hail, snow and vapour, wind and storm, fulfilling his word, reveal his wrath from Heaven, while Pain and Death are his executioners upon Earth.

We have seen also, that the consequences of his displeasure are eternal, that the wrath which is present, is light, when compared with the wrath to come, and that, unless it be remitted, it must burn with inextinguishable fury on the head of the transgressor for ever and ever.

These are discoveries, which, if they were to end here, would embitter our lives to no purpose with fruitless anxiety and unprofitable lamentation. For what, if all we, like sheep, have gone astray? What, if we have turned, every one to his own way?' The evil is done; the plunge is taken; and it is better to divert our thoughts from a recollection of it than to occupy them with reflections upon a misery, for which there is no

cure.

But happily this is not our condition. There is a remedy within reach. There are means of escape. We took notice in the morning, that although Hell and all its miseries are

denounced in fearful language against all the doers of iniquity, those miseries were never designed for our species. They were formed for another order of beings, for the devil and his angels; and, if we enter into them, we intrude into woes, that do not belong to us, and lay hold of an unhappiness, which is not

our own.

This single consideration would lead us to hope, that he, who never meant us to be miserable, might yet provide means for our deliverance and yet how could that object be accomplished? How could he, consistently with the truth of his character, the honour of his law, the demands of his holiness, remit a penalty, so solemnly denounced, and receive back transgressors into favour? The law had pronounced distinctly-The soul, 'that sinneth, it shall die.' "There is no

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peace," saith my God-" to the wicked." 'Cursed is every one, that continueth not in 'all things, which are written in the book

of the law, to do them.' How shall the curse be removed, and the forfeited blessing recovered?

This is a problem, well worth all our search;

for on the solution of it all our hopes depend. But in vain should we perplex ourselves to find that solution, if the almighty had not himself provided it for us for it is evident, that, unless our sins be pardoned, the evil is without a remedy, and the wrath of God must abide upon us. But, if this be so, who shall assure us of pardon? We may reason and speculate about probabilities. But the question is a question of fact- Will God pardon trans

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gressors ?': and none, but God, can answer it. It is a secret, which must remain, locked up in the counsel of his own will, unless he be pleased to reveal it: and one of the greatest benefits of the bible is, that it does reveal it.

Let us then turn to the bible, to discover it! What is the remedy, which it discloses for the moral maladies of our species? It has made known to us our guilt. How does it provide for its removal?

Hear the answer of the text! "The lord ❝ hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.' May the lord enable us to understand the true force and full meaning of this consolatory declaration of his holy word, and bring all, who are here

present, not only to know, but to follow the true and only way of salvation!

"The lord hath laid on him the iniquity ' of us all.' On whom hath he laid it? The person is not named. Some remarkable person is evidently alluded to through the whole chapter, and indeed in the three last verses of the preceding chapter, where the lord, God, calls him his servant. 'Behold!'-says he. 'My servant shall deal prudently. He shall 'be exalted and extolled, and be very high.' The same person is spoken of again through this whole chapter. He shall grow up before him, as a tender plant. He is despised and ' rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.' Yet through all this strongly marked description he is not named: and therefore the Ethiopian eunuch, when he was occupied in studying this chapter, asked his instructor-Of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other 'man?'

The fact is, that from the very commencement of the scriptural history, at least from

the date of the first transgression to the end of the old testament, an expectation is every where apparent of some promised restorer, who in the language of Daniel was to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. He was represented under different names, first as the seed of the woman, then as the seed of Abraham, then as the redeemer of his people, then as the offspring of David, and afterwards as the Messiah. But still it was one person, that was expected throughout; and the purpose, for which he was expected, was to undo the mischief, which sin had intro duced into the world, or in the language of saint John in the new testament to destroy the works of the devil. The hope of this deliverer was the sustaining principle of the religion of the twelve tribes:- unto which 'promise' (said saint Paul) our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to 'come.' He was the hope of Israel, their shepherd, the messenger of the covenant, in whom they delighted. His coming is