God. With him we have no communion, and before we can have, there must be restoration to purity, a creating anew. The death of Christ has procured this for us. In producing this life, this sanctification, the death of Christ is the cause, the Holy Spirit the Agent, the Word is the instrument, and the purity of Christ the model and rule.

1. Christ is the life of all christian graces.

These proceed from and lead to Christ. Faith cannot possibly exist without Christ to rest on, it cannot rest on joyous feelings, or consistent conduct, these are the fruits, not the ground of faith. Faith gives life to good works, to holy tempers, to joyful affections; but Christ must first be the life of faith. Christ is the life of hope. If we have hope it is because we are quickened together with him; it is because he has entered within the vail. Christ is the life of our love. He has been the object of supreme regard in every age, to every genuine christian; the strength of their love has been according to their knowledge.

2. Christ is the life of christian duties.

This is another important branch of practical godliness. Where are these duties not attended to? where Christ is not the life of the soul. If christians are what they ought to be, if their conversation be holy, if their actions be holy; they are so because Christ is their life and their strength.

3. He is the life of christian ordinances.

Christian graces will not be maintained with vigour, christian duties will not be performed with regularity, if we do not continue to implore and to enjoy the Divine influence through the medium of the means of grace. Of all these ordinances Christ is the life. They would be wells without water, if he were not conveyed through them in his spiritual and comforting influences. What are sacraments without Christ? They draw all their efficacy from him. What are prayers or thanksgivings without Christ? Is he not the chief object of supplication in the one and the reason of the acceptance of the other? What is preaching without Christ? If Christ be not the subject of it, there is no gospel in it. He is the principal theme of evangelical administrations. If we preach the law, it is to show you your need of Christ. If we preach the torments of hell, it is to induce you to make haste to Christ. If we preach the joys of heaven, it is to encourage you to go to Christ. But he is not only the subject

of our preaching, but our authority to preach is derived immediately from him; and from him is derived the power to exercise the ministry with effect.

III. CHRIST IS OUR LIFE IN THE PROMISE OF THE RE

SURRECTION TO FUTURE GLORY.

Although the Spirit is life because of righteousness, without the life-giving power of Christ the body remains dead because of sin. This will be but for a time, for the body itself will be raised from the grave, and will put on immortality. It will be effected by the power of Christ. He himself will perform this miracle. His body will be the model to which the bodies of his people will be conformed. His appearance in the clouds will be the signal for our resurrection.

We may observe, further, that Christ may be termed "our life," because it is through him that admission is obtained to heaven; that, by him, each saint will have his place and occupation assigned in heaven; that his presence constitutes the bliss of heaven; and that the degree of glory will be regulated by the degrees of nearness and intimacy with Christ to which we may have been previously exalted.

In conclusion, let us endeavour to apply this subject, 1. To hearers of the gospel.

Christ is preached to the end that he may be your life. You cannot listen attentively to the gospel without deriving light, but this will avail you nothing, unless you receive life also; nay, it will add to your condemnation.

2. To earnest seekers of salvation.

Go at once to Christ with your burden of guilt, and he will remove it; go with your depraved nature, and he will create it anew.

3. To christians.

Be grateful. See how much you owe to Christ. He died that you might have life, and you now live through him. Be consistent, as well as grateful. Live to Christ. Identify yourselves with all that belongs to him; his cause must be yours, his people yours. Be useful. Lay yourselves out to bring others to him; diffuse the savour of his life-giving death.

B.

LXXV.

THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

1 THESSALONIANS V. 10.-"Who died for us."

The event to which the text refers is the most remarkable of any that ever transpired in the universe. It was that in which the fierce anger of God burned out against sin, and against his own Son, who had become the sinner's substitute. Had it not been for this event, no day of salvation would ever have dawned on this ruined world; no gospel would ever have been proclaimed to ruined men.

In directing our attention to the death of Christ, there are two circumstances which have a special claim to our notice. I. ITS CHARACTER.

1. It was a violent death.

By violent we mean that his life was not legally forfeited. No charge of guilt could be proved against him; his enemies would gladly have done so; they suborned false witnesses, yet they failed to effect their object, according to the testimony of their own corrupt judge, who was by no means inclined to view the matter impartially; he declared Christ innocent. "He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation, for he was cut off from the land of the living." Nor was his life forfeited to the Divine law, for we have Divine authority for asserting that Christ knew no sin.

2. It was a voluntary death.

It has been said, the death of Christ was the necessary result of his engagement to teach a new and better system of morals, and it is therefore to be looked upon in no other light than that of a martyr. The Scriptures furnish no ground for this supposition; according to them, no means would have been attended with success, however well devised, and however energetically executed, but for the co-operation of the Saviour. A little while before his death, he was at a distance from Jerusalem, and his enemies knew not where; they had organized their plans, and Christ was

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quite aware of it, yet he went up boldly to Jerusalem, to be, as he said, delivered into the hands of the priests and scribes, and to suffer many things from them.' Again, while on his way from Gethsemane, when one of his disciples drew out a sword in his behalf, he told him that he could summon twelve legions of angels to his assistance. But we do not base our proof of the voluntary character of his death on any incidents of this kind, but on the constitution of his person. Jesus Christ possesses the Divine nature, with its inseparable and essential attributes; he also possesses human nature; the two natures are mysteriously joined in his person; now it is evident, that to occasion death to the person of Jesus Christ, would require the exercise of infinite power; it follows then, that the death of Christ was not the result of human agency, but was eminently voluntary. Of course this does not at all diminish the guilt of those who conspired against him, though deficient in power, they wanted not the will.

3. It was severe.

Supposing that his death was merely that of a martyr, we are still at a loss to account for its severity. We do not now refer to those sufferings in which his body was the subject, but to that excessive mental but mysterious suffering, to which he refers in those words, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death," sufferings so severe, that they led him "with strong cryings and tears" to pray that this cup might pass from him.

4. It was substitutionary.

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It is evident from the considerations now presented, that the death of Christ was of a peculiar kind; there never had been a case like it, in which one has suffered death, on whom could be charged no crime, in whom could be found no sin. Christ was the substitute of the sinner, he undertook to make expiation for human trangression, and against him, in the stead of man, was directed the flaming sword of Almighty wrath, of avenging justice. Even as a man Christ died as a substitute; by the common consent of the people, he was a substitute for Barabbas, a notorious robber and murderer.

II. ITS DESIGN.

In many passages of scripture, the death of Christ is set forth as sacrificial, and one of the principal designs of the

epistle to the Hebrews is to show, that the ritual ceremonies and typical services of the Mosaic economy were of no value, and utterly unmeaning, only so far as they shadowed forth the "one sacrifice for sins now made in the end of the world." The design of all sacrifice is two fold, to procure pardon, and by the moral influence on the offender to secure obedience. This is the design of the death of Christ.

1. To procure pardon.

Pardon is the removal of the penal consequences of transgression. The pardon of a sinner under the Divine government, is granted either as a mere act of prerogative, or else on account of some valuable consideration, presented to the offended majesty of heaven, by which his justice is satisfied, the honour of his government vindicated, and the authority of his law secured.

There are some that maintain that pardon is a mere act of prerogative with God. They who maintain this are placed in a dilemma from which it appears impossible to escape. The penalty threatened against sin is everlasting death; now, either the circumstances of the case required that such a threatening should be uttered, or they did not. If they did, then the same circumstances required that the penalty be inflicted in case of transgression, or what becomes of the truth of God? If they did not, then where was the wisdom of not adopting proper means to secure the end proposed? This consideration alone, is sufficient to show that sin cannot be pardoned as a mere act of prerogative.

Others maintain that sin ought to be pardoned on the repentance of the sinner. Repentance is either in the power of man, or it is not; if it be in his power, it will be exercised whenever he may fear punishment, and thus he would, on this supposition, always escape. But, if it be not in his own power; if, as the Scriptures teach, all genuine repentance is the gift of God, were this doctrine true, it would follow that God assists man to break his own law. But apart

from this, it is evident that repentance alters not the relation between the parties; it does not destroy the fact of transgression; it can never of itself do away with the necessity for punishment.

The Scriptures teach us that pardon is bestowed on the sinner on account of the death of Christ. This is that valu