head, and "the burden of them intoler"able." It is intolerable indeed. The proper wages and punishment of sin is death,everlasting death, "the soul that sinneth it "shall die." Any one wilful sin exposes us to God's wrath, and condemnation. From this condemnation all those who repent and believe are rescued by the death of the Redeemer. He came into the world to save "sinners," repenting and believing sinners, -from the punishment, to which their sins had exposed them. He came to make full, perfect and sufficient satisfaction and atonement for the sins of the whole world. came, not only to deliver us from the punishment of sin hereafter, but also to rescue us from the dominion of sin here. In order to effect this purpose of His coming, He gave us the most pure and holy precepts, not only for the government of our words and actions, but also for the regulation of the thoughts and affections of the heart; He set before us in His own spotless demeanour the most perfect example for our imitation. He presented to our hopes and

He

fears, to our gratitude and love, the most powerful and prevailing motives to holiness of living. And, above all, knowing the weakness and corruption of our mortal nature, He taught us how to seek for assistance and strength from heaven, and promised that those who devoutly prayed for such strength, should certainly receive it.

And now, to conclude, what an awful view does this doctrine of the atonement give us of God's hatred to sin? If the blood of the eternal Son of God was poured forth to save sinners, it is, perhaps, not unreasonable to conclude, that no other satisfaction could have been made; but how dreadful must have been the weight and the guilt of sins which required such a sacrifice? And shall we venture presumptuously to continue in sin? If we do, surely, we are in some degree liable to the censure cast by the Apostle upon those, who "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him "to an open shame." Christ came into the world, as you have heard, to save sinners; to save us, my friends, from the

If

power of sin in this world, and from the punishment of sin in the world to come. we wilfully give way to sin, and suffer it to reign in our mortal bodies; if we are governed by the world, or by the flesh, instead of obeying the will of the God of heaven, we, so far, make Christ to have come into the world, and to have suffered, in vain. For, we must not hope to escape the dreadful penalty of sin hereafter, if we wilfully yield to its dominion here. We must not expect to derive benefit from the office of Christ, as our Priest, if we wilfully refuse to listen to Him as our Prophet, and to obey Him as our King.

Let us strive against every sin, therefore, resolvedly and manfully. As Christ died for sin, let us endeavour to die to sin,

-to "reckon ourselves as dead indeed "unto sin, but alive unto God, through "Jesus Christ."

And from an humble conviction of our own inability and weakness, let us in earnest prayer, seek the aid and strength of His blessed Spirit, the Spirit of counsel and

might, and of the fear of the Lord, the assistance of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, whom He promised to send to abide for ever with His true servants.

SERMON XV.

EASTER DAY.

PHIL. iii. 10.

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection."

ONE of the most striking features in the character of St. Paul was, his noble superiority to all earthly views and considerations, -indeed, his absolute contempt for them,when placed in any sort of competition with the knowledge, and the motives, and the hopes, of religion. This he strongly expresses in the chapter from which my text is taken, "What things were gain to me, those I "counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, "and I count all things but loss, for the "excellency of the knowledge of Christ