bours, crying out in despair, "How should such miserable means as the blood on my door avail to save me?" Think you that the avenger will pass over this one? It seems to me, most certainly; for God, who appoints his path to the destroying angel, looks not at man's weakness or strength of faith, but at the blood on the door-posts. Let us speak, however, to this doubting one. "Dost thou

think that the blood has no power? if so, then wash it away from thy door, and see if thou wilt be saved!" What will he reply? "No, no!" he cries out, "for the sake of all this world can offer, I would not do so! Take not away the blood, but leave it still upon my door-posts!" Ye who are faint-hearted and timid in Zion, know well that there is a species of faith which lies concealed even in the midst of doubt. I can well imagine another of the Israelites, in whose heart, as he stands behind the bloodbesprinkled door, there arises the anxious question—" If the blood can save him also, for in his life he has been wicked, and pre-eminent among evil doers?" Think you he has reason for asking this question? No, my brethren; if any one is spared, he will be so also. "Foolish man! dost thou imagine that God spares on account of worth or merit? He spares out of loving kindness and mercy, and inquires not who dwells within the house; but only if there be blood upon its door-posts: think of this, and rejoice." I can picture to myself a third, who, when he hears the trumpet of the avenging angel sounding through the streets, in the first moment of consternation, forgets that the protecting blood is also sprinkled upon his door. What happens then? Fear and trembling overwhelm him; his hair stands on end; the chamber resounds with his cry of terror, "I am lost! I am lost!" for he sees only death and destruction before him. Most extraordinary scene! Despair without danger! a cry for assistance whilst in the

securest haven! Will the destroyer pass over this one also? Can you doubt for a moment? The blood is on his door-posts, and his trembling and quaking are groundless. I now imagine a fourth. He hears the sound of the destroyer in his neighbourhood, and the whistling through the air of his brandished scythe; but he looks neither upon the angel, nor on the dead bodies of the slain who have fallen his victims, nor upon himself and his own sins; on the contrary, overlooking every other object, he directs his gaze firmly and unchangeably to the blood upon his door; and now he thinks, God the faithful and true, has said, "The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." These are his thoughts; and he stands calmly and peacefully by his door, watching the destroying angel, and saying, "Me he cannot harm!" for not even the faintest shadow of fear obscures the serenity of his soul. Would you not wish to participate in the happy state of this fourth Israelite, my brethren? Most assuredly you can do so, if you are serious in your wish, and if it proceed from the deeply-felt necessity of your heart: then, approach with joy the table of the Lord, and come, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, for Christ will give you rest! To this meal ye are welcome, for your hearts have been sprinkled with the saving blood of the Lamb, who was slain for your transgressions.

If we then are convinced of this, what should hinder us abiding henceforward in the houses of peace and tranquillity? Come on, ye adversaries of our souls, and say all that is in your power against us! So far are we from being afraid of your approach, that we would rather summon you before us, to raise and enliven our cheerfulness,

by proving your impotency. Come on, dark majesty of hell! what seekest thou? Satan, God rebuke thee! who will condemn? who can accuse? for here is Christ! Come on, thou king of terrors! thou angel of death! we laugh at thy power. Where now is thy sting, thou disarmed one? thou hast been swallowed up in victory! Moses, herald of the law! man from Sinai and Ebal! step forward with thy tables, and with thy curses! Lo! the anathema falls powerless from thy lips! Sinners and transgressors though we be, we have been washed in the blood of Christ; and he is the fulfiller of the law; whosoever believes on him, is sanctified and made holy. Mine own heart, what hast thou to say against me? Hast thou forgotten the token upon my door? And dare the servant accuse where his king has acquitted? Be at peace, and remember, God is greater than thou, and knoweth all things. Pass over! all ye forms of terror! Pass over with the long register of my sins, with the fiery characters of the law, with the frightful pictures of hell and of judgment. Ye can never make us tremble. For from behind our besprinkled door-posts, ye only appear to us as a dim procession faintly traced upon the wall, as flitting shadows, or as the airy forms of a dream! We embrace that mighty sacrifice perfected for us through all eternity, and cry out rejoicing, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

THE NEW CREATURE.

2 COR. v. 14-17.

Because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

THERE are many sentences in the holy Scriptures resembling meteors, which, when we take in pieces, such a countless multitude of fiery flames and sparks of every variety of colour proceed from them, as almost to blind our eyes with their glittering brightness. Such a sentence is our text, and it furnishes us with a whole myriad of the most glorious and soul-enlivening thoughts; and the more it opens to our gaze, the more does the inexhaustible richness of its contents strike us with astonishment. Indeed we cannot express what glorious and enrapturing things the great apostle describes in those few and simple words! He seems to speak directly out of the holy of holies of the New Testament: and truths are poured into our hearts,

which, if realized by sinners, might transform this vale of tears into a paradise. Paul tells us what he beholds in the person of a real Christian; let us, therefore, consider the point from which he regards the Christian; the light in which the Christian appears to him; and the influence which this contemplation had upon his own life.

I. We inquire, first, concerning the point from which Paul contemplates and judges the Christian; for we must know it, or else his verdict remains to us inexplicable. There are many points of view in which one can behold the followers of Jesus; but people generally mistake, and do not choose the right one; hence it follows that the glory of the children of God is rarely visible to men. For example, let me contemplate thy early life, my brother, and from it decide upon thy character. I see thee a wicked man, worse than a thousand others, and am therefore compelled to form a low estimate with regard to thee. If on the contrary I value thee according to the opinion formed by the world now, my idea of thee is not raised; for the world perhaps describes thee as a gloomy ascetic, a proud pharisee, or an hypocritical despiser of thy brethren. If in furtherance of my object I direct my attention to thy daily words and actions, I probably find thee what is generally considered an honest and respectable member of society: but this is not enough; for thousands of others are so who yet are not Christians. If I look into thy spiritual life, into thy heart, in order to form some opinion concerning thee; perhaps I enter at a wrong time, whilst the storm of temptation is raging; a wild host of doubts and fears are troubling thy soul, and the dim twilight of thy feeble faith barely serves to discover the aspect of things. What then should I say?" I sought to find a silent and holy temple, full of the incense of prayer and praise, and found a raging scene of combat, the gloomy dwelling-place of misery and