justified. Was the appearance of the Son of God in the end of the world, were his obedience and death necessary to procure the pardon of sin? and shall the sinner, weak and ruined as he is, accomplish his own salvation? Is sin an infinite evil? and shall a finite, an imperfect and sinful creature make atonement for it? yet many hearers of the gospel, though in words ready to acknowledge the vanity and the danger of such an attempt, after all, seek salvation by the works of the law; perhaps without knowing that they do so. When duties are attended to with regularity, and with some appearance of concern or affection, all is well: they are full of confidence. But what is the ground of this confidence? It is their performance of duties, their concern about religion, and not Christ alone.

When the consciences of men are duly affected with the sense of sin, and when they are listened to with any degree of impartial attention, they will produce a conviction of guilt and a fear of avenging justice, which exclude all confident reliance upon any thing the sinner has done or can do to effect his own salvation. Hence arise anxious inquiries concerning the means by which he may be reconciled to God, and obtain his favor. “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (Micah vi. 6, 7.) ·

An answer to such inquiries, calculated to dispel our fears of divine wrath, and pregnant with everlasting consolation and good hope, God has graciously given us in the gospel. "For the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? that is to bring Christ down from above: or who shall descend into the deep? that is to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. x. 6-9.) Whatever is removed from us as high as heaven, or lies concealed in the bottom of the deep, is placed beyond our reach, and may be justly considered as an acquisition which it is impossible for us to attain. Thus the words of the apostle just now quoted, are applicable to the state of a conscience

distressed by convictions of sin, without knowing how to escape the curse of the law. They are descriptive of God's gracious interposition, in providing and plainly declaring the only effectual way of reconciliation. It is as impossible for you to obtain salvation by the works of the law, as to bring any object down from heaven or to raise it up from the bottom of the deep but for your encouragement we tell you, that your salvation does not depend upon the use of such ineffectual means; for this salvation is brought near to you, as often as you hear the word of faith preached.

4. That there is a sufficient warrant for inviting all who hear the gospel to apply the blood of Christ for pardon and acceptance. Was the Redeemer's satisfaction to divine justice the atonement appointed by God? Was his fulfilling all righteousness of infinite value, as the work of a divine person? Was the work of Messiah performed in our nature? Have we not then abundant ground to invite and beseech all who hear the gospel, in the exercise of faith to depend upon it for salvation? However guilty or polluted you may be, this remedy, which God has provided, is abundantly efficacious to procure your deliverance from the guilt and from the defilement of sin. Let not fatal delays, slothful security, or pernicious inquiries respecting your right to improve the exhibition of divine grace, influence you to neglect an application of the offer of mercy which God is making to you in the word of the gospel. Are you guilty, and condemned by the curse of the law? The atonement made by Christ, is equal to every demand of divine justice against the greatest sinners. Are you conscious of your total inability to comply with the offer made in the gospel? Here, too, you have the highest security to depend upon: Jesus has purchased, and he continues to bestow grace for this purpose. The man with the withered hand, had as little power to stretch it out, at the command of Christ, as you naturally to believe in him for salvation; nevertheless, obedient to the divine call, he made the attempt with success, and was healed. In the use of the appointed means, you have the same encouragement to depend upon the power of God for your deliverance. For as sure as he ordered the man, to whose case we allude, to stretch out his withered hand, so sure is he now, in effect, requiring you to apply his righteousness and receive his grace for your salva

tion.

Do you, on account of the unworthiness of your character, still doubt of your right to come to Christ? Such a doubt has no proper foundation. For however unprepared, however

unworthy, however much estranged from God, there are no insurmountable bars in your way; you are yet welcome by the call of God, to the participation of all that is contained in the New Covenant. Hear the invitation which God addresses to sinners: "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man." "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

5. That all the redeemed are laid under peculiar obligations to love and to serve God. All mankind owe him obedience, and deserve his wrath on account of their disobedience. The obligations are exceedingly strengthened, by the remarkable testimony of his love which God has given, when he did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for them. Yet though not justified by the deeds of the law; though their obedience and services are not regarded as in any degree the ground of their acceptance with God; they are not in reality, nor do they consider themselves as on that account released from an obligation to obey the law as a rule of life. No; they were chosen and called by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love. O believers! are you not deeply indebted to Him, who vouchsafed to look upon you with an eye of gracious compassion in your low and lost estate? Ought you not to love Him who first loved you, and at so great an expense as the sufferings of his own Son, accomplished your redemption? He stood in no need of any of your services, and he might have glorified himself in your everlasting destruction. He has testified his love to you and displayed the exceeding riches of his grace, by effecting your deliverance from that misery in which you were involved. And does not his love, manifested in such a manner, by saving you who had combined with his enemies to oppose and dishonor him, claim your admiration, gratitude and obedience? Herein is love, not that you loved God, but that he loved you and sent his Son to be the propitiation for your

sins.

The Rev. Andrew Fulton was a native of Scotland; but of what particular part, the writer of this sketch has not been informed. The following particulars of Mr. Fulton's history, may, however, be relied upon as authentic:

He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Associate Presbytery of Kilmarnock, on the 17th of December, 1793. After about three and a half years' employment as a probationer, a part of which time was spent in Ireland, he was taken on trial for ordination, with a view of being sent on a mission to the State of Kentucky.

A particular application had been made to the General Associate Synod of Scotland, by several individuals residing in the State of Kentucky, for a supply of gospel ordinances. Kentucky, and that whole region west of the Allegheny Mountains, being in an almost wilderness condition. In answer to this application, the Synod chose two, who were willing to accept of the appointment, and sent them on that mission. These were Mr. Fulton and the Rev. Robert Armstrong, both of whom were ordained expressly for that mission to America. In the Christian Magazine for the year 1797, a periodical published for a number of years at Edinburgh, we find the following notice of Mr. Fulton's ordinanation. After having noticed the ordination of Mr. Armstrong, it is added:

"On Wednesday, June 28th, 1797, at Craigend, near Perth, the Rev. Andrew Fulton, the other missionary to Kentucky, was set apart to the ministerial office by the Associate Presbytery of Perth. The Rev. Mr. Alexander Pringle, of Perth, who presided on the occasion, preached from Mark xvi. 15