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First. That he not only was crucified and slain, but did thereby make a full propitiation and atonement for sin. I see, before Adam committed the sin of eating the forbidden fruit, the sentence of death denounced against him, if he should transgress that commandment, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Wherefore, when I behold him eating of it, I plainly find him bringing himself under the before-declared sentence. Here was an act of disobedience; that disobedience was highly offensive and dishonourable to the majesty of God; and the transgressor was become by it liable to death. In this situation what could he do? He could not undo what was done; that was impossible. The fact must stand against him for ever," Thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I charged thee that thou shouldst not eat." This would be true to eternity from the moment of his eating; and as long as it remained true, both the majesty of God would be offended by it, and the curse be upon Adam for it. From that moment he commenced a child of wrath, and so must have remained to eternity, for any the least power he had to help himself out of it. The fact was irrevocable, therefore the offence and the punishment. And unless Mercy interposed, and in such a way as to make amends for the offence, and to fulfil the curse, there was absolutely no more hope for him than for fallen angels. That I had been any way concerned in this fact of Adam, I could not have imagined, had not the Scriptures of God told me so; although in that ignorance I should have been utterly at a loss for the reason why myself and the whole world are born in sin, and manifestly under sentence of death. But now I see that these are penalties lying upon me and all men for the sin of Adam, and thereby that he stood as the representative of all his descendants. I can have no quarrel against this, without calling God's righteousness in question, for I see in fact the penalties of Adam's sin are charged on me; nor do I see it anything more inconsistent that I should suffer through the sin of one covenant-head, than that I should be accepted to God's favour through the righteousness of another. And, besides this, I am fully sensible that in my own person I have been sinning after the similitude of Adam's transgression, being disobedient to his command, and putting forth my hand unto that which the Lord forbad me. So that if,

before sin entered into the world, the sentence of death was pronounced against it, whenever and in whomsoever it should be found, I am sensible that every way I am liable to that sentence; that, being a sinner before God, I have done such offence to the divine Majesty, and brought such a death on myself, as leave me, considered in myself, in an utterly undone, helpless, and hopeless condition. Nevertheless, sinful, guilty, and condemned as I am, I have confidence towards God. I see full

amends made to the injured majesty of God, and the sentence of death fully executed in him," who, though he had done no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." I see the "Lamb without spot and blemish taking away sin by the sacrifice of himself." I see God "purchasing the church with his own blood." I see, and am satisfied. I am convinced and pleased that divine Majesty has received an ample vindication. I tremble no more at the sentence of death, when I behold the Son of God expiring on the cross; while I am covered with confusion at myself, (but, alas! too, too little) in the sight of that amazing sacrifice. Here I set my foot, and, finding myself safe, I boldly ask, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died."-Nor is this propitiation and atonement for sin, though indeed the foundation of all my other comforts, the only one that I draw from the crucifixion and death of Christ: for,

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Secondly. Herein I see all my enemies vanquished. I see my Lord hanging victoriously on the cross, and conquering every adversary. Here I see that law of ordinances, whose multiplicity, strictness, and expense were so burdensome a yoke, which none were able to bear, abolished in the fulfilment of all its design. When Jesus died, the vail of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. Here I see the moral law, as a law of works for righteousness, fulfilled in every tittle of its demands, and executed in every tittle of its curse, and as no longer therefore breathing out threatenings against the transgression of its precept, now impracticable by us, but changed into a pleasing rule of delightful obedience. Here I see the sting taken out of the hand of Death. How horrible was his countenance wont to be! I heard the thunders of Sinai when

he approached me. I saw the flashes of everlasting fire breaking

out behind his back. I was dismayed. I cried for mercy. I looked upon the cross. I considered who hung there. My spirit revived within me. Turning to Death, I said, "Where is thy sting?" I saw, and was astonished. The scene was changed. His dart terrified no more. His countenance was smoothed. He smiled, and seemed to say, I am thy friend. Here I see hell disappointed. Hell was waiting for all the race of mankind. The sentence was gone forth, and the place was prepared. The whole world was guilty without exception, and justice demanded recompense. Jesus would make atonement, and the stroke fell upon him. He died, and believers cannot perish. Here I see the devil dethroned. What can the accuser do, when God is reconciled; when the law condemns no more; when its penalty is executed to the full; when justice appears on the side of the sinner? See, Satan, the issue of thy rage and malice! in persecuting the Son of God to the death, thou hast been thy own destroyer. That very death has disarmed thee of all thy might, and even such a babe in Christ as I am is able to put thee to flight. Here I see sin receiving its deadly blow. It was laid upon him that had done no sin. He bore it to the cross. There it was crucified, brought to public shame, and the power of it taken away. "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." Here, finally, I see the world subdued, the world in all its strength. Jesus had before defeated the attempts of worldly glory, pomp, wealth, and ease; and now on the cross he stands the shock of worldly shame and suffering; this he endured, that he despised. The ingratitude of friends, the being forsaken of all men, the being singly exposed in the hands of implacable enemies to all that malice set on fire of hell could invent or cruelly execute, made no impression upon him.

