the sincere Christian may have a glimpse of heaven by the study of Scripture, by fervent prayer, by living as in the continued presence of God-there is no perfect rest upon earth-the only rest is in heaven. While we are upon earth we know not what we say, when we talk of rest, and peace, and happiness. There is none to be found here. While we live here we can only have so much of perfection, as to make us long for heaven, while we still sigh and groan under the burthen of the flesh: and our safety is, not to aspire after feelings of rapture, and extacies, and visions, but to walk with God humbly, and holily; and then we may sometimes be favoured with that peace of mind which is the earnest of heaven. Serve the Lord with fear, and then He may meet you in the way.

The last circumstance I shall notice is the voice from heaven-There came a voice out of the cloud which overshadowed them, This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him-and with this I would conclude, though I have not proceeded through one-tenth part of the wonderful discoveries, and of the useful inferences, which may be collected from this most interesting subject; but I conclude with this incident, as the sum and substance of the whole Scripture. Hear the Son of God, for He calls upon each who is now present-hear Him-if you have not repented, and come to the fountains of living water, and prepare for the death of the

* Appendix, Note 11.

all

9

body that you may have communion with God in heaven, as Moses and Elias had communion in the Mount of Transfiguration. Hear Him, for He can command as a king, and He will sentence as the judge, though He now only pleads with you as a Saviour. Hear Him, while health and strength, and life remain. Hear the message of His Gospel, and the promise of His pardon-Come unto Me ye that are weary of sin, and heavy laden with the fear of the future. Take my yoke upon you for it is easy, and my burthen for it is light, and ye shall find rest unto your souls 10. . May God grant that we may thus learn to hear His blessed Son, to obey Him as our Teacher-to love Him as our Redeemer -and hereafter to adore Him for ever in the company of angels, and of spirits, and of just men made perfect 11 in that holy place, which He has prepared for all who believe in His atonement, and who pray that they may follow in His footsteps.

9 Matt. xi. 28.

10 Ibid. 29.

11 Heb. xii. 23.

SERMON XVIII.

THE NECESSITY AND EFFECTS OF THE ATONEMENT.

[Preached at Northallerton, on the Fifth Sunday in Lent.]

HEB. ix. 13, 14.

If the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.

THE time is now rapidly approaching when we shall commemorate the most solemn events of our religion-the sufferings and the death, the burial, and the resurrection, of Christ. The services of the Church, therefore, introduce the subject by directing our attention, on the present day, to a general survey of the whole system of redemption. It is, indeed, a matter of congratulation, that we are, in some measure, guided to a contemplation of these important events in that order in which they took place for the subject of the atonement and love of Christ towards a miserable and fallen world, is so

important to us, as accountable, and immortal men -it is so extensive, as it comprises the whole substance of Scripture, that our principal difficulty, when we would treat upon it, is, to know where to begin, or where to end; or in what manner to arrange the reflections which present themselves. We will endeavour therefore on this, and on the two following Sundays, as well as throughout the next week, when we celebrate all the events of the last seven days of the period which elapsed between the going up of our Lord to Jerusalem and his resurrection from the dead, so to arrange the extensive matter before us, that few of the principal circumstances shall escape our notice. It is the first season of Easter that I have been among you; and I am anxious that we should so take into our consideration all the events of the sufferings, and of the death of our crucified Lord, as to become more and more devoted, from this solemn period, to the government of our thoughts, and of our conduct, from the continued remembrance of His mercy, and His love.

The passage of Scripture, which I have selected for our consideration this morning, is taken from the Epistle of the day. You will observe that it is chosen from the Epistle to the Hebrews. The reason is this. St. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, both those who had and those who had not yet embraced Christianity before they were dispersed over the world by the destruction of Jerusalem, to explain to them the meaning, and the

object, of all the various sacrifices which had been appointed by the law of Moses. The unconverted Jews then, as they do now, regarded the law of Moses as superior to the law of Christ-and they supposed that the sacrifices ordained by his law were still required by the God of Israel. St. Paul, therefore, endeavoured to convince them, that Christ was superior to angels, and, consequently, much more was He superior to Moses. He wrote to impress upon them, that the law was but a shadow of good things to come, an introduction to a better covenant, that of the New Testament that the blood of bulls, and of goats which were daily offered in the temple to take away the sins of the people, could have no power in themselves to prevent the punishment of wickedness; but were all types, or emblems of a much nobler sacrifice, that is, of the Son of God -and, consequently, that the time had now arrived, when all sacrifices, and ceremonies of the law, having fully answered their design, were henceforward to be abolished-God taketh away, he tells them, the first dispensation, that he may establish the second. In the course of his argument he fully demonstrates this fact, namely, that the religion which God has given to mankind, is in all ages one and the same. And that religion is summed up in this one point, namely, faith in the sacrifice of some great Being, who should have power to take away the guilt of sin.-Before the coming of Christ this faith was maintained in the world, by