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sorrow shall be known no more; and where, with all the redeemed, we shall celebrate our glorious recovery from the ruins of the fall, ascribing salvation to God and the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON VI.

REDEMPTION.

Eph. i. 6.-In whom we have Redemption through his blood.

The vive that language, or any other, can HE word Redemption, is perhaps the most compreafford. Redemption itself is certainly the greatest blessing that God can bestow, or man receive. 'Tis this that strikes the joyful strings of the heavenly harpers'. This is the burden of that ever-new song, which none but the redeemed can sing " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, for thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of kindred, and tongue and people, and nation."

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The salvation of man, under whatever name it is described, always supposes his fallen, guilty, ruined, and helpless state; nor can we undestand one word of the gospel aright without knowing this. He is dangerously diseased; Christ is the physician, and salvation his cure. He is naked: Christ covers him with his righteousness. He is famished Christ is his meat and drink. He is in darkness: Christ is his light. He stands at the bar, accused, and ready to be condemned: Christ appears as his surety, and pleads his righteousness for his justification. So here in the text. Man is in bondage: Christ pays the ransom, and procures his discharge.

Come then, my friends, and let us attend to this great subject; and remember, that we are fixing our minds on the same delightful theme that engages the hearts and harps of glorified saints; and which will employ our grateful tongues to all eternity, if we are found among the ransomed of the Lord.

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Redemption, among men, is the deliverance of persons of a state of captivity and bondage by an act of power,

or rather by the payment of a price for their ransom. The recovery of God's chosen people from the ruins of the fall is therefore described by this term; because they are, by nature, in a wretched state of bondage and slavery, from which they could never deliver themselves; and in which, if not delivered, they must perish for ever. But Christ, the Son of God, out of his infinite love and compassion, undertook the deliverance: and by paying down a sufficient price, even his own precious blood, as a ransom, delivered them from ruin, and restored them to liberty.

That we may better understand this redemption of lost man, let us consider-his captivity-his helplessnessand, the means of his deliverance.

Consider, first, the state of man as a captive and a slave. Captives, among men, are persons taken in war and made prisoners. In many cases they have been used very ill; put to shame; doomed to hard labour; confined in chains, prisons, or mines; led at the chariot wheels of their conquerors; and sometimes put to death in a wanton and cruel manner. To this day the poor Blacks are treated as captives, and kept in a state of bondage. Ships are sent from England and other countries to Africa, on purpose to get hundreds and thousands of them for slaves. They are stolen, or procured under various and wicked pretences; torn from the bosoms of their dearest relations; forced away from their own country; closely stowed together in a ship; and, when brought to the West Indies, sold like beasts in a market. They are then doomed to hard labour, and often to cruel usage, till death puts an end to their miseries, or their liberty is obtained by paying a sum of money for it. In such a case, a man may be said to be redeemed; and, ceasing to be a slave, he becomes a freeman. This may give us some idea of the nature of Redemption. When God made man, he made him upright; he made him free; but he soon lost his liberty. Satan attacked him, and prevailed against him; and not against him only, but against all his posterity. In this state we are born; in this we live; and in this we die and perish, unless the Redemption of Christ is applied to our souls by the Holy Spirit. You would pity a number of poor captives, if you saw them in heavy chains; if you

saw them stript of their clothing, robbe d of theirwealth, or sold like beasts; if you saw them cruelly abused and beaten, and pining to death in pain and misery. Well, this is our own state by nature. We are conquered by Satan ; far removed from our original happy condition; deprived of our true riches, the image and favour of God; tied and bound with the chains of our sins, basely employed by the devil in the horrid drudgery of our lusts; and, if grace prevent it not, liable to be summoned by death into an awful eternity, to receive the wages of our sin, which is eternal misery.

From this sad condition we cannot deliver ourselves. We have neither the will nor the power. It is the peculiar misery of sinful man, that he knows not his misery. Other captives groan for freedom. Even a bird or a beast, deprived of liberty, struggles to get free; but more wretched and stupid sinners deny that they are slaves; and foolishly boast, like the Jews, "that they were never in bondage to any man." They hug their yoke; they love their prison, and fancy music in the rattling of their chains. If any here are in this condition, may God open their eyes, and deliver them from the sad infatuation!

