ness, and speedily to turn the conflict into victory. We have one instance in the Scripture of a sinner being called by grace, at the very close of life, immediately to exchange a state of sin and suffering for a place in Paradise. "This day," said our Lord 66 to the thief on the cross, 2. Secondly, in regard to the subjects of forgiveness of sins, and of the other blessings of the dispensations of grace, we sometimes see our Lord's remark verified, "The first shall be last, and the last first.". This observation was appended by our blessed Lord to several of his parables, for the instruction of his disciples, and of his people in general to the end of the world. Viewing the words as connected with the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, they plainly teach us that God is a debtor to no man, and that he confers his gifts, not according to men's merits and deservings, but according to his own sovereign grace. It shews that those who begin last in religion may sometimes outstep others, who may have been before them in relation to the time of their conversion. The parable to which I have referred, may with propriety be applied to the conversion of sinners at the earlier and later stages of life; for thus one serves the Lord longer than another. But rewards will not always be conferred in proportion to the time in which a profession of religion has been made. Those who have been converted late in life, will be made partakers of glory and happiness according to the utmost measure of their capacity, and of their meetness for it, by divine grace; as well as those who have been called at an earlier period, and so may be said to have borne the burthen and heat of the day. But this parable must not be strained too far. In the first place, it is not intended to be generally true, that "the first shall be last, and the last first." Like many other apophthegms and proverbial sayings, it is rather an exception to the general rule. It is a proverb that should be occasionally verified. If the God of grace choose to call a sinner to salvation, nearly at the close of life, and to confer on him the blessings of forgiveness, grace, and glory, shall our eye be evil because he is good?" Shall not the God of sovereign mercy and grace do what he will with his own? A late convert may love much, as did the woman who was a sinner, and be humble, and prayerful, and thankful, in some comparative degree, in was sacrificed, and the other sent away into the wilderness, were types of the manner in which sin was to be expiated and put away by the Saviour. The water springing from the rock, the manna in the wilderness, the cities of refuge, the jubilee, and many other events of the life and ordinances of the law of Moses, were so many types of Christ, which all received their accomplishment in him, and were fulfilled and abolished in his death. Their end was answered and their fulfilment completed, when Jesus. exclaimed on the cross, It is finished." 66 3. The ceremonial law is abolished. Without the offices and death of Christ, the worship and ceremonies of the Mosaic economy would have remained a pompous service, and an unintelligible mystery. But in his sacrifice and death, every rite assumed its signification, and every symbol displayed its import; and thus the whole system becomes intelligible and instructive. But the Mosaic economy was now dissolved to make way for a better hope. "The law was a shadow of good things to come;" and "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.' The Jewish religion, as instituted by God, was not abolished till Christ offered himself up, and died on the cross; but then it reached its termination. How widely different was the commission which the Saviour gave to the seventy disciples, before his sufferings and death, from that with which he charged the apostles after his resurrection. The former were commissioned to go only into the cities of Judah, to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to preach that off, and such seeming converts have manifested, that that it cannot save." h S when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." Look at his concern for others. While carrying his cross, and sinking under it, he addressed the women who followed, lamenting and bewailing him, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For, behold the days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck." Observe also his kindness to his friends:" If ye seek me, let these go their way;" his forgiveness of enemies, in his earnest prayer for them when suffering their cruelties on the cross; and his filial piety, in committing his mother to the care of his beloved disciple John. And once more, do we not see the completeness of the Saviour's love manifested by his sufferings and death ?— "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He made peace for us by the blood of his cross. Truly the character of Christ was completed by his last sufferings and death. 5. Victory over his enemies is obtained. They supposed that by putting him to death, they should for ever put an end to him and his cause. "But now is the judgment of this world; now is the prince of this world cast out." By his death, "Christ destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;"—not his being, but his usurped |