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to spiritual life, to spiritual enjoyment, and to all hopes of Heaven. He is delivered from this state by Christ. "He that heareth my word," said Christ, "and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5 24. He has passed from a state of moral death to spiritual life. Christ delivers man from the dominion of sin. "He that committeth sin is the servant of sin." It governs him, and he is its slave. The inebriate is the slave of his passion for intoxicating drinks, and is bound down in worse than Algerian bondage. He will sacrifice everything to gratify this passion; wealth, health, happiness, and the dearest interests of his wife and children. Behold the gambler! He is the slave of a wicked and unholy passion. When once the passion for gambling has taken possession of the soul, the man is completly enslaved, and everything is pressed into its service. Every other claim loses its hold upon his mind, and he is swept on down the river of destruction by an almost irresistible torrent. The dearest associations of life are sacrificed to this passion, and the confirmed gambler would play cards, without any compunctions of conscience, upon the grave of his mother. He is strangely infatuated. The pleasures of wealth, the charms of the social circle, the claims of justice, the voice of conscience, and the tears of his broken-hearted wife, have all lost their influence over his soul. He is the blind slave, of an unholy passion. Such is the slavery of sin.

Christ frees man from the dominion of sinful pas sion. He strikes off his chains and makes him a free man. He destroys the power of sin that holds him in slavery, and brings him under the dominion of pure

and holy principles. "God be thanked," said Paul, "that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed

from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Rom. 6: 17-18. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8: 1-2. Sin is an ironhearted master; but man is delivered from his cruel bondage by "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and enters into the spirit of holiness."

Christ frees man from the bondage of passion by destroying the love of sin in the soul, and inspiring the heart with the love of God. The inebriate dashes the intoxicating cup from his lips, because he no longer loves it. The gambler lays aside his instruments of gambling, because he has lost his love for this sin. His affections are placed upon higher and holier objects "on things above." The licentious man forsakes the haunts of his wickedness, because his thoughts, affections and desires, are turned in a different channel, and placed upon things that are pure. He turns from his sinful course, because he no longer delights in scenes of wickedness, "but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night."

But the consequences of sin, are not all confined to this life. They reach beyond the grave, and are as terrible as the deep midnight of despair, and the unutterable anguish of remorse, "For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6: 23. "The unprofitable servant, shall be cast into outer darkness; there shall be weep

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ing and gnashing of teeth." Matt. 25: 30, The wicked "shall go away into everlasting punishment." Matt. Such is the language of the Scriptures, in reference to the consequences of sin in the future life; and it is from this that Christ saves man. He not only saves him from the guilt, condemnation and dominion of sin in this life, but he also delivers him from eternal perdition in the world to come. Christ frees the sinner from consequences of sin in the future life, by delivering him from the dominion of sin in this world. When man is brought to repentance, and turns from sin, God forgives all his iniquities, and remits the awful penalty of sin; for his salvation is conditional. It is offered to him on the condition of faith, repentance, and obedience to the divine government. Christ did I not come to save the sinner unconditionally; but he offers salvation to him on such conditions as are absolutely necessary to his own hap

piness. Such is the nature of man, and the moral con

stitution of things, that no person can be happy without obeying those very laws upon which salvation is offered to him.

Christ will deliver man from all the physical evils of sin, in the resurrection of the dead. He shall change this "vile body" and fashion it "like unto his glorious body." "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God: neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold! I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment-in the twinkling of an eye-at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Here the christian

may suffer the physical effects of sin. The causes set in operation by sin, may continue to work long after he has reformed and sought forgiveness in humble contrition; and he may go through life, bowed under the crushing weight of disease created by sinful indulgence; but Christ will free him from all those evils, and clothe him in robes of immortality. My venerable father! you are now verging the confines of the tomb. Your nervous system is unstrung, the hand trembles like the aspen leaf, and your locks are blossoming like the almond tree for the tomb.

more days, and this crumbling house of clay will mingle with its mother dust, and the lovely flowers, planted by the hand of affection, will bud, blossom and shed their fragrance above your cold bed. But your Saviour lives, and he will deliver you "from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." You shall then be clothed with a body free from infirmity and disease, spiritual in its nature; and adapted to the pure realms of light and immortality. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved; we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5: 1.

The work of redemption is commenced here, and consummated in the resurrection. Then, the great work will be accomplished; the soul perfected in holiness, clothed in an immortal body; and the christian "shall live in eternal union with the angels in Heaven. Untold ages may pass upon the dial face of eternity; the stars may fade from the Heavens, and the sun cease to shine; but the child of God shall bloom in endless youth. O, there is something beautiful in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead! It comes as

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an angel of mercy and hope, to cheer our hearts in the darkest hour of life; and when every other fountain of consolation fails, it continues to send forth its life-giving streams of joy and hope.

Christ is well qualified to accomplish this glorious work. This is obvious from his character and language. Just before He left the world, and returned to His native home in Heaven, He said, "All power is given unto me, in Heaven and in Earth," Matt. 28: 18. This dropped from His lips at the very time when the disciples needed to be strengthened for their great mission. They had witnessed many wonderful exhibitions of His power in healing the diseased; in stilling the storm; in commanding the waves of the sea into obedience; in casting out devils; and in raising the dead. They had learned that no disease was beyond the reach of his power to heal; no sorrow too great for him to console; no sin too black for him to wash out. They saw him march on from conquest to conquest, till finally he had met and conquered even death itself; and now he assured them that there was no limit to his power. Strengthened by this assurance, they went forth in the name of Christ, to preach “Jesus and the resurrection" to a dying world. "To the eleven, as they sat at meat," Christ said, “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16: 17-18. They soon learned the truth of the Saviour's language: "Without me, ye can do nothing." But in His name they wrought wonders. By the couch of the sick they pronounced the name of Jesus, and the diseased "took up their bed and walk

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