we can judge of the fitness or unfitness of the means made use of to do them; but in things which exceed our power and our conceptions, we have not this judgment. We judge the earth to be a proper place to receive the seeds of vegetables: the seed of animals have their proper repositories also. But we judge of the propriety in these cases from experience only; we think them proper because we see they are; for we have no notion of the propriety of these means, or any clear conception of the operations of nature in one case or the other: and could these methods be proposed to one quite a stranger to the works of nature; and should he be told that the way to make ten bushels out of one, was to throw the one into the ground, and there let it lie and rot, very probably he would think the proposal exceedingly absurd. Now to give life to one dead, or to conceive how it is to be given, is the remotest thing that can be from our powers and capacities. Let the proper means therefore be what they will, they must be above our comprehension. In this article, natural religion throws itself on the unlimited power of God; which is owning itself no judge of the means for effecting this great work. The gospel has opened to us the purposes of God for effecting this work: we complain that we do not see the natural tendency of these means to the end proposed; not considering that the work itself is mysterious, and therefore the proper means to effect it must be so too.

That the death of Christ should be the life of the world, is a surprising proposition; and yet to say this is not a proper method for redeeming the world, without having a clear view of the whole dispensation of Providence with respect to mankind, is utterly absurd.

The Scriptures of the New Testament have discovered to us that we are the immediate workmanship of the Son of God,' by whom all things were made which were made; being created by him, and for him.' How far this relation between Christ and the children of men made it proper for him to offer, and for God to accept the sacrifice of his death, as an expiation for the sins of the world, we are not directly informed, nor is it expedient for us to be wise above what is written: but something of this sort seems to be intimated in Scripture. The fall of man was the loss of so many subjects to Christ, their natural

Lord under God, in virtue of his having created them: the redeeming them was the recovering of them again, the re-establishing his power over his own works. See how St. Paul describes this work of our redemption: God hath delivered us from the powers of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:' Col. i. 13. In the next verse he recites the means made use of for our deliverance: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.' For the confirmation and establishment of this doctrine of the gospel, he immediately subjoins the relation in which Christ stands towards us as our Maker, and the new relation acquired in virtue of his redemption. In the first view he styles him, 'The image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for by him were all things created—and by him all things consist.' In the second view he calls him, The head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.' As we owed to him our first life, so we owe to him our second: the reason of this dispensation of Providence in the redemption of mankind is added by the Apostle: For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and (having made peace by the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all things to himself.' The scheme of thought which runs through this passage of Scripture seems to be this; that as Christ was head of the creation, and made all things, so when God thought fit to restore the world from sin, it pleased him that Christ should be head also of this new work, the first-born from the dead himself, and the giver of life to every believer: for this purpose he made peace by the blood of his cross, and reconciled all things to God, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. Thus much we collect from the Apostle's reasoning; and discern plainly that the pre-eminence of Christ, as head of the church, is connected and related to his pre-eminence as head of the creation. Therefore we have reason to believe that the whole transaction of our -redemption through Christ, his incarnation, his life on earth, his death on the cross, the sacrifice he offered for sin, and his glorious resurrection, are founded in the most absolute propriety, and are the result of infinite wisdom, choosing the fittest meaus to accomplish this great work.

To go back then from whence we set out.

This is our hope

and confidence; that Christ gave himself for us.' Let this hope live with us here, that we may live by it for ever: let it ever mortify our corrupt affections on earth, and teach us to live only to him who died for us; for we are to the world, and all the lusts of it, dead, and our life is hid with Christ: and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.'

SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE LII.

I TIMOTHY, CHAP. I.-VERSE 15.

THESE words contain the great charter of the Christian church, and are the title by which we claim all the promises of the gospel if it be asked on what pretence the peace of God is proclaimed to men, and on what confidence pardon is offered to sinners, it is answered in the latter clause of the text; and that in his name is preached salvation, peace, and pardon to offenders. This doctrine, with the principles on which it is founded, and its natural consequences, distinguishes the Christian religion from all others. On this text are built the believer's hopes, and the advantages and favors which we claim beyond the terms of justice and natural religion. Whoever therefore rejects this article, does indeed reject the Christian religion, though not all the religion contained in the gospel, the moral duties of which are those of natural religion carried to perfection and the man who receives not Christ for his Redeemer, may yet receive these, as being agreeable to his own reason and understanding. The difference between a true Deist and the Christian arises from the doctrine in the text. They both admit the being and providence of God, as well as the obligations of morality, and therefore the necessity of a virtuous life. Thus far the Deist cannot doubt, as his sole hope rests in his obedience to his equitable judge. Should the Christian build so far on other hopes, neglecting the weighty matters of the law, he deceives himself, and abuses the gospel of his Saviour. But the Deist reckons all men, from the very nature of their creation, capable of fulfilling the end designed

for them by God; and as he owns the duty of obeying God, he therefore claims his protection. The Christian knows that man has fallen from his primary state of innocence, and having no claim on God by his obedience, stands in need of pardon, as well as grace and assistance to perform the conditions on which pardon is offered: he believes that pardon and reconciliation has been granted to man through the sufferings of the Son of God; and that grace will be granted. All these points are briefly comprehended in the text. To illustrate and confirm this proposition, it is shown, I. what reason we have to believe that men were sinners, and stood in need of pardon and salvation: II. by what means Christ perfected their redemption and salvation.-I. It is a saying of St. Austin's, if man had not fallen, Christ had not come: our Lord speaks to the same sense, when he tells us, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost; and again, when he answered those who reproached him for conversing with publicans and sinners, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Had man continued innocent, natural religion would have answered all the ends of his creation; he would have wanted no Redeemer; for after the works of the creation were finished, God saw every thing that he had made; and behold it was very good: in this state therefore no reconciler between God and man was wanted. That actions shall be rewarded or punished, natural sense and reason have always taught the considering part of mankind. The voice of reason and of the law is, this do and thou shalt live: for though man is altered, yet the nature of things is the same; so that the abstract consideration of virtue and vice properly infers the reward of the one and the punishment of the other; it is no wonder then that they who argue on such general views only should imagine that moral virtue may still exalt a man to the highest degree of happiness. In the question concerning the merit of good works, there has been much confusion, for want