order of Providence; the more convinced, by experience, of his own weakness; the more capable of refinement, and of vigilance, in the discovery of fresh imperfections in himself; insomuch, that, contemplating with terror the extent of that misery, of which he had formed at first so inadequate an idea, he exclaims: "O wretched man that I am! I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." No man, therefore, can be saved, but by "GRACE;" and as it is Jesus Christ who presents us with that grace,-in which is included the gift of eternal life through the pardon of sin, so it is he also whose merits have obtained it for us.

He alone is righteous :-He alone has thoroughly fulfilled the task of obedience imposed upon man;—He alone hath shown forth, in all their glory, the divine perfections; and, by bearing in his own person the whole weight of retribution, has diverted and brought upon his own innocent head, the wrath by which we should have been consumed. Christ bears the curse, while we obtain the blessing; "the

chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed:" Christ is crowned with thorns, that we may be crowned with glory; Him reproach covers, that we may be clothed with honour; every pore of his body bleeds, that our bodies may be glorified; in his soul he endures the extremity of desertion and casting off, that ours may be filled with the presence of God; He dies in the midst of tortures, that we may live in the abodes of unmingled blessedness. In Christ, coming full of mercy, to visit us, we see the victim which procures our salvation, and the "GRACE" which ensures our pardon. That which appears, to our feeble reason, derogatory of Christ's greatness, is no derogation from the greatness of his love for us.

How shall we figure to ourselves the Saviour coming down to earth, with a perfect foreknowledge of all that he would have to undergo for the obtaining of our salvation, and not stand struck with admiration before this unparalleled exhibition of mercy and of love? How can we pass a single day without feeling the deepest

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humiliation and heartfelt contrition; without dreading to have incurred some secret guilt; without imploring pardon through the merits of Christ Jesus?

Oh, then, sinner! embrace the inestimable mercy which is offered thee; and sue for that "GRACE" without which thou canst not enter. into the abodes of heaven! Oh, then, ye torpid souls! take advantage of the time yet allowed you, to excite within yourselves a livelier zeal; nor forget that, while you are asking of the Lord grace and mercy, he calls out to you for repentance, obedience, and zeal. And ye, who are sinking under a sense of guilt, take courage it is because ye are thus contrite, that the Almighty makes you the offer of forgiveness. When the sinner is thus suffering under a sense of his offences, humbled by the multitude of his temptations, discouraged by frequent relapses, terrified with the consciousness of his condition, how is he consoled by the contemplation of all that his Saviour suffered! When, at the holy table, he hears the Blessed Lord thus address him: "This is my

blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins," how does composure succeed to alarm, and, in the place of sorrow, that calm joy which the children of God experience when reconciled with their Father!

Towards this contrite sinner, Jesus

shows himself" full of GRACE" and love.-Let us, while we celebrate this first of the benefits of mercy, exclaim with the angels," Glory be to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill towards men!"

II. But, My Brethren, shall it be said of us, They have been forgiven much," because they have loved much ?"-loved with that love which promotes humility, and fervency in prayer and in obedience? That God pardons our sins, does not excuse a vicious life, or a religious indifference, which render us both unworthy and unfit to inherit the kingdom of heaven. When God declares, respecting those who are "lukewarm and neither hot nor cold," that he will cast them off with indignant aversion,-that "without holiness no man shall see

him," when he points out to us as inseparable, his "goodness and severity," and that

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'scarcely shall the just man be saved," how is it possible we can abandon ourselves to a fallacious security? What then, you will ask, shall we do, to prove ourselves worthy of the benefit implied in the covenant of grace? In order that you may learn this, listen to Christ: he comes to teach it you; it is for this that he presents himself to us, FULL OF TRUTH."

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Jesus," FULL OF TRUTH," is himself the very Truth;-He is Truth itself,-Wisdom herself, "made flesh," in order to be our instructor and our guide. "Through the tender mercy of our God, the dayspring from on high,” the sun of the heavenly world, "hath visited us," -discovering to us the road to destruction, that we may be enabled to shun it; and that of heaven, in order to induce us to enter upon, andpur sue it, even to the end of our course.

Christ is "TRUTH," he hath come down from heaven, that he might acquaint us with heavenly things;-what a proof of the infallibility of his doctrine! He hath suffered death, that