You perceive then the utter futility of that common reasoning that you hear, which argues because Jesus Christ is the Saviour of men he must therefore be an almighty being and one of the Persons of the Trinity. We have seen by an examination of the nature of things, that the exercise of almighty power is excluded by the very nature of the work he has to do. Persuasion, instruction, motive, inducement, it does not require almighty power or infinite attributes of any kind to impart, and the very constitution of man's moral nature forbids the use of any other. It is sufficient then that the Saviour of men should be endowed and furnished by God with all the powers and means to instruct, persuade, move, and induce. We believe, and think that the uniform representations of the Scriptures assert, that these were the very powers and means which God bestowed on Christ. We believe that God conferred on Christ those powers and means which were exactly commensurate with the work he was to perform, that of saving men from their sins. We see no evidence in Scripture that he possessed these powers and means inherently. We see on the other hand abundant evidence and assertion that they were all derived and communicated. "All things," says he, "are delivered unto me of my Father." "I can of mine own self do nothing." "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself." "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."

From the considerations we have now gone through, we are able I hope to understand more clearly the nature of Christian salvation, or of salvation by Christ. And we are now prepared, I trust, to answer the following important questions. What is it to be saved? From what are men saved? Who is the Saviour of men? How does Christ effect men's salvation?

First, what is it to be saved? If our investigations into the nature of man have resulted in the discovery of truth, it is to be induced to forsake sin, and practise goodness, to leave off doing wrong actions and to do right actions in future, to repent of what we have done amiss, and in time to come to avoid those evil actions, we have before done, and those which we have never done, but which we are in danger of doing. This is to be in a state of safety, in a state of salvation. This is largely described in the Scriptures. Isaiah displays it in his exhortations. "Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "There is" "now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit;" that is, who avoid sin, and practise goodness. According to this idea, true Christians are said to be already saved.

"According to his mercy he saved us." True Christians were in a state of salvation. Salvation is then a state of freedom from the guilt of sin and the habit of sin, and is the practice of goodness, begun here and perfected in heaven. It is eternal, final salvation; for moral evil is the only evil, which can accompany or follow us into another world. All other evils and sources of unhappiness must cease, and be destroyed at death.

Second, from what are we saved? We are saved from sin; not merely from punishment, but from sinful habit, from a state of moral degradation and debasement. The evil of sin is not so much that it is written in God's book of account against us, as that it is written in our own souls, enters into and as it were, pollutes our spiritual nature, like poison or a disease. While it is in us, and so far as it is in us, we are in perdition, we are in hell, or hell is in us. That Saviour, who should interpose to expiate our sins as it is called, and should procure them to be expunged from the records of heaven would still do us no good, for they would still be in us, and as far as they existed would destroy or prevent our happiness. He must bring us to repentance, and amendment, and then we shall begin to recover from our disease, and again enjoy health and happiness. And as fast as we rid ourselves of them, so fast they disappear and vanish from the book of God. For what says the Scripture? "But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my

statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions, that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live." He that "confesseth, and forsaketh" his sins shall find mercy. "Her sins," said Christ of the weeping penitent, "which are many, are forgiven." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

We are able to answer the third question, Who is the Saviour of men? We can answer it in the very words of Scripture, the words of the apostle Peter. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, who ye slew and hanged on a tree, him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins." But is he the original cause, the first Mover of our salvation? By no means. He was raised up by God, and exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. He then is the instrumental cause of our salvation, and God is the original cause. God is our Saviour in the primary and Christ in a secondary

sense.

All the powers by which Christ saves men were communicated to him by God, they were not original and inherent. He was by the right hand of

God exalted to be a Saviour, that is received from God the qualifications and means to achieve man's salvation, to give men repentance and forgiveness of sins, to produce in them penitence and holiness.

This brings us to the fourth question we proposed to answer, What are those powers and means which God conferred on Christ, and in virtue of which "he is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him," how does Christ save men, or God, through Christ?

Let the apostle Peter answer this question, "God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." It is a moral salvation then which he is to effect. It is a change in human conduct from doing wrong, to doing right. And does not this exactly correspond to the result of our investigation into the nature of man, and the kind of salvation he was capable of receiving? How does he bring about this change in their conduct? By the exertion of resistless power? That would be inconsistent with their free agency and the moral character of their actions. The only means, which their moral constitution will admit, are persuasion, instruction, motive, inducement, offered to the understanding of men, and through their understanding to their will. Nothing is good or evil in man, or of good or ill desert, which does not pass through the understanding, is perceived by it to be good or evil, and is embraced or rejected as such by the