"who, for the great love wherewith he loved "us, even when we were dead in sins, hath

quickened us together with Christ, that, in the

ages to come, he might shew the exceeding "riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."

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The sovereignty and fulness of these favours likewise enhance their value, and magnify the love of the giver; God passed by the angels who fell from their first state of glory, and left them to perish in that desperate condition into which they had plunged themselves; but his countenance beamed with compassion on the human race, when they lay in death and ruins, when there was no eye which pitied, nor hand which could bring deliverance. Christ took not on him the nature of angels, but that of the seed of Abraham. This shows that God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion. The sacred writers dwell, with delight and admiration, on that goodness and free grace which God has displayed in the redemption of the world; but with how much greater rapture will they be celebrated by the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, who will be put in full possession of the blessings arising

from them, which at present it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive.

The love of the Son, in the execution of the plan of our redemption, is not less conspicuous than that of the Father in giving rise to it.→ "Ye know," says the Apostle Paul, (2 Cor. viii. 9,) "the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ, "that though he was rich, yet for our sakes "he became poor, that we through his pover

ty might be made rich." For one who was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God for such an one to make himself of no reputation, to take upon him the form of a servant, and to be "made "in the likeness of sinful flesh;" and being found in fashion as a man, to humble himself, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and all this for the sins, in the room, and for the sake of his rebellious subjects, is an instance of love and mercy which never was nor can be equalled in the universe of God. We cannot comprehend it's breadth or length, it's heighth or depth. It passeth knowledge. Let us then join with the psalmist in saying, "how great is thy good"ness, which thou hast laid up for them that

fear thee, which thou hast wrought out for

"them that put their trust in thee, before the sons of men !"

Again, the justice of God is fully displayed by the atonement of Christ. Justice required satisfaction for the offences of the sinner; the transgression of the law could not pass with impunity. By the atonement of Christ, it receives that satisfaction which it demanded: it's honour is kept safe and inviolate; it is no longer an obstacle in the way of the most unbounded goodness. This is observed by the Apostle Paul, (Romans iii. 25, 26,) when speaking of Jesus Christ, "whom," says he, "God hath set forth to be a propitiation through "faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness," ," that is, his justice, "that he might "be just, and the justifier of him who believ"eth in Jesus:" that is, that he might justify and pardon the sinner consistently with his vindictive justice which required the punishment of the offence.

Farther.

The doctrine of atonement manifests God's infinite wisdom. Thus Christ is styled the wisdom of God, because he is so personally, (as in the eighth chapter of the Proverbs,) and, also, because in his sacrifice for sin this perfection is illustriously displayed.

To decide concerning the wisdom of the divine counsels, it must be confessed, lies beyond the province and the ability of man.— The atonement, in particular, is a mystery whose depth we cannot fathom, and to attempt to comprehend it, entirely, or to explain all the reasons of adopting such a method of salvation, would be presumptuous and foolish.But, at the same time, God has not, so far, withdrawn himself from human eyes, as not to allow room for the exercise of those faculties which he has given us, or for a modest inquiry into the reason of his ways. Thus, although many wise and important reasons for the atonement of Jesus lie hid in the bosom of the Eternal; yet those proofs of wisdom which he has been pleased to reveal, and which lie within our comprehension, it is our duty to meditate upon and to admire. One instance of wisdom, which was far beyond the reach of men, or even the wider "ken of angels," was the discovery of a method whereby justice might be satisfied, and mercy glorified, sin punished, and the transgressor saved. This was to effect what, to our conceptions, would, without a revelation, appear a contradiction or impossibility. It was an instance, also, of the

greatest wisdom, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sin by the same nature by which they had been introduced into the world; to recover heaven in that form of flesh in which the title to it had been first forfeited; and to destroy the works of the devil by that death which he had planned as the total overthrow of Christ's kingdom. The same nature which bred the mortal poison, expels it, and the stripes laid on Christ's body heal the wounds which sin had made in our soul.When the enemies of Jesus saw him nailed to the cross, and expiring on the accursed tree, they believed their schemes crowned with the most complete success, but they were, then, more effectually promoting his interest than when they carried him in triumph, and with hosannas into Jerusalem. The counsel of God was thus fulfilled. He bringeth light out of darkness, and order out of confusion.

In short, it was an instance of consummate wisdom to appoint the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, to be Mediator. By him God made the world, and without him was not any thing made which was made.Of every thing which he had made he had said, that it was good, but a fatal change was