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PRAYER.

Creator of life and of nature! we bless Thee for the love which is manifested in the structnre of this our beautiful and native world. We, too, feel and acknowledge, as we look upon every thing that Thou hast made, that, behold, it is very good. We, too, would strive, in our contracted' sphere, to be imitators of Him who called up light out of darkness. Creators of our own destiny, for good or for evil, we would implore thine assistance to guide us into the one, and to guard us from the other. Whatever the darkness of coming time may conceal, may we view it as the means, and use it to the ends of wisdom. May we enter upon the solemn task of creating an eternity out of time, not with a loose and unsettled knowledge of what Thou requirest at our hands, but with fixed and distinct ideas of what it is our duty to avoid, and our happiness to perform. Thus may we strive to get wisdom, and with all our getting to get understanding. Thus may we prepare ourselves for that awful hour, when the flesh and the heart of mortality shall fail, and when all our trust, even in mercy like Thine, must depend upon our not having wholly forgotten our God. Then, now, and ever be Thou our shield and our stay, our Almighty friend

and our Everlasting Father! Amen.

SERMON X.

THE MORAL INFLUENCES OF CHRIST'S

DEATH.

edpn 30 1872

"FOR CHRIST ALSO HATH

1 Peter iii. 18.

ONCE SUFFERED FOR SINS, THE JUST FOR THE UNJUST, THAT HE MIGHT BRING US TO GOD."

WHAT was the cause, and what the object, and what the designed effects of the death of Jesus Christ?

Many fanciful, many mysterious notions have been connected with the subject. The event has been commonly regarded as possessing an interest and importance quite independent of its relation to the general tenor of our Saviour's ministry, and to the perceived and acknowledged objects of his mission. It has been often viewed as a mysterious anomaly in the plans of providence; as intended to produce effects with which it has no perceivable or probable connexion, and to operate the mightiest changes, no one can tell how. It has thus become an object more of speculative than of practical interest. Men have been content to gaze upon the spectacle of a crucified Saviour, with a vague feeling of wonder and mystery; instead of seeking, in the contemplation of it, those salutary influences, which the calm and grateful contemplation of this important event is calculated to convey to the serious and devout mind.

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The subject is divested of mystery, if not of all difficulty, by the apostle Peter's account of it, in the brief passage recited as our text. Let it be asked, what was the cause of the death of Christ? The answer is here; "Christ hath once suffered for sins;" because of sins, on account of sins, is the apostle's meaning; not as a punishment for sins, since Christ we know was without sin. But he suffered on account of the sins of others. It was because sin was in the world, that he came "to bless mankind by turning them from their iniquities ;" and it was the sinfulness of men that closed his mission of mercy with the death upon the cross. Christ then suffered on account of sins.

Is it asked, why an innocent person suffered ? What was the object contemplated by divine wisdom and by the Saviour's obedient love in this event? The answer is here before us. It was for the good of others, for the benefit of an unworthy world. Christ suffered "the just for the unjust." Yet not instead of the unjust. The apostle's language implies no such idea. They are not exempted from suffering by his endurance: they are not authorized to sin by his obedience: he has not released them, he could not release them, from their individual responsibility to the laws of God. The friend who encounters danger or endures privation for the sake of another, does not thereby procure for his friend an exemption from similar sacrifices in similar circumstances. The parent, who practises self-denial for the sake of his children, does it not in their stead, but for their benefit. Still less can the virtues of one man be transferred to another's account. They may benefit him, but they cannot stand in the place of personal exertion.

Christ then suffered," the just on behalf of the unjust," the good for the benefit of the unworthy. Even their sins could not steel the divine compassion, or chill the Saviour's love. God loved the world in spite of its wickedness; he pitied his creatures on account of their misery; and "while they were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly." Christ suffered, then, the just on behalf of the unjust.

Is it further asked, how Christ's sufferings were calculated to benefit those for whom he endured them; what was the purpose of divine providence in his death; what the result destined to flow from it; we still read the answer here, "Christ hath once suffered on account of sins, the just on behalf of the unjust, that he might bring us to God." This is the use of Christ's death. It was not, then, to bring God to us. It was not to reconcile God to his creatures, but his creatures to God. The change to be produced, was to take place in them, not in Him. It was they that needed reformation; not He that wanted mercy. He is unchangeable in his character and designs; but they must change from sin to holiness, if they would enjoy the light of his favor. Accordingly, the Scriptures uniformly represent the plan of redemption by Christ, as proceeding from the fixed and unchanging benignity of God, and designed to operate with a benignant influence upon the character and state of human beings. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself," says St. Paul, "not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us (that is, to the Apostles) the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in

Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Thus, then, Christ suffered to bring us unto God.

Yet how to bring us to God? What is the connexion between Christ's sufferings, and the relation of distance or propinquity in which we stand towards God? We must beware of supposing, that the sufferings of Jesus have effected any miraculous and unaccountable change in our state and expectations, independent of a corresponding change in our principles and habits and pursuits and hopes. It is upon ourselves, not upon our state or condition, that the blessed change is directly to operate. The effect can be produced upon our state and condition, only in consequence of, and by virtue of, the effect produced on ourselves. We cannot be brought to God for the enjoyment of happiness, except in proportion as we are brought to him in obedience. The influence of the sufferings of Christ is to commence on our hearts and characters, and so to be consummated in that heavenly blessedness which is promised to them that love God.

But we must also beware of supposing that the sufferings of Christ are calculated to exert a moral change upon ourselves, in any supernatural and irresistible way. We shall not be transformed from sin to holiness, all at once, and without exertion on our own part. We shall not be brought unto God, without feeling our progress, without striving for its completion. The sufferings of Christ are calculated to produce the effect in an assignable and natural manner: the influence which they exert, is to be felt, by tracing their connexion with the whole course of his life and the obvious purposes of his mission, and then laying open the understanding and

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