must be so. It follows from the divine unity and relations. It follows from the Savior's glorious divinity. The Father is well pleased with him. Yea, unto him is committed all power in heaven and on earth. We have only to take shel ter in Christ-to enter into alliance with him by faith and love to choose him as our Advocate, and the door of mercy and grace is ever wide open to us. We know we have the things we ask for, according to his will. We may infer from his prayer for his disciples, as recorded in John's gospel, what is the purport of his prayers in our behalf. He then asked for those whom he was about to leave, that they might be kept from evil-that they might dwell together in unity— that they might be sanctified-that the love of God might be shed abroad in their hearts and that they might be brought to heaven, to be with Christ and behold his glory.* All these benefits are sure to the Christian. He may ask them with confidence, for Christ seconds his petitions.

6. Finally; Christ authorizes us to plead his name and ask blessings on his account at the throne of grace. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Here our powers are absolutely unlimited—our claim infinitely strong. It is as good as if Christ's righteousness and dignity were all our own. Whatever he might obtain he makes over to us. Could we stand before God, and plead a sinless nature, and a blameless life, and an entire consecration to him, our plea would not be so good; for these were the Savior's attributes, and each, in him, was infinitely perfect and divine. These we hold. This plea of all that is Christ's is our fortress. It absolutely excludes despair, or even doubt. Only let us distinctly apprehend and plead the name of Jesus-not our righteousness-not our sorrows-our wants -our perseverance-our groans-our tears. Put these far away, and speak only of Christ, and him crucified. Our acceptance on these terms is Christ's right by covenant and * John, xvii. + Ibid., xvi., 23.

purchase. His glory is concerned in our success. He is our Advocate, and has a common interest; our elder brother, and has a common sympathy. Our sinfulness is no hinderance, but even a condition to success. He died only for sinners, and mediates to reconcile sinners to God.

In conclusion, I return to the argument of the apostle, and I apply it to all as a moving exhortation: "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." To real Christians, the doctrine of the text is enough. They need no other encouragement. I see not how God himself could furnish stronger. The ascended Redeemer is our Priest -our Advocate; ever living-ever active to make the sacrifice once made upon the cross effective to our salvation.

The argument is for all who will consent to take Christ as their Savior. He has done much for them; and that, too, when they were enemies-before they asked-when they spurned and rebelled. The great obstacle is removed. There might have been doubts, at the first, whether God would give his Son-whether Christ would yield up his life to save sinners from perdition. It might have been his choice to destroy the race, or to leave it to its fate. One effort of retributive justice of omnipotent vengeance-would have swept the earth clear of its guilty tenants, and relieved the universe of the foul stain of sin. This might have been God's choice. When the contradiction of sinners, the agony of the garden, the unrighteous tribunal of Herod, the crown of thorns, the reproach, the sufferings, the curse of the cross, were yet before the blessed Redeemer, who could have guessed that he would bow his righteous soul to the infinite sacrifice for sinners and enemies? We know he was 66 sorrowful, even unto death." He wished, if possible, that the cup should pass from him. His flesh shrunk from the infinite agony, even when the spirit was willing. It was a dreadful alternative, and it was a strange decision, which doomed the

Just to die for the unjust. But now the cup has been drained to its bitter dregs.

agony is over.

The

He has trodden the

wine-press alone. He has triumphed over death, and led captivity captive. He has ascended up on high, where he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Now the door of mercy is open to all. Our chance of escape is as favorable as we could wish. The stone is rolled away from our tomb, and the Savior's voice calls us forth to life. "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

I will not speak to-day of penalties and retributions. Bear with you to your homes the invitations of mercy. Think by the way, in your closets, on your beds, of Him who diedof Him who lives, and prays to save your souls.

XX.

ON SECRET SINS.

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.-PSALM XiX., 12.

THERE is a class of minds prone to discouragement, and poorly sustained by animal spirits, to which a frequent or habitual recurrence to the brighter aspects of their religious condition may be salutary, or even necessary. Most men,

however, are but too prone to dwell on these flattering views, and need to be called back from complacency and joyousness to the contemplation of their deficiencies. It is both more useful and more safe to think on our sins than on our virtues, and so to incite ourselves to new attainments, rather than to congratulate ourselves on the excellence of our present state. David often triumphed in God; but he seems, also, to have dwelt much on his own unworthiness and guilt.

My sin," he cries, "is ever before me." He studied to know the mysteries and the depths of his heart's corruptions, and incessantly pleaded with God to be " kept back from presumptuous sins," and to be "cleansed from secret faults." An acquaintance with our sins seems to be indispensable : 1. In order that we may be able to confess and repent of them, which are conditions of forgiveness.

2. As an incitement to humility, which is likely to be profound and effective in proportion to our sense of guilt and unworthiness.

3. As an inducement to seek after entire sanctification and holiness: We must know the malignity and extent of the disease before we can fully appreciate the importance of finding a perfect cure.

4. We must know much of our sinfulness in order to a right appreciation of the value, excellency, and necessity of Christ's atonement.

Yet this knowledge, on all accounts so important, is of difficult attainment:

1. Because "the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked -who can know it?" It is "deceitful," and would not only conceal its guilt from others, but from itself. As we are ashamed to confess our sins, so we are ashamed to be conscious of them. We feel that to persist in known sin is a great offense against God, and, therefore, spontaneously choose not to know them.

There is often, also, a voluntary effort to overlook sin when recognized, and when partially or fully awake to its existence within us, we naturally apologize for it, and make the least of it. We blame our strong passions-our feeble purposes-our bad education-our strong temptations.

The heart is not only "deceitful," but it is "desperately wicked." There is a bad courage in some men, and a measure of it in some professing Christians, which induces them to put the whole matter of their sins away from their

thoughts. They say, perhaps, that they can not help sinning-they are made as they are, and suppose they shall live as they list. They brave the rebukes of the reprover and of conscience, and say, “Am I not a free man? Am I not my own? I beg you to leave me to manage my own matters in my own way."

2. Others see that their sins are great-that their strength is small, and are discouraged from all attempts to grapple with the evil. They will confess every thing, but they despair of amendment. They expect to continue in sin—they do not hope to be "cleansed from secret faults," and therefore think it little worth while to try to "understand their errors." They look upon their sins in a mass-in the gross, and not in detail, relying on some general amnesty, some large act of the divine mercy for toleration in life and sanctification in the article of death.

3. Another great obstacle in the way of understanding our errors is our low and insufficient appreciation of the sinfulness of sin. We "measure ourselves by ourselves," and not by God's law. He is " of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity." He can not endure the presence of sin in his dominions. It is the thing that his soul hateth. He made men for his own glory, and loved and blessed them as his own children; and yet, for the one sin of Adam, doomed the whole race to death. Even the more excellent race, that stood about his throne and did his pleasure, when they kept not their first estate, he cast into "chains of darkness." "prepared eternal fire for the devil and his angels." ness is the habitation of God's throne. When the glorified saints and the angels offer their highest anthems, they cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Now all sin is the opposite of holinessits antagonist. It is the one thing against which God has set himself in array. The law was introduced to prevent and condemn it-the Gospel to atone for it, and abolish it.

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