THE awful event, which we, this day, commemo­rate, is by far the most important of any that ever took place upon the theatre of this world.

IT is that which, from the transgression of our first pa­rents, a long line of prophets were commissioned to pre­dict; which priests and sacrifices were appointed to pre­figure, and which the revolutions of empires were con­trived to introduce: It is that which reconciled us unto GOD, rescuing us from the tyranny of sin and the power of the grave. Yet in the whole gospel there is nothing against which the pride of human reason, and the per­verseness of human prejudices have more obstinately op­posed themselves, than the sacrifice of the everlasting and equal SON of GOD as a full, perfect, and sufficient satis­faction for the sins of the whole world.

In the very first age of Christianity, and while the precious blood of the world's Redeemer was yet recently shed at Jerusalem, there sprang up in the church a sect, which, ashamed of being the disciples of one who had been crucified as a malefactor, boldly affirmed that their [Page 6] Master had not suffered; but that, without tasting death, he was taken up into heaven, whilst Pilate and the Jews wreaked their impotent malice upon an airy phantom in his similitude.

To these heretics, after a few centuries succeeded the Impostor of Arabia—who, from motives of policy, de­nied the sufferings of CHRIST. The great scheme of universal redemption commenced with the fall, and its gracious design was, by degrees, to restore mankind to that state which they had forfeited in Adam.

BUT the sagacious deceiver well knew that if the death and resurrection were admitted, that design would be seen to be completed; and that his own pretensions of being divinely commissioned to close the seal of prophecy, and to communicate the last offer of mercy and instruc­tion to lapsed humanity, must instantly fall to the ground.

WITH an effrontery then peculiar to himself, he denied the truth of a fact on which Christians reposed all their hopes, in which the Jews exulted with malicious triumph, and of which the history was spread over the whole civilized world.

THE success of Mahomet is well known, and it is likewise known that ever since his days the Christian church has been infested with a pestilent race of men, who, though they believe not in the inspiration of the Koran, and though they deny not the sufferings of HIM, at whose name St Paul directs that every knee should bow, yet do they lay no more stress on those sufferings, than upon the sufferings of Socrates or any other man who has laid down his life in attestation of the truth. If the Mahometan denies, like the Phantomist of more ancient [Page 7] times, the reality of the death of CHRIST, the Socinian, by denying its efficacy, sinks it to the level of common martyrdom; and though the fact itself be not questioned, its end and design is, in his creed, totally lost.

THERE is a living writer, a teacher of the gospel, and (if you will believe his adherents) a sincere Christian, who supports this horrid heresy with all his abilities, and who labours to disseminate it with astonishing zeal; whose followers are scattered all over England, and against whom, as they insinuate themselves into every company and commonly make their attacks upon the ignorant and the half-learned, every Christian ought to be upon his guard.

AGAINST Socinians, Arians, and all other enemies of the truth, the surest defence will be found to be the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of GOD. Would mankind take their faith from the holy scriptures, and not rest it upon the unstable foundation of human systems, and would no man presumptuously aim at being ‘wise beyond what is written,’ heresies would soon va­nish away.

BUT instead of pursuing a conduct so suitable to blind and erring mortals, we find the teachers of Christianity split into a thousand sects, and labouring each to support, by every art, and every sophism, the particular tenets of his human leader.

THE followers of Calvin, who style themselves the orthodox, most unwarrantably presume to circumscribe the goodness of GOD, when they confidently affirm that, although the sacrifice upon the cross made a satisfaction of value sufficient to ransom a thousand worlds, yet that however it was not offered for all mankind, but only for [Page 8] the elected few; and that all but those few were ACCOR­DING TO THE UNSEARCHABLE COUNSEL OF GOD'S WILL AND FOR THE GLORY OF HIS SOVEREIGN POWER, PASSED BY AND ORDAINED TO DISHONOUR AND WRATH.

Now that any man, who loves his brethren who are upon earth, and entertains just notions of his Father who is in heaven, should believe such doctrines as these, is absolutely impossible: it is indeed always to be dreaded, lest he upon whom in early youth these tenets have been inculcated as the truths of GOD, should by the proneness of mankind to run from one extreme to another, be led in the maturity of age, to deny the efficacy of CHRIST'S death altogether, and to attempt to bring down that ado­rable Person, from the dignity of the uncreated Redeemer of the world, to the level of an ordinary martyr.

SUCH was the origin and progress of the person, who is at present busied in perverting the faith of these nations. He was educated, he informs us, in the firm persuasion that the horrible opinions, which have been enumerated, are the doctrine of the prophets and apostles; and without giving himself the trouble (as it should seem) to inquire whether these things be really so, he has thought proper, in order to get rid of what in his riper years he finds it impossible to believe, to abandon the inspiration of the Scriptures, and has not scrupled to call St Paul an inconclusive reasoner.

