Divine appointment, he died. So whether it be through ignorance, or pride, or a love of sinning, that men reject Christ, if they reject him they must perish. The means of their recovery may have appeared to the Israelites as arbitrary, foolish, paradoxical-they may not have comprehended why such a way was proposed, nor have been able to see how it was that they could be saved by such a simple thing as looking to the serpent of brass-but it was so. Nor was there any other way. The method of their deliverance was simple and easy. It was to look to the brazen serpent, and whosoever did so was saved. You ob serve, my brethren, the principal word in our Lord's declaration concerning the guilt and danger of those that believe not is "condemned." The primary meaning is to be sentenced to punishment, in opposition to being acquitted or pardoned. Then our Lord's meaning is-while he who believes the testimony of God concerning his Son is "not condemned," but pardoned and accepted as righteous-on the other hand, he that does not believe is already" condemned-even now he is sentenced to punishment-doomed to destruction. The Gospel offer finds man a sinner, doomed by the holy law of God to death. It presents to him a full and free pardon; that pardon, however, from the very nature of the case, can be received only by faith, and as a matter of course, the unbeliever continues without it. He remains as he was before he heard of it-a condemned sinner. And still more, he is emphatically condemned, because he has not believed on the only begotten Son of God-" condemned," because he tramples at once on the authority of God, as manifested in the commandment to believe on his Son, and on the grace of God, that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us, and offers him to us in the Gospel. He must not, therefore, complain of Adam's sin; for he has had the offer of perfect deliverance from it; but by refusing this deliverance, he fastens on himself its condemnation, and adds the still greater one of rejecting salvation through the death of the Son of God. Fearful, therefore, is the doom of the incorrigibly wicked, and finally impenitent. "He that believeth not shall be damned."

Whatever men may think of Christ and Him crucified, He is the only saviour of sinners. There is but one way to obtain deliverance from the burden of guilt. Men must believe in Jesus Christ, that they may obtain the forgiveness of sin. If they do not, their guilt remains. There is no other expiation for sin, but the atonement of Christ, and there is no saving interest in that atonement but through believing. The bitten Hebrew that would not perish must look to the brazen serpent. The patient that will not use the only and the effectual remedy to cure him of a disease that is pressing upon him, must die. Men are sinnersand their only hope of being saved is in Christ; but if they reject Him, they must perish. Unbelief is a great sin, involving

deep guilt and exposing us to the wrath of God. It is to disobey God, and treat with contempt His Son. No doctrine of the Christian system is more unpalatable to unholy men than the necessity of being born again, and the urgency of faith in Christ as a Saviour. But we cannot speak neither more nor less than the word of God. Suppose among the murmuring Hebrews there was a man, respectable and well to do, moral and decent, amiable and intelligent, who, on being stung by a serpent, concluded that a chance had happened to him, and that by using the ordinary means he should be healed; and on hearing what Moses had done, smiled inwardly at the folly of those who could expect to be cured by looking at a brazen serpent; and determined that he would die sooner than degrade himself by such fanatical folly. And while his neighbors are looking and being healed, his case becomes more and more desperate, and now he diesand his ungodly pride is his destroyer. And another stung by the serpent is so obstinate, and self-willed, and conceited, that he will not look and be healed. His parents beseech him to cast one look towards the brazen serpent before he dies-his kind friends try to turn his face towards the pole, that he may catch one glimpse of the appointed remedy-but he will not look, and he dies, and upon his own head rest the consequences-he was his own destroyer. So now, my beloved hearers, you are all sinners. God has provided, at an immense cost, the way to save you, and He has given you a plain account of this way, accompanied by satisfactory evidence of its truthfulness, and all He requires of you is, that you believe on his authority the testimo ny before you. The Son of man is lifted up before you this day.

SERMON DCLXXXVII.

BY REV. HOLLIS READ,

CRANEVILLE, N. J.

CHRIST BEFORE THE WORLD WAS.

"Before Abraham was, I am."-JOHN viii. 58.

THE one design of the evangelical preacher is, to preach Christ. But you no sooner begin to think on this sublimest of themes, than it swells into an importance, and covers an extent of ground not at first suspected. It is a broad field entered by a narrow way and a strait gate. You may see some of its glories re

flected on objects around you; you may inhale some of its fragrant odors; and imperfectly taste some of its rich fruits, before you enter-enough to satisfy you that the ways of wisdom are pleasant, and all her paths peace. Yet these are but the reflected excellencies of their originals within the veil. You must enter and pluck these flowers, and eat these fruits, and expatiate on the moral beauties of this celestial Eden; you must put on Christ; must know by experience something of the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of Christ, before you can appreciate our theme.

In making Christ our subject we know not where to begin, or where to end. Should we begin at the cradle of Bethlehem, a voice would issue from the throne of the most excellent Majesty, saying, "Before Abraham was, I AM." Or go we back to the days of that patriarch, and identify Christ with the angel of the covenant, we are still admonished that, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." We should therefore fail to delineate Christ in the several aspects and offices in which he appears, if we did not contemplate him as he was in the beginning, or before the world was.