of good cheer," thou hadst said, "I have overcome the world." Truth, Lord, I see it to be a vanquished enemy. Thus, looking on the cross, I see all my adversaries put to confusion. But, more than all this,

Thirdly.-I see there the richest blessings purchased for me.

There I see sin punished, and the sinner pardoned. There I see perfect reconciliation and peace with a holy God. There the adoption of children. There the purchase of the Spirit. There the freest intercourse opened between heaven and earth. There I see the foundation of all the Mediator's glory, and of all the plenteous blessings the church receives from him. To that I owe all my mercies here, and all my hope in glory. Had not Jesus died, I had been still a child of wrath, and bond-slave of sin. But he died, and, making peace, sent forth the Spirit; that blessed Spirit, who awakened me when I lay asleep in sin, explained to me from the very word of God the precious benefits procured by a Redeemer's blood, converted my heart unto God in the power of what he showed me, and is daily comforting me in all my tribulations, and holding up my heart and my steps in my way to the heavenly Zion, where I would be.

Such now is my meaning when I say he was crucified and dead. Thus I make my profession of the atonement he made, the victories he achieved, the blessings he procured, when having, as his office was, fulfilled all righteousness, he bowed his gracious head, said, "It is finished," and yielded up the ghost. Shall a Heathen centurion, who knew nothing of these glorious mysteries, when he saw but the manner of his suffering and death, and the signs that attended it, cry out with great fear, "Truly this was the Son of God?" and shall not I, who know him to be such by a thousand testimonies, see him submitting to be crucified and slain for me, and am acquainted with all these valuable benefits which he has thereby obtained for me; shall not I with greater joy cry out and say, "Truly this was the Son of God?" Shall the sun, the earth, the very dead, bear testimony to the sufferings and death of Immanuel, and I feel nothing? Can I once think or say, "he was crucified and dead," without adoration, and joy, and shame, and sorrow? But,

Fourthly.—I am well persuaded that all my supposed belief of these great things done and obtained by the sufferings and death of Jesus would be but vain imagination, unless they had a suitable effect on my heart and life; and therefore, as an important part of my professing his death, I do further declare,

First. That I judge it my bounden duty, that it is my deliberate choice, and that I am fully determined, his grace ena

bling me, "to live to him who thus died for me." I declare that "I am not my own, that I am bought with a price ;" and I most earnestly desire and determine to lay myself out, and all that I have, according to his will, and for his interest and glory. My time and my abilities, of whatever sort, I value chiefly for this end; and as I know that I cannot have a more noble design in life, indeed that this is the whole design of my being what I am, so do I most cordially consent unto such a conduct as shall be honourable to him, and serviceable to the interests of his kingdom. Wheresoever his interests call me out to appear for him, there I determine to go at all adventures; and although I should be alone in the midst of the earth, although all others had forsaken him, and, as Elijah supposed was his case, I only was left to confess him, yet I would not deny the Lord that bought me, nor give any countenance to the ways of a wicked world, or encouragement to the kingdom of darkness. Let him use me as he pleases, I am his purchased possession. I hear him saying with his own mouth, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." This I hear, and with it, in the full intent of the words, I sincerely consent; and, beforehand, I declare myself a traitor and a rebel, if in anything I act contrary to them. So,

Secondly. I determine and declare that I will not be moved from following my dying Master by any manner or measure of sufferings which may befall me for so doing. I expect to be a partaker of his sufferings. That I have not been more so is owing to my too-sinful conformity with the world. I have been told that "all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;" nor, though I live in a Christian country, do I judge the case thereby so far altered as to give me any ground of expectation that some way or other I shall not suffer for Christ's sake: for, alas! I see this Christian country is in general but a part of that wicked world, which Christ assures me will hate the disciples as well as the Master before them. But, God enabling me, I will not be moved. I will follow my Master whithersoever he leads me, though whithersoever I go tribulations shall await me, yea, though I should suffer the loss of all things. If it must

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