His poverty might be rich." Here is another wonderful transition. We have seen a transition from riches to poverty; and now here is another transition from poverty to riches. We are now to see those who were poor become rich; and all through the medium of His interposition on their behalf. "That ye through His poverty might be rich."

These are the "unsearchable riches of Christ," as they are called. We shall never do them justice, never explain them fully: but we may judge a little of them by their nature. Remember, that they are spiritual riches, that they render the soul wealthy, that they are eternal in their duration, that they are "bags which wax not old, a treasure in heaven, where

thieves do not break through and steal." We must remember, that they are consistent with outward poverty and distress here.

What a change takes place in the sub-moth and rust do not corrupt, and where jects of Divine grace always! They were thorns, and are now fir trees, as Isaiah says; they were briars, now they are myrtle trees or as the apostle says, they were "far off," but are now "made nigh by the blood of Christ." They were blind, now they see; they were dead, and are alive again; they were lost, and are found; they were poor, and are made rich.

We must not pass this by without a little more notice.

We were poor" in every sense of the word. As creatures, our foundation was in the dust. We had houses of clay; we lived and moved and had our being in another; we were always fed from others; we had nothing we could call our own, except sin. Well, then, how poor were we as sinners! The fall had stripped us of all our moral and spiritual excellencies. It had reduced us to what David very properly calls "a low estate:" or as Watts very strikingly expresses it,

now

"Buried in sorrow and in sin,
At hell's dark door we lay;
But we arise by grace Divine
To see a heavenly day."

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Our Saviour said to the Church of Philadelphia, "I know thy poverty, but thou art rich." Persons may be poor in this world's goods, and be rich in faith, rich towards God, heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him. "Poor, yet making many rich," says the apostle; "having nothing, and yet possessing all things.'

Very little of the wealth of Christians is now discernible, because it is to be displayed hereafter principally, and enjoyed above. Christians are now minors; they are under age; their inheritance is therefore "reserved in heaven for them;" and 66 eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

Believer, you must not forget the medium of all your attainments. You must remember, that if you are rich, it is because He was poor, and that " through His poverty you become rich;" that it is We had no knowledge then, but we are by His emptying Himself you are filled; "made wise unto salvation." We that it is by His descending to earth you had no righteousness then; we have now can ascend to heaven; that it is by His "the righteousness which is of God by bearing the shame you are crowned with faith." We had no strength then; we glory and honour; that it is by His dying are now strong in the grace that is in alone you live. If He saves others, HimChrist Jesus;" and through His strength- self He cannot save; if He redeems you, ening of us we can do all things." We it must be with the price of His own prehad then no title to heaven; we have now cious blood; if you are saved, and ena right to the tree of life which is in the riched, and glorified for ever, it must be midst of the paradise of God." We had in a way in which the law is not disho then no peace; we have now a "peace noured, but magnified and made honourwhich passeth all understanding.' We able; in which sin must be condemned were then strangers to joy; we have now a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory." We were then poor enough; we had no God; we were living without God: we have now a God for our own; every individual Christian can claim Him with all His perfections, and relations, and promises, and can say, "God, even our own God shall bless us."

How rich are Christians, then, become!'

while pardoned; in which the attributes
of God must not be opposed to each other,
"but mercy and truth meet together,
righteousness and peace kiss each other;"
in a way which blends "glory to God in
the highest," with "
peace on earth, good
will to men." And here it is that all
arise, here it is that all are displayed;
therefore He was made " perfect through
suffering," and thus "became the author

of eternal salvation unto all them that obey | therefore He is not only said in one view Him." Thus it was, that "He who was to be given, but in another (and how frerich, for our sakes became poor, that we quently!) to give. "He loved us and gave through His poverty might be rich;" that Himself for us.' "No man taketh My He" once suffered for sin, the just for the life from Me, I lay it down of myself; I unjust, that He might bring us to God." have power to lay it down, and I have It is here, therefore, we see the value of power to take it again." Therefore in our souls; it is here we see the import- His death "He cried with a loud voice, ance of our salvation; it is here we see and gave up the ghost;" which showed what difficulties stood in the way of it, that He died not of exhaustion or weakand how remotely, infinitely remotely, ness. He was not only the sacrifice, but they are removed. It is here we learn the Priest that offered it. Through the our full obligation to the Saviour; eternal Spirit, He offered Himself without spot to God."

