84 Hosea, Vii. 13. [1160.

should destroy seven nations greater and mightier than they, and establish them in the possession of their land; that he should, in ten thousand instances, step forth as their protector and deliverer, when they were reduced to the lowest state of wretchedness and misery ; that he should vouchsafe them, not one redemption only, but many ; this, I say, required the most ample returns of gratitude and obedience : the ingratitude therefore which they manifested, stamped a tenfold malignity on every sin they committed. But we have an infinitely better redemption vouchsafed to us : a Redemption of which theirs was but a type and shadow. We have been redeemed from a far sorer bondage, even from bondage to sin and Satan ; from all the curses of the broken law ; from all the miseries of death and hell. We have also been brought into a better land; not to the possession of mere temporal comforts, but to spiritual and eternal happiness ; to the society of glorified saints and angels ; to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and never- fading ; in short, to all the glory of heaven. This has been accomplished also for us by far more wonderful and endearing means: God has sent his own Son into our guilty world; sent him to become a man, and to stand in our stead ; sent him to give his own life a ransom for us ; sent him to pay down the price of our redemption ; and has appointed him to bring forth every one of his redeemed ; to support and guide them through this dreary wilderness, and to conduct them, with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm, to the full possession of their inheritance. O, what a Redemption is this! What obliga- tions does this lay upon us to be faithful and obedient ! And what a fearful aggravation must this be of all our disobedience ! Yet, behold, we are the persons whose transgressions are so multiplied : we are they whom Christ came from heaven to seek and save : and yet we flee from his presence : we are they, for whose sakes " he gave himself, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;" and yet we are continually trans- gressing against him : we are they towards whom he has shewn such astonishing love and mercy ; and yet we are saying, that he regards us not, and that it will be in vain to serve him. Ah, Brethren, is there no guilt in such a state ? and shall not God be avenged of such a people as this ? Do not look at your sins merely as they affect society ; that is no just crite- rion ; that is no proper test. Estimating your conduct merely in that view, you will be ready to applaud yourselves as right- eous, if you should happen to have escaped the grosser pollu- tions of the world : but view your sins as contrasted with the love of Christ ; see him dying to bring you nigh to God, and yet yourselves " fleeing from God ; " see him shedding his blood to cleanse you from sin, and yet yourselves continuing to " trans-