the divine mercy; the declarations of God's word are so conclusive upon the subject of the universality of the atonement, and of the free offer of salvation to all who will comply with its conditions, that it is impossible to resist their force, or to remain unaffected under those breathings of compassion in which they are expressed.

John the Baptist speaks of the Redeemer, as "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." St. Paul says, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all." St. John declares, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

To conclude. With such a dispensation of mercy as that contained in the Gospel, presented to our view-with such liberal offers of salvation pressing themselves upon our consciences,-what apology will the sinner have to offer for his disobedience to the precepts of Jehovah, his rejection of his goodness? If no provision had been made for our escape from the ruins of the fall, the transgressor might advance some plea for his rebellion; some excuse for his neglect of divine things. But when he is told, that the Holy Spirit will be given him to aid him in his religious efforts when he is told that the Lord Jesus Christ made that satisfaction to divine justice, which the violated law of God required; and that every impediment between heaven and his soul have been removed-when he is reminded that the Spirit of God has striven with him from his earliest years, cautioning him against sin, and exciting him to the practice of virtue-when his conscience convicts him of having sinned against light, and against knowledge-when convinced of the truth of all these things, how awful will be his situation at the last day—how unpardonable will his conduct appear! If sinful pursuits produced us real happiness, there would be more excuse for our continuance in the practice of them than the transgressor can possibly plead. But when conscience by its

powerful appeals renders the sinner unhappy in the midst of his transgressions; when conscience with its warning voice breaks in upon him in the hour of his wanderings, and proclaims to him that the wages of sin is death, and that ruin awaits him for his rebellion; when conscience pronounces punishment as the consequence of transgression, and when the fancied enjoyments of the sinner wither under its paralizing influence, we should suppose that reason would arrest him in his progress, and convince him of his awful mistake. (As a minister of the Gospel, I interpose my fatherly counsel between the offender and ruin.) The Lord Jesus is unwilling, my fellow mortals, that you should perish; he shed his blood for our salvation; he died that we might live forever; from the cross on Calvary he addresses us in mercy, and offers us an interest in the merit of his death. "Look unto me and be ye saved," forms his affectionate appeal. "Why, why will ye die?" is his expostulation of mercy. Another day may be too late; let the supplication of Peter constitute our prayer, “Lord save us or we perish."

To those who love the Lord-to those who acknowledge his goodness, and are disposed to obey his precepts, the subject we have considered is calculated to awaken their gratitude, and to excite them to the most vigorous discharge of duty.

The love of God cannot fail of inspiring the Christian's bosom with the most fervent zeal. We cannot serve that Being too faithfully who has executed such wonders to secure our salvation. The incarnation and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ excited the devotion of angels, and produced a jubilee in heaven. His death on Calvary, his precious blood as it flowed from his bosom, are proofs conclusive of his affection for man, and entitle him to our adoration.

Let us this day, my Christian brethren, renew our vows of obedience; let us love him unreservedly who hath thus loved us; and be determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

G G

SERMON V.

"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest."-EZEKIEL, XXXVii. 1, 2, 3.

THE mind fond of the sublime and beautiful, may always meet with the finest figures of speech in the sacred writings. The imagination of man, even in his most favored moments, cannot produce such noble, animated images, as those contained in the Scriptures. To compare the light of a midnight taper with the sun in his strength, would form a comparison more just than to compare the writings of the most exalted genius with the language of inspired men. One is the effort of the human mind, the other the immediate production of the Almighty.

In the passage before us there are beauties not only calculated to please and to instruct, but to animate the Christian with hope. It conveys to him information which elevates his thoughts above all temporal considerations, and proclaims to him his future happy destiny; it assures him that the Almighty possesses the power, not only to rectify the disorders of his depraved nature by infusing into his soul spiritual life, but that the tenants of the grave shall be reanimated by his influence, and arise from their slumbering mansions, clothed in immortality. It is calculated to console the pious parent, in the hour of his privation, with the prospect of a reunion with his offspring in a better

world; it is calculated to soften the anguish of the widow's heart, and to allay the distresses of the orphan, by the assurance of the resurrection of his Christian parent from the dead; it proclaims to the believer, that this world is not the only theatre upon which he is to exist; it shews him that the God he loves is able to quicken his body, though buried for ages, and to restore it from the ruins of the grave.

The subject divides itself into three propositions. First, as descriptive of the state of the Jews while captive in Babylon. Secondly, as descriptive of the resurrection of immortal beings from the death of sin to a life of righteousness. Thirdly, as descriptive of the resurrection of the dead at the last day.

First, as descriptive of the state of the Jews while captive in Babylon, and their deliverance by Cyrus.

Notwithstanding the Almighty had promised to release Israel from their captivity, and to restore them to their own country, still the difficulties in which they were placed, their dispersed state and separation from each other; their destitution of all those means necessary to favour their return, produced that degree of dejection which prevented them from enjoying the comfort connected with the assurance of their deliverance; the utmost despondency pervaded their minds, and sunk them in the abyss of despair.

The affliction under which they laboured, in consequence of their separation from their altars and their country, is eloquently expressed in the cxxxvii. Psalm. The recollection of their former state, a period in which they were exalted to heaven in point of privileges, when compared to that abject situation to which the Psalmist alluded, drew from their lips the most pungent expressions of distress, and from their eyes tears of the deepest grief. "By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion; we hanged our harps upon willows in the midst thereof, for there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the

the

songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

In addition to those painful feelings connected with a state of bondage, they had to contend with the cruel insults of their idolatrous masters. Instead of meeting with that commiseration and sympathy which were due a conquered people, their enemies insulted them in their distress; and while their hearts were bursting with grief, the heathen required of them the language of happiness and

contentment.

Had their enemies, from proper motives, asked them to sing the songs of Zion, they would joyfully have yielded to their requests; but it was done to ridicule the devotions of an afflicted people, and to turn their religious exercises into a jest. The Psalmist, at a particular period, influenced by considerations similar to those which produced silence on the part of the Jews, declared, "I will keep my tongue as it were with a bridle, while the ungodly are in my sight." In unison with the same feelings the afflicted Jew observed, "How shall I sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" How shall I sing that which is so sacred to my soul in the presence of idolaters, and render a service peculiar to the worship of God a source of merriment to the wicked; to those who are strangers to its importance, and determined to ridicule my devotions? Dark, however, as was the period in which they lived; tempestuous as was the sea of calamity in which they were involved,—a gleam of light would sometimes reflect itself upon their minds and enable them to realize the promise of their liberation. "O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us." ("Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against a stone.")

It was in a moment thus dark and gloomy, a moment in which Israel was prostrated in ruin; as destitute of the power of exertion as those dry bones which Ezekiel saw in