present our condition _there_. When he expired, he was free from
_pain_, and when he arose, he was free from _temptation_. So when we
pass the same scene, we shall be like _him_, who is our "resurrection
and life," otherwise the harvest will not be like "the first fruits."

God, then pardoned the human race, _in Christ_, when he made them.
How? Ans. By ordering their existence in such a manner, that they
should be freed from sin through death and the resurrection. That is
the day of our final discharge--the day, when the prisoner shall be
set free--the day, when our redemption shall come. But asks the
objector, are we not to _realize_ our pardon in this world? Ans. Only
_through faith_ in the _reality_. We look forward, and anchor our hope
within the veil of death, and enjoy our pardon, or redemption, only by
an eye of faith. This "faith works by love and purifies the heart." It
causes us, in a great measure, to break off our sins by righteousness.
But this has no influence, whatever, over the sins already committed.
For _them_, we must still continue to feel miserable. Punishment is
_certain_. From the sins that are committed, we only enjoy our pardon
or redemption from them through faith in Christ the resurrection. Paul
told the believers, that if there were no resurrection, their faith
was vain, they were yet in their sins. This proves that they only
enjoyed the pardon of their sins through faith in the resurrection,
otherwise I see no force in his language.

But inquires, the reader, why do you pray that God would pardon our
sins? Ans. I do not pray to turn the Almighty from his will and
purpose; but humbly trust, that I spend my days in searching out what
"that perfect will of God is," and then pray in reconciliation to his
revealed will. It is wicked to pray what we do not believe.
"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." I believe that God pardoned us
from the beginning, and that this pardon will be realized through
death and the resurrection. And when I pray that God would pardon our
sins, I mean that he would grant us an evidence of that pardon, which
unchangeably existed in his eternal mind, by enlightening our
understanding in the Scriptures of truth, and giving us correct views
of his character as a Being of tenderness and compassion to the
children of men. So when we say, God has pardoned us, we do not mean
that he has been moved by our petitions to do a new act; but that
through the appointed means, he has so