16 This is the covenant that I will 24 And let us consider one another make with them after those days, Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them': 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. T to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much, the more as ye see the day approaching. On this, the day of the Christian atonement, when Jesus came to do the will of God, and "offer one sacrifice for sin," the Church very wisely appoints for the Epistle a portion of Scripture, which describes the insufficiency of the Levitical sacrifice. The Levitical sacrifice showed the necessity of sacrifice, as well as the inability of that hitherto prescribed to make permanent atonement. It grounded upon the inherent frailty of him who sacrificed, the perpetual necessity of sacrifice, and significantly typified, in its own emblems and shadows, the substance of good things to come. T All this is plainly set forth in the Epistle for the day. It is most satisfactorily laid down and proved, that "the blood of bulls and of goats could not take away sins;" that "the law could not make the comers to the sacrifices perfect;” that "in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin God could have no pleasure." And hence it is most naturally inferred, that he who was an High Priest, most confessedly "without infirmity;" he who needed not to offer oftentimes the same sacrifices, but only one sacrifice; he who came to do the will of God, and really did it, was the only sin offering that could effectually "perfect for ever them that are sanctified." His divinity as God, his purity and innocence as man, were quite sufficient to make the only perfect atonement for sin that was ever offered. His purity and innocence were never denied, his divinity has been most incontestably proved, and hence we have in him, and in him alone, a covenanted access to the Father, and a propitiation that must ever prevail. ་་་ Who is he that can harm us, be he angel or spirit, fellowcreature or our own selves, if the Lord be really on our side, and we on his? Our own little flock, in particular, will be ever thus protected, collectively and individually, if we put our trust in him, and are both in love to God, and love within ourselves, a pattern of believers. Only let the death of Christ be the corner-stone of the faith of each of us, the sole refuge in affliction of each of us, the atonement, without which we should each of us feel unreconciled, and still liable to receive the dreadful wages of sin; and then we shall have help from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of our salvation. We shall not be without defence. We shall never really fall. And if this be really the case with respect to each or any of us, the fruits, to which the Apostle exhorts, will be sure to follow, and in particular, there will be "boldness to enter into the holiest by the new and living way," the blood of Jesus, which no other principle can give. It would be a most profitable exercise to inquire, on each return of this day, how far the death of Christ does constrain us to draw near in worship, in service, in imitation, to God; how far our faith is a full or an imperfect faith; to what extent an evil conscience has been made to feel the influence of the cleansing powers of grace, or the corrupting examples of the world. And it would also be a profitable exercise to note, whether our faith is the strong, stable, bold faith it ought to be; whether it is a faith ever moved from its stedfastness by a sneer, a subtle argument, a heavy trial; and whether, if it is ever thus shaken, it is the faith it ought to be. And may not the commemoration of the death of Christ be a fitting opportunity for reviewing the relation in which we stand to one another, and the obligations imposed upon us-founded upon the exceeding great love and precious death of Christ of loving one another. May the blood of the atonement of Christ flow freely through the spiritual body of this Christian family, and give life, through faith, to all the members of it; and then each will "consider the other, to provoke unto love and to good works;" and "the charity of every one of us all towards each other," springing from so holy a faith, will "abound'." The commemoration of the death of Christ should also constrain us to look to other parts of our outward and public conduct, more particularly to our attendance at public worship. It is on a day consecrated to him and in his house that the people ransomed by his blood are bidden to assemble themselves together, and through his mighty power to set forward the salvation of their souls. And it is in the same blessed name, and for the same holy end, that we are noW assembled at home. May each of us, in our respective vocations, practise and promote, as much as lieth in us, every kind of communion with God that tends to glorify him. In the family, in the congregation, in the world, be it our study and glory to make all men know that we are Christ's disciples, disciples in conduct as well as by profession, disciples by conviction as well as in appearance, remembering that the day of reckoning is approaching, which will decide who are really Christ's and who are really holy, and will publicly prove, to the glory of the redeemed and the shame of the accursed, that “the Lord will be found of those that seek him, but that those who forsake him he will cast off for ever2." EASTER EVEN. THE EPISTLE. 1 St. Peter iii., 17 to 22. 