larly conform to its institutions. After having done so for a course of years, they still more rashly also take it for granted, that nothing less than true faith could have kept them so long constant and regular in public worship without ever doubting the truth: whilst in fact, gross carelessness, love of money, or immoderate application to business, have prevented their thinking upon religion as a subject worth their attention. Now if you interrogate such deluded but confident formalists. Whether they were ever painfully convinced of their own natural ignorance and blindness, or of the depravity of their hearts ?Whether they ever with grief of soul confessed the provocation of their sins, and the power of inbred lusts, and in the affecting view of both, have made application to Jesus for relief and remain in dependence on him for the same? These searching questions will at once discover the refuge of lies, and prove that what they imagine to be faith in Jesus, is nothing better than vain and contemptible credulity. Nay, further, if you ask these formalists, who assume the name of believers in Christ, Upon what do you ground your hope of salvation? Their answer is, That they have used their best endeavors to lead a good life; that God is merciful, and knows their frailty. A foundation of hope this, very different from what the prophets and apostles have laid-for they, instead of teaching men to expect forgiveness merely because God is merciful, and because we endeavor to lead a good life, proclaim the death and sacrifice of the only Son of God to be the only means of reconciliation. So far from flattering us that our unassisted endeavors will succeed in the great work of living a Christian life, they command us to be continually "seeking the Lord and his strength," for this very purpose. Judge, therefore, how entirely the faith of the formalist differs from true faith: since it leaves a man in gross darkness concerning the way in which sin is to be pardoned, and power over it obtained. There is still another mistake concerning the nature of faith, which this plain and easy definition effectually discovers. Many men of the best intentions, and inflamed with earnest desires for the glory of God, and the good of souls, have represented faith in Christ to be a particular revelation, separately and supernaturally imparted to every individual believer the moment he truly believes whereby his soul is enlightened and the forgiveness of his sins made self-evident by the force of inward feeling alone. Now that the blessed God can impress on the mind so strong a sense of pardon as to leave a repenting sinner, beyond all doubt, satisfied of its coming from him, none can question. And that in many instances, God is most graciously pleased in this manner to manifest himself and his love, none can dispute, who have been happily acquainted either with the lives or deaths of the excellent of the earth. By this manifestation, have martyrs been enabled to sing in the midst of the flames; and not only to endure all that is most dismaying to nature, but to triumph over it. By this manifestation of divine love, thousands are emboldened to continue faithful to God and their duty, amidst the scoffs and insults of the careless and profane. Nevertheless, it is one thing to feel joy and exultation, another to be conscious you are depending upon Jesus Christ the Lord for the supply of all your wants;-one thing to build your evidence of pardon on a transporting sensation, quite another to infer it from your dependence on him, who is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins to all that believe in his name. And to suppose the reality of faith in him can be Number 38 evidenced no other way than by feeling an inward testimony of the pardoning love of God, is just as gross a mistake as it would be to suppose that credit is to be given to the written promise of an affectionate friend, no longer than he himself enforced it by repeated declarations of his particular love. To act thus, in every other case would argue violent suspicion of the veracity of him who gives the promise; how then with reason can it be made the only test of faith in Christ, that you should have irresistible evidence of his love in your own heart superadded to the declarations of his gospel. It is needful in treating on the subject of faith in Jesus Christ, to guard against this mistake of its nature, because, wherever the power of religion prevails, many are apt to place ther dependence on the knowledge of the forgiveness of their sins, by an inward feeling. They make it their whole business to seek for the evidence of their pardon from doubtful sensations, rather than from the written word. They speak as if nothing was worth acknowledging as a blessing from God, whilst they possess not such an evidence of pardon in their own hearts. Others also, with grief it must be acknowledged, have so imposed upon themselves, as to mistake a transient emotion of joy for real faith, while they are strangers to any true humiliation for sin, or abhorrence of it in the heart. In the mean time, a third class, through the same mistake, have been overwhelmed with terrors, and led to pass sentence on themselves as destitute of faith and without Christ in the world, at the very time when they were seeking his help and grace as all their salvation; and consequently were true and sincere believers. Another great advantage arising from the definition of saving faith here delivered, as implying a lively dependence on Christ for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, is, that it establishes the true believer in solid peace and comfort; and this is a