This contracted view of an almost infinitely extensive subject, has served I trust to furnish at least that general idea of the great scheme of redemption, which may, under divine blessing, be sufficient to direct you in the management of your spiritual concerns. You have seen what the first Adam was in his original state of perfection: and by looking back to the history of the Fall, you have been taught to account for the actions of the second Adam. Paradise, and with it, the image of God in man had been lost by the first Adam's transgression: in consequence of which, the sentence of Death had passed on him and his descendants. This sentence, so far at least as concerned the spiritual part of it, was to be reversed; and that, of which Paradise was the intended emblem, to be regained, by fallen man's becoming again what he was originally created, "a living soul;" being restored to the image of God by the renewing of the Holy Spirit. To remove the stumbling block out of the way of this important renovation of man's fallen nature, did the Son of God, as our representative,

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sentative, suffer himself to be tempted; that in our nature he might conquer him who had the power of Death; for the gracious purpose of delivering the captives which the Devil had held bound, and restoring them to the liberty of the Sons of God. Thus in the person of the second Adam, we see things as it were working backward again to Paradise and the tree of life: the great scheme of redemption having for its object the recovery of the image of God in man, as preparatory to the restoration of what was forfeited by the loss of it: in correspondence with what we thus read in the symbolical language of the book of Revelation. "And He that sat upon the throne, said, "Behold, I make all things new. And "He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and "the End. I will give unto him that is "athirst of the fountain of the water of "life freely. He that overcometh shall “have a right to the tree of life, and "shall inherit all things, and I will "be his God, and he shall be my Son."

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But previous to this final state of triumph, my brethren, there must be a battle. The Devil is what he has been from the beginning, man's great spiritual ene my. The weapons of his warfare are the same he hath always employed; namely, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. By the example of the great Captain of our Salvation, we have been taught, however, in what manner this formidable enemy is to be subdued; even by taking to ourselves that shield of faith, which is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one; and at the same time making proper use, as our Saviour did, of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

But this battle, it is to be observed, is not to be fought on the public theatre of the world, where the Devil is surrounded with all his auxiliaries, but in the wilder ness. Retirement from the world, together with abstinence, meditation, and selfdenial, are necessary to secure to the spirit its victory over the flesh. This consideration ought to make the members of our Church thankful, for that more than ordinary

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ordinary seclusion from the world, which she has ordained at this solemn season *; for the purpose of enabling them to ascer tain with precision the state of their spiritual concerns, by determining, every one, for himself, in what degree the image of God has been restored in him. when it is considered moreover, that man in his present condition is at best but in a state of convalescence, in which, continued regimen and caution are necessary to prevent him from falling a sacrifice to an hereditary disease; when it is considered, that in consequence of the corruption that has been entailed on his nature, the flesh is unceasingly lusting against the spirit; and that his recovery from the effects of the Fall can be compleated only by the transformation of his spirit, into the likeness of the Spirit of God; it is to be deeply lamented that there should be Christians so thoughtless of themselves, as not to turn so wise an institution to the most profitable account. In the world, speak

*This, with the two preceding Discourses, was preached in Lent.

ing of it in its general character, there is little else but pride, wickedness, and folly. And the more we are acquainted with the world in its state of corruption, the more convinced shall we be that this representation of it is but too true. But to make use of the words of the son of Sirach; "he that giveth his mind to the "law of the Most High, and is occupied "in the meditation thereof, he who will

give his heart to resort to the Lord that "made him, and will pray before the "Most High, and will open his mouth in

prayer, and make supplication for his "sins; when the Lord will, he shall be "filled with the spirit of understanding." Ecclus. xxxix.

Of this and the two preceding Discour ses, the object has been, to give a short, but connected view of the great scheme of redemption, from its commencement in Paradise, through its appointed accomplishment by the personal agency of the Son of God made man, to its perfect consummation, in the recovery of man's nature from the effects of the Fall, by the renewing operation of the Holy Ghost. Whilst

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