"He sunk beneath our heavy woes
To raise us to His throne;

There's not a gift His hand bestows,
But cost His heart a groan."

Then let us observe,

Could it be, then, the effect of desert ? No. He could not have viewed us as Pharoah's daughter viewed Moses, when she found him in the ark of bulrushes. IV. The PRINCIPLE of all this. The babe wept, and she had compassion It is grace. "Ye know the grace of on him; and her compassion did her hoour Lord Jesus Christ." To what else in nour, for here was an innocent supplicant; the world can His interposition be as he had done nothing to bring him into cribed? I have been thinking in my re- this distressed condition. But as to us, tirement this morning of four things, but we were criminals in our misery; and neither of them will apply here; impo- this is a circumstance, on which the apostle sition, compulsion, desert, importunity. enlarges so frequently and so much. For No; neither of these will do. You cannot instance, to refer only to one passage; "For ascribe it to the effect of imposition. scarcely for a righteous man will one There was no decoy in this business; He die; yet peradventure for a good man was not inveigled into it, neither did He some will even dare to die.' Were we engage in it from ignorance. No. There "good men," then, when He died for us? are some who undertake enterprises, un- No, says he, "when we were yet without conscious of their consequences; their strength, Christ died for the ungodly." eyes begin to be opened when they feel" God commendeth His love towards us, the consequences, and not before; and in that while we were yet sinners Christ how often do they then exclaim, If I had died for us.' foreseen all this, I would have had no- Was it then, the result of importunity? thing to do with it! But this was not Nay, it was as much without our desire the case with the Lord Jesus. He saw as it was without our desert; for it was the end from the beginning; it was laid long before our being even. To humble before Him; He saw it all when He said, Job, God said to him, "Where wast thou Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." when I laid the foundations of the earth?" And we know what this will implied; it And Christ may say to Christians, 'Where was His becoming "obedient unto death, were you when I came forward and said, even the death of the cross." Yet He" Deliver from going down to the pit, I came forward; yea, and showed no reluctance in the execution; and as His passion drew near He said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!"

Could it be the effect of compulsion Deity has no impression from external causes. He was the Lord of all, the mighty God. Voluntariness was necessary in His obedience. There is nothing valuable in forced services. He therefore must act, and He did act, freely. His passion was the exercise and the expression of His absolute independence; and

have found a ransom?"'No; the more you
examine it, the more you will find it im-
possible to ascribe this effect to any other
cause but His grace. You will find that
it is grace in opposition to imposition, to
compulsion, to desert, to importunity. It
is "
grace for grace."

We have only one thing more to consider; and that is,

V. YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THIS. "For," says the apostle, "ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." There are many who do not know it; there are

millions of our fellow creatures, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, who have never heard of His name. They are the proper objects of our compassion; we should daily pray for them "that His way may be known upon earth, His saving health among all nations;" that the Sun of Righteousness might arise and shine upon those that are in darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death. But it is otherwise with you. "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." Το you is the word of this salvation sent." "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."

into a miserable eternity. As persons may perish by ignorance, so persons may equally perish by knowledge; and the destruction of such will be much severer than of others; for "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Oh! the grand thing is for you to know the Truth as it is in Jesus, to know the way of salvation, to know the way everlasting. Oh! there is a certainty in this; there is an excellence in this knowledge, which distinguishes it from every other; there is a blessedness in this knowledge. While Solomon says of other knowledge, "To him that increaseth wisdom there is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow;" David tells us that there is a blessedness in this: "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound." There is a freedom in it; "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free:" There is eternal life in it; "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

The knowledge of the Gospel is not confined to ministers or any order of official characters; it lies open to all. It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation;" and all may receive it. "The poor have the Gospel preached unto them;" and "the common people may hear it gladly." If the knowledge of the Gospel depended on genius, or learning, or research, there are many who would have an unspeakable advantage over others; but since it is derived entirely from testimony, all are upon a level with regard to it. And this is the fact the Gospel is the witness, the record, "that God hath given to us eternal life and that this life is in His Son." If ministers therefore deceive you, you are not blameless; you have the Scriptures, and like the Bereans, you should "search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so.' As to the Papists, they "take away the key of knowledge; but this is no excuse for you; you have it in your hands; and therefore" fountain opened for sin and uncleanyour ignorance must be always your sin.

