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outer court of the Gentiles, nor in the holy place, but in the very "holy of holies," in the place of the ark of the covenant, that particular part of the sanctuary where Jehovah had fixed his peculiar residence. The next thing be did in barbarity was consenting to devote his own children to a heathen god. Conceive of a father doing this. We have heard of Herod signing an edict to destroy all the male children in Bethlehem under two years: but never did we hear of a father, till we hear of Manasseh, devoting his own children to death, and causing them to pass through the fire to Moloch. He put to death an immense number of the Lord's prophets, and shed innocent blood till the streets of Jerusalem floated down with human gore. Among the prophets whom he slew was the venerable and evangelical prophet Isaiah-the very man whose sermons he had heard over and over again—the very man who had been admitted to his father's intimacy, who had been his friend and counsellor, Manasseh caused to be sawn asunder between two planks of wood, in order to testify his abhorrence of the doctrines of Isaiah, and the religion of his father. He not only multiplied his crimes to this extravagant degree, but he poisoned the princes, perverted the manners of his subjects, and did them more injury than the most detestable of the Roman emperors ever did. I think the records we have of Manasseh's barbarity, of his scenes of iniquity, exceed the horrid doings of the Roman Nero.

But I am not going to stop here. Here is horror: but I am only pointing to the shadows of the picture; it has a bright side also. This haughty rebel was subdued; aye, and converted. The way of God's providence often leads to the manifestation of his mercy. The Assyrians, who had kept their forces away during the time of his father, invaded the land: Manasseh was taken prisoner, deprived of his kingdom, and led captive to Babylon. His imprisonment, under the blessing of God's Holy Spirit, awakened him to reflection; he saw and confessed the baseness of his former life, and cried to God for mercy; that mercy which is vouchsafed to all whom the Holy Spirit inclines to ask for it in the way of God's appointment, was granted to Manasseh: and he who had once exhibited as sad a specimen as ever was exhibited, of the desperate depravity of human nature, became the child of forgiving love, and the heir of immortal life. Who then after this shall despair?

But I have not yet done. Look next at the case of the Corinthian Church. I need not tell you, that the inhabitants of Corinth were proverbially abandoned and corrupt. Some of them indulged in such abominable vices, and were habituated to such outrageous acts, as were a reproach to human nature, bad as human nature is. And yet even these sons of iniquity, these slaves of sensuality, were washed, were justified, were sanctified. They were washed in the precious blood of the dying Redeemer; they were sanctified by the powerful operation of his blessed Spirit; and justified through the righteousness of the Son of God. Those who were once the burden of the earth, are now the joy of heaven, and the delight of angels.

The time would fail to tell of all the triumphs of redeeming mercy; I will only mention one other instance which loudest of all proclaims the Lord as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." And it is an instance which exceeds, not only all I have mentioned, but all that can be imagined: and which, if I were to be so careless as to forget,

than that we should have griped the rock for our bed, or found our birth-place in the oozy channels of the deep?

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"Let us praise our heavenly Father that he hath made us with more understanding than the beasts of the field, with more wisdom than the fowls of heaven; that he hath made us a little lower than the angels, and 'crowned us with glory and honour,' and 'made us to have dominion over the works of his hands,' and hath put all things under our feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the path of the sea.'Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?'

"And further, my brethren, from looking on the honour and blessing of our birth-place and inheritance, look upon the treatment which you have received at the hand of your Creator, and say, if it doth not speak him more than fatherly in his love and carefulness. Our bread hath been provided, our water hath been sure; we have been protected from the summer's smiting heat, and from the winter's blasting cold; the damps of the night have not settled chill upon our raiment, nor hath the pestilence which wasteth at noon-day' blown its deadly blast across our path. The Lord hath been the length of our days, and the strength of our life, from our youth up to this day. And hath he not surrounded us with kinsmen and friends? Or, if we be alone, hath he not proferred to us his own fatherhood, and the brotherhood of the Creator of all things? And haply he hath surrounded us with lovely children, to stand in our room when we are gone; and he hath given us a house and habitation among men; and he hath found us in the sight of men more favours than we have deserved. Hath he not hidden your faults from the knowledge of men? Hath he not been very tender to your reputation, which by a turn of his providence he could have blasted? Hath he not restrained the wrath of our enemies? No sword hath come up against us; no famine hath pinched our borders; no plague, nor pestilence, nor blasting winds have bitten us; no weapons formed against our liberty have ever prospered. Another year hath told out its months and seasons; but each day hath brought our necessary meals, and luxurious entertainments, and each night hath brought its refreshment of dewy sleep; each Sabbath its rest and blessed ministry of salvation. The heavens have dropt down fatness on our tabernacles; very pleasant are our dwelling-places; and the places where our lines have fallen be very good. Yea, the exile doth visit our shores for a place where he may lay his aching head, and rest his weary feet. Yea, the slave doth touch our shores in order that he may be free. The land is good, and floweth with milk and honey, yea, the land is a good land which the Lord hath given us, whère justice and judgment, where right and equity, where piety and religion, have taken up their abode at the command of God. And every man of us doth sit under his own vine and fig-tree, none daring to make him afraid. And God is our father, and the Holy One of Israel our preserver. He that was the God of our fathers hath also been the God of their children. We will praise him, we will teach our children the praises of him, of our Father who dwelleth in the heavens, yet pitcheth his tabernacle in the midst of us."-REV. E IRVING.

CHRIST'S APPLICATION OF HIS WORK TO BELIEVERS.

REV. J. SANDFORD, A.M.

LONG ACRE EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, JULY 19, 1835.

