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soul, by his blood, and thus has opened a way by which you may be preserved from final ruin, and by which you may be crowned with endless felicity, should you not give yourselves every moment to him? Ought not this to be your every-day experience" I live, and yet not I; but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, is the life of the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me? Besides, your profitable reflections may be much quickened by a recollection of the precious period of life which you have basely withheld from him. Let the time past more than suffice wherein you have wrought folly; and make at this moment a full surrender of your all to Him whose amazing love "demands your life, your soul, your all."

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5. We call upon you to consider the grounds of confidence which you have in coming to the Father through him. "God, being willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we may have strong consolation who flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." In reference to the Messiah, his atonement, and priesthood, the " Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,' that they shall abide for ever. Hence, you perceive, you not only have encouragement to come to the Redeemer from a recollection of what he has done for you in your creation and preservation in patient bearing with you during the years of your rebellion against him, and ingratitude to him-in the atonement he has made for you, and his intercession for you before the throne—but you have especial encouragement from the solemnity and stability of divine oath. Jesus has not only lived, and died, and risen again, and ascended to glory for you, but all this was the result of the infinite love of the Father to you. And that you might not despair under a sense of the magnitude,

aggravation, and danger of your sins, when you flee to Christ for refuge, the Father hath pledged himself to the Son, that in our nature, and our interest, he shall be a priest for ever; and he has pledged, too, that in coming to him, you shall in no-wise be cast out. Whatever, then, be the nature and amount of your wants, here is sufficient ground of encouragement. You may come as you are, you may be justified freely, you may be sanctified wholly, you may have these blessings by faith, and you may have them now. Believe the reckoning now closed,-dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto righteousness through Christ. For these truths stand good through every moment of time, and to every returning sinner of the human race. Venture your guilty, polluted souls upon him this moment, and you, even you, shall not be cast out.

END OF DISCOURSE I.

DISCOURSE II.

HEBREWS VII. 26, 27.

For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

"EVERY high priest," says St. Paul, "taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifice for sin; who can have compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way." No priest was ever chosen by divine appointment, merely on his own account; but was always chosen in reference to the instruction and profit of others. The office was appointed of God, and had direct reference to the good of the human race. For several ages, however, it lay in great obscurity. Thousands of victims were annually bleeding; and the altar of Jehovah was daily smoking the curling cloud of fragrant incense was frequently ascending; and to all the other parts of the office due attention was paid. But, to thousands, all this was very enigmatical and obscure. They must and did perceive that, in the whole, there was nothing to appease the wrath of God, nothing to purge the conscience of the wor

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shipper, nothing to "make the comers thereunto perfect." The inquiry was still revolving in the bewildered human mind, "Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the seed of my body for the sin of my soul?" And while most of the heathen nations were sitting in the gloom of gross darkness, even among the Jewish people, Revelation, at some periods, shone only as a small lamp in a dark region. But God was thus preparing the way for a more full and clear display of his grace and mercy. For, amidst the slightly illuminated gloom, many serious persons plainly discerned his coming forth. And when the fulness of the time came, the shades of night were greatly moved, and the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel were revealed. Some among that ancient and favoured people were given so far to understand the signs of the times, as to be able to exclaim, "Through the tender mercy of our God, the day-spring from on high hath visited us." Others of them cried out, "Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him; he is our God, and he will save us." Others, again, overwhelmed with the abundance of divine goodness, exclaimed, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." For when Christ made his appearance, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou didst not desire; burnt-offerings and sin-offerings hast thou not required. Thou said, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God." And as every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, Christ being appointed to that office, is ordained for the good of the whole human family. And he is just such a high priest as became us.

We may here notice the important office which he sustains; and his peculiar qualifications for this office.

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