sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more." Ezekiel xxxii. 7, " And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light." Luke xxiii. 44, 45, "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the land, until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." Thirdly, But in that day the world are to be punished for their evil. Revelations xiv. 19, "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God." Daniel ix. 24, 26, "To finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity; for this shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself." And I, said the Redeemer, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. It was the knowledge of this truth, that constrained the Apostle to judge, if one died for all, then were all dead. Fourthly, God will punish the wicked for their iniquity. 2 Thessalonians ii. 8, "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the LORD shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming." Fifthly, I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease. Isaiah ii. 17, "And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day." Sixthly, Who is the man that, in that day, shall be more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir? Job xxviii. 16, "It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire." Proverbs viii. 19-23, "My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures. The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." The learned, the wise, and the good, refer all these passages to Emmanuel; and, indeed, all the treasures of language are insufficient to describe a millionth part of the excellency of the Redeemer. Christ is not only more precious than the fine gold of Ophir, but more precious than the universe, and all the riches which the wide, the vast circle of the creation hath to bestow. And blessed be the divine Nature, this Saviour, this Redeemer, is the glorious, all perfect head of every man. SKETCH LXX. ISAIAH xxvi. 19. First, W Ho are these dead men? Romans v. 15, "For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." Ephesians ii. 1, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Roman v. 12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Secondly, These dead men are God's dead. "Thy dead shall live." Ezekiel xviii. 4, " Behold, all souls are mine." Thirdly, They shall live. 1 John iv. 9, "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his Son into the world, that we should live through him." John xiv. 19, Because I live, ye shall live also." Fourthly, Who are they that constitute the dead body of the Redeemer? Ephesians ii. 14, 15, 16, "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." Hosea vi. 2, "After two days he will revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Fifthly, The exhortation, Awake and sing. But who are called upon to awake and sing? They who dwell in the dust. Psalm xxii. 15, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death." 1 Sixthly, Why are those who dwell in the dust called upon to awake and sing? For the following reasons. First, For thy dew is as the dew of herbs. My doctrine shall distil as the dew on the tender herb. Secondly, The earth shall cast out the dead. Revelations xx. 13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." Hosea xiii. 14, "O death, I will be thy plague; O grave, I will be thy destruction." SKETCH LXXI. HOSEA Vii. 18. First, Wно is, upon this occasion, the speaker? The God of Israel, Jehovah. From the beginning of the world, God spake by the mouth of all his holy prophets. But his most holy will was, in an especial manner, manifested by that prophet, of whom Moses and the prophets had written; of whom every speaker testified, and whose harbingers they were. Exodus xx. 1, 2, "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bordage." Secondly, To whom does the God of Israel speak? To his redeemed. Hosea xiii 14, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death." Thirdly, What saith the Redeemer to those whom he hath redeemed? He pronounceth a woe upon them! Romans ii. 9, "Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." Fourthly, Why was this woe pronounced? Of what evils did God complain? They had fled from the God who made them, who preserved, and who had redeemed them. "Destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet have they spoken lies against me. Transgression is rendered more abominable, abundantly more reinous, because found upon those whom Jehovah had redeemed." But were these people of God negligent respecting their religious duties? Isaiah xlviii. 1, 2, "Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The LORD of hosts is his name." Jeremiah ii. 12, 13, "Be astonished, O ye heavens, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate, saith the LORD. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Isaiah 1. 11, "Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow." Matthew xxiii. 23, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithes of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Romans x. 2, 3, 4, "For I bear them record, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that believeth." Philippians iii. 4, 5, 6, "If any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Fifthly, They had spoken lies against their Redeemer! Every unbeliever speaketh lies against his Redeemer, which Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. First, John v. 10, 11, "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not, God hath made him a liar: because he believeth not the record, that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son." "But," saith the Redeemer, "if any man hear my word and believe it not, I judge him not: for I came not to condemn the world, but to save the world." John iii. 17, L " For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." Were I, therefore, to declare unto you, that the Redeemer would not save the world, that he would condemn the world, would not this be speaking lies of the rock of my, of your salvation? If I should say, he would judge and condemn the unbeliever, that he would consign him, through the wasteless ages of eternity, to everlasting burnings, would not this be telling lies of the Redeemer ? Of that God who hath graciously vouchsafed to say, he hath concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all? And if I should, while thus declaring, thus giving the lie to the records of truth, profess myself a servant of, and a witness for God, would not this be a very great abomination? Would it not be, of all offences, the most abominable? And are not those, however they may be denominated among men, who thus give the lie direct to God Omnipotent, the most heinous offenders ? SKETCH LXXII. MICAH ii. First, To perish is to die. Job xxxiv. 15, "All flesh shall perish together." Elihu probably spake by the spirit of prophecy, predicting the period at which our Saviour said, And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. It was at that prodigious era, and at no other moment, that all flesh perished together. Christ Jesus did indeed die for all, and with him all died. But the Apostle Paul speaks of individuals perishing, for whom Christ died. 1 Corinthians viii. 11, "Through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. This must certainly advert to a temporary death; for the purchase of Christ's blood cannot finally be lost; yet we see, that this weak brother, for whom Christ died, may perish, and that because I have eaten meat! But, the Spirit saith, that Christ died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we may be together with him. 2 Thessalonians ii. 10, "And with all deceivableness of unright |