"He shali save his people from their sins."-MATTHEW, i. 21.

It was the avowed declaration of Paul to know nothing in his preaching but "Jesus Christ and him crucified." Not that he meant to confine himself to one solitary topic, to the exclusion of any thing revealed in Scripture, but to intimate that the Lord Jesus was himself the substance and centre of all saving truth, and that from his cross were to diverge all the beams that should carry divine light and life into the human heart. He only meant that the cross of Christ was the appointed instrument for the illumination and conversion of the world; that it was to supply faith with all its pleas, and practical piety with all its motives; and to be the storehouse and channel of all spiritual gifts and graces. He only meant to echo that declaration of his Lord, that "to know Christ was life eternal;" and to intimate that there was not a topic given by inspiration of God, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, which the Saviour's cross did not supply.

The Lord Jesus Christ may be said to "save his people from their sins" by making satisfaction for us to God, and by obtaining gifts and graces for us. We are now to consider Christ's application of his gifts and graces unto us. This, it will be seen, is the all-important portion of the subject: for O! what matters it that satisfaction is rendered, and gifts and graces are obtained, if we be never the better for them? True, Christ has paid all that justice required to purchase our salvation, and hath treasured up for us in the covenant of grace all that is required to set us free from sin, and unite us to everlasting communion with him: but unless we be personally interested in the covenant, what does it advantage us at all? It would only be subject matter of interminable regret that a treasure so abundant had not been possessed by us; that with the waters of life present to our lips, we had been unable to taste of them, and that a banquet of rich and satisfying viands was provided only to mock us. Could we, therefore, beloved brethren, shew what Christ has done in pacifying God's displeasure, and opening up the way of your return, without shewing you how Christ is also to take you by the hand, and introduce you into the fatherly embrace of your God, we should be mocking human misery by exciting hopes which cannot be satisfied.

But we are to observe now upon the manner in which the Saviour institutes the soul into all the fruits of his mediatorial transactions with the Father, and

before his conversion. If Saul of Tarsus were living in this day, and were walking about with us, and taking his place among our congregations—if there was any individual among us who was near heaven, we should say it was Saul of Tarsus. He had profited in the Jew's religion above many his equals, of equal standing with himself in point of talent, erudition, and high station: no man was more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the fathers than he was, determined to resist any encroachment: and in all that was considered virtuous, lovely, and of good report, he signalized himself in general estimation. Surely we should say, “Here is a man fit for heaven on the principle of merit." But St. Paul had been taught the difference between his own religion, in which there was so much short-coming, and the obedience of Christ, in which there was no short-coming. He felt the force of the alternative, and therefore he was so anxious to win Christ, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.

Let these sayings find a lodgment in your heart; that, while they who trust in the general mercy of God do so at the expense of his whole character, they who trust in his mercy as it is manifest in unison with justice in the work of Christ, may surely hope for everlasting salvation; and their hope shall never be confounded.

How delightfully, then, we are brought to the last remark I shall make: No. humble penitent whose heart has been softened need despair of obtaining mercy, so long as there is an ear willing to listen to the precious truths of the Gospelso long as there is a tongue to ask its blessings-so long as there is a heart to desire those blessings-so long as these blessings are obtained. Come, then, ye weary, heavy-laden, trembling sinners; come to Christ to-night with a burden. too heavy for you to bear: O do not carry it any longer: yes, carry it a little way; but not further than to the foot of the Redeemer's cross: carry it there, casting all your care on Him who on that accursed tree gave such touching proofs of caring for you. O hear his voice as he hangeth there: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Ah!" say you, "these are certainly encouraging exhortations, and we have heard them, and have done as we were bid; and we have carried our burden there, but we have not obtained rest: the agony of our sins still, still cleaves to us. Our souls have long been in heaviness, by reason of strong convictions, and we are almost beginning to fear that our hope is perishing." O, my brother, thou art not patient; thou art falling into the sin of not waiting. But wait: if you have thrown down the burden, and expect immediate relief, you have been forgetful of the days, weeks, and months, that you allowed to pass before you brought your burthen there. You have God's word to rest upon, that in due season you shall have relief: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."

I beseech every burdened sinner, if he forget the whole of the sermon besides, to remember this word—that you are not permitted in any part of your Christian experience to interpret the delay of mercy into denial of mercy. You are not to say, that because God will not give you mercy when you ask it, you will not have it at all. O beware of charging God with want of wisdom: he is as wise as he is kind; he has infinitely good reason for every thing he does, and for every chastisement to which he submits you. Look at Paul; it was three days

after he was arrested in his career to Damascus before he obtained spiritual comfort. O, the agony of those three days! He could not eat; his friends brought him the cup of refreshment, but he could not drink. O the agony of the penitent, broken-hearted, Saul of Tarsus ! But you see that after this agony of three days, Paul was brought out of his trouble. And why was all this? To shew him what sin is; to make him feel the need of prayer; to dig deep, and lay low the foundation of the superstructure that was to rise so high. So perhaps with you: the longer you have been kept waiting for mercy, the more remarkable monument of grace God intends you to be. Wait, then, I beseech you, wait patiently on the Lord, and he will incline unto you and hear your cry. The longer you have been sighing for mercy, the nearer it certainly is to you. Perhaps some messenger of mercy is now hastening his way towards you; and perhaps the next Christian you meet may speak a word in season to your heart: perhaps the next sermon that you may hear, may let in the light of heaven on your soul, and chase away all the shadows of your present deep despair. The vision is yet for an appointed time; but though it tarrieth, wait for it: wait for it, and it will surely come: it will not tarry.

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