FITNESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 407 



though they may weigh heavily on your mind, cannot be 

 anticipated by mine. It must have struck you as some- 

 thing very mysterious in the scheme of Redemption that 

 man, instead of having to trust to his own virtues for 

 reward and his own repentance for pardon, must look 

 exclusively to the righteousness and atonement of the 

 Saviour. And yet so important is this doctrine, that the 

 scheme of Salvation is inefficient without it; for, for 

 what other cause did the Saviour come into the world, 

 or in what other sense could He be said to die for us ? 

 I have seen much of what may be called the working of 

 this doctrine, and unable as I am to comprehend it in 

 the abstract, have admired its wonderful adaptation to the 

 nature and wants of man. There is no place where 

 its importance can be better appreciated than beside a 

 death-bed. In the closing scene of life man's boasted 

 virtues become, in most instances, so intangible, that they 

 elude his grasp, and his sins, however little noted before, 

 start up around him like so many threatening spectres to 

 call up all his remorse for the past and all his fears for the 

 future. It is then that the scheme of Redemption ap- 

 pears worthy of the infinite wisdom and infinite good- 

 ness of a God, that the righteousness of Him, who ever 

 went about doing good, appears an inexhaustible fund to 

 which we may apply, that the agony in the garden, the 

 mockeries and scourgings in the hall, the inconceivable 

 sufferings and shame of the cross, array themselves on 

 the side of mercy, and sum up efficacy enough to anni- 

 hilate every sin. It is when every minor light of comfort 

 is extinguished that the Saviour shines forth, and more 

 than compensates for them all. 



' So much for the fitness of this scheme. I have 

 stated that, regarded in the abstract, it surpasses my 

 comprehension ; but do not suppose from this that it is 



