, unrenewed by the Spirit of grace, unwashed in the
blood of the Lamb.

Such are the essential principles of that system of redemption, which
engaged the counsels of heaven from eternity; and which was carried into
effect, not like the work of creation, by a single word of the Son of
God, but by his assuming human nature, enduring a long exile of toil and
reproach, and humbling himself unto death, even the death of the cross.

With what gratitude, then, ought this Gospel to be received by the
guilty, perishing creatures, for whose rescue from perdition it is
designed. How should this display of divine compassion melt and
captivate the hearts of those, whose sins have been thus expiated, and
for whom an offer of free pardon and endless blessedness has been thus
dearly purchased.

But _be astonished, O heavens, at this_--these tidings of salvation are
received by many with chilling indifference--the sufferings of the cross
are regarded with unconcern--the treaty of reconciliation, written in
atoning blood, is by some contemptuously disregarded--by others repelled
with determined opposition. These appalling facts display more of the
malignity of sin, its blinding, deadening influence, and more of the
rancorous enmity of the carnal heart against God, than all the other
enormities which blacken the world's history. All other crimes appear
less atrocious than this scorn of a Saviour's love--this _trampling
under foot the blood of the covenant_. While no finite mind could have
conceived it possible, that Almighty love should be so slighted, yet the
Spirit of prophecy announced this impious ingratitude, long before the
incarnation. When Isaiah _saw the glory of Christ, and spake of him_, he
also saw that he would be _despised and rejected of men_. And by all
their hostility to the doctrines of grace, sinners are only verifying
the description, which inspiration gave long ago, of their blindness and
perverseness. By all their vain reasonings and presumptuous objections,
they just corroborate revealed truth, and evince the desperate
wickedness of the natural heart.

As in the days of the apostles, so in this period of increased light,
_the preaching of the cross_ is esteemed _foolishness_. The message of
redeeming mercy is often received with utter listlessness--often with an
evident disgust--and sometimes with an openly avowed hostility. In the
apostolic age, it might be supposed that the resistance, with which the
Gospel ha