strong evidence that it is Scripturally defined. For the gospel, like a remedy, adapted with astonishing exactness to our frame and condition, is intended to counterbalance all the allurements of temptation. It bestows, even in this world, more than equivalent for what any man can suffer or lose through obedience to God, as well as eternal life in the world to come. It assures every faithful disciple, that reconciliation is made for his iniquity: that he is an object of God's daily care, and an heir of his infinitely glorious kingdom. But the assurance which any particular person possesses that these blessings must appertain to him, must depend upon his certainty that he has true faith. If this point is brought into doubt, his peace departs, his comfort dies away; for all the promises of God's acceptance and special love belong to them, and to them only, who are united to Christ Jesus by a living faith. It is no doubt with any one, whether a true believer is accepted of God; but the doubt so cruelly perplexing to serious minds, and so chilling to their hopes, is, whether they are believers or no. In order therefore to secure to every believer that peace and comfort, which he has a sure hope from the word of God to enjoy, the evidence which proves the reality and truth of his faith must be both clear and permanent. Of this perfect kind is the evi dence which accompanies a lively dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, to supply all our spiritual wants and necessities. This dependence is so easy to be known, that no one can possess it without being conscious of it. For it necessarily implies an intimate and most interesting connection between Christ and the soul, a knowledge of him affecting the heart, and an application to him, daily and persevering. A man therefore who is living in such dependence upon the Son of God, might as reason fits. ably call in question the reality of transactions | thanks to him for the gift of such inestimable benepassing between himself and his friends on earth, as of his faith in Jesus. This evidence is also per- The evangelical prophet, Isaiah, abounds with manent. The sensible comforts of a Christian, it emphatical declarations of the perpetual affiance is true, are in their nature fluctuating, but his de- of believers in Christ Jesus. The conversion of pendence does not vary as his consolations do. He the Gentile world to him is expressed in this mandoes not return to the love and practice of sin, after ner, "The isles shall wait upon me, and upon mine fleeing in deep humility to Jesus as a Redeemer arm shall they trust." By the same inspired penfrom its curse and power; nor revolt to a self-man, the Redeemer, with a grandeur and richness righteous trust on his own duties and merits, after of mercy becoming his infinite majesty, thus adhaving made a cordial submission to Christ as the dresses a sinful world: Lord his righteousness. Hence he that is oppressed with gloom, and tormented with fear, lest he should have no part in Christ, merely because he feels no transporting hope in his heart, may be able, when his judgment is better instructed in the nature of faith, to prove himself a believer, by proving his whole dependence to be upon Christ. And in consequence of this proof, the joy, whose absence he was mourning, will spring up and flourish, and, like a fragrant flower in its proper soil, yield a reviving influence to his heart. He will be able thus | to express the highest and the purest satisfaction, saying, "In the Lord's word will I rejoice, in the Lord's word will I comfort me." "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God; and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and in him shall they glory." Isa. xlv. 22-25. "Here the Son of God represents himself in all the glory of his divine person, and all the efficacy of his grace, as the object of faith, and the author of salvation. Look unto me, says he, wretched, ruined transgressors, as the wounded Israelites look ed unto the brazen serpent; look unto me, dying on the cross as your victim, and obeying the law as your surety. Not by your own strength or virtue, but by dependence on me be ye saved, cleansed from guilt, rescued from the power of sinful tempers, and reconciled to God. · "Do you ask, Who are invited to partake of this inestimable benefit? All the ends of the earth.' People of every nation under heaven, of every station in life, of every condition, and of every character, not excepting the chief of sinners. Besides dependence upon Jesus for present help and deliverance will prove, from its success, an abiding source of comfort and assurance to the mind. Every sinner exercises trust in the Redeemer from a sense of misery and necessity. He would not cast himself a poor supplicant at his feet, could he be safe without his protection, or satisfied without his peace. But, upon application, the promise of God engages, that the things asked for shall be received. Accordingly, do you depend upon Jesus as your prophet? Behold wisdom from above will begin to enlighten your mind, and an understanding in the way of life will soon be in some measure conferred upon you. Soon the world, sin, and your own heart are discovered to you in a light which you never saw them before. Already God in his perfections, his works, and gospel, is apprehended by you in a different manner from what he was wont to be. The gross ignorance that was in you, is now no more: hence you have the witness in yourself, that your dependence on Christ is no fruit-ever so desperate. And besides me there is none less misplaced dependence. In like manner, when you were first awakened to a sense of your