for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. We behold him lifted up an ignominious spectacle, reviled by men, and, for a smail moment, forsaken by God. The inanimate creation sympathizes with the suffering Creator; the very sun puts on sack-cloth, and the rocks tremble as though quickened by the awfulness of the scene. He dies; but his death destroys death: he falls; but it is the fall of the foundation stone which grinds into powder, as it descends in its stupendousness, the sovereignty of Satan, the despotism of evil. Are you ready-man-woman-child-to transfer to this Azazel your iniquity, that he may hurl it into the unfathomable abyss? Are we ready to transfer to him the countless misdoings of our lives, to lay our hands on his head, and to say, "Be thou my expiation?" If not before done, it may be done now: now, this moment, we may believe on Christ: faith shall effect the translation of guilt; and they who came up to God's house with a huge burden of unforgiven sin, may depart with that burden removed and annihilated; for the scape-goat shall have borne it into the wastes of oblivion, and justice have pronounced that there is no condemnation.

Oh that this Good Friday may be a day on which, from amongst this congregation, Christ may see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied! There are yet many of you, we cannot doubt it, whose Christianity is only nominal, who are still the servants of sin, and whose thoughts are on their gold, and their honours, and their pleasures, rather than on the undying soul and the boundless hereafter. This is not a day on which we should strive to move such by pathetic speech, or cogent argument, or impassioned rhetoric. This is the day on which Christ must speak for himself to such-Calvary the church, the cross his pulpit, anguish his argument, and blood his eloquence. And what the sermon? Hear it, ye stout-hearted, and prove not yourselves harder than the rock, which shuddered at its sound, by hearing it unmoved-it is a sermon against sin. What! sin a thing to be trifled with, when its pardon could be gained by nothing less than the death of God's only and well-beloved Son! It is a sermon which burns with the fiery things of everlasting punishment. There is no description of hell which shews God's wrath so tremendous as the description of the crucifixion. It is a sermon which breathes of hope, and glows with love. It is rich, inexhaustibly rich, in encouragements. Its words, pronounced in the name of the Living God, are such as these: “I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have found a ransom.”

May God give us all the hearing ear, and the feeling heart, that we turn not away from Him who thus speaks; but learn at once what sin is, and how alone it can be pardoned; may abjure its service, and embrace its atonement.

THE MINISTRATION OF ANGELS.

REV. T. GUYER*,

HOXTON CHAPEL, MARCH 23, 1834.

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs or salvation."-HEBREWS, i. 14.

THE imagination of man has given existence to a thousand forms that have had no reality whatever except in the fancy of the poet, or in the bold delincations of the painter. There was a time when the human mind was peculiarly the subject of imagination, when, during the dark ages, there was but little knowledge, and in consequence of there being but little knowledge, there was a large outspread of superstition, and, as the effect of superstition, there was a considerable degree of fear; and individuals acquainted with neither science nor art, were easily wrought upon by superior and commanding faculties. Hence it was no uncommon thing to have the intellect very powerfully impressed with the belief of spirits or apparitions, and unearthly objects: and the dark wood, and the lonely tower, and the mouldering abbey, were supposed to be spots where these unearthly spirits were constantly to be seen, where they were, from time to time, passing and repassing before the agitated spectator, only to alarm, and without producing any moral or spiritual effect whatever on the mind. But these days have died away; the increase of knowledge and a purer philosophy have scattered these impressions, and we are enabled to look on them in a great measure as the scenes and the dreams and the impressions of past ages. Yet though these things have all passed away, the Sacred Oracles of God remain perfectly true, and they exhibit to us an order of beings distinct from men, an order of intelligences superior in their character, who have yet a very intimate and a very important connexion with the creatures who are passing through this world, and who are designed to outlive all that is earthly. Hence, whether we peruse the Old Testament or the New, whether we look at the ancient economy or the dispensation under which we are now living, we perceive that there are beings who have a very close association with the spiritual and eternal welfare of men, and who are appointed by the great God of the universe to occupy their powers and to engage their thoughts, and in some little measure, it may be, the habitude of their lives in connexion with those who shall one day be associated with them in glory. The Apostle, therefore, after glancing at this subject, and referring to the peculiarity of their character, and the infinite superiority of the Son of God to these, says, “To which of the angels said he, at any time, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." What a beautiful idea! The whole company of angelic beings are ministering spirits, ministering in connexion with men,

Of Ryde, Isle of Wight.

ministering in connexion with the world, ministering in connexion with spirits that are fallen, ministering in connexion with beings that are one day to be associated with them in the bliss, and the purity, and the glory of heaven!

