an extinguisher is this to the view of the Tractarians and Romanists, with respect to the Lord's Supper -that it is a propitiatory sacrifice! Our Advocate is in the holy place pleading; and it is a law of his ap-. pointment that no sacrifice must be going on withoutthat is, upon earth. Then what have we to do? Not to make a sacrifice, but to plead one already made; not to offer an atonement, but to say, "We are satisfied with that atonement that God has given us." What is involved in the awful notion of offering up Christ upon the altar, as it is called, is the terrible thought that Christ is not enough for us; we must make another sacrifice of our own as well. My dear friends, we have a Sacrifice that needs not to be repeated; it was completed when Jesus cried, "It is finished!" and on the force of that he now offers up a ceaseless advocacy beside the throne.

He is the "propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." I think those that try to explain this by the supposition that this means, not for the Jews only, but also for the Gentiles, utterly misunderstand its meaning. Whatever the meaning be, that cannot be it. First, John was not writing to Jews, but to Christians; after the Jewish economy had ceased, when the Temple had gone, and all its glory had passed away. And, therefore, this is not the explanation of it. My idea is, that John wrote it to rebuke the particularism-if I may so phrase it-the bigotry, the exclusiveness of existing Christian churches, who believed that they had taken the place of the Jews, and that those within their own narrow limits alone could be saved. We believe, that this propitiation is available to the

greatest savage as well as to the most civilized. We do not assert that it is a propitiation accepted by allthis is a very different thing-nor a propitiation that all will accept, nor a propitiation that all will be forgiven by; but, we do assert that it is a propitiation available to every man, of every degree, and of every stamp; of every country, and every kindred, and every place upon earth: and if any man does not accept it, it is either because he does not know it, or because he will not accept of it when it is offered to him. We do not believe, as I have said before, that there is any decree driving men to hell. We do not believe in any man being driven to eternal misery in spite of himself. Nay, I do not believe that any man is going to perdition without his knowing it well enough. If I address any that are rejecters of this gospel, they know quite well that they are so-they know that it costs them the greatest trouble to keep down the remonstrances of conscience; and I am persuaded that it gives a man a great deal more trouble and agony in order to go down to hell than it ever cost a saint to get to glory. How many sermons have you to quench, what reflections have you to keep out, what pangs of conscience have you to get rid of; what pleasures, what dissipations have you to follow, in order to kill time, that would otherwise be insufferable!

My dear friends, there is a Propitiation, the efficacy of which is sufficient for all the offer of which is made to all. Why should any man reject it? Is it something terrible to be a Christian-is it something sepulchral to be a child of God? I believe that a true Christian can listen to sweet music with greater

ecstasy, can gaze upon the beautiful panoramas of the world with greater delight, can go forth and enjoy the bright morning sun, and retire at evening twilight with greater pleasure, than the man who is living without God, and without Christ, and without hope in the world. If to be a Christian meant to go and be a nun or a monk, I could understand people refusing to accept it; this would be natural: but we do not ask you to renounce the world, but to be in it, and to have your hearts above it. A Christian may be a soldier, or he may be a sailor, a merchant, a tradesman, a lawyer, a physician; and the man will best serve his Queen who most loves and serves his God. We may depend upon it that Christianity will make every relationship more beautiful; it will make every duty more lightsome; because, when there is within a heart at peace with God, all nature without will reflect peace and satisfaction on you.

CHAPTER V.

PEACE WITH GOD.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."-ROMANS V. 1.

You will remember that when I read the first chapter of the Book of Leviticus, descriptive of expiatory sacrifices, I addressed you upon the nature of the offering of Christ, his sacrifice once for all for the sins of them that believe. When we read the second chapter of Leviticus, descriptive of the meat-offerings that were to be presented by Israel, I showed that under our economy our true meat-offering is not what they presented, but ourselves. "We beseech you by mercies that ye present," not meat-offerings of corn, and bread, and oil, and wine, but "that ye present your bodies living sacrifices, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

Having now read of the peace-offering, expressive of peace between God and Israel, I here select a text that is the summary of the chapter-"Therefore being justified by faith," in the expiatory offering finished eighteen centuries ago, we have now, not to present a peace-offering, but to taste the sweetness,

the joy, and the satisfaction of peace with God through Christ, the only atonement.

The blessing brought before us is peace, and the way by which it is enjoyed, is also described. This will lead me to show you what is the nature of true peace, in contradistinction to the mockery of it that prevails in the imagination, and sometimes in the convictions, of many.

Almost every chapter in the Bible is 'eloquent with the blessings of peace. If we look at Christendom, we should think that man came into the world especially desirous to fulfil the prophecy, "I am come not to send peace on the earth, but a sword:" but if we look into this blessed Book we shall see that the direct tendency of every truth, and doctrine, and promise, and precept, is glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good-will among mankind.

Wherever the tree of life appears in its congenial soil, the rich blossoms of joy, the precious fruits of peace, grow upon its branches over all the world: notwithstanding its storms, its clouds, and its controversies, there is breaking out day by day, in greater fulness, and in richer beauty, the covenant bow-the bow of promise and peace, to all mankind. How often does the Scripture speak of peace! "This man" speaking of the Saviour-" shall be our peace." How beautiful that text, "Thou, O God, wilt keep in perfect

peace the man"-not who is rich or who is great; not who is praised, not who is distinguished by his fellow-men-but "the man that trusteth in thee," or "whose mind is stayed on thee." Again, the Saviour says, “These things have I spoken to you that in me”—whatever you have in the world--"ye may