my

We are likewife in bondage. The fervants, the flaves, of a harder task-master, than Pharaoh was to Ifrael. Satan, though not by right, yet by a righteous permiffion, tyrannizes over us, till Jefus makes us free *. The way of tranfgreffors is hard. Though the folicitations and commands, of that enewho worketh in the children of difobedience ‡, are, in some respects, suited to our depraved inclinations, yet the confequences are grievous. A burdened confcience, a wasted constitution, a ruined fortune and character, swiftly and clofely, follow the habits of intemperance and lewdnefs. And they who seem to walk in a fmoother path, are deceived, mortified and disappointed daily. If perfons, who live, openly and habitually, in a course, that is contrary to the rule of God's word, Speak fwelling words of vanity ||, and boast of their liberty, believe them not. We are fure they carry that in their bofom, which, hourly, contradicts their affertions. Yea, fometimes their flavery is fo galling, that they attempt to escape, but in vain. They are foon retaken, and their bonds made stronger. The

iffue of their fhort lived reformations, which they defer as long as poffible, and at last set about with reluctance, ufually is, that their latter end proves worfe than their beginning. At moft, they only exchange one finful habit for another, fenfuality for avarice, or prodigality for pride. The ftrong one armed will maintain his dominion, till the stronger than he interpofes and fays, Loofe him, and let bim go, for I have found a ranfom. Then, by virtue of the redemption price, the prey is taken from the mighty, and the captive is delivered. Then, the enslaved finner, like the man out of whom the legion was cast, fits at the feet of Jefus, in peace, and in his right mind. He becomes the Lord's freed

man.

For he is not only delivered from guilt and thrall; he is redeemed to God. He is now restored to his original ftate, as an obedient and dependent creature, devoted to his Creator, conformed to his will and image, and admitted to communion with him in love. Thefe are bleffings which alone can fatisfy the foul, and, without which, it is impoffible for man to be happy.

* Ifa. xlix. 24, 25.

6

While he is

+ Mark v. 15.

ignorant

ignorant of his proper good, and feeks it in creatures, he is, and must be, wretched. Madness is in his heart, a deceived, difordered imagination turns him afide, and he feeds upon afhes, and upon the wind *. But by grace he is renewed to a found judgment, his mind receives a right direction, and he is turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God †.

II. What unspeakably, and beyond conception, enhances the value of this deliverance, is, the confideration of the means by which it is effected. For it is not merely a deliverance, but a redemption. It is not an act of mere mercy, but of mercy harmonizing with juftice. It is not an act of power only, but of unexampled, and expenfive love. Thou haft redeemed us by thy blood!

The fentence, denounced by the law against tranfgreffors, was death. And therefore when MESSIAH became our furety, to fatisfy the law for us, he muft die. The expreffion of his blood, is often ufed figuratively for his death, perhaps, to remind us how he died. His was a bloody death. When he was in his agony, in Gethsemane, his fweat

was as great drops of blood, falling down to the ground *. His blood flowed when he gave his back to the fmiters, under the painful strokes of the fcourging he endured, previous to his crucifixion. It flowed from his head, when the foldiers having mocked his character of King, by crowning him with thorns, by their rude blows forced the thorns into his temples. His blood streamed from the wounds made by the spikes, which pierced his hands and his feet, when they fastened him to the crofs. When he hung upon the crofs, his body was full of wounds, and covered with blood. And, after his death, another large wound was made in his fide, from which iffued blood and water. Such was the redemption price he paid for finners, his blood, the blood of his heart. Without shedding of blood there could be no remiffion. Nor could Nor could any blood anfwer the great defign, but his. Not any, not all the bloody facrifices appointed by the law of Mofes, could take away fin, as it refpects the confcience, nor afford a plea, with which a finner could venture to come before the high God. But the blood of MESSIAH,

* Luke xxii. 44.

+ Micah vi. 6.

in whom were united, the perfections of the divine nature and the real properties of humanity, and, which, the apoftle therefore styles the blood of God *, this precious blood cleanses from all fin. It is exhibited, as a propitiation of perpetual efficacy, by which God declares his righteousness, no lefs than his mercy, in forgiving iniquities +, and fhews himfelf just to the demands of his holiness, and the honour of his government, when he accepts and justifies the finner who believes in Jefus.

If these things were understood and attended to, would it be thought wonderful, that this Saviour is very precious to those who believe in him, and who obtain redemption by his blood? How can it poffibly be otherwise? Grace, like this, when known, must captivate and fix the heart! Not only to fave, but to die, and to die for his enemies! Such coftly love, productive of fuch glorious confequences, and to fuch unworthy creatures! Surely the apoftle's mind was filled and fired with thefe confiderations, when authenticating an epiftle with his own hand, he subjoined this emphatical close, If + Rom. iii. 25, 26. Dd 3

Acts xx. 28.

any