sin, your conscience was full of fears and alarms, and you had no comfortable communion with God: but, now, through a dependence upon the efficacy and merit of his blood, you are set free from condemnation, and have access to God with boldness. In the same way, the strength and power you receive to deny yourself for Jesus' sake, and the change of a headstrong lawless will into meek subjection, which is another effect of dependence on Jesus Christ; proves with the force of demonstration, that your faith is neither formal nor delusive; and, by consequence, that you have an interest in all that belongs to the faithful. Lastly, it must be added, that an active trust and dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ for help and deliverance, such as our definition of faith supposes, ascribes to him such importance and glory in our salvation, as the Scriptures expressly declare shall be ascribed to him. This will appear evident, from the consideration of a few remarkable passages, both in the Old and New Testaments concerning Christ. "Do you say, Is it possible that in this way, so short, so simple, merely by dependence on Christ Jesus, innumerable millions should be saved? It is not only possible, but certain: for I am God;' infinite in dignity and power, therefore all-sufficient, yea, omnipotent to save, to save all that come unto me, be their multitude ever so great, or their cases other;' no person can take any share in this great transaction. Such is my compassionate invitation. And this my inviolable decree; I have not only spoken, but I have sworn by myself,' and all my incomprehensible excellences; the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness;' that word which relates to the grandest of all subjects, and the most important of all interests, is planned, adjusted, and unalterably determined: it shall not return,' neither be repealed by me, nor frustrated by any other. To me every knee shall bow;' every soul of man that desires to inherit eternal life, shall submit to, and depend upon me; as an unworthy creature, as an obnoxious criminal; he shall obtain the blessing wholly through my atonement. To me every tongue shall swear;' renouncing every other trust, they shall repose the confidence of their souls on me alone, and make public confession of this their faith before the whole world: and this shall be the form of their oath, and the tenor of their heart-felt confession; each member of my church shall say, 'Surely,' it is a most wonderful, yet a most faithful saying, extremely comfortable and equally certain; Surely in the Lord,' the incarnate Jehovah alone, have I righteousness,' to expiate all my iniquities, and satisfy the law; 'and strength, for an increasing improvement of heart, and sanetification of soul. In the seventy-second Psalm, it is foretold of the Redeemer, that " Prayer shall be made to him continually, and daily shall he be praised." This glorious prediction receives a full and complete accomplishment by the continual dependence of all the "To this sovereign decree the prophet set to, as it faithful on Jesus Christ, for the supplies of wisdom, were, his seal; or else in a transport of joy he forerighteousness, and strength, and by their continued | tels the accomplishment of it: Yes, to him, even to this great and gracious Redeemer, shall men come. I see them flying as clouds for multitude, and as doves for speed. They believe the report of his gospel, and receive of his fulness. Whilst all they that are incensed at him, who cannot away with such absolute dependence upon him, nor bear his pure and holy government, shall be ashamed. The fig-leaves of their own virtues and their own endowments shall neither adorn them for glory, nor screen them from wrath; but shall abandon them to vengeance, and cover them with double confusion. Whilst on the other hand all the seed of Israel, every true believer, shall be justified in the Lord; against these persons no accusation shall be valid, no condemnation take place. Far from it; for so magnificent is the majesty, so surprisingly efficacious are the merits of the Saviour, that in him they shall not only confide, but glory: not only be safe, but triumphant; able to challenge every adversary, and to defy every danger."* person of our Lord Jesus Christ? Blessed is your condition if you have this testimony in your conscience; that acknowledging your own natural ignorance and blindness, you call upon the name of our Lord Jesus to enlighten your mind, to make his way plain before you, and to give you a strong and distinct perception of the great things concerning your eternal peace. Blessed is your condition, if, feeling your utter incapacity to procure the favor of God by the best of your duties, reformations, or performances, and confounded in your own sight for your great defects, you build all your hope of acceptance with God upon what Christ has done and suffered for you. Blessed is your condition, if afflicted by the exceeding vileness of your corrupt affections, and longing for victory over them, for a more spiritual mind, and for a farther progress in love, both to God and man, you depend upon the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ, to work this divine change within you. This is to believe in the only begotten Son of God without parality and without hypocrisy. This the word f God pronounces to be that dependence on Christ which shall never be confounded! May the Giver of every good and perfect gift create in your soul this unfeigned faith, if you have it not already: and if you have, may he confirm and increase it still more abundantly. SUNDAY XII-CHAP. XII. Whether this text be considered with or