Isaiah 52:3-5

Reader! pause, and admire the beauty, as well as the grace, displayed in this scripture. The Lord had a right in his people, by creation, when they sold themselves to sin. When the devil broke into this our world, he came as a thief and a robber. The Lord did not lose his right by the devil's plundering, nor our apostasy; and, therefore, we were still his by right. Moreover, the sale we made of ourselves, was neither for his profit, nor our advantage. And, therefore, as the whole was an act of fraud, our redemption should be without money, and without price. But oh! how infinitely precious and invaluable was the purchase! See what the Apostle saith of it, 1 Peter 1:18-19 . And what a vassalage is sin! How do poor burdened sinners groan, when they come to feel the chains of sin, of Satan, of an awakened conscience, the terror of God's broken law and justice, and the dread of temporal and eternal death!