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He has taken "into God," He suffers the punishment due to man for having broken it. He is that "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," "by whose stripes we are healed." This is the great fundamental doctrine of the Bible, known as the Atonement;" which was represented and kept alive in the minds of the Jews by the sacrificing of animals, the blood of these animals being the emblem of Christ's blood.

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Christ's mission on earth is accomplished; "It is finished," were the last words He uttered in suffering humanity, when " He bowed His head and gave up the ghost." And surely sweeter words never wrung in mortal ears than these. What is finished?-The Atonement. Full satisfaction has been made to God for sin-perfect obedience has been rendered to the law; anything to the charge of God's elect ?"

and now, "Who shall lay

A. E. Simpson.

way

There was never yet found, and never will be found, any way of rest or safety for the soul, but by Christ. And this is the old path, the good way of the prophet Jeremiah (vi. 16). The Apostle, indeed, calls it "a new and living way," (Heb. x. 20)-as having then received new and fuller illustration; yet it is a way as old as the fall; as old as the creation; and indeed, in the purpose and foreknowledge of God, older than the creation. There is no older than this, nor any so safe; there is no other indeed that is safe. It was not then, when the Apostle wrote, a way newly opened, for it existed before all time; nor was it then newly revealed, for it had been made known to man so soon as he had fallen; nor was it then newly made use of, for all the Old Testament saints were saved by the same grace of Christ, and justified by His righteousness, and their sins pardoned through His blood, and expiated by His sacrifice, the same as those who lived under the New Testament. In those latter days, this ancient path had been more clearly shown, and more fully opened up, just as now, many an old road is opened up to the sun and air by the removal of the dense foliage that grew on either side, and met overhead, admitting only here and there some stray beams of the sun, and allowing only a few glimpses of the clear blue sky. In all time there is but one way of salvation, there never was any other, and never will be. It is, therefore, our course, as it was formerly, still to enquire for the old path, the good old way, the pleasant way of Christ.

Dr. Kitto.

The question is not whether God can do it if He will-but will He do it though He can-i.e., pardon us, without satisfaction having been made.

Beveridge.

Christ sat down, when? Not till He had purged, i.e., made atonement for our sins, and paid for whatever holiness or purging grace His people might want; and that one offering of Himself once for all, was of such infinite value that it perfectly purchased the taking away of sin, both in the filth, guilt, and power; and was a sufficient price for all the grace believers should need for their perfect sanctification to the end of the world.

Charnock.

Man's soul was ruined by the fall; the image of God was defaced; man's nature was corrupted, and he became dead in sin. The design of God by the atonement of Jesus Christ was to restore the soul of man; to restore life, and the image of God in conversion; and to carry on this work in sanctification, until he should perfect it in glory. Man's body was ruined; by the fall it became subject to death. The design of God was to restore it from the ruin, and not only to deliver it from death by the resurrection, but to deliver it from mortality itself in making it like Christ's glorious body. The world at the fall was ruined as to man, as effectually as if it had been reduced to chaos again, all heaven and earth were overthrown. But the design of God was to restore all by the redemption, and as it were to create a new heaven and a new earth.

President Edwards.

When the fulness of time was come, after the frequent repetition of promises, the expectation of the Jewish nation, the longings and tedious waitings of all holy persons, the departure of " the sceptre from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet;" when the number of Daniel's years was accomplished, and the Egyptian and Syrian kingdoms had their period:- God having great compassion towards mankind, remembering His promises and our great necessi ties, sent His Son into the world to take upon Him our nature, and all that guilt of sin which stuck close to our nature, and all that punishment which was consequent to our sin.

Jeremy Taylor.

Christ leads not in heaven a life of mere glory, majesty and blessedness, but a life of office, love, and care also; He lives as the Mediator of the Church; as the king, priest, and prophet thereof.

Dr. Owen.

The death of Christ was not absolutely necessary, but conditionally. It supposeth the entrance of sin, for after it had entered into the world, there was need of a propitiation; for an infinitely pure God could not have communion with an impure creature, and it was not fit a sovereign majesty should make Himself savingly known to His creatures without a propitiatory.

Charnock.

Christ stands between the wrath of God and the sin of man, intercepting the one and purging the other.

SPRING.

SEE, Spring arrives!

The buds expand, and every latent thing,

At her light touch, wakes up from winter's sleep.
Once the Creator said, "While earth remains,
Seed-time and harvest shall not cease their course;
And winter's frost shall follow summer's heat,
Itself be followed on by heat again;

Day take the place of night, and night of day,
With endless rolling tide." And so it has been,
And is, continual change, never to end

Till that dread hour when time shall be no more.
O child of nature, this same rolling tide,
Doth bear thee with it! Nor canst thou resist,
Thou canst not linger, thou must onward,-on,—
Without a moment's pause. Where does it flow?
Dost thou not fear? Seest thou the awful gulf
Of vast eternity, yawning to swallow straight
Each tiny atom that bears mortal name?
Lost trembling child of earth, this very hour
May thee precipitate into its depths.

