and finished righteousness in his life, he became a pure and spotless ransom in his death: and thus completing redemption work upon earth, he is returned to the bosom of his Father to complete the whole of it in heaven, in becoming our Intercessor and Mediator with the Father, pleading his merits in behalf of his people, and sending down the gifts of the Holy Spirit to render the whole effectual in their hearts, that the Spirit may apply what the Savior hath wrought; and thus the mighty redemption he hath accomplished for them, may be finished in them, until that period shall arrive when he will come in the clouds of judgment, agreeably to his promise, before his departure, to receive all his faithful believing people to himself, that where he is, there they may be also.

Parishioner. These precious truths, I thank God, I have already heard by the hearing of the ear; but yet I do not understand how we are interested in their effects. How can my sins be transferred to the person of Jesus? or his righteousness be imputed to me?

Minister. Certainly, with as much justice and propriety as in the common circumstances of human life. For example; suppose I owe you a sum of money, which I am unable to pay, may not some generous friend discharge the debt for me? And if he does, am I any longer your debtor? If I have forfeited my freedom by any act which I have committed, and cannot be liberated unless a ransom be made; yet if that ransom be made, am not I free? Similar to these cases, only heightened to an infinitely higher degree, is the instance before us. You and I, by sin, are become insolvent debtors to the law of God; and as that law pronounces a curse upon every soul of man that doth evil, it is plain that we are both

ransom,

under its condemning power. Now, in this situation, Christ appears as our representative, and takes both this debt and penalty upon himself. And is it not evident, then, that when he suffered on the cross, he redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us? Could he pay the debt, and we still be debtors? Could he suffer the penalty of the law, and the bond not be cancelled? Here you see at once the broken law of God repaired, justice satisfied, the Savior become the and the sinner set free. By that one offering of himself once offered, he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. And thus that important truth of scripture is completely explained and proved, that God can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, Rom. iii. 26. And as the sins of his people are thus transferred to the person of Jesus, and expiated by his sacrifice on the cross, so his righteousness is imputed to them also, and they are considered righteous before God in him. By taking our nature, Jesus becomes part of ourselves, or rather his people are united to him. His actions for them, therefore, are imputed to them. For their sakes (says Jesus) I sanctify myself. What he is in a way of redemption, he is to them. Hence Paul says, that the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, is unto all, and upon all them that believe, Rom. iii. 22. Hence also the prophet, ages before our Lord came, expressly called him by this very name, Jehovah our righteousness, Jer. xxxiii. 16; a most delightful character for all his faithful people to know him by. It was not enough to call him Jehovah, or to call him Jehovah righteousness, great and glorious as these appellations are in themselves in the per

son of Jesus, but when is added to them that little but most important word oUR, Jehovah our righteousness, this sums up the transporting title in giving us an interest in it, and which renders it so dear and valuable to all his people. He is, indeed, their righteousness, for he is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Thus you see, then, how our sins are transferrable to the person of Jesus, and were transferred when he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and suffered, the just for the unjust, to bring us to And how his righteousness is imputed to his people, when he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, I Pet. iii. 18. And in like manner, under all his divine characters and offices, as far as they relate to redemption-work, all spiritual blessings and mercies are treasured up in him, that out of his fulness we might all receive, and grace for grace. So that are you ignorant, he is wisdom; are you sinful, he is righteous; are you corrupt, he is holy; are you feeble, he is strong: whatever weakness, poverty, reproaches, misery, or evil, attaches itself to the humblest and poorest of his people, Christ is the all-sufficient, and all-suitable Savior and Redeemer under every one of them, and is made of God to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. i. 30.

Parishioner. These are refreshing considerations, no doubt, to the breast of a poor self-condemned sinner. But suffer me yet further to ask, what authority have we to know that these characters and offices of the Savior are accepted by the Father for the sinner?

Minister. We have the most unquestionable authority in proof of it: for not only by a voice from heaven upon several occasions, while Jesus was upon earth, did the Father declare his complete approbation of his mission, and proclaim him for his only beloved Son, commending all to hear him; but an apostle informs us that so much the Father and the Son are one, in an eternal unity of essence, and the acts of the one are the acts of the other, that in that awful sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, 2 Cor. v. 19. So that however mysterious the whole of redemptionwork is in itself, yet we plainly perceive it occupied the joint agency of all the persons of the Godhead to fulfil; and that the Father is as ready to accept, as the Son to offer, and the Holy Ghost to apply the merits and death of Jesus for the salvation of sinners. And although to the person of the Redeemer we cannot perhaps help feeling greater confidence in approaching, because, from his taking upon him our nature, and being the appointed Mediator to his people, we look up to him as somewhat more immediately 'endeared to our flesh; yet never ought we the less to consider the tender love of the Father in giving such a Savior; and the gracious compassion of the Holy Ghost in applying his merits to our necessities, as equal objects of our highest affection, gratitude, and regard; and thankfully ascribe to all, that glory which is the just tribute due to a Being of such inconceivable perfections, who, though existing in a plurality of persons, is but one, and the same, infinite and eternal Jehovah.

Parishioner. Praised be God for such credences of his love!

Minister. And now I should hope that I have said enough, to prove to you the all-sufficiency and allsuitableness of the Savior to answer the utmost wants of his people under every particular. But in addition to these outward credences, there is one more of an inward nature, which, if I mistake not, the Lord, through his gracious benignity, hath given you, which cannot but fully satisfy, and is unanswerably great and conclusive. Parishioner. Given me! I beg you to explain!

Minister. That I shall most readily.* You have several times, in the course of our present conversation, expressed yourself to be a poor, helpless, self-condemned, and miserable sinner. Now, if you really feel what you say, and those expressions are the genuine sentiments of the heart; you have, what I call, a personal experience, that Jesus is an all-sufficient Savior, for he hath proved himself to be so to you, in fulfilling that promise he made his disciples before his departure, that if he went away, he would send to them the Holy Ghost, and who, when he was come, should reprove the world of sin, &c. Now that he has come upon you is plain, for you are reproved and convinced of sin, and of your utterly lost state by reason of it; a circumstance which could not have been accomplished but from his power in the heart. This at once proves, therefore, to your own experience, that the Savior hath made a full satisfaction for sin, that the Father hath accepted it,

*The Reader is desired to give the closest attention to this observation.