to all eternity. However exalted the creature might be, his blood could no more be available for the salvation of the whole world, than the blood of bulls and of goats, of which, we are told, it is not possible that it should take away sins^." Nor could his intercession he of any avail for us ; seeing that he would have no effectual plea to urge in our behalf. Nor, in fact, could his appointment to govern the world secure to us the blessings we stand in need of ; since, without omniscience, he could not know all our necessities ; nor, without omnipo- tence could he supply them.]
But, being God as well as man, he is equal to the work he has undertaken for us—
[His duty gives an infinite value both to his obedience and his sufferings ; insomuch that his sufferings were a sufficient atonement for the sins of the whole world; and his obedience formed a sufficient righteousness for the justification of all who should be clothed with it. His intercession too, founded as it is in the efficacy of his atonement, is sure to prevail in our behalf; whilst, as Head over all things to his Church, he can supply out of his own fulness all who call upon him. In him, as God-man, there is such a sufficiency, that no man, however desperate his condition, has any reason to despond; nor, if with a penitent and believing heart he apply to Jesus, has he any reason to fear : for, Jesus " is able to save to the uttermost ail who come unto God by him."]
Application —
In the parable of the Sower, our Lord said, " Take heed what ye hear;" and, " Take heed how ye hear." Thus, in reference to my text, I would ask,
1. " What think ye of Christ?"
[Many alas ! think not of him at all. Notwithstanding they call themselves Christians, Christ is as much banished from their conversation and from their minds, as if he had never come from heaven for them, and never borne their sins in his own body on the cross. God, as a Creator, is sometimes acknowledged, and sometimes, under particular providences, as the Governor of the ivorld : but Christ, as a Redeemer, seems quite forgotten : and the very mention of him under that character is sufficient to cast a damp upon all social hilarity, and to bring reproach upon his advocate as an unmannerly en- thusiast. But, beloved brethren, we should make ourselves acquainted with the character of Christ as revealed in the pro- phecies of the Old Testament, and as exhibited in the records
f Heb. X. 4.