It matters very little what you know, if you know not this. Yet it is a lamentable fact, that even in a land of vision, there are many, of whom it may be said, that "the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." There are many to be found in our country, who are ignorant of the leading truths of the Gospel,-who are unable to give a reason of the hope that is in them;" others are "carried away with divers and strange doctrines ;" and others are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth." But let it be remembered, that "if our Gospel be hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost." It is an awful proof that they are still in a natural state, and an awful evidence that they are hastening

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But never imagine, my dear hearers, that a speculative knowledge is all that the apostle intends. Take care you are not found in the number of those, who "behold, and wonder, and perish." There are many persons in our day, who seem to know every thing concerning these blessed oracles, and there they rest. Of what advantage is it for you to know that He is the Foundation, and you never build upon it? or that He is the refuge, and you never flee to it? or that He is the

ness," and you never wash therein? Do you imagine that the Gospel is the solution of a problem; or the elucidation of some point, the knowledge of which is necessary to amuse the mind, or satisfy it? Know you not that the Gospel belongs to the heart? Know you not that it requires all our feelings, and that it is impossible for us to receive it as we ought--as a message faithful and worthy of all acceptation, unless it excites feelings such as nothing else can produce, and is accompanied with dispositions and pursuits such as nothing else is characterized by ?

Let me tell you, therefore, in conclusion, that, if you "know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” in truth, it will excite your application to Him: you will be found at His dear feet, praying, "Heal me, for I have sinned against

Thee." It will excite your admiration; Jesus Christ," how that "though He and with angels you will "desire to look was rich, yet for your sakes He became into these things." You will say, 'How poor, that ve through His poverty might surprising His condescension, how match-be rich;" you will deem nothing too less His mercy! It baffles all descrip- humiliating, nothing too arduous to ention; it defies all wonder; it sets even gage in for His sake, on the behalf of astonishment at a stand.' The mind others. Blessed Jesus! Thy heart was never feels its insignificance so much, as made of tenderness: Thou wentest about, when it is contemplating the heights and doing good: in Thee the poor always depths and lengths and breadths of the found a friend; in Thee the disconsolate Saviour's love, which passeth knowledge. always found a comforter; in Thee the It will lead you also to love Him. It ignorant always found an instructor; in will make you truly grateful, and you will Thee the lost always found a Saviour. ask, "What shall I render unto the Lord Oh! that we may resemble Him! Oh! for all His benefits?" It will lead you that we may have the "same mind in us to pour forth the warmest emotions of which was also in Christ Jesus !" Oh your very souls, and to ask daily, “ Lord, that our lives may embody the language what wilt Thou have me to do?" It of the apostle: "Be ye followers of God, will excite you to imitate Him, to be as dear children; and walk in love, as like-minded with Him, and to walk Christ also hath loved us, and hath given even as He walked. And while you Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice can reflect on "the grace of our Lord to God for a sweet smelling savour."

GOD'S ALL-SUFFICIENCY.

HOLLIS.

A SERMON, BY THE REV. H.

PREACHED AT FRAMLINGHAM, SUFFOLK, MAY 1841.

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect."-Genesis xvii. 1.

