beauty and fitness of the truth be the result of a close and filial intercourse with GOD, but the assurance that God's Word is truth and not fiction, will increase. And to be thoroughly established in this is no small attainment. Το know that God's Word is true; to cherish no doubt or hesitancy; to give Him full credit for all that He has said to repose by simple faith upon the promise, and on the faithfulness of Him that has promised, is a blessing earnestly to be sought, and when found, diligently to be kept. A holy walk then will tend much to confirm the soul in the belief of the truth. To quote again the striking words of the Apostle, "he that believeth hath the witness in himself." He has the inward witness to the truth. He needs no outward demonstration. He is in possession of a source of evidence to the truth of God's word which scepticism cannot shake, because it cannot reach it. He may not be able to define the precise nature of his evidence -his reply to the unbelieving objector is, 'it must be felt to be known, it must be experienced to be understood. This evidence is not the the result of a laboured process of thought. I

arrived not at it by mathematical investigation. I was convinced by the Eternal Spirit of sin, fled to Christ, ventured my all upon Him, and now I know of a surety that God's blessed word is truth.' And not more completely was his sophistry confuted, who attempted to disprove the doctrine of motion by his opponent immediately rising and walking, than a humble, spiritual, though unlettered believer, may thus put to silence the foolishness and ignorance of men. Their sophistry he may not be able to detect, their assertions he may not be able to disprove, yet by a walk holy and close with GOD, he may demonstrate to the unbelieving universe that Jehovah's word is true. There is much wisdom in the observation of Coleridge,"Evidence of Christianity! I am weary of the word! Make a man feel the want of it; rouse him to the self-knowledge of his need of it, and you may safely trust it to its own evidence."

The truth dear reader, you are now invited to consider, is, of all truth, the most spiritual and important. It is the central fact of the gospelits sun, its glory; yea its very substance; for take from it the Atonement and what of the

Gospel remains? It lies at the very basis of a believing sinner's hope. Remove this, and all is gone! Seal up the fountain of Christ's precious blood, and you seal up the soul to blackness, darkness, and despair! And yet in this all important light, how few view it, even of the many who profess a sacred regard for God's Word. The truth of revelation is admitted, and even the necessity of the Atonement, as an essential pillar of immortal hope, is conceded, and still it is but an occasional and transient thought that is conferred upon a subject of the deepest moment and transcendent interest. O that men should treat this subject so! That Jehovah should tabernacle in flesh, and in His humiliation pour out His precious blood as an offering for sin, and that yet we should pass it by with indifference and neglect;-what language is sufficient to describe the affecting spectacle ?

"The church of GOD which He hath purchased with His own blood." Acts, xx. 28.

IN entering upon the more immediate discussion of this glorious subject, it seems proper and appropriate that we should begin with the absolute Deity of Christ. The reader will at once perceive the propriety of this, from a consideration of the single fact, that all the value and efficacy of the atoning blood, is derived solely and entirely from the dignity of the person who sheds it If Christ be not absolutely and truly what the word of God declares, and what He Himself professes to be, the true God, then as it regards the great purpose for which His Atonement was made, viz. the satisfaction of Divine

Justice, in a full and entire sacrifice for sin, it were utterly valueless. We feel the vast and solemn importance of this point. We cannot view it lightly, nor discuss it partially. And in reading disquisitions on the Atonement, otherwise able and elaborate, we have been pained to find this single point passed by, with so superficial and casual an allusion. Whereas, it is of the deepest moment. It is the key stone of the arch, sustaining and holding together every part of the mighty fabric. Our examination of the claims of Christ to proper Deity cannot be too close. We cannot too rigidly scrutinize the truth of His Godhead. Jesus Himself challenges investigation. When personally upon earth, carrying forward the great work of redemption, on all occasions, and by all means, He announced and proved His Diety. Thus was He wont to declare it :-"I and my Father are one." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." Thus was He wont to confirm it: "I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me