is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." So that the governments of the world are intended to restrain the evil passions of our nature, to lead us into the purity of the Spirit of God: that is to say, by repressing evil, and supporting justice, and all the benevolent feelings-the fruits of good in the way of the "tree of life." And the word of the 2 Sam. xxiii.3. Lord, speaking in David, confirms it. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God."

This being, therefore, the true object of all governments, it is in accordance with the Mosaic law, and shows that all things concur, through Jesus Christ, to the end we are approaching; namely, our final redemption in the purity of the Holy Spirit of God, with the change of this world, and the heavens which surround us.

It is here necessary to observe, that the two veils before the altar were typical of the depraved condition of mankind, in reference to their knowledge, and entrance into the kingdom of heaven; therefore, as soon as our Saviour had made the full atonement Luke xxiii. 45. by his death, to redeem us, "The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst :" and St. Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews, refers

to the Levitical priesthood of Aaron-Who "offer Heb. viii. 4. gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle." For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the

mount."

"Then verily the first covenant had also cere- Heb. ix. 1. monies of divine service, and a wordly sanctuary; for there was a tabernacle made, the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shew bread; which is called the holy: and after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all.""Now when these things were thus ordained, Heb. ix. 9. the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God: but into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all, was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: which was a figure of the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats, and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the day of reformation. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that

is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal Heb. ix. 22. redemption for us." "-"Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true" tabernacle; "but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others, (for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world) but now once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

The first veil is, therefore, removed from the hearts of christians, by the atonement made by Jesus Christ; and the second veil being ultimately removed, we must be in the joys of the Spirit of Heb. viii. 10. God:-" For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write

A

them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."

THE REDEMPTION BY JESUS CHRIST, AND THE MEANS
OBTAINED TO FINISH THE CREATION OF MANKIND IN
HIS OWN SPIRITUAL IMAGE.

Titus ii. 14.

HAVING traced the fall of mankind by the malignant passions, of which we have all partaken; and shewn that without the regeneration of our souls by the Holy Spirit of God, we must have remained in the ignorance and degradation of our natural state; we now come to the period of the world, that recorded the most important event that can possibly concern us; namely, the fulfilment of the original promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent that beguiled her, or, in other words, the Word of God overcoming the spirit of evil, by the fulfilment of the law in our nature, which the first created did not do: and by giving himself up as the sacrifice, for the justification of all mankind, he obtained the means of finishing the work of creating us in his own spiritual image-" to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works."

But before his death on the cross, his words John xvii. 1. were" Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy son also may glorify thee; as thou hast