declare aloud that he is a fallen creature. We need not go abroad to obtain testimonies of this kind; if we reflect upon ourselves, if we have observed the workings of the flesh in ourselves, we have sufficient evidence. If man was not a fallen creature, there would be no sin, no affliction, and finally no death, in the world. And without a Redeemer, O! what a hopeless, what a wretched and miserable state is that to which man is consignedto the endless regions and shadow of death! But O! methinks I hear the voice of Mercy, the seed of “the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."-God is love; the bowels of His mercy yearned over his creature man; He took compassion upon them, and gave them the promise of a Redeemer. This promise was made before Adam was turned out of Eden: "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. iii. 15.

CHAPTER II.

THE MESSIAH.

GOD plainly intimated to Adam, that of the woman s seed, one would arise, who would be a restorer of the breach; but Adam did not live to see the fulfilment of this glorious promise. It was a long time after the promise was given, before it was fulfilled. Preparations had to be made for the accomplishment of this glorious event. It was necessary that God, before the coming of the Messiah, should give unto the children of men a revelation of His righteousness, and that the character of the Messiah should be plainly foretold before his

coming into the world. God singled out Abraham as the one from whom the Messiah would descend, and gave him the rite of circumcision. "This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you, he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generation" &c. Gen. xvii. 10-12. After God had given the promise to Abraham, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, Gen. xii. 3; xxviii. 14, and established his covenant with him, he raised up Moses; and when Abraham's seed were in bondage, God made Moses a leader to the people, and when they had left Egypt for the promised land and had arrived at Mount Sinai, in the wilderness of Arabia, God gave the law to Moses upon two tables of stone, Ex. xix; xx. In this law we have the righteousness of God revealed, or that righteousness which God will be pleased with. Adam was clothed with this righteousness, prior to his disobedience, and could have remained in that state forever, had he not partaken of the forbidden fruit: and after his transgression, he forfeited or lost this righteousness. And this was not all; he became so weak and helpless, that he never could recover that righteousness-yea, it was not attainable by him or any of his posterity. It was this which led the apostle to declare, that by the deeds of the law, no flesh could be justified, Rom. iii. 20. That the law requires perfect obedience, see James ii. 10; Deut. xxvii. 26.

Having briefly stated the nature of the law, I shall now touch a little upon the use of the law, and then call the attention of the reader, in a few words, to the nature and use of the ceremonial law. By the moral law, I

mean the law which God wrote with his own fingers upon two tables of stone, and gave unto Moses. I have stated that preparations had to be made for the coming of the Messiah; therefore the law of Moses had to precede the Gospel. The attentive reader can easily perceive the use, or design, of the moral law, from what I have advanced. It is in the first place, to show the sinner, what a righteous and holy Being he has to do with, as the prophet tells us, that God is of purer eyes than to behold sin with the least degree of allowance. In as much as the law is holy, just, and good, it is therefore an image of God. The law makes no allowance for sin, neither does God, as has been declared by the prophet. And, in the second place, by comparing himself with the law, he can see that he comes far short of that righteousness which is therein revealed, and that he is now in a state of condemnation, and that of himself he is not able to attain to that righteousness, and therefore having a clear insight of his guilty condition, it may be asked, why sentence should not be passed upon him? I answer, though the law pronounces man guilty, yet as God designs his salvation, it is intended as a means to cause man to seek for refuge in the rent veil of Emanuel's flesh, or that atonement which Christ made upon Calvary. Therefore God gave the Israelites another law, which is termed the ceremonial law, or Levitical dispensation. This law, given by Moses, was binding upon the Israelites until the coming of the Messiah; and, after his coming, was to be null and void. The reader will peruse the second and third books of Moses, where he will find this law plainly revealed. This law speaks of priests, altars, and various vessels, and of various oblations, and of their distinguishments into burnt-offerings, peace-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings--and of their design or

intention. By the moral law is the knowledge of sin, and by the ceremonial law is revealed the expiation for sin. So, from the ceremonial law, we learn that sin must be atoned for. The question may be asked, were those sacrifices offered up under this dispensation able to take away sin? I answer, no--for the apostles tells us, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin." Heb. x. 4; and in the 1, 2, 3 vs., "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually, make the comers thereunto perfect," Hence we learn that those sacrifices were not able to purge from sin. They could not produce a change in man; yet they were of great service to guilty man, for it was by the law of sacrifices, that the great atonement which Christ, the Son of God, made, in his own body, was prefigured, or shadowed forth. Paul tells us that "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Gal. iii. 14. All those victims that were slain, all that blood which was shed, all that flesh which was burnt, had for their substance, the holy and patient Jesus, bearing our sins away, by suffering a painful and a shameful death, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." 1 Pet. iii. 18. So that, upon his coming into the world, those shadows had to disappear, like the moon and stars upon the rising of the sun.

My dear reader, do you not plainly discover how necessary it was, that those things above stated-that is, the moral and ceremonial law must precede the Gospel? for it was by them that God ushered in the Christian dispensation. By the law and the prophets, the way was prepared for a better and a more glorious dispensation. Israel's prophets being filled with the spirit of inspiration, prophesied more or less concerning the

lineage, conception, birth, offices, doctrines, sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Messiah, our glorious Emanuel. (See Old Testament prophets.) No doubt, but those ancient prophecies were intended to prepare the minds of the children of men for the reception of the Gospel. It was by the means of those prophecies, that all those who acknowledge the authority of the prophets, were convinced that Christ was the true Messiah. The way being prepared for the introduction of the Gospel, God saw proper to send a particular messenger, who should be the end of the law and of the prophets; and whose office should be, to give a general annunciation of the speedy arrival of the Messiah, and also prepare the minds of the people for his reception.

CHAPTER III.

JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Or this person, we find that Malachi uttered a prophecy, in the iii. 1, of his book, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Host," and also in the iv. 5. In the 1st chapter of Luke, we are informed of his birth and parentage, which the reader can peruse at leisure. John was conceived in sin like other men-but what distinguished him from other men was, his being "filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." Luke, i. 15.

Our Saviour, speaking of John, hath said, "Verily, I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,