But if a man had a will to be free, he has not the power. What ransom can he offer! Can he make satisfaction to the injured law of God? Can he render back to his Maker the glory of which he has robbed him? Or can he restore to his own soul the image of God, which is lost and spoiled by sin? Can he renew his sinful nature to holiness, or make himself a new creature? No; it is impossible. If the heart of God do not pity; if the hand of God do not help; he must die a slave, and be the eternal companion of his cruel tyrant and fellow-slaves in the prison of hell.

But blessed be God for Jesus Christ! When there was no eye to pity, no hand to help, his own Almighty arm brought salvation. The Son of God, touched with compassion for perishing man, descended from his throne of Glory, and visited our wretched abode ; and, because those whom he came to redeem were partakers of flesh and blood, "he also himself took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who, through

fear of death, were all their life time subjected to bondage." Heb. ii. 14, 15.

Among the Jews, the right of redemption belonged to the kinsman. Jesus Christ, in order to redeem us, became a man, the kinsman of our nature, "bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh; for both he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Heb. ii. 11.

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The Redemption of captives is usually by paying a price or ransom. This Christ paid, and the price was no less than his blood; so says our text-" In whom we have redemption through his blood." And so St. Paul speaks, Eph. i. 18, "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold: but with the precious blood of Christ;"-not by so mean a price as the perishing riches of this world, such as the silver and gold, which are paid for buying poor captives out of bondage, misery, and slavery among men ; but it was at no less a price than the noble and invaluable precious blood, sufferings, and death of the Son of God.

Having taken a general view of Redemption, let us descend to some particulars, by which we may better understand the subject, and be more affected with it. The natural man is a captive of the Devil-of the Flesh-of the World-of the Law, and of the Grave. From all these Christ delivers his people.

1. We are all, by nature, captives of the Devil. This may seem to you a hard saying, but it is too true; see the proof of it in 2 Tim. ii. 26,-"that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captives by him at his will"-taken alive, as captives of war, to be enslaved and ruined by the Devil. O how dreadful is the power of Satan over wicked men! They are not aware of it, or they would earnestly pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," or the evil one. St. John says, "The whole world lieth in wickedness, or in the wicked one," 1 John v. 19; and St. Paul says, " He worketh in the children of disobedience," Eph. ii. 2. So that there is more truth in some common expressions, used by wicked people, than they are aware of; as when they say, "The Devil is in you.' It is awfully true of all un

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converted sinners. And it deserves notice, how such people continually sport with such words as these-Hell and hellish-Devil and devilish-Damn and damnation. Surely these words show who is their master! and what is likely to be their place and portion. May God discover the evil of such things to all who practise them.

Now the blessed Redeemer came down from heaven to destroy the works of the Devil. He overcame all his temptations in the wilderness; he triumphed over him on the cross; and when he ascended into heaven," he led captivity captive;" conquered the conqueror, and bound the strong one. He shewed his power over devils, by casting them out of the bodies of men; and he still shews his power, by casting him out of the souls of all who believe in him. O that he may show this power among us this moment!

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Yes, my friends, if we are redeemed from Satan, we "redeemed to God"-redeemed to God, as his peculiar property; for his honour and service; for communion with him now; and for the everlasting enjoyment of him in glory.

2. We are all, by nature, captives of the Flesh; our minds are fleshly; "Sin reigns in our mortal bodies; we obey it in the lusts thereof; our members are instruments of unrighteousness; we have yielded our members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity: for his servants we are to whom we obey," Rom. vi. 12, &c.

Is not this true, my friends? Are not some here present yet the slaves of sin; one of drunkenness; another of swearing; another of fornication; another of lying; another of thieving, or some other heinous sin? Ah, Sirs, "the end of these things is death:"-" for these things sake cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." Alas! how many are strong advocates for human liberty, who are themselves the slaves of corruption ! "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage," 2 Pet. ii. 19.

But adored be Jesus, he came to save us from our sins;" "that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life." By

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