without this comment, it plainly proves that Jesus Christ is to be acknowledged as the only author of our salvation; it clearly marks the nature of true faith to be a lively dependence on Christ to receive out of his fulness grace for grace. It shows, that to conceive any thing to be faith less than such absolute and constant dependence on Jesus, is to degrade the importance of the Son of God to his church, and to obscure, if not abolish, his glory. To suppose that you have faith merely because you allow Jesus to have been no impostor in what he taught, or even because you grant his death to have been an atone- ON THE FOUNDATION OF DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST FOR ment for sin, is to glorify him very little, in comparison of maintaining an uninterrupted dependence upon him. In the one case he appears as a common benefactor, to whose past generous deeds we have been much indebted; in the other, as our continual support, of whom we may triumphantly say, "The Lord is my light and my life, whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom then shall I be afraid?" PARDON. THE same gracious and holy God, who planned the method of recovering lost sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ, has not only required, by his express command, faith in him, but, from the first entrance of sin into the world, he has been manifesting to the world, in various ways and in the fullest manner, the character and glory of the Redeemer, and the safety of all who depend upon him in sincerity and truth. This testimony, which God has given of his onlybegotten Son, is the solid, rational, and immoveable foundation of Christian faith; and so amply does it display the completeness of his salvation, that, as I purpose to prove, there is no part of our dreadful disease and misery, as sinners, for which there is not a sufficient remedy in the perfections he possesses, and in the offices he sustains for the salvation of his church. To place him in this glorious point of view before the eyes of our mind, the New Testament perfectly concurs with the Old. Thus St. Paul and St. Peter represent the faith of the Christian church to be such a personal dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as subsists between the foundation of a lofty temple and its several parts, which continually bear the whole weight upon it. Ephes. ii. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.-They again explain this dependence by the union of the members of the body to the head, Ephes. iv. 15, 16. whilst Jesus himself compares it to the union of the branches to the vine.— To illustrate this: every man, it has been shown But none of these Scriptural representations can above, is chargeable with the guilt of sin against be supposed to be used even with the justness and his Creator, and of course stands exposed to the accuracy common to human writers, unless by faith curse of God's violated law, and to the pains of in the only-begotten Son of God, is meant an abid- eternal punishment. Let us see, then, what proing heart-felt dependence on him for daily salva-perties there are in the Lord Jesus Christ, sufficient tion, influences, and blessings. It would be superfluous to add more Scripture evidence on this head; but it is of the highest importance that you examine yourself, where the stress of your dependence for the good of your soul is placed. To what source are you looking for pardon and strength, comfort and sanctification? To your own good purposes and endeavors, to your own prayers, meditations, and good qualities; or through them all, to that inexhaustible treasury, which God has provided for poor helpless, guilty men, in the For this explanation of the sacred text the reader is indebted to a manuscript of the late pious and exemplary Mr. Hervey. Since the first edition of this work, it has been inserted by Mr. Hervey, in one of his printed Letters to the Rev. Mr. Wesley. to render him, in this case, the object of our affiance: what sufficient warrant to justify our firm dependence on him, as the propitiation for our sins, in the sight of a holy sin-avenging God? The answer which the divine record returns to this momentous inquiry, is sufficient to dispel every doubt, and to impart strong consolation to the most guilty soul that earnestly seeks for acceptance with its Maker. For it expressly declares that this Jesus, on whom you are to depend, is one in nature and essence with God; that his "goings forth" (that is, his existence) "have been from of old, from everlasting." Micah v. 2. That to his almighty power, the earth owes all its prolific virtue, and the variety of fruits which it produces for the service of men; that from the worm which crawls unnoticed by us on the surface of the ground, up to the brightest angel before the throne of glory, the Re deemer formed them what they are, and still preserves them in their being; for "In the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God.All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." John i. 1, 3." For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Col. i. 16, 17.-On account of this original and eternal glory, when the Redeemer is brought into the world, to be a sacrifice for sin, though he was no more in appearance than a weeping babe, though born like the child of some vagabond, in a stable, and laid in a manger; even at this moment the Father saith, Heb. i. 6. "Let all the angels of God worship him." For though abased in this mysterious manner, still he is the Creator and God of angels; he is "God manifest in the flesh." 