what the children of Israel suffered in their Egyptian bondage and their captivity at Babylon. Reflect what you would have to suffer were you enslaved by some unfeeling Turkish despot, and what would you not give for your ransom?
II. The slavery of sin is far more severe than this. Sin enslaves us to the devil, as St. Paul observes (2 Tim. ii. 26), and renders us subject to the torments of hell. We were all thus enslaved, and there were no means by which we could be delivered from this tyranny, had not the only begotten Son of God descended from heaven and undertaken to atone for our sins, and deliver us from this cruel bondage. We owe this benefit to Him "who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity." (Titus ii. 14.)
III. Christ did not do this for His own advantage, or because He had any need of us. " Thou art my God," says David, "for Thou hast no need of my goods." (Ps. xv. 2.) He did not act thus from any deserts of ours, which then neither were nor could be any, but from His own mere goodness and mercy. " In His love and in His mercy," says Isaias, " He redeemed them, and lifted them up all the days of old." (Is. lxiii. 9.) Who would not love so loving a Lord, and surrender himself entirely to that Being, without whose assistance he would have been entirely lost?
SATURDAY.
The Benefit of Redemption. — II.
I. The manner in which Christ redeemed you from the slavery of sin was most efficacious. The Royal Prophet might well tell the world that " with Him there is plentiful redemption." (Ps. cxxix. 7.) By His absolute
