Though now to death I yield, and am his due
All that of me can die; yet that debt paid,
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul
For ever with corruption there to dwell :
But I shall rise victorious, and subdue
My vanquisher, spoil'd of his vaunted spoil :
Death his death's wound shall then receive and stoop
Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed.
I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead hell captive maugre hell, and show
The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight
Pleased out of heaven shalt look down and smile,
While by thee raised, I ruin all my foes
Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave :
Then with the multitude of my redeem'd
Shall enter heaven, long absent, and return,
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
Of anger shall remain, but peace assur'd
And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more
Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire."

It is a fact, the belief of vicarious punishment, and imputed righteousness, are the strongest features, nay, the very foundation and topstone of orthodox Calvinism. I know that Calvin's ideas of the grace of God were extremely limited, but, whether his opinions were more consistent with the omnipotent power, and exhaustles's mercy of the Redeemer, than that sentiment which embraces through the instrumentality of the never failing love of God, the whole family of man, let reason, let scripture decide. It is conceded that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, and the sacred oracles assure us, the mighty, all-sufficient ransom, was paid for all.

The justice of the God Man suffering in our stead, becomes strikingly apparent, when we recur to the UNION OR KINDRED REBATION SUBSISTING BETWEEN JESUS CHRIST AND THE PEOPLE, as

:

Thus

pointed out in their figure, Adam, where the twain was one, both
before and after the fall. Thus the Psalmist, speaking as a figure
of the Redeemer, Psalm xlix. 5. "Wherefore should I fear in the
days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?"
The Apostle assures us, 1 Corinthians, xi. 3. that the head of every
man is Christ. When Satan is spoken of as an adversary to man-
kind, he is said to bruise the heel of this head of every man.
are the iniquities of mankind equitably laid on the Son of Man, on
the Son of God, and every individual of the fallen race, may as fully
and as justly be considered with him, in a passive sense, as they
were in the first Adam, and what was said of the one may in some
respects be said of the other. When I expressed an opinion that
the scripture under consideration, was fulfilled in Christ Jesus, I
did not mean as wholly distinct from the people in a passive sense.
In the language of sacred writ, the people are his fulness as a suf-
ferer, and the divine nature his fulness as a God of justice and
truth. Whatever this divine nature, offended by sin, denounced on
the sinner, as a sinner, was executed on them, as the fulness of the
human nature of Christ Jesus. This, in the view of the scripturian
incontrovertible truth, is, I conceive, illustrated in the similitude un-
der consideration, where the fruit of the vintage is brought together
and put into a winepress, the owner of the vintage gathers together
all the grapes, no one supposes he has any aversion to his grapes,
his aim is to collect the pure juice, and to discard whatever is un-
profitable. But, to preserve the similitude in the text, upon the
principle on which Mr. L- seems to proceed, the owner of the
vineyard should, in a very great passion, trample on the grapes, not
to receive any profit therefrom, but totally to destroy them. But if
this be not his motive, but on the contrary, he determines to make
the juice of the many grapes one, reserving whatever is valuable,
and throwing away whatever is unprofitable, should not God do
likewise, it will not appear he has as much love for the work of his
hands, as he who cultivates the earth has for the fruit of the vine-
yard. But when I hear the Holy Ghost declare, God hath made of
one blood all nations of men that are upon the earth, and when I be-
hold our Saviour himself, taking the concentrated juice of the many
grapes, and declaring it to be his blood, and when I hear an Apos-
tle say, Galatians ii. 20. " I am crucified with Christ," from these
passages, and indeed from all I can learn in the sacred writings, I
am constrained to believe, that when Jesus Christ suffered the just

for the unjust, the scriptures were fulfilled on the criminals, congregated in his person. And I, said the adorable Redeemer, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me, and the sacred historian remarks, "This he said, signifying what death he should die." Was it not at this memorable, sublime, stupendous period, that the Lord God made the earth empty? Isaiah, xxiv. 1. And again, as he saith in Zephaniah, iii. 6. " I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate, I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant." It is undeniable that our Saviour, speaking of the manner of his death, clearly pointed out that his death should be the death of all men; the apostle Paul received this impression, for he says, 2 Corinthians, v. 14. "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead;" But, perhaps the sacred records contain no passage more strikingly descriptive of this grand, momentous event, than is to be found in the prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter xxv. beginning at the 15th verse:

" For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it.

And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations. to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me :

To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Askelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth:

Therefore thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; drink ye, and be drunken, fall and rise no more. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts; ye shall certainly drink.

For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? ye shall not be un punished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the carth, saith the Lord of hosts.

Therefore prophecy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, the Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh: he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.

And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth.

And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape." Yet, it is plain to my understanding, that when Jesus lifted from the earth, drew all men unto him, then, at that period, the earth became empty. Its nations were cut off, their towers were desolate, their streets waste, that none passed by, their cities destroyed, so that there was no man, none inhabitant. At what other period was this prophecy fulfilled except when the shepherd, the principal of the flock, was smitten, and the sheep scattered? When did all the nations of the earth drink the wine cup of God's fury together, except in their federal head? At that tremendous era, when his soul became exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, when, being in an agony, he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, and with reiterated supplications, earnestly prayed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." But he drank the cup, drank it to the very dregs; he fell, and the wickedness of his heels, which had most sorely compassed him about, rose no more, for he appeared the second time, without sin. Yea, verily when this iniquity is sought for, it will not be found, for God hath cast all our sins, like a stone into the depths of the sea.

Thus hath mercy and truth met together, thus hath righteousness and peace embraced each other.

L. "My objection is still unanswered. In Mr. Murray's view, God takes more pleasure in punishing the righteous, and the innocent, than the guilty. I should rather suppose, that if God could with so much severity, punish his unoffending son, it would teach offending sinners, what they were to expect."

M. Have I not pointed to the union of the two natures, in consequence of which mysterious kindred, the transgression of the one nature became attached to the other, even as the iniquity of the members is visited upon the head? thus justice created a necessity for the sufferings of the Redeemer. It was necessary that Jesus should make his soul an offering for sin, and when he was delivered up to death for the world, it was then the mighty debt was cancelled. That the attributes of Deity might no longer appear at odds, our Emmanuel was made under the law, and whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, and the Redeemer assures us that he came to fulfil the law and the prophets.

It was at this stage of our conversation that an officer in the church eagerly interrupted

"I would ask Mr. Murray, if he really thinks whores and rogues, and such characters will ever go to Heaven?"

M. Sit down, Sir, sit down, if you please, and endeavour to compose yourself; I shall not answer you a single question. Not that I dislike you, or your question; but should I reply to you, interrogations might pour upon me from every quarter, this would produce confusion, and I am a lover of order. But if you will give your question to the gentleman with whom I have the honour to be engaged, I will tell him in the words of our blessed Saviour, Matthew xxi. 31. " Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you," and even this would be rather in your favour. For as before, and after, are relative terms, and these justly obnoxious characters enter before, it must follow that you would assuredly enter afterward. Yet, on a transfer of your question, I would add, that as nothing which defileth, can enter the courts of heaven, so every individual must be separated from the body of sin and death which cleaveth unto him here before they can gain admittance into the regions of blessedness. And I would further observe that it will be greatly to the honour of the Redeemer of men, to bring into his kingdom sinners of your description, who are sinners of a spiritual nature, who are found committing spiritual wickedness in high places, whose splendid transgressions are more obstinately embraced, than those grosser crimes which degrade our species.

Several interrogations, the order of which I do not exactly remember, succeeded, when, fatigued with answering, and observing the day drawing toward a close, I ventured to say,