new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put MY SPIRIT within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and ye shall keep my judgments and do them;" Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27. Precisely consonant with these passages is the description given by Jeremiah of the principal characteristics of the New Covenant: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more;" Jer. xxxi. 33, 34.

The blessings which were thus to distinguish the New Covenant are represented by Isaiah as the "sure mercies of David," that is, of the Messiah, the descendant of David, who was appointed in the counsels of the Most High to be" a witness to the people, a leader and com

mander to the people ;" Isa. lv. 1-4; and from the various descriptions given to us, in the prophetical writings, of the universal authority and never-ending government of this Prince of Peace, we can scarcely avoid deducing the inference, that he was himself to dispense those spiritual gifts, and to conduct those powerful internal operations, by which his dominion over the hearts of men was to be obtained and secured. Accordingly, we learn from Psalm lxviii. 18, that on his ascension into glory, the Messiah was to "lead captivity captive" and receive "gifts for men ;" and Malachi has announced the sudden appearance and spiritual work of our Redeemer, in the following sublime language: "Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me and the LORD whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in; behold he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts: but who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord, an offering in righteousness;" Mal. iii. 1-3.

Thus then it appears from the concurrent declarations of those ancient prophets who spake of Christ beforehand "as they were moved of the Holy Ghost," that the dispensation of the gospel was "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the MOST HOLY;" Dan. ix. 24.

Let us now direct our attention to the New Testament. When the angel Gabriel predicted to the virgin Mary the approaching birth of her Son, he added, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, (or the Saviour,) for he shall save his people from their sins ;" Matt. i. 21. By John the Baptist, also, the approaching Saviour of men was announced in the same character"Behold the Lamb of God," said he, "which taketh away the sin of the world;" John i. 29.

By our blessed Lord himself the great object of his coming was frequently and explicitly declared: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke xix. 10; "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28: "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed

for many, for the remission of sins," Matt. xxvi. 28; "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life....God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved," John iii. 14, 17. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world," John vi. 51. After this ascension also, when he delivered to the converted Paul an apostolic commission, he said, "I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness....delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me," Acts xxvi. 16-18.

A multitude of declarations to the same effect were made by our Lord's apostles. From these, a few passages may be selected, by way

of specimens, from the writings of John, Peter, and Paul.

JOHN." Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins: and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not," I. John, iii. 4-6. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins... And we have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world;" I. John, iv. 9, 10, 14. "What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?....These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God," &c. Rev. vii. 13—15.

PETER." For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb