ness of God's love and grace, and the reality and greatness of the salvation which is offered to man in the Gospel. He knows, also, when to pity and when to censure, when to bless and when to chastise-the time, place and manner of every office of friendship. Oh, what a friend must He be! Who, beside, could have made so kind and needful a provision for our spiritual nature, as His Gospel reveals? Who could have devised a wiser or better system of means than He is using to recover sinners to God? Who but the Incarnate One, could bind on Himself the burden of a sinner's guilt and doom, and, travailing in the greatness of His strength, stay the descending arm of Almighty wrath, and pluck him from under the curse of the law, by giving an adequate ransom, and then renew him from sin into holiness, and pervade his dark and miserable being with the light, and peace, and joy of celestial life? Oh! who can plead for the penitent sinner like unto our conquering Jesus? Burdened with the service undertaken for us"touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and knowing the sufficiency of His sufferings, what importunity of manner, and intensity of pity, and holy joy of benevolence, and efficacy of power, must characterise His intercessions at the mercy seat. Is not the Christian safe in such hands-with the arms of the sympathizing and mighty Jesus for his support? And will the sinner, whose guilt is so enormous, and whose tremendous doom of judgment and despair is hastening on, spurn the only Saviour that can deliver him-the proffered service of the only Friend whose kindness is of any avail?

IV. To be qualified to sympathize fully with another in distress, we must have undergone, in our own person, the same evils which he endures. In the time of sickness, there is no friend whose sympathy and kind offices are so grateful, as are those of that particular one whose feelings have been mellowed by a like affliction; who is no stranger to a sick room and a bed of pain ; whose voice is gentle, and step light, and look kind, and hand practised in the service. And in the day of affliction, when the heart bleeds, and the soul is in heaviness; or in the season of spi-. ritual darkness, when faith is dim and hope is weak, and the conflict severe, and the desponding soul treads on the verge of despair -how sweet and reviving are the fellowship and services of one who has trodden these paths of sorrow and darkness before uswho has gone to the grave to weep-been led forth into the wilderness to endure a season of fiery temptation, and been crushed to the earth, in the garden of agony, by the weight of his sins reckoned against him, and by the anger of God, kindled anew in the conscience, and speaking out, in every groan of wrestling nature! Oh, how the tried and anguished heart clings to such a friend, though he be but human! There is a community of feeling, a warmth and fullness of sympathy, which is as balm to the wounded spirit.

Jesus Christ has taken upon Him our actual sufferings. He has endured the very evils from which he came to deliver us. The human ill cannot be named which he did not experience, nor the scene of humiliation and deprivation, and trial and agony, through which He did not pass in His earthly career. All that we have felt of the evil of sin, the guilt and misery of our condition, the justice of God in the punishment of transgression, the enmity of the world, the power of the devil, and the pains of death, He has felt. The measure of his privation was the measure of God's own fullness-the measure of His endurance the measure of our ill-desert and of God's wrath against sin. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich!" His baptism was one of suffering. From the "manger" that cradled Him, to the " tomb" in which His body was laid, poverty and neglect, and sorrow and suffering, attended Him. Are you poor? What had he whose blessing had enriched the universe? "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Is your lot cast among the poor and obscure ? He was "the carpenter's son," and wrought at an humble trade. Are you neglected and despised by the rich and great? He associates with the fishermen of Gallilee, and the spurned publicans and sinners of His nation. Are afflictions your lot? He was, above all others, "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Are you assailed by temptation? How was He tried! What a conflict He had in the wilderness, where alone and for forty days, He withstood the terrible onset of the prince of evil. And what language can convey an adequate conception of the conflict of the Garden, in the intensity of its suffering? My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." "O, my Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." "And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground." That was sorrow indeed-the hour and power of darkness. All our conflicts with the powers of darkness are as nothing compared with the agony of that hour.

66

And yet He endured. He was "without sin." No guile was found in him. He was "made perfect through sufferings." Clothed in human nature, and bearing its infirmities and sufferings, He passed through this world of sin," holy, harmless, and undefiled," and entered heaven with the spoils of a mighty victory, the Conqueror of sin, and death, and hell, the Head of a new kingdom, and the accepted and every way qualified, Intercessor of His people. The remembrance of Christ's sufferings, serves to sweeten the cup of our earthly sorrows-endears His grace and office-work to usand encourages hope and confidence in Him as our Forerunner and Advocate.

