without blemish and without spot;" I. Pet. i. 18, 19. "Because Christ also suffered for us.... who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed; for ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls ;" I. Pet. ii. 21, 24, 25.

PAUL. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God: to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him. which believeth in Jesus;" Rom. iii. 20-25. "For as by one man's disobedience many were

21.

made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord;" Rom. v. 19— "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord;" Romans vi. 23. "Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it: that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word: that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish;" Eph. v. 2527. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins;....And you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled; in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight;" Col. i. 13, 14, 21, 22. "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to

all men; teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ: who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;" Tit. ii. 11-14.

Justification through the blood of Christ, and sanctification by his Spirit, are very usually treated on as distinct doctrines; but different as they are in one point of view, it is nevertheless evident, from the tenor of these extracts, that they are inseparably connected. Both are essential to the work of salvation; both originate in the same divine mercy, and both are described, by the sacred writers, as arising out of the sacrifice of the Son of God. Was Christ "set forth" of the Father, to be "a propitiation through faith in his blood?" Did he bear "our sins in his own body on the tree?" Did he thus give himself for us? It was not only for the "remission of sins that are past" and for the justification of penitent believers, but also that "he might sanctify and cleanse" his church"that he might redeem us from all iniquity”—

that our consciences might be "purified from dead works, to serve the living God"-"that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness;" Tit. ii. 14, Heb. ix. 14, I. Pet. ii. 24.

"The law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus," says the apostle, "hath made me free from the law of sin and death; for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and, for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit:" Rom. viii. 2, 3. Again, "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another; but after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared: not by works of righte ousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour;" Tit. iii. 3—6. “I, indeed, baptize you with water," said John the Baptist to the Jews, "but he that cometh after

me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire;" Matt. iii. 11. comp. John xv. 26, I. John ii. 27.

Lastly, we learn from the inspired writers that the same Mediator of the New Covenant, who was a propitiation for our sins, and who sheds forth on mankind the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, is mercifully engaged in pleading for his people before the throne of his Father. "My little children," said the apostle John, "these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;" I. John ii. 1, 2. "Who is he that condemneth?" writes another apostle: "It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who also maketh intercession for us;" Romans viii. 34. "But this, (man,) because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them;" Heb. vii. 24, 25.

Such are the powerful and harmonious statements presented to us by prophets and apostles, on the great subject of christian redemption.