now is the accepted time, and whosoever will may

come.

But if you still insist on being excused, unreasonable and wicked as is your importunity, it must, for all we can see, be gratified. There is a period when God sends the invitation for the last time, and when, on hearing your perpetual excuses, he says, "None of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper!” Yes, he will excuse you from the heavenly banquet, if you are set on meaner food. He can hold the feast without you, though he should even compel them to come from the highways and hedges, that his house may be filled. Nay, this very invitation rejected, and he may shut the door upon you forever!

In defiance then of the discouraging influence of all these subtle and erroneous apologies, I once more lay before you the invitations of heaven's tenderest mercy. In his name, who came to seek and save that which was lost, I beg you not to venture another, and peradventure, a final refusal. It may be, that some of you feel that you are exposed to eternal death. You are weary and heavy laden, under the burden of your transgressions, and would fain escape the coming wrath. You are distressed, and anxiously concerned for the salvation of your souls. Nor is it with any doubt of the glorious all-sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour, or any secret misgiving that you will not find him every way adequate and fitted to all your wants, that I proclaim to you a free salvation through the merits of his blood. If you have any due sense of your sins, you must see that it is impossible for you to be justified by any righteousness of your own. The law you have broken; and therefore cannot live by it. Its con

demning sentence is the stern and sweeping language, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." The claim is just and unalterable. "If there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.” This is the method of deliverance; and it is vain that you look for any other.

Our subject, therefore, urges you without delay, without resorting to any devices of your own, to accept the only salvation which infinite love and wisdom have devised, or ever will devise. It is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus-the rich, the glorious redemption that is in Christ Jesus! As poor, guilty, perishing sinners, repair to Jesus Christ, and you will find from him, and in him, all that your perilous and ruined condition requires.

I have no warrant to treat with you at all, until you abjure all your excuses. It is not any excusable rebellion to which the Gospel is adapted, but it is to the rebel who is self-condemned, and to the sinner who feels that he is without excuse. And now, if any of you will still urge your excuses, I have not another word to say. Your duty is plain; and I leave you to plead your excuses in the presence of your Maker. The claim is his, and not mine. He knew your condition, and all your excuses, when he gave his Son to die; and he knows them all now, when he says, "Come, for all things are ready." Nor will you refuse to hear his voice, except from radical aversion of heart to him, from an inward dislike to his Gospel, and the terms

on which it is offered, engendered and fostered by a desire to be saved in some other way than that which the Gospel proposes, and a lurking purpose to be saved in some other way, or not to be saved at all. I can only set life and death before you, and urge you to choose life; and if you refuse it, assure you, in God's name, that you must die in your sins.

It is the King of heaven himself that bids you come; and if there are those of you who still slight his invitation, the time is at hand when you shall know what that Scripture meaneth, "They that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut."

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SERMON XXVI.

SCRIPTURAL VIEWS OF CHRIST.

Matthew xxii. 42.

What think ye of Christ?

THIS is a great question. It behooves us all to make this inquiry. What are our views of him and his great work? Is he altogether lovely in our eyes, and precious to our hearts? Do we trust him as the Incarnate Son of God, and submit to him as the anointed King of Zion? Is he our joy, our confidence, our all? According to a man's practical judgment in these matters, are his state and character. His thoughts on other subjects will be greatly influenced by his view of this. His spirit, his conduct, and his destiny are all influenced by his views of Christ. We have more to do with Christ than with any other being in the universe. And the Bible has more to say of him than of any other.

I. The first and most important fact which is revealed concerning Christ is, that he is truly and properly God.

His divinity is the foundation on which the Christian system rests. "To us a child is born," says the Prophet Isaiah, "to us a Son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." "Out of thee, thou Bethlehem of Judah," says the Prophet

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Micah, shall he come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity." In a style peculiarly his own, and lofty as his subject, the inspired Evangelist affirms, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "He thought it no robbery," says the Apostle," to be equal with God." His works attest his divinity. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." His authority attests it; for in his own name, he issues the laws of the God of heaven. His promises attest it; for they are such as God only can make, and fulfil. The final Judgment attests it; for life and death are decided by his sentence; and the eternal destiny of all intelligent beings is suspended on his pleasure. It is a fact of deep and everlasting interest therefore, that Christ is no other than the God of heaven and earth; the Lord and Creator, and Judge of the universe. He it is who was, and is, and is to come. He it is who is worshipped by all the heavenly hosts, and receives their everlasting praise and adorations. Look up, and behold your Lord and Redeemer. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

II. Another fact revealed concerning Christ is, that he became incarnate and dwelt among men.

God is one in nature, and three in Persons. This Trinity of Persons in the Godhead includes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These three exist from eternity in the same undivided nature, with the same power, the same wisdom, and the same equality of all perfection. They are consequently the same one, in