Art thou a guide to others? Dost thou teach
Young ones the way to heaven? Feeble child,
Open thine eyes-behold the awful brink

Is well-nigh reached, and thou, too, well-nigh lost!
Believest thou? Then raise the urgent cry,

'
"Save, Lord-I perish!" Ah, that heart-wrung ory
Was never vainly uttered! See, e'en while

The air receives the sound, a Mighty Hand

Is stretched out to save, a thrilling Voice
Speaks to thine anxious heart-"I am the Way;
Fear not."

Fuller.

Henceforth, O rescued child of man,
Walk in no other way, seek safety in

No other arm; for it is written in

The Book of Light, "Blessed are they that trust
Jehovah; like as Zion's Mount is fixed
Immoveable, so also shall they stand
Secure from ev'ry danger." "Blest is he
That feareth God, that walketh in His ways."
Peace is now thine; let praise be on thy lips,
And in thy life. While time is granted thee,
Spend it in warning others from the road

Of swift destruction; tell, in David's words,
How Christ did pity thee, for His name's sake :-
"In my distress I cried unto the Lord;
From His high throne He heard, and rescued me.
Therefore lift I mine eyes unto the hills

From whence salvation comes. God is my help,
Who made the earth and heavens."

Zion's King

Will never slumber; He that keepeth thee
Shall ward off evil, and thy soul preserve ;-
Preserve thy going out, thy coming in,
From this time forth, even for evermore.

Rana.

SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY.

As Sunday school teachers, we are not simply employed in making known to our scholars the articles of the Christian faith (although that is a chief part of our task), but are also engaged in implanting principles of action, which are to guide them in their daily life, and guard them against the temptations which the evil example of others may present.

As this is our purpose, so it will be our care to observe the prevailing tendencies of the times in which we live, that we may counteract, as far as we possibly can, in our own sphere of labour, those characteristics which are likely to be injurious, and promote any which are calculated to advance the cause of truth and holiness. Each age and generation seem to have some special mark—some weakness conspicuously displayed, or some impulse in the right direction more prominent than the rest. We shall do well to observe such "signs of the times," and weighing them all in the balance of the sanctuary, we may find that it will be our duty, in

the religious teaching of the young, especially to direct our efforts to check that which we may find to be a prevailing evil in our own day.

Of such a nature, we think it will be allowed, is the spirit of insubordination which characterises the young especially, in these times. We find it not only, or chiefly, among the poor and ignor ant, but equally among the better educated and wealthy; and so conspicuous is it in all ranks of society, that the satirists of the day have deemed it worthy of their especial notice. Submission one to another is the Christian duty of us all ;-but there is a respect due from the young to the aged which is now rarely rendered, and the principle that it is a positive duty to " rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man" (Lev. xix. 32), is scarcely recognised. Respect to parents, as such, is yet more manifestly enjoined as a part of God's eternal law, and is the commandment to which a promised blessing is especially attached; yet we all know that at no period was this law so flagrantly disregarded as it is now. The very titles by which they are spoken of show how little of reverence, not to say affection, is felt; while the independence of their authority which is now so early manifested, the desire to enter upon the business or pleasures of life as soon as possible, to quit home and its restraints, and to be uncontrolled, which is acted upon by boys and girls who would be thought men and women,—all indicate how completely the duty of submitting to parental authority and control is ignored. Nor does the evil stop here; for, as the law of obedience to father and mother is the basis of that upon which submission to the Sovereign and her ministers of government and law, to teachers, spiritual instructors, and masters, is based, so we shall find that where this command is disregarded, there is also a want of respect exhibited to all office and authority, as such, and an attempt is made to distinguish between those who are deserving of honour, and those from whom it should be withheld, according to the judgment of each individual, forgetting that it is to the office the respect is due, distinct from the personal character of him who fills it. "The powers that be" are to be held in honour, because they are those powers; and St. Peter, when he said, "Honour the King," could not have meant that we should honour simply the character of a good king, for the emperor then living, Nero, was so despicable and brutal in all things that he could personally have no claim to respect. It is manifest, therefore, that when heathen rulers and magistrates were those to whom the Apostles ordered the Christians to pay reverence and tribute, it was not to their persons, but to their office the honour was to be rendered; and that when .we make their office nothing, and mete out our respect according to