he had furely been damned; for he fays, Rom. vii. 10. The commandment which was ordained unto life, I found to be unto death; therefore his advice concerning fuch, to Timothy, is, 2 Tim. iii. 5. Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from fuch turn away. Rev. iii. 17. Because thou fay ft, that I am rich and increafed with goods, ana have need of nothing, and knoweft not that thou art wretched, miferable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

The

Ninth. But the effects of fin appear in the moft lively manner, in the fufferings of CHRIST. Such was the defiling nature, and contamination of fin, and the contrariety thereof to the pure and holy nature of GoD, that the whole creation, whether of men or Angels, was not fufficient to make an atonement. Therefore in the riches of unknown grace, GOD fixed upon his Son to be a facrifice for the fins of man, and faith, Job xxxiii. 24. Deliver him from going down to the pit; 1 have found a ranfem, or, as it is in the margin, atonement. effects of fin are feen in the fufferings of CHRIST, not only in the imputation of them to him, being all transferred upon him, but in the punishment he endured for them, as they made his foul exceeding forrowful, even unto death; and, being in an agony, he prayed the more earnestly, and his fweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. It was fin that judged the Judge of all the earth, and the effects thereof ftopped the mouth of him, who was LORD and Law-giver both in heaven and earth; He who was brought as a Lamb to the flaughter, fo he opened not his mouth. Though man had nothing to charge him with, as faid Pilate, his judge, what evil hath be done? I find no fault in this man; yet God had, viz. with all the fins of his people; law and juftice had ten thousand times ten thoufand, and thoufands of thoufands, with a number that no man can number, of accufations to charge him with; because he ftood a facrifice for fin, in the finner's nature, place and ftead, therefore he opened not his mouth. He, as a victim refigned to the ftroke, had not a word to say against it, though it pleafed the LORD to bruise him, and to put him to grief, and to make his foul an offering for fin, Ifa. liii. 6. All we like fheep have gone aftray, but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity, the accufation and condemnation of us all. It was fin that oppreffed and afflicted the Son of God, v. 7. Nay the Prophet fays, v. 5. He was tormented for our tranfgreffions &c. The effect of fin is punishment, which is feen to an in finite degree in CHRIST, inafmuch as he was wounded for out fins, and bruifed for our iniquities; the chaftifement of out

peace was upon him, and by his ftripes we are healed. And the effect of fin is a curfe, wrath and condemnation, which are all feen in CHRIST's fufferings, Gal. iii. 13. Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us, and for fin, he condemned fin in the flesh; likewife CHRIST fuffered the wrath of God for fin, when he cried out Eloi, Ebi, Lama fabachthani, that is, my God, my God, why hast thou forfaken me? Thus the dreadful effects of fin are feen in the fufferings of the Meffiah, who was cut off, not for himfelf, but for the tranfgreffion of my people (faith GoD) was he fmitten. Indeed fin had caused a fire of indignation in the mind of the Moft High, which was poured out to the uttermoft, when CHRIST died the juft for the unjust, that he might bring us nigh to God.

Note, In the fufferings of CHRIST, we fee the holiness of JEHOVAH'S nature difplayed, the hatred he bears to fin, in that he would fhew no mitigation; though the fufferer was his Son, yet there was no release for him, till he faid, It is finished, and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. He spared not his own SON, but delivered him up for us all, Rom. viii. 32. and thereby glorified his perfections, magnified his law, and made the falvation. of his people every way honourable to his nature.

Thus, my dear Friendly, I have given you a fhort dilucidation upon, the evil nature and effects of fin. But I confefs, that its nature is fo evil, its malediction fo great, its effects fo dreadful, its power fo ftrong, its weapons fo deadly, its victories fo great and triumphant, that we cannot form an adequate conception of it. Its power triumphed over angels, and caft them out of heaven, and now binds them captives in hell: Its empire is univerfal, it reigns in every heart, nay its power triumphed over the human nature of CHRIST, and brought it to the grave; it has reduced all mankind to the utmost degree of flavery, takes them captive at its will, and binds them over to its galley fervice; it divefts them of all that is good and happy; it holds them in fubjection to mifery, anguifh, and forrow, death in this life, and damnation in the world to come. And what will be the difmal effects of it, in the horrible regions of defpair, when guilt, condemnation, and wrath, fhall be in the habitation of the immortal mind; when the mighty waves of JEHOVAH's wrath, fhall fink the guilty foul into the bottomlefs gulph of defpair; when all the horrors of Hell fhall feize the mind, with a depart, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels; where the worm of an accufing confcience dieth not, and the fire of enmity against

GoD is not quenched; there to welter for ever in the fea of divine indignation? To fay what it will be for an immortal foul to be toffed from billow to billow, from wave to wave of Almighty wrath, to the days of eternity, is what the mind is not able to conceive, or the tongue exprefs.

Friendly. If the nature of fin be fo vile, then fure we have feldom a due fenfe and underftanding of it, either in the vilenefs of its nature, or the dreadfulnefs of its effects; or elfe we fhould more adore, admire, and contemplate the riches of that grace, that has fought out, and accomplished our redemption from it?