17 It is better, if the will of God | Noah, while the ark was a preparing, be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: ' 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con science toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: . 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. A Saviour dead and buried, a Saviour presently about to rise again from the dead, is presented to our view this day. Buried, according to prophecy, by a rich man"; resting from all the 3 Isai. Liii., 9. 12 Thess. i., 3. 21 Chron. xxviii., 9. indignities which, according to the same prophecy, he had been ordained to suffer', the incarnate Son of God had been obedient unto death, and, like any other man, lay motionless in the grave. The grave was his place of bodily sojourn in the interval between his death and his resurrection, and while his soul was with the spirits of the just in paradise, his body slept its short sleep in the rich man's sepulchre. While the disciples of Jesus are contemplating their master in the grave, their thoughts will naturally revert to his previous sufferings; and they will not inappropriately remind themselves, that "it is better, if the will of God be so, that they, if they suffer, suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing." The great feature in the sufferings of Jesus was, that he suffered for well-doing, that he suffered in the stead of those who had been guilty of evildoing; and that he suffered patiently. To do likewise is not, though it ought to be, the aim of all his disciples. In all these respects the disciples of Christ fall far short of their master; and they require his example, his spirit, his chastisement, his holy word, to teach them better. Amongst one another at home, and in their intercourse with the world at large, Christian people must, whether in high or in low station, walk by this rule, and mind this thing. Even if they suffer for well-doing they must be patient, and much more if they suffer for evil-doing. And especially if their tempers are unruly and irritable, they must make an effort, and with the help of God's grace, endeavour to bring themselves under the dominion of "a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price'.' 2 The Apostle next takes us back to the times before the flood, wherein he tells us, that the same spirit which quickened Jesus, spake in him to the disobedient and gainsaying people of that day3; and warns us to make the same use of baptism that Noah and his family did of the ark, and through faith and "the answer of a good conscience toward God” make good our claim to all those privileges, which the resurrection, through baptism, sets before us. In effect he tells us to follow with the greater patience the example which Jesus, in his death and passion, proposes to our imitation, from the signal proof given of their atoning power in his resurrection. And to a Christian family, what does he virtually say? Follow the example of Noah and his family, and be saved in the 21 Pet. iii., 4. 1 Isai. Liii., 4 to 8. Do you manner that God has appointed. Take warning by the example of the sinners of the old world, and delay not, until it is too late, to seek salvation'. Take heed to the promises made in your baptism. Work them out, refer to them, fulfil them. Remember the promises made to you by Jesus. Desire them, value them, realize them. The Saviour buried reminds you of your mortality, your natural corruption, your need of an atonement. The risen Saviour beckons you to follow him. He bids you "die unto sin and live unto righteousness;" and in your intercourse with one another, to "be of one mind;" to "live in peace;" and that if such be your habit and your resolve, "the God of love and peace shall be with you3." But what say you to this proposal? Do you make the pious resolve, or do you decline it? Is death unto sin your habit? Is life unto righteousness your desire? Has patience in you its perfect work? Has humility a place? Has repentance begun? These are questions of moment, and they require an answer. And what is the answer? neither at present "put away the filth of the flesh,” nor intend so to do in time to come? Is there no sign of repentance begun, humility increasing, patience made perfect? Is all your religion profession, all your supplication formality? What do you say to these things? Let there be a remedy, yes, and an instant remedy, if at present sin has dominion. "The blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin," and procureth all grace, can still save you; and be that blood your stay. 'Repent that your sins be blotted out." Believe that you may have a Saviour. Pray that he may forgive your sins. And then, that grace of baptism which you had for a while lost, will return again; that answer of a good conscience which was solemnly promised, will be literally fulfilled; and that stedfast endurance of evil and all other resistance to temptation, which was implied in the selfrenunciations of baptism, will be for ever ratified and confirmed. And such, if you have been grievous sinners, and self-examination does its work, will be the issue. To those who either will not examine themselves, or after a cursory self-examination still continue in sin, little can be said, but that they are "in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity," and so will remain for ever unless they truly repent. But to those who truly repent, and to those who have been in the main faithful, the fulfilment Baptismal Service. 1 Gen. vii., 21 to 23. 4 1 John i., 7. 2 32 Cor. xiii., 11. 6 Acts viii., 23. ། |