1 Timothy in. 16. "Immanuel, that is, God with us," is his name whereby he shall be called. Here then, in this character, drawn not by the erring pencil of man, but by the Spirit of truth in the oracles of God; here behold the proper object of every repenting sinner's dependence. See with what just reason you may confide in him, who possesses all the attributes and perfections of the Godhead; in him, who at the very time his appearance in our flesh was foretold, had his dignity proclaimed by the prophetic herald in this magnificent manner: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsel lor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!" Isa. ix. 6. Had it been only declared by the mouth of the Lord of Hosts, that one of such infinite dignity would be favorable to all humbled and repenting sinners, and would plead in their behalf before his Father, even this simple declaration ought to engage the confidence of the guilty; it would be a sufficient warrant to justify their dependence on him. For if the Redeemer is really possessed of infinite perfections, he must be a fit object of confidence to the soul, supposing he were pleased to declare his merciful disposition toward it. But he has done far more than simply declare his good-will to perishing sinners; the depth of his humiliation, and the sacrifice of his life, present to us indisputable and most affecting proofs that the Redeemer is worthy of our highest confidence. For the same infallible record which assures us that he was in the form of God, worshipped and acknowledged as such in heaven-thinking it no robbery, no usurpation of glory, to be equal with God; assures us, likewise, that in pity to a ruined world, he was content to live and die a substitute and surety for sinful man. In the fulness of time, according to that counsel of peace between the Father and the Son recorded in the fortieth Psalm, the Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, was born into the world, with a body prepared for him by the power of the Holy Ghost. He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Instead of appearing in that royal form the carnal Jews expected, as a visible conqueror of their political foes, he was made lower than men, and counted as no man! and though men of the lowest stations have generally the fewest troubles, his case was the reverse; the reverse both of the grandeur of princes, and of the tranquillity of the vulgar. Pre-eminence in the multitude and weight of sorrows was his only distinction. Yet a man of low condition, though overwhelmed with troubles, may possess a high reputation, at least one untainted; but Jesus descended below this, and submitted to bear the imputation of even being an impostor and a blasphemer. Nay, he stooped still lower, and not only stood as a criminal at the bar of Pilate, but appeared such by imputation before the Judge of the universe. "And the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all;" whilst other condemned malefactors are charged only with the crimes belonging to themselves, and with but a few of those; the Scripture represents this unparalleled Sufferer as oppressed with the crimes of multitudes, in number like the sands on the sea-shore; a weight more heavy and terrible to sustain than we are able to conceive! But this we know, that the curse of the law was a weight sufficient to crush a world. We know, that they who first experienced it found it to be intolerable; for when legions of angels, which excel in strength, abused that strength against the law, it sunk them from the highest heaven to the lowest misery of hell. This weight Jesus undertook to bear for us; "he was made sin," that is, a sin-offering, "and a curse for us." He interposed his sacred body between the load of wrath from above, and us the heirs of wrath below. Instead of that high ineffable communion of love in which he dwelt with his Father, he was content to feel the exquisite sorrow of being forsaken of him. Till that distress never had Jesus made a request for pity: he sought none from Pilate; when the sympathizing daughters of Jerusalem wept over him, he meekly advised them to reserve their compassions for themselves and their children. But now at this hour, when it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he who was "like a sheep dumb before its shearers," is dumb no longer; the Lamb of God, when brought to this dreadful slaughter, must open his mouth, and pity itself must cry for pity. It was the blasphemous language of his murderers,— "Where is now thy God?" And, behold, so exqui site are the pangs of his distressed soul, that something like the same language escapes from his own mouth!-he cries out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" So particular is the Scripture testimony in describing the humiliation and death of the Redeemer, and not less explicit in ascertaining both the end for which he humbled himself to the death of the cross, and the everlasting benefits he thus secured to all his faithful dependants. Notwithstanding all the opposition he met with, both from the enemy of sinners and sinners themselves, he obtained a perfect conquest, and died with this transporting shout of victory in his mouth, "It is finished." The debt of penal suffering, the debt of perfect obedience is paid to the law; the powers of hell are vanquished, and God is well pleased. Ponder then upon this marvellous transactionupon this horrible torment and death, sustained, not by an angelic or created being, but by "him in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Consider the depth of his abasement, and the extremity of his anguish; all submitted to with no other view than to make an atonement for sin, and to purchase redemption, even the forgiveness