It is important that we here bear in mind the peculiar position in which Christ stands to our world, and which exalts him in our esteem beyond all price, and shows us the absolute necessity that we engage, in our behalf, his interest at the court of heaven. It is this: that to him God committed all things as touching this world. The moment sin entered, and this earth became a revolted province, all intercourse between heaven and earth was cut off-except as a matter of negotiation. Sin had put enmity between God and man, and God would no more treat with man, except through a Mediator. Satan raised his standard; the conflict has been for the dominion of this world-the Devil and his angels, or adherents, contending with Michael and his angels. Offcially, God will have nothing to do with this world till it is restored to its allegiance. All done to restore it, must be done through a Mediator appointed for the purpose. Would God subdue his foes, it is done through Christ, the captain of his hosts; would he communicate his will, propose terms of reconciliation, Christ is the Logos, the Word, by whom he speaks; would he dispense pardon to penitent rebels, and restore them to favor, the Son is the daysman to blot out the handwriting of death, and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Every thing relating to the mediatorial kingdom is committed to Christ; the government of this world, the dominion over angels, and the final judgment.

Christ, then, is our all in all. If we would make a single approach towards God, it must be through him. But in contemplating Christ the inquiry naturally arises—

I. Did the Second Person in the Trinity exist before he entered on the mediatorial work, and what rank did he then hold? Or were there no distinctions of persons in the Godhead? From eternity as well as to eternity Christ was God. "Before Abraham was, I AM." He hesitates not to appropriate to himself this peculiar name of Jehovah, I AM, the verb of existence-he that was, and is, and is to come, the Alpha and Omega-God from eternity. Again, he prays: "Glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." He was in the beginning, he was with God, and he was God. "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the world was. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth. When he prepared the heavens, when he gave to the sea his decree, when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him-and my delights were with the sons of men." He was the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person.

Before the incarnation-before the earth was-Christ was God-was King and Sovereign of the universe-the co-equal of the Father, and shared with him all the honors and prerogatives of the eternal throne-raised above all principalities and powers -enthroned amidst dominions, attended by angels, and honored by archangels. All creatures do him reverence. The morning stars sing before him, and the sons of God shout for joy. But he descends from his throne, lays aside the sceptre and the crown, and yields up the glory he had with the Father. He becomes the babe of Bethlehem, though once the King of glory. He becomes the man of sorrows, though once in the bosom of the Father, in whose presence is joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore. Angels desire to look into these things. To see the Sovereign of ten thousand worlds humble himself to become a man--to take on him the form of a servant-to submit to the infirmities and temptations of humanity, transcended the conception of the wisest angel.

II. The next aspect in which I would have you contemplate Christ as pre-existent, is in the Covenant of Redemption-the compact or agreement entered into by the three persons of the Godhead, by which each stood pledged to act a specified part, and each harmonize with the other. The manner and terms of this covenant appear in the 53d chapter of Isaiah. I quote the passage as translated by Bishop Lowth: "If he shall make a propitiatory sacrifice, he shall see a seed which shall prolong their days, and (the pleasure) the gracious purpose of Jehovah shall prosper in his hands. Of the travail of his soul he shall see (the fruit) and be satisfied. By the knowledge of him shall my servant justify many; for the punishment of their iniquity he shall

bear. Therefore will I distribute to him the many for his portion; and the mighty people shall he share for his spoil: because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sins of many; and he made intercession for the transgressors." The Father officially acts as the superior and the Son as subject to him. He proposes the terms and specifies the reward; the Son accepts the terms, and, for the reward, the joy set before him, enters on the work. The conditions are, that he shall make a propitiatory sacrifice for sin, by pouring out his soul unto death, and being numbered with the transgressors; and that he shall make intercession for transgressors should be a High Priest, to make atonement and intercession. The condition on the part of the Father was the bestowment of the specified reward, and the gift of the Spirit by whom the elect should be brought to Christ.

The reward Christ should receive is his church washed and purified and glorified with him forever. For this he entered on the mediatorial work; for this, submitted to the humiliation of the incarnate state, and offered himself a sacrifice for sin. "He should see a seed which should prolong their days." This defines who this seed is. Certainly not the wicked; for they shall not stand-they shall be cut off-shall be as grass-as stubble before the fire-their memory shall perish-their candle shall go outthey shall be no more. They shall not prolong their days, which be as a shadow. Only they who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and whose names are written in heaven, "shall endure forever-shall abide in his love." "The world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved." To secure such a seed he submitted to sufferings and death.

It is in this work alone that Christ is, officially, inferior to the Father. He voluntarily put himself in a position of subordination and obedience: and here he says of himself: "My Father is greater than I." It is as when three kings of equal rank and power go out to battle against a common foe. It is not meet that they all go out as kings or commandants. They make an adjustment of power for the general good. Two accept the command of a division of the confederate army, while the third retains the command of the whole, including of course his two royal compeers. There is now, officially, a disparity, the one sending, the others being sent-the one commanding, the others obeying.

Among the three persons of the Trinity, in the work of Redemption, there is no inequality in character or essence, only in office. There was no necessary subjection, but a voluntary submission. Christ had power to lay down his life and power to take it again. Voluntarily had he left the glory he had with