ABRAHAM, to whom these words were tercourse he had with Jehovah, the greataddressed, is a character entitled to pre- ness of the promises made to him, and eminent distinction among the Old Testa- the extraordinary discoveries he received ment saints, and is dignified with peculiar of the Divine favour; to whom, and to honour in being called "the friend of hisdescendants "pertain the adoption, and God." Perhaps noue of the fallen sons the glory, and the covenants, and the of Adam were ever more distinguished giving of the law, and the service of by Jehovah than this pious patriarch, God, and the promises; whose are the when we consider the communications fathers, and of whom, as concerning made to him by celestial visitants-that he was the founder of the Jewish nation, God's peculiar people, who all descended from his loins, and are termed "Israel after the flesh;" when we consider him as the "father of the faithful," that numerous company of Jews and Gentiles, who imitate his faith, and are consequently made participators of that blessedness, wherewith Abraham himself is blessed; when we consider that personal and intimate in

the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen." Our text contains one proof of the truth of what we have now said, as therein is an account of the wonderful manifestation of God to His servant. "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before Me and be thou perfect." This was not the first time God had appeared to Abraham.

is seen in the glass of revelation, in the eternity of His existence; sometimes in the immensity of His presence; sometimes in the unlimited extent of His knowledge; and sometimes in His unsearchable wisdom, boundless compassion, and spotless holiness; but in the text He is presented in His omnipotent power. The subject, then, for our consideration is, the omnipotency of Jehovah, or His all-sufficiency to His people; which power of God, let it be observed, is that essential perfection of His nature, whereby He can do whatsoever He pleases. This attribute of God is developed in His works of creation, providence and grace.

These visits had been enjoyed before; but now Jehovah makes a fuller discovery of Himself to this man of God. The Lord's appearance to him in a vision, is recorded in the fifteenth chapter: there promises were made to him, which were renewed and confirmed at the time to which my text refers. "After these things the Word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine Contemplate the works of God; you will heir. And behold, the Word of the see a glorious manifestation of omniLord came unto him, saying, This shall potent power. This power is seen in the not be thine heir; but he that shall come formation of the world out of nothing; in forth out of thine own bowels shall be the production of light out of darkness, thine heir. And He brought him forth order out of confusion, the universe out of abroad, and said, Look now toward hea- nothing; in the expansion of the firmaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to ment of heaven, in the separation of the number them and He said unto him, land from the water, and in the almost So shall thy seed be." These verses endless variety of wonders contained in give us an account of the gracious cove- the mineral, vegetable and animal kingnant God made with Abraham; and that doms. Look above the planet in which his faith might be strengthened and the we dwell and behold that immeasurable veracity of God established, it is repeated extent, that boundless space, in which in this chapter, from which my text is such myriads of spheres continually, withselected. When Abraham reflected on out interruption, roll their vast orbs; the extraordinary promises made to him, contemplate the sun, the moon, and the the difficulties which to human reason planets, with their satellites, which comappeared in the way of their accomplish- pose our solar system; consider the extent ment, and the important results which of their dimensions, in connection with the fulfilment of these promises involved, their immense distance from each other, his faith was liable to be shaken, his com- and bear in mind, that all these are like a fort destroyed, and his feet taken in the speck in the dominions of God; there you shares of the great adversary; hence the will see that power belongeth unto Him, Lord, to cheer him, reveals Himself to him in whom we live, move, and have our bein the consolatory manner stated in the ing. Would you see the power of God? text: "And when Abram was ninety years then behold the thousands of fixed stars, old and nine, the Lord appeared to which roll in the vast expanse, and reAbram, and said unto him, I am the Al-member that it is highly probable, that mighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect."

Let me notice,

these stars are the centres or suns of other systems. And when you have well considered all these, you can form but a very inadequate idea of the vastness of cre

I. God's all-sufficiency to His people.ation. The probability is, that if you "And said unto him, I am the Almighty God;" or the all-sufficient God, for so the word may be rendered. All the views which are presented to us in the inspired page of the Supreme Being, are calculated to fill our minds with the most exalted, grand, and yet consolatory conceptions of His infinite perfections and glorious majesty. Sometimes Jehovah

stood on one of the most distant of the fixed stars, you would see above you other worlds, far more glorious than any which are visible to the astronomer, even by the aid of the telescope. But we see the infinite power of God, not only in the azure vault of heaven, in the immeasurability of space, in the constellations of the firmament and in the variety of creatures