et ;rifi ATONEMt:NT ÓF CHRIST. coveries, or about the precise logical relations of the suf%rings of Christ, to our sins, or to our pardon. Whosoever sincerely confesses and repents of sin, and trusts in the all-sufficient atonement and sacrifice of Christ, to remove the guilt of it, lias abundant assurance from scripture, that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse him from all sin, and that the Son ofGod bas been, andwill he his High-priest, to reconcile him to God the Father. The Recollection.It becomes me now to reflect on what I have heard this day. The atonement of Christ is one of the chief glories, and most surprising wonders of my religion i It is the ground of my hope, it is the very life ofmy son]. Here I have been learning the several transactions of the great God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, with all the children of men from the beginningof their creation. The light of nature informs me in an imperfect manner; and the scripture with much brighter evidence assures me, that was made under the law, and mat born to live at random, according to the wild dictates of appetite and passion. I'am informed also, my Creatoribas guardedthe honour of his law with indignation and wrath, with pain of the flesh, and anguish of the mind, and death itself, as the .penalties to be inflicted on those that break it. A law divinely wise and righteous, and a sanction of solemn and divine terror ! But, alas ! I am one of the sinful guilty race of man. My very nature is corrupt, my powers of action are unholy, and I have broken the law ofmy God in a thousand instances. My consciencecondemns me, mymouth is stopped, I am guilty before God, I lie under the sentence of his condemning law by nature, and am by nature a child of disobedience, anda child of wrath. It is a glorious instance of divine mercy aml forbearance, that he has not executed the severities of his law upon me long ago : It is rich mercy alld adorable patience that my fleshand spirit have not been filled with all these terrors, that I am not made as wretched as I have been rebellious. Nor can I expect, that the greatand terrible God, who sent his indignation upon angels when they sinned, turned themout of heaven, and chained them in darkness, should forgive all my infinite offences, without some reparation made for the ho- nour ofhis broken law. He is a great God indeed, his majesty is tremendous, and every thing that belongs to him must have Its due honour. If I labour with all my powers to make him some recom- pence for my past iniquities by new obedience, I find it is im- possible. The best of my righteousnesses are all defective : My holiest services want some forgiveness as well as mywilful sins.
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