V. FINALLY, he is a friend, indeed, whose regard for us is

equalled only by his ability to extend relief. Now Christ's sympathy is as effective as it is real, as strong as it is kind. He can succor the tempted-relieve the distressed-guide the erring-and defend the weak-supply the needy-restore the fallen-and save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. He has infinite resources of wisdom, power and grace, and can, therefore, accomplish the full salvation of every believing soul, and consummate, in glory unending and perfect, the stupendous work of redeeming love. His is not the pity of weakness, unable to befriend us in our low estate, or afraid to breast the mighty tide of ruin which is sweeping an accursed race to hell, but the pity of Omnipotence, with its heart of courage and arm of strength. His are not the tears and pleadings of despair, wept over hopeless beings and poured upon the ear of unrelenting and unsatisfied Justice, but the tears of a wrought-out deliverance, shed over sinners already ransomed-tears of joy in the prospect of their salvation; the pleadings of infinite merit, of an accepted righteousness, before a Throne, appeased by the shedding of blood, disarmed of its thunders and made more attractive and glorious than ever by the spirit of forgiveness which it breathes towards sinners, for the sake of our great High Priest. The feelings of manhood and the resources of the God-head, equally belong to Christ. The one qualifies Him to sympathize with us and prompts to benevolent action for our relief, while the other bears Him out in the work and ensures the victory. O, what a Friend and Saviour! What a heart has Jesus to feel, what an arm to deliver! In His active sympathy and love toward man as a lost creature of God, whom He came to seek and to restore, there are the elements of a blessed consolation, a divine strength, an overcoming faith. The ties which bind the penitent and believing sinner to the heart of Jesus and the throne of God, are not a vain thing. There is a voice heard from Calvary, louder than the cry of human guilt, louder even than the thunders of Divine wrath and sweeter and more majestic than the united harmony of heaven : it is the voice of Incarnate Mercy, groaning out its life for sinners, and pleading with God-by its own matchless worth and dignity-by its life of obedience and toil-by its bloody sweat and final agony, to stay the avenging hand, and spare the guilty, and save the lost.

Pre

With Jesus Christ for our advocate on high, our cause cannot fail. His own dignity and worth, and the value of His sacrifice, will give amazing weight to His intercessions. Under the power of His pleadings, Justice will sheathe the avenging sword. sented by such a Mediator, and perfumed by a merit surpassing all creature imperfection and guilt, our poor services will find favor with God; and the Holy Spirit, the blessed Comforter, will descend and dwell in our hearts, and seal us into the day of redemption.

NATIONAL PREACHER.

No. 5. Vol. XXII.

MAY, 1848.

SERMON CCCCLXXIV.

Whole No. 257.

BY REV. RICHARD S. STORRS, D. D.
Braintree, Massachusetts.

THE REMISSION OF SIN.

"And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of Salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins."LUKE 1: 76-77.

THUS Zecharias, filled with the Holy Ghost, addressed his son just born. The natural affections of the father give way to the more elevated sentiments of the "Man of God;" and the gratification derived from the birth of one, who should "comfort him concerning his work and the toil of his hands," is lost sight of amid visions of the honors and perils clustering around him, as "the Prophet of the Highest," and the Forerunner of the Lord.

John's early life was spent-not among the crowded population of the city-but in the deserts, where he waxed strong in spirit. His early habits were formed to self denial and patient industry, the spirit of devotion ever stirring within him, and prompting to unwearied labors for the salvation of men, through the whole of his short public career. Official duty as "the prophet of the Highest," no less than his cherished disposition, directed him to "give the knowledge of salvation" to the people of God; or, in other words, to make them acquainted with the Saviour; to proclaim His long expected advent, and prepare them to receive Him. This preparation consisted in breaking off their sins by righteousness, submitting to baptism in token of their repentance, and receiving his testimony of Jesus, as the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. Nor without such preparation could the announcement of His coming give them peace and joy, as is clear from the fact, that to the Scribes and Pharisees. and even to the nation at large, it proved but a stone of stumbing and a rock of offence, over which they fell into perdition.

The blessings of the great salvation brought to man by Jesus Christ, are with propriety summed up in the single phrase of the text-" the remission of sins."

What is sin?-Wherein consists its guilt ?-And how is it remitted?-are important questions, suggested by the words before us.

I. What is sin?

By an Apostle it is defined to be, a "transgression of the law." A law is an authoritative rule of action, including both precept and penalty. The Law of God, that is, the moral law, binding alike all intelligent beings in heaven, earth, and hell, from everlasting to everlasting, is a code of holy precepts, to which just and adequate penalties are annexed; and the wilful violation of these precepts, is sin. The Saviour has comprehended the whole law in few words; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." Short and simple as this command is, it embraces whatever of duty or obligation rests on man; and the transgression of any one of the particular duties or obligations involved in it, is sin.

The law of God as a rule of action, applies to man, in all his conditions, relations, and movements. It extends its authority over the heart, and all its affections; over the mind, and all its thoughts and determinations; over the body, and all its voluntary actings. It bears directly on the various relations we hold to God, to our fellow men, and to ourselves, as the creatures of a day, and as destined to immortality; and it indicates the duties resulting from these several relations, and binds us to the discharge of them, by solemn sanctions.

Sin is variously denominated, agreeably to its various aspects or relations. There is the "sin that dwelleth in us," the "very wickedness" of the heart, sometimes called original sin, or the corruption of our moral nature, which, however it may be philosophically defined, means nothing more nor less than the evil principle, which "works all manner of concupiscence," and is invariably developed by every human being knowing good from evil. And there is actual sin, manifested in the conversation of men, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind;-serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. There are sins of omission, which consist in leaving things undone that ought to be done; and sins of commission, which consist in doing things that ought not to be done. Secret sins are those which God's eye only discovers; and presumptuous sins are those committed in face of the world, and in opposition to light and conviction of duty.

But the essential constituent of the abominable thing which God's soul hates, is its voluntariness. It is an act which violates