BUT if we search the bible from Genesis to the book of St John's Revelation, we shall not find any of its in­spired writers presuming to say what the Almighty could or could not have done. God's ways are indeed often de­clared to be ‘past finding out,’ but there is enough of [Page 9] them revealed to satisfy us, that they are all founded in infinite wisdom, that they all flow from perfect goodness, that he who made us is ‘no respecter of persons,’ that he will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that he commendeth his love towards us in that, ‘while were yet sinners, CHRIST died for us.’

The evangelical prophet teaches that ‘the soul of the Messiah was made an offering for sin, that he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our ini­quity, that the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and that by his stripes we are healed.’ And the great instrument of the world's conversion informs us, ‘that GOD, even our Father, hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation through grace; that CHRIST also hath loved us, and given himself for us an offer­ing and a sacrifice unto GOD for a sweet smelling fa­vour,’ and St Peter adds that ‘there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ Neither Prophets nor Apostles pre­sume to limit this great and glorious, and ON GOD'S PART THIS FINISHED, salvation to a chosen few: on the contrary, we are expressly taught, that our Redeemer ‘gave himself a ransom for all, that he was made a little lower than the angels, that by the grace of GOD he should taste of death for every man; that the LORD is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’ In the volume of inspiration we learn, concerning the blessed Friend of sinners, ‘that in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,’ and this is a faith­ful saying (intended to exhilarate alike the hearts of all [Page 10] Adam's sons) that CHRIST promised, JESUS exhibited, came into the world to save sinners, without any exception whatever, whether of persons or cases.

SUCH being the infinite love of GOD to mankind in CHRIST JESUS, we cannot wonder that when first ma­nifested to the world, it produced its proper effects, that it put an end to all selfishness and division; and indeed under the real influence, and full belief of this great my­stery of divine love, there seems to be no room left for any thing else amongst Christians, but returns of love to GOD, and emanations of love towards one another.

CHRISTIANITY one would think, needs but to be fairly stated in order to its being found worthy of uni­versal acceptation as an act of grace, sealed with the royal signet of heaven, proposing and providing the Se­cond Adam, as a second parent or proxy for lapsed man­kind immediately when the first Adam had, without our consent, forfeited the inestimable privilege of a glorious immortality. Our holy religion, when attentively consi­dered in this true point of light will ever be found equally comfortable, delightful and interesting to men of all descriptions, every individual of which is on the Christian plan re-admitted to the same covenant of grace with GOD that Adam himself enjoyed in paradise.

PERSONS who meditate with frequency and attention upon these glad tidings will not fail to experience their efficacy to fill agreeably the vacuity of human life. When our spirits droop, these truths of GOD will chear them. When the stings of conscience torment us, if we be truly penitent, they will dispel our fears, confirm and augment our hopes, disarm the king of terrors, and will open a joyous prospect, beyond the grave, into the heavenly [Page 11] Canaan and the new Jerusalem; in which city of our reconciled Father there are mansions, many mansions, for receiving them ‘who, through faith, and patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and immor­tality.’

THE plain and numerous declarations of holy writ, on this subject, militate so forcibly against the Calvinist, who denies the universality of CHRIST'S satisfaction, as well as against the Socinian, who denies that satisfaction altogether, that it would be astonishing how either of those sects should have gained ground in the world, did not daily experience evince that mankind are more ready to torture every thing into an agreement with their own pre-conceived opinions, than to try the truth of those opinions by the word of GOD.

BUT if CHRIST died for all men, why (it may be asked) have we not reason to expect that all men shall be saved? Is it not detracting from the merits of the great sacrifice of this day to suppose that it was offered for any one person who shall not ultimately reap all the benefits which it was intended to purchase? By no means! The obstinate rejection of CHRIST'S gospel by an incorrigible sinner may make him miserable, but the rejection cannot detract either from the mercy of the Father or from the merits of the Son. There have been instances, (and amongst our own fellow subjects and in the passing cen­tury) of men redeemed from slavery, who have yet re­fused to quit the place of their captivity, and who de­feated, though surely without lessening, the beneficence of him who paid their stipulated ransom. It is even so with us. The full price of our redemption from sin and Satan has been paid, but if we refuse to change our [Page 12] masters; if we will not accept the glorious liberty of the sons of GOD, when offered to us ‘without money and without price,’ our ruin must be imputed to ourselves, and not to our merciful Creator, who desires not the misery of his creatures, nor to our adorable Redeemer ‘who gave his life a ransom for all.’

