tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee."

And will not this scripture apply with the greatest force to us, if we abuse the mercies amidst which we live, and die in the neglect of so great salvation? Could we, think you, when in the regions of perdition, herd with the common damned? Would not our fate be worse than the Sodomites, who endured the vengeance of fire from heaven? Worse than the Egyptians who were drowned in the Red Sea? Worse than the disobedient Israelites, whose car, cases fell in the wilderness? Yes, Yes. Those of them who are found among the lost-for we trust some of them notwithstanding the judgments under which they fell will be found in the kingdom of heaven-those of them found among the lost will have a much more tolerable damnation than we should have, were we to perish. Considering the amount of our privileges, we maybe sure that it would be ours, to be shrouded in the blackest darkness, to roam amidst the thickest gloom, and to endure the greatest weight of woe. We could not look even for a common damnation;-but it would be our to sink into the lower depths of the bottomless pit. Abused mercies must become like mill-stones at our heels, to sink us deeper and deeper in the regions of sorrow.

4. Let us remember how impossible for us to escape if we neglect Christ and his salvation. That we are fallen and polluted creatures is alike clear both from experience and common sense. That we all have personally sinned and come short of the glory of God, is a matter placed beyond reasonable dispute. That God is infinitely holy,and can neither have communion with us, nor approve of us, as sinners, is a fact equally plain, even to the eye of common sense. That we neither can deliver ourselves from guilt no pollution, is likewise notoriously clear. And we know. that, "without holiness no man can see the Lord ;"—no

man can enter heaven. is the only medium of reconciliation through which we, as sinners, can return to God, and receive pardon and purification. And if we neglect Christ and his salvation, how can we either escape the evils of our fallen nature in time, or the condemnation threatened, as the portion of unsaved, sinners, to all eternity?

We know, likewise, that Christ

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How, for instance, can we escape our present darkness and ignorance, but by coming to Him who is "the light of the world," and who gives to them that seek it of him, the light of the knowledge of the glory of himself? How can we escape our present stupor and indolence, but by coming unto Him who is " the resurrection and the life;" and who came into our world that men might "have life, and have it more abundantly?" How can we escape our guilt and condemnation, but by coming to Him who is "set forth a propitiation for our sins;" and through redemption in whose blood we can receive a free forgiveness? How can we escape our present pollution, but by coming to Him who is the fountain opened to purge away all moral uncleanness, and whose" blood cleanses from all sin?" How can we escape our present destitution of divine comfort, and have communion with God, but by yielding ourselves to Him who has said, "No man cometh to the Father but through me?" How can we 66 escape the damnation of hell," but by coming to Him who has said, "He that believeth on the Son hath life; and he that liveth and believeth shall never die?" How can we be admitted into heaven, but through his atonement and intercession, who, as our forerunner, has entered before us, now appears in the presence of God for us,—has engaged that we, as obedient believers, "shall never perish;" and has declared to all his faithful followers, "I will come unto you again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, ye may be also?". And how can we escape

a fearful and aggravated weight of condemnation but, by a sincere attempt to improve our greater opportunities and mercies; and by resting up n the blood of atonement for salvation, present and eternal ? "For if he who despised Moses' Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, should we be thought worthy, who had trodden under foot the Son of God," trifled with the benefits of the gospel dispensation, "and done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

END OF DISCOURSE III.

DISCOURSE IV.

HEBREWS VII. 17.

For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

In some observations already made, we have informed you that the Jews had a most exalted notion of their priesthood, and their religious dispensation; that they thought nothing could supercede it; and that it never would be displaced. We have likewise shown you, that in this they were greatly mistaken; that their dispensation, though of divine appointment, and designed to answer some important purposes in the scheme of divine providence, was nevertheless merely temporary and shaddowy; and when the fulness of time came, having waxed old, it vanished away. Their notions, however, in this particular, became a serious barrier in the way of receiving the gospel dispensation, and of their being saved according to its economy. And those who have read the New Testament with attention, will have perceived, that there is nothing in its contents managed with greater delicacy and address, than the attempts of its penmen to remove their errors and prejudices on this very point.

The prejudiced Jews, when pressed to receive gospel salvation, and live according to the christian economy, were ever ready to inquire of the christian teacher,Where is your temple? where are your sacrifices? and where is your high priest? To these inquiries they were

answered That God, in the christian dispensation, was now raising up a spiritual temple of living stones, of sinners quickened by his Spirit, and saved by his grace ;That these were built upon the sure foundation laid in Zion, the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ; That Christ had "died once for all, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;"-That he was now risen from the dead, and ascended to glory, where he was the high priest over the whole house of God; - That having died once, there needed no more sacrifice to be made; but that he now ever liveth to present his once crucified, and now raised humanity, and to plead for sinners before the throne of God.

Bnt the Jew was fully prepared to reply-How can these things be? How can your Jesus, the Son of Mary, be a priest? He is not of the sacerdotal race. Even according to your own confession, he is of the tribe of Judah. But from that tribe no man ever yet sprang who ministered at the altar. And we know further, that no man can sustain that office, unless he spring from the tribe of Levi. To this the christian teacher replied: That Christ was never intended to spring from the tribe of Levi; and yet he most assuredly was the priest of the Most High God, not by ordinary generation, and lineal descent, but by an especial call and appointment. God had chosen this family to the sacred office during the continuance of this Mosaic covenant; but from the beginning it was not That covenant contained neither the first nor the last of the priesthood. God had a priest in Canaan 422 years before the law was given; and before Aaron and his sons were chosen to draw near to him, and minister to him in things pertaining to the posterity Jacob. And that 476 years after the law was given, and the posterity of Levi chosen, God had distinctly spoken by the mouth of his servant David, in reference to a priesthood of another

So.