Let me gather your thoughts for a few moments on this passage, while we notice, in the first place, the scriptural representation of angels; secondly, the ministration connected with them; and thirdly, the truths which are connected with these important representations. Oh, that the Spirit of God may hold up to us these invisible realities as those who believe their importance, and who are one day to come in connexion with them!

Let me draw your attention, in the first place, to a few remarks on THE SCRIPTURAL REPRESENTATION OF ANGELIC BEINGS. I have said " Scriptural representation," because, you must be perfectly aware, that we can say nothing at all about these intelligences but what is to be found in the Word of God. There is not an idea that we can utter with certainty respecting any one of them, or any thing appertaining to them, which comes not from the Sacred Oracles of Truth. All representations, in connexion with angelic beings, all in connexion with the circumstances that relate to them, are to be founded upon what God has been graciously pleased to reveal.

In the first place, let us glance at their nature. You observe the term in the text―they are said to be "spirits." What do we know of spirits? What idea can we form of a spiritual being? We turn to the Great Creator of Nature, and we remember that he is an Infinite Being. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Oh, that that thought were impressed upon our minds when we come up to his house! Oh, that we were deeply impressed with the recollection that we are surrounded by the Omnipresent Being, in contact with the Omniscient Spirit, one who can penetrate the secrets of the heart, and discover the peculiarities of the character.

But remember, while we speak of God as a spirit, there is one quality which invests him, which does not attach to angelic spirits, and that is, that he is invisible. "Whom no man hath seen, nor can see; who dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto." There is something about God that is invisible; and the creature, with all the powers of his soul, even where they are at the utmost extent, and of the utmost purity, cannot reach the immediate presence of Deity so as to recognize, as it were, the form or the substance.

There are other creatures who are represented as being spirits. Man is a creature compounded of matter and of spirit; and yet, if you look at him a little, you will perceive it is one perfect machinery, and that we know nothing about it. Our knowledge is imperfect, a negative kind of knowledge. If we try to ascertain what the human spirit is, we cannot succeed; all we know is, certain properties, certain qualities, which attach to it. And the same is true respecting body or matter. It has a certain organization and certain properties; but if you ask what constitutes the essence of matter, or what constitutes the essence of spirit, you are perfectly unable to give an answer, but are involved in perplexities which the human mind cannot develope. Hence, when our thoughts turn to angels, while we believe the fact we are totally unable to explain the peculiarity of the essence. They are simply described in the Word of God as spirits and the question, therefore, has been asked, What is the peculiarity of their appearance? Now it is quite clear, as regards our present state, that we can form no idea of any thing without shape, without form, without substance, without something that has a peculiarity of figure, as it were: any thing defi

cient in this respect, seems totally beyond the comprehension of our minds to ascertain what it is. Hence, we say, is it not possible that these angelic beings have a manifestation something like the refined beings which the Apostle mentions, when he speaks of the resurrection of believers-that they have a spiritual body, something which manifests itself externally? We cannot say much on this point; yet you see their existence is clearly and simply delineated under the expression contained in the text.

Then, as regards this peculiarity of their nature, it is asked, When were they created, if they are created spirits? When were they created, and of what were they created? Now, I would have you bear in mind, that these are points which the word of God does not reveal; and though they may appear to us to be peculiarly interesting, yet they are not absolutely important, and, therefore, we are not enabled to come to a satisfactory conclusion. But, if you come a little closer, you will perceive there are two very distinctive features attributed to them: they are rational and they are immortal. They are creatures of the highest influence and noblest capacities: and as regards their existence, they are immortal; death, which passes on all men, will never pass on them; mortality, which sweeps off one generation of human spirits after another, will never touch them; mortality can never touch these glorified beings. It is worthy of your attention, that it is true also of the fallen angels that death, which comes in connexion with mankind, never touched them in the same way, they never had that peculiarity of death which attaches to the guilty posterity of man, but they have an immortality of wretchedness, an immortality of misery, an immortality of woe. Let us think, then, for one moment on these spirits, and let us learn a very humiliating lesson: let us learn how little we know, and let us learn to believe many things that we are not able adequately to comprehend.

