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days and forty nights together, is a remarkable proof of the deep sense he entertained of their sinfulness in the sight of God.

Of the guilt of Israel, as an affecting proof of the deep depravity of human nature, we have also remarkable testimonies in Judges ii., 2 Kings xvii. 6-23, and Psalms lxxviii. and cvi.; to which passages I refer you, for further proofs and illustrations of the corruption which evidently prevailed in the hearts-even of God's chosen people.

David gives a similar view of the state of the world at large. "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalm xiv. 1-3.) He does not exempt himself from this universal charge, but confesses, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps. li. 5.) And the same acknowledgement of universal guilt is brought before us, with peculiar force, in his prayers for pardon: "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand?" "Enter not into judgement with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." (Ps. cxxx. 3, cxliii. 2.) The moral depravity of the whole species is fully admitted by Job and his friends throughout the whole of their dispute. Job himself says, "How should man be just with God? him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.-If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." And Eliphaz expresses the same truth in language equally decided: "What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous? Behold, He putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight! How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water!" To which also Bildad agrees: "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job ix. 2, 3, 30, 31, xv. 14-16, xxv. 4.)

If he will contend with

In perfect harmony with these representations are the

but Israel doth not Ah sinful nation, a

declarations of the prophets. Do they speak in special reference to the people of Israel? It is in terms like these: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: know, my people doth not consider. people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." (Is. i. 2-6.) Do they speak of mankind at large? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: * who can know it?" (Jer. xvii. 9.) Is it not also so manifest, that all the faithful servants of God, in all ages, have had very deep views of their own vileness and unworthiness, as to make it needless to transcribe passages? And, it is remarkable, that, in the prophecies respecting the future restoration of Israel, this people are uniformly represented as returning to the Lord under a very deep sense of their own guilt and pollution. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy Name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast

* Desperately wicked. Heb. mortiferus, ægerrimus, from the root@grum fuit, mortaliter ægrotavit, whence in Homo, i.e. mortalis.

The word would be more literally translated desperately or mortally sick; and so it is rendered in some translations. But sin is the sickness of the soul, and the meaning must be ascertained by a comparison with Is. i. 5, 6, quoted above. There can indeed be no doubt that our translators have given the sense correctly; though an adversary might cavil at the word used. The context also requires the same sense. In Jer. xv. 18, xxx. 12, 15, and Job xxxiv. 6, the same word is translated incurable.

consumed us, because of our iniquities." (Is. lxiv. 6, 7.) "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel." (Ez. xxxvi. 31, 32.) On which last passage I would observe that we are taught, first, how deep the feeling of humiliation and self-loathing will be: and then, by the express declaration of the Lord, what good and sufficient reason for such feelings there is.

All these passages, taken in connexion, give us a very peculiar view of human nature. Whatever illustrations of these humiliating truths, and whatever occasional acknowledgments (forced from them by facts which stare us in the face) may be gathered from the writings of philosophers and unbelievers, it is manifest that their representations of the moral condition of man, are, on the whole, totally different. Ignorant of God, and ignorant of themselves, beguiled with mere external shows of virtue, in which the true and living principle is wanting,-looking only for so much of outward decency, and obedience to human laws and customs, as is barely sufficient for the maintenance of social order and of civil government,and having (through the blindness of their hearts) no notion of inward holiness and devotedness to God,-they indulge in lofty declamations about the excellence and dignity of human nature, which will not bear the test of fact and experience, and which are directly opposed to those true sayings of God, (the only proper Judge in this case,) which we have already quoted.

But, while all who are ignorant of the Scriptures maintain a very different view of human nature, we find the Scriptures of the New Testament alone (and the sentiments and feelings of all true Christians, in every age and nation) exactly coinciding with these declarations of the Old. To prove this, we need only refer to the whole of St. Paul's argument, Rom. i. 18-iii. 20, concluding, as it does, with the following series of quotations from the Old Testament. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out

of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongue they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."-" For there is no difference: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Rom. iii. 10-19, 22, 23.)

All this is in exact accordance with what he states elsewhere, respecting his own natural condition, and that of all who were now become partakers of like precious faith with himself. "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past 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 disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Eph. ii. 1—3.) "We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." (Tit. iii. 3.) Our Lord himself testifies, that the human heart is an abundant fountain of all manner of wickedness; "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." (Mark vii. 21, 22.) And the apostle Paul, to sum up all in few words, tells us plainly that "the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. viii. 7, 8.)

These are some of the most remarkable declarations of the Old Testament and of the New, upon this subject. Can there be a more exact agreement?

CHAPTER III.

How sinful Man may draw near to the High and Holy God-The doctrine of Sacrifice in the Old Testament-The one great Sacrifice of the New.

IF God be indeed so holy and glorious, and man so corrupt and depraved, it becomes a matter of momentous enquiry, How can such a sinful creature approach, with any hope of acceptance, to "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose Name is holy?" Compare then the Old Testament with the New, and answer;

Do these volumes give different views of the way by which man can find access to God?

It is evident to every one who reads the Old Testament, that, since the Fall of man, the appointed way of approaching God has always been by a Sacrifice.

Thus "Abel.. brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel, "Noah builded an

and to his offering." (Gen. iv. 4.) altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake." (Gen. viii. 20, 21.) Abraham, whereever he went, "builded an altar unto the LORD." (Gen. xii. 7, 8, xiii. 4, 18.) Job offered sacrifices continually for his children, (i. 5,) and, at God's express command, he offered them also for his friends. (xlii. 8, 9.) We cannot therefore suppose, that he neglected to offer them for himself. And how sacrifices were multiplied, and offered upon every occasion, under the Mosaic Law, is evident to any one that will read the first five chapters of Leviticus. Even he who sinned ignorantly, could not approach the Lord with acceptance, without a trespass-offering. "If a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; THOUGH HE WIST IT NOT, YET IS HE GUILTY, and shall bear his iniquity. And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass-offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he

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