of sin, for all who should ever trust in his name! Consider this fact, and then say, Can even invention itself devise, or the most afflicted conscience desire a more sure foundation to trust on for pardon and acceptance with God? What can the law demand of you either as an exemption from suffering its penalty, or as a title to eternal life, which this vicarious obedience and sacrifice of God manifest in the flesh has not abundantly provided in behalf of all true believers ? I will suppose your sins in their malignity and number to be enormous, and to cry with the loudest when he delivered up his Son for your offences; and that you are glad to lay hold on this hope set before you. And surely the most fearful doubting mind cannot desire more encouragement to believe: the most dejected conscience cannot conceive a place of refuge more adapted to its distressed condition: nor can even the worst of sinners desire more gracious advances towards peace and reconciliation. SUNDAY XIII.-CHAP. XIII. DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST FOR PARDON AND INSTRUCTION. cry for vengeance, still, if in anguish of spirit for to a cross, Further; still stronger will the grounds for confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ appear, when you take into your view "the free and gracious manner in which you are invited to become a partaker of the blessings of redemption." The great generally sell even what they call their favors: long services or powerful recommendations are their inducements to confer dignity, or bestow wealth. But far otherwise, as our most impotent condition requires, is the case with respect to forgiveness purchased by the blood of Christ. No impossible or hard condition is previously required on the sinner's part; no works of righteousness are required to be first performed in your own strength, and then pleaded as your recommendation: no set of holy tempers, or stock of moral virtue, to be first acquired. All this righteous practice is to follow upon believing, and to be produced from strength and grace received, through constant application to the Redeemer. The invitation runs in these most encouraging terms, "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money (not one single valuable qualification); yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isa. lv. 1. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost," to purchase pardon for rebels and enemies to God; of consequence, the only requisite to partake of his grace, is, that you behold yourself that perishing sinner that God saw you would be, So important is it that man should place a full dependence upon Christ for the pardon of his sin, that God has been pleased to confirm the declaration of his ability to save, by an usual degree of evidence. He has displayed, as we have already seen, the divinity of his person, the merit of his death as an atonement, and the unbounded freeness of his invitation, in order to encourage man to put his trust in him. But besides these there are still further evidences of his power and willingness to save; let me refer you to the intercession of Jesus, who is become our great high-priest; and to the declarations of Scripture, that every one who depends on him shall abundantly receive the blessings which he needs.What a sure foundation for confidence to the humble repenting sinner does the office of Jesus, as highpriest, afford! "Every high-priest," says the Scripiure, "taken from among men, is ordained for men;" for their spiritual interest and advantage; all his influence and power are to be employed in their behalf. With a view to the benefit of man was the office originally and entirely ordained of God. And the things appointed for him to do, prove this; he was to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin; sacrifices to make an atonement, and gifts, on account of which God might vouchsafe to continue his forfeited favor. With the same view the grand qualification indispensably necessary for the execution of this office was a heart that knew how to have compassion on them that are ignorant and out of the way of duty and of safety. Now this office of high-priest, and all the funetions belonging to it, we are taught, "were only designed to serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things;" in other words, to be an outward and visible way of instructing us in the nature of the office which the Lord Jesus Christ sustains in the highest heaven for sinners, and of the benefits they may expect from him. He is made a highpriest of good things to come; "he is entered not with the blood of bulls and of goats into the holy place, which was the figure of the true, but into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us." He is therefore under the strongest engagements of office to mediate for all that shall come to God by him. And lest we should imagine ourselves too mean to engage his pity, particular mention is made, that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points tempted like as we are; yet without sin. Therefore, from an experimental knowledge of the same difficulties and distresses as we are now enduring, he hath that exquisite tenderness of sympathy with us, which would not otherwise have been possible. What then can warrant an unshaken confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon, if the knowledge of him as our great high-priest fail to do it? Is your heart broken for sin, your spirit wounded within you? Parley not with your fears, listen not to the accuser: look unto Jesus, your propitiation, your intercessor; as the wounded, tormented, dying Israelites looked unto the brazen serpent. Look unto |