I pass on to notice another thing in connexion with these spirits, and that is, their qualities. These are to be described as physical and moral. As regards their physical qualities, they are represented in the word of God as invested with peculiar beauty. There seems a glory about them infinitely beyond any thing which can attach to beings of this lower world. Hence when the guards who kept the sepulchre saw them, they were terrified with the light of their countenance; there was something unearthly attaching to them. If you look at their essential qualities, they are remarkable for their power and hence they are called "mighty angels," and "the angels that excel in strength:" and, we are told, that at the time of our Lord's resurrection, they rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre with the utmost ease.

But their moral qualities are the most beautiful features in their character. Think for a moment of their knowledge. What an immeasurable extent of knowledge an angel must have! Think of a pure and guiltless intellect, that ever since the creation of this world, has been surveying the being of God, and the providence of God, and the government of God, and the redemption of God, as unfolded in connexion with the posterity of man-and there is no great improbability in supposing that all these things have occupied the attention of angelic spirits-and what a vast portion of knowledge there must be possessed by them; and how this has been rapidly increasing, increasing with all the wonderful communications of divine grace to a lost and ruined world. Hence it is said that, in connexion with the great work of redemption, there is made known to them "the manifold wisdom of God:" as though the Apostle would seem to intimate by that expression, that angels never saw so much

They had seen very much in the government of God,

wisdom, or so much of the wisdom of God, before. wisdom in creation; they had seen very much of it very much in his providential dealings: but when they came and looked at Calvary; when they bent from their high and holy abodes and saw God manifest in the flesh, saw an incarnate Redeemer, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, and standing the great substitute for human transgression; when they saw this astonishing mystery, the manifold wisdom of God seems to have been discovered, and a greater display made of wisdom and of angelic power. And you learn, too, with regard to their knowledge, how wonderfully it seems to be on the increase, when they observe the rich communications of grace. Only think, that for the lapse of some thousands of years, they have been in the habit of seeing every sinner who has been converted; taking the expression of God's word, that there is not a single sinner converted upon earth, but the conversion of that sinner is known in heaven. What an astonishing impression does this convey of the worth of the soul: that all heaven is attentive, when one sinner bows at the feet of Jesus, when one guilty sinner smites on his breast, and says, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" When one sinner flees from the wrath to come, and escapes to the refuge that is set before him, all heaven is attentive, and there is joy among the angels in the presence of God. This is a lesson of very deep importance to us as believers: indeed, we ought to have this subject more deeply impressed upon our minds. It is very astonishing how little we make of the conversion of a soul. We merely speak of it by saying, We hope such an individual has been brought to God; we hope such an individual has profited by the ministry; we rejoice that such an individual is about to take upon him the character, and manifest the principles of holiness of walk and conversation: and this is all. There is no depth of joy about it, nothing that indicates a powerful emotion of mind: there is nothing in this earthly state that assumes a correspondence with the heavenly world; for all their harps are tuned afresh, when they hear one individual singing, "To him that loved me," bowing at the feet of the Redeemer, and glorifying him for his salvation. Oh, that we may be more affected with the conversion of souls, that when we think of the interest that angels take in the great plan of redemption, when we think of the great joy they feel in the salvation of man, and in the power of divine grace that is exercised in salvation, we may rejoice and very earnestly rejoice, when we see one and another turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.

Need I remind you, my dear hearers, that angelic spirits are very remarkable for their purity. "Holy angels," that is the expression that is characteristic of them in God's word; and, therefore, these are beings that never were contaminated, that never had an unholy thought, that never had a polluted imagination, an unhallowed affection. How little we can comprehend of this state! How little we can apprehend the condition of these spirits! Oh, to think of beings that have never had one sin to grieve over, that have never had one transgression to afflict them, that have never had one contaminating thought to defile them; one who, ever since he has been capable of thinking, has enjoyed a purity of intellect, so that he never abuses his powers; a purity of affection, so that he ever loves that which is good; a purity of will, so that he is constantly obedient; a purity of character, so that he has a constant assimilation to the divine character. All this seems to be the peculiarity of angels. They are called, "angels that have kept their first estate," and stand,