remnant of goodness or power in themselves, that shall lessen their obligations to the grace of God. But let a man acknowledge himself as wholly and for ever lost, and then he will be prepared to hear of a Saviour, and to embrace the salvation that is provided for him in the Gospel.
II. What provision God has made for our recovery comes now, in the second place, to be considered.
Are we in a state of guilt ? God has provided a Substitute and a Surety for us, in the person of his dear Son. Are we in a state of weakness? God has provided all needful strength for us, in the operations of his Holy Spirit. I might here enter at large into all the offices of Christ, as the Prophet, Priest, and King of his Church ; and unfold all the offices of the Holy Spirit, who has undertaken to work in us the whole work of God, and, by his all-powerful influence, to " perfect in our souls all that concerns us." But it is my wish to simplify every thing ; and to exclude from my discussion every thing which, however in- structive, may have the effect of diverting the mind from the main object — the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel. Let us, then, limit our views of the Saviour and of the Holy Spirit to the two points which we have mentioned ; and mark distinctly the way in which the one removes our guilt, and the other our weakness.
When no possible way remained for man to make compensation to the Deity for the guilt he had con- tracted, God was pleased to give his only dear Son, to stand in our place, and, by his own vicarious suffer- ings, to expiate our guilt. For this end, God prepared for him a body in the womb of a pure virgin ; that so, whilst he should partake of our nature, he should neither be involved in the guilt of our progenitor, nor inherit his corruption. So far as our sinless infirmi- ties were concerned, God made him like unto us : but so far as any thing of corruption was concerned, he made him perfectly without sin : for, if he had had any sin of his own, he could not have been a fit