THE first great purpose for which CHRIST died was to pay the penalty of our first parent's transgression, to res­cue us from the everlasting power of the grave, and to put us anew into a capacity of obtaining and of relishing that happiness, in the next world which is to be considered as in some sort the natural effect of holiness in this.

CHRIST our passover, by his own oblation of himself once offered, hath without any co-operation of ours, completed this mighty work; for ‘as in Adam all die, even so in CHRIST shall all, even the wicked as well as the righteous, be made alive;’ but, observe, the righteous only shall rise to happiness.

OUR blessed LORD suffered to redeem us from death and to purchase for us the grace of the gospel covenant, but it was no part of his design, nor is it any part of that covenant, to cancel the eternal obligations of piety and virtue. These were in force before man fell—they are equally in force now that he is redeemed, and by them shall we be tried at that great day, for which all other days were made. For tribulation and anguish, saith the book of truth, must be ‘the portion of every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile.’

SUCH is the nature of the redemption wrought by CHRIST, such the gracious terms of that covenant of mercy, which by his precious bloodshedding, he hath ob­tained [Page 13] for us. This is all that is expressly revealed con­cerning it, and it is all that we are required to believe.

FROM the disproportion between a finite and an infi­nite mind it seems improbable that, even in heaven itself, the one should ever be in circumstances to judge of all the proceedings of the other; because a certain judgment of the justice and goodness of GOD (any more than of any other governor) cannot be formed from a partial view of his dispensations.

CHRIST really was, all that the Mosaic ritual exhi­bited in types, and instead of having been a sacrifice only in figure; all the sacrifices which preceded him were merely figurative of Him.

CHRIST is stiled our Passover—He is said to have been sacrificed for us, and we may reasonably conclude that without a necessity for such a process, it would never have existed. Now if CHRIST is our Passover, His blood must do for us what the blood of the paschal lamb did for the Hebrews in Egypt; but that blood was expiatory, and therefore, so is Christ's.

BELIEVE not then, I pray you, assertions, however confident, that such an atonement was altogether needless, and that therefore the passages of scripture, which seem to teach it, are nothing more than metaphorical ex­pressions. But rather reflect that you are taught by uner­ring wisdom concerning the redemption of your souls, that it is a mystery into which even the angels (who surely knew more of the divine counsels than the most acute Socinian on earth) desire to look, and do not fully comprehend, and therefore we may well rest contented with the plain, though narrow view of it, which is laid before us. Prying into this mystery, like gazing on the sun, begins in pain, and ends in blindness.

[Page 14] IT must surely be granted, that forgiveness of sin on account of the vicarious sufferings of our blessed LORD is indeed a method admirably calculated at once to repress presumption, to discourage men from repeating their trans­gressions, to give them a deep sense of the odiousness of sin, and to convince them of the excellency of the divine laws, and the indispensable necessity of paying a willing obedience to them.

IN this dispensation ‘mercy and truth are met toge­ther, righteousness and peace have kissed each other,’ and whilst a guilty world was received into the divine favour, the most awful warning was held out to that world—and, indeed, to the whole intelligent creation, which it was possible even for Omnipotence itself to give.

IF after having seen our Saviour, in the garden, de­precating in vain that fearful cup which we had deserved; if after having beheld him hanging on the cross, and heard him in the agony of his soul crying out, ‘MY GOD, MY GOD, why hast thou forsaken me?’ If, after all this, we can still continue unmoved, it does not appear probable that we should be persuaded to forsake our sins and follow our Saviour, by a prospect either of the joyful effects of piety, or the miserable consequences of guilt; and how, in the name of common sense, can we hope to ‘escape wretchedness in the extreme, if we neglect so great salvation.’

WHAT then remains but that (in the strength of our ever-blessed Redeemer) we ‘cast away from us all our transgressions whereby we have transgressed, and make us a new heart and a new spirit,’ that so we may, on the approaching festival, receive the holy communion [Page 15] of the body and blood of our Saviour CHRIST, with a full trust in GOD'S mercy, and with a quiet conscience.

WHAT ^* remains, but that we should this day ‘return unto the LORD our GOD, for he is gracious and mer­ciful, slow to anger, and repents him of the evil.’

WE believe, Lord, help thou our unbelief. Father, we have sinned against heaven and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy sons. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy and to forgive, grant us therefore, gracious Lord, whensoever we approach thy holy table, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son JESUS CHRIST, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us!

Now unto GOD that loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation through grace—unto the holy and undivided Trinity—to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be ascribed equal honour by the church militant on earth and triumphant in heaven.