Truth. It is true, Friendly, we are apt to forget our mifery, and thereby have light thoughts of the glory of our remedy. Could we but ponder more upon the evil that there is in fin, we fhould loath ourselves more on account of it; it would make us fit with more humility at the feet of JESUS, and adore with greater admiration of foul, the wonders of his love, and the precioufnefs of his blood, which hath redeemed us therefrom. Though we should not aim to remember our mifery, with a view to create anguish, pain and forrow, (for this would be attempting to render the death of CHRIST of no avail) but only with a view to enlarge our love and obedience to him, that hath loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood. This feems to be the Apoftle's view in his writing to the believing Ephefians; after he had made a differtation to them, of their election, of their being chofen in CHRIST before the foundation of the world, of their predeftination to glory, of their being accepted in the beloved, of their enjoying redemption through the SAVIOUR's blood, according to the riches of his grace; of their being fealed to the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit of promife; of the eyes of their minds being enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of his glory, in the inheritance of his faints; then he lets them know what was their original state and condition, Eph. ii. 1. You bath he quickened, who were dead in trefpaffes and fins. As much as if he had faid, your vilenefs and mifery, were as great as others by nature; your conduct and converfation not a jot better than your neighbours, as in v. 2. Wherein in times paft ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of difobedience. Then the Apoftle let them know, that even he, with the reft the Apoftles, embaffadors and minifters of CHRIST, were the fame as them by nature, v. 3. Among whom

af, we all had our converfation in times paft, in the lust of our feh, fulfilling the defires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were, by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Friendly. If I might be free, a query arifeth in my mind, How could the Apoitle, and the believing Ephefians, be children of wrath, if GoD had chofen them to falvation, and predeftinated them to glory?

Truth. I answer, They were the children of wrath defervedly, even as others, though they were fuch as were not appointed unto wrath: as for inftance, fuppofe a certain number of perfons were concerned in a rebellion against King George; by the act of rebellion they all forfeit their lives; but if it be the fovereign pleafure of the King, unconditionally to pardon fome, and take them into his royal favour, it does not at all contradict their being deferving of death, as well as those who were not pardoned. So all mankind are guilty of rebellion against their Maker, yet he unconditionaliy chufeth some to everlafting life, takes them into his royal favour, pardons their tranfgreffion, and makes them heirs of heaven, by grace, who were by nature, heirs of hell, children of wrath even as others; for God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain falvation by our Lord Jefus Chrift, 1 Theff. v. 9.

Friendly. What might be the reafon of this diftinguishing favour?

Truth. His fovereign pleafure; as there cannot poffibly be any motive in the creature, becaufe by nature we are children of wrath, even as others; therefore the diftinguishing favour of grace here, and glory hereafter, muft fpring from the fovereign pleasure of his will, taking motives from the grand defigns of his love, as faith the Apoftle, Eph. i. 5. Having predefti nated us to the adoption of children by Jefus Chrift to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will: To the praife and glory of bis grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Friendly. I afk pardon, for being fo inquifitive as to caufe fo long a digreffion from our fubject; but having received fatisfaction by your ideas of fin, as to its vile nature and dreadful effects, we will now enter upon the comprehenfive type of atonement for fin. What therefore might I apprehend by the two goats, viz. that upon whom the LORD's lot fell; and the fcape-goat, upon which the people's lot fell, as mentioned in Lev. xvi. 8, 9, 10. And Aaron fhall caft lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the fcape-goat. And Aaron fball bring the goat, upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer it for a fin-offering; but the goat, on which the lot fell to be

the fcape-goat, fhall be prefented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a fcape-goat into the wilderness.

Truth. By Aaron cafting lots upon the two goats, the one lot for the LORD, the other for the people, or the scape-goat; called in the Hebrew, Azazel, that is, the Goat gone away; which in the Greek is, Ampopompaion, that is, fent away. And Aaron fhall caft lots, the manner of which by the Hebrews, is faid to be thus: "The two lots, the one had written upon it, For JEHOVAH, and the other, For a Scape-goat; and they put the two lots into one veffel, which was a common vessel, "made of wood, and it was called Kalphi, and on the east part "of the court there they let the Kalphi. The goats were set "with their faces towards the weft, and their hind parts to the "eaft. The High-Prieft came with the Sagan (or fecond "Prieft) at his right hand, and Rofh-beth-ab (the chief of the "principal houfhold) at his left hand, and the two goats flood "before him, the one on his right hand and the other on his "left, and he fhook the Kalphi, and took out of it the two "lots with his two hands, in the name of the two goats, "opened his hand; if the LORD's lot was in his right hand, "the Sagan faid to the High-Prieft, hold up thy right-hand on ‹‹ high. If it were in his left, then Rofh-beth-ab faid unto "him, hold up thy left hand; and he laid the two lots upon "the two goats, the right on that which was at his right "hand; and the left, on that which was at his left hand."

and

Now the cafting of thefe lots was to point out which of the two goats were to die, and that which fell to the LORD's lot was to die, to be offered for a fin-offering. In which respect, I humbly conceive, that the LORD's lot, viz. the goat upon which the LORD's lot fell, was a lively prefiguration of the LORD JESUS, who was the fin-offering, upon whom the lot of his counfel, promife and decree fell, Acts ii. 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counfel and foreknowledge of God; 1 Pet. i. 20. who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world.

By the LORD's lot falling upon the goat, he was thereby feparated and fet apart as a victim to be flain; in which respect it was typical of CHRIST, who was JEHOVAH's lot and choice from everlafting, and therefore appointed and fet apart as a victim to be flain, as a fin-offering for his people; and upon which account he is faid to be a lamb flain from the foundation of the world. The LORD JESUS well knew that his human nature was to be the fuffering facrifice for his people, Heb. x.