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we were delivered; but being now convinced of the violence of the disease by which we were attacked, we are at the same time enabled to appreciate the services of the great Physician of the soul. Let him, therefore, have the only return which he requires, that of faithful love and cheerful obedience.

SERMON V

LUKE xix. 10.

The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.

You were reminded, brethren, in my last discourse, that man having fallen from his original righteousness, lost his title to immortality, became the object of displeasure to his Maker, and entailed on his descendants both the punishment of his transgression, and a strong disposition to sin. It was also shortly brought to your recollection, that great as was that fall, and awful as were its consequences, provision was made to counteract them, through Jesus Christ the eternal. Son of God. I am now more particularly to beg your attention to this great love of God towards his creatures; and be assured, that I request your attention to a most important object; to the most important of all objects, to the means which have been offered to you for the salvation of your souls.

I observed, you may remember, that it was

the redemption of man. He declared" that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head';" that is to say, that one should be born of a woman who should do away the evil which the subtle malice of the serpent had introduced into the world; and the same future event formed a link in the great chain of prophecy, and was the object of expectation to holy men from (I may say) the beginning of the world, down to the very period of the advent of Christ. It was shadowed by various types, and always kept before the minds of God's chosen people until that "fulness of time" had arrived, at which God had determined the Saviour should appear.

You are called Christians", because you are followers or disciples of Christ, this long promised Redeemer; and it behoves you both to know and to keep in mind, who was this Christ; why you are his disciples, and what the duties are which a disciple has to perform. Jesus Christ, then, was the Son of God; the only begotten of the great Father of the universe, by whom he was sent into the world "to seek and to save it." For "God so loved the world (in spite of its disobedience to him) that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish." He sent him to recon

a Gen. iii. 15.

b Acts xvi. 27.

© John iii. 16.

cile the offenders to their offended God: "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself;" and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled."

But it will naturally be demanded, how could the Son of God come down from heaven to effect this great purpose? Nothing is impossible with God; and he to whom all nature must submit, wrought for this purpose a special miracle. The Son of God, as you may read most particularly in the Gospel of St. Matthew, was introduced into the world through the womb of a pure virgin, who became with child by the Holy Ghost; and when the time of her delivery had arrived, brought forth the child Jesus. And this was agreeable to the declaration of the angel, who by the appointment of God appeared to the betrothed husband of Mary, and told him, "not to fear to take unto him Mary his wife," for that that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost, and that she should bring forth a Son whose name should be JESUS, because "HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.' In the language of the Jews, Jesus signifies a Saviour.

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2 Cor. v. 19.

e Col. i. 21.

f Matt. i. 21.

D

It was thus that the "Word was made flesh; and thus, that God was "manifested to destroy the works of the devil." It is, indeed a <6 great mystery;" but because it is mysterious, it does not on that account cease to be true: we have the word of God for the fact, and that is authority sufficient.

We are further informed that this "word of God dwelt among us ";" that he led an humble life upon the earth, subject to all its sorrows, that he might the better fulfil the great purpose for which he left the bosom of his Father, and "purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."" He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and dwelt among menk » And why did he so? what was the end of his thus sojourning among men? It was, as the text assures us, to "seek and to save the lost world;" to recall that world to a sense of its duty to its Maker; and to offer up an atoning sacrifice to the Creator for the manifold transgressions of his creatures.

I entreat you, my brethren, to keep in view this two-fold scheme of man's redemption, accomplished by Jesus Christ. The one part was to make an atonement for sin; and the other to teach man his duty, and assist him in the performance of it.

* John i. 14.

h

Ibid.
* Phil. ii. 7, 8.

Titus ii. 14.

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