"Follow out the chapter, my dear: Jesus preaches his own gospel, and brings in that beautiful type, the serpent, which he had commanded to be raised on a pole, that those who had been bitten with fiery serpents, whose bite was death, should look upon it and be healed. Read it, my dear, in the 21st of Numbers; and in reference to this, he himself says, 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Quickened, renewed in the spirit, of his mind, old things pass away and all things become new--new principles, new desires, new pleasures, new ends. The work is God's. The whole plan of redemption is his from first to last. It is clearly revealed in Scripture, and there is no dispute among Christians concerning it. The fall of man, his corruption and depravity; his state under the curse of a broken covenant, and his exposure to eternal misery; his helplessness and total inability to gain acceptance with God; his ignorance of himself--'dead in trespasses and sins,' 'without God and without hope in the world:' this is his situation by nature. But there is good news proclaimed: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,' to become the surety of lost sinners. He took our nature upon him, our sins upon him, our duties upon him: he was placed in our stead; sustained the penalty of the broken law; fulfilled its utmost demands; redeemed us; gave us a new covenant, of which himself is the surety: and there is 'no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' "The merits of Christ, exclusive of any thing of ours, are the sole foundation of our hope. Christ is set forth, in Scripture, as the atonement, the propitiation for sins, the one sacrifice for sin; Christ is the end of the law for righteousness; all is made ours by free gift. 1 John, 5:11. All is ready, justice satisfied, God reconciled, peace proclaimed. But what is all this to a thoughtless world, insensible of their situation, danger, and need? It is an awful saying, but it is of the Holy Ghost, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded their minds, and darkened their understandings, and hardened their hearts, etc. Therefore the application of this grace is also of God; it is all within his plan; he has appointed means, and commanded our diligence in the use of them. We have his Bible in our hands, his ministers in our churches, who are also pastors and teachers if we apply for their aid in private; we have a throne of grace to go to, and many great and precious promises held up in God's word for us to embrace and plead for Christ's sake: we have many prayers in the Scriptures which we may adopt.