which poured in vengeance upon the suffering Jesus, that is felt in the bosom of the damned in hell. As an infinite Being, he was capable of suffering; and did, in fact, fully suffer that punishment, which, if visited on the creature, must be eternal. The offended justice of God

is an infinite attribute, requiring infinite satisfaction; hence the finite creature must be for ever enduring its inflictions, and for ever unable to satisfy it. We find every satisfaction we can desire, in thus beholding the Lamb of God. We see in him, sin punished, the Father receiving the atonement, saying, "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." We behold in him, righteousness to justify, a spirit to subdue us to himself. The first thing necessary to take away sin, was to present an atonement. Thus we see in this atonement all the Divine attributes, equally great and glorious-all alike exalted; we see, too, every thing to heal the troubled conscience. In human things, we find where one is exalted, another is diminished, and hides its head: we find what is great here, is only relatively so. In the late revolutions and wars on the Continent, one great general rose after another, till one sprung up who was greater than they, and after him a greater than all who conquered him. When one man ascends, another must descend. If we peruse the whole of created existence, we shall find it so. When night spreads darkness around, the stars appear to enlighten it, and when the light of the moon shines forth in its beauty, the stars are dim; and when the greater radiance of the sun appears, the stars and the

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moon altogether disappear. Not so in uncreated Being. Did God determine to save many of his created beings, and is his mercy to be ennobled ? but not at the expence of his justice, that must also be exalted; and consequently, we behold the glory of his vengeance, as exhibited in the sufferings of Christ, comprizing the united glory of his holiness, justice, mercy, and truth. We see, in a word, all the divine perfections equally great and glorious. Does God vouchsafe a gospel to make his mercy known, and is his law to be dishonored? Oh, no; his law is as great as his gospel-God hates sin, as much as he loves holiness. In this sacrifice, every thing is just as it should be. The intellect receives God as a supreme God; and the affections love God supremely, and everything else after him. It is no wonder that prophets and apostles exalt Christ, and direct the church to the love of Christ; a sight of him changes the most obdurate sinner, melts the most obdurate heart. It is a comprehensive view which sees all the divine attributes shining in equal glory in the sacrifice of Christ. God is still as zealous for the honor of his laws, as he was in ages past; and the honor of those laws is provided for by the gospel. It is not only one thing we learn from this view of Christ: we not only learn his love to the sinner, but also his

hatred to sin. When we see a common person suffer death for a breach of the laws, we are not so much struck; but when we see a noble suffer, as some time ago was the case in this country, like a common person, all Europe was astonished, and gave their testimony of admiration at the justice of the administration of our laws, and that England was indeed a land of liberty. The justice of God in punishing every individual sinner is glorious. How awful was his justice in banishing the fallen angels from heaven. How dreadful was his vengeance to man in the universal deluge, in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; but in all these his judgment was trifling compared with his delivering up his own Son to the hand of heaven and hell. Oh, thoughtless sinner, do you expect to be saved? All this was done for those who deserved nothing at his hands, but what the fallen angels suffered. May thy love, O God, be so powerfully felt by us, that we may be enabled to overcome every love that would chain us to earth, and lead us away from thee! He took the conqueror captive.-Sin could boast of its conquests in heaven and earth; but Christ conquered the conqueror, he took captivity captive. The Father received the atonement. One of the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus, and there issued thence blood and water, to intimate