maintained? Sinners are called upon by preachers of the gospel, and over and over again called upon, to compare themselves with themselves, themselves at one time with themselves at another their former selves when they first entered upon sinful allowances, and their present selves since they have been confirmed in them.-With what fear, and scruple, and reluctance, what sense and acknowledgment of wrong, what apprehension of danger, against what remonstrance of reason, and with what opposition and violence to their religious principle, they first gave way to temptation! With what ease, if ease it may be called, at least with what hardness and unconcern, they now continue in practices, which they once dreaded! in a word, what a change, as to the particular article in question at least, has taken place in their moral sentiments! Yet, notwithstanding this change in them, the reason which made what they are doing a sin, remains the same that it was at first: at first they saw great force and strength in that reason; at present they see none; but, in truth, it is all the while the same. Unless, therefore, we will choose to say, that a man has only to harden himself in his sins (which thing perseverance will always do for him), and that with the sense he takes away the guilt of them, and that the only sinner is the conscious, trembling, affrightened, reluctant sinner that the confirmed sinner is not a sinner at all; unless we will advance this, which affronts all principles of justice and sense, we must confess, that secret sins are both possible and frequent things; that with the habitual sinner, and with every man, in so far as he is, and in that article in which he is, an habitual sinner, this is almost sure to be the case.

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What then are the reflections suitable to such a case? First, to join most sincerely with the Psalmist in his prayer to God: "O cleanse thou me from my secret faults." Secondly, to see, in this consideration, the exceedingly great danger of evil habits of all kinds. It is a dreadful thing to commit sins without knowing it, and yet to have those sins to answer for ; that is dreadful; and yet is no other than the just consequence and effect of sinful habits. They destroy in us the perception of guilt; that experience proves. They do not destroy the guilt itself: that no man can argue, because it leads to injustice and absurdity.

How well does the Scripture express the state of an habitual sinner, when he calls him, "dead in trespasses and sins!" His conscience is dead: that, which ought to be the living, actuating, governing principle of the whole man, is dead within him: is extinguished by the power of sin reigning in his heart. He is incapable of perceiving his sins, whilst he commits them with greediness. It is evident, that a vast alteration must take place in such a man, before he be brought into the way of salvation. It is a great change from innocence to guilt, when a man falls from a life of virtue to a life of sin; but the recovery from it is much greater; because the very secrecy of our sins to ourselves, the unconsciousness of them, which practice and custom, and repetition and habit have produced in us, is an almost insurmountable hinderance to an effectual reformation.

SERMON XVII.

SERIOUSNESS OF DISPOSITION NECESSARY.

But that on the good ground are they, who in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.-LUKE, iii. 15.

Ir may be true, that a right religious principle produces corresponding external actions, and yet it may not be true, that external actions are what we should always, or entirely, or principally look to for the purpose of estimating our religious character; or from whence alone we should draw our assurance and evidence of being in the right way.

External actions must depend upon ability, and must wait for opportunity. From a change in the heart, a visible outward change will ensue ; from an amendment of disposition an amended conduct will follow; but it may neither be so soon, nor so evident, nor to such a degree, as we may at first sight expect, inasmuch as it will be regulated by occasions and by

ability. I do not mean to say (for I do not believe it to be so), that there is any person so forlorn and destitute, as to have no good in his power: expensive kindnesses may not; but there is much kindness, which is not expensive; a kindness of temper: a readiness to oblige: a willingness to assist: a constant inclination to promote the comfort and satisfaction of all who are about us, of all with whom we have concern or connexion, of all with whom we associate or converse.

There is also a concern for the virtue of those over whom, or with whom, we can have any sort of influence, which is a natural concomitant of a radical concern for virtue in ourselves. But above all, it is undoubtedly in every person's power, whether poor or rich, weak or strong, ill or well, endowed by nature or education, it is, I say, in every person's power to avoid sin if he can do little good, to take care that he do no ill.

Although, therefore, there be no person in the world so circumstanced, but who both can and will testify his inward principle by his outward behaviour, in one shape or other: yet, on account of the very great difference of those circumstances in which men are placed, and to which their outward exertions are subjected, outward behaviour is not always a just measure of inward principle.

But there is a second case, and that but too common, in which outward behaviour is no measure of religious principle at all; and that is, when it springs from other and different motives and reasons, from those which religion presents. A very bad man may be externally good: a man completely irreligious at the heart may, for the sake of character, for the advantage of having a good character, for the sake of decency, for the sake of being trusted and respected, and well spoken of, from a love of praise and commendation, from a view of carrying his schemes and designs in the world, or of raising himself by strength of character, or at least from a fear lest a tainted character should be an obstacle to his advancement. From these, and a thousand such sort of considerations, which might be reckoned up; and with which it is evident that religion hath no concern or connexion whatever, men may be both active and forward, and liberal, in doing good; and exceedingly cautious of giving offence by doing evil; and this may be either wholly, or in part, the case with ourselves.

In judging, therefore, and examining ourselves, with a view of knowing the real condition of our souls, the real state and the truth of our spiritual situation in respect to God, and in respect to salvation, it is neither enough, nor is it safe, to look only to our external conduct. I do not speak in any manner of judging of other men ; if that were necessary at all, which, with a view to religion, it never is, different rules must be laid down for it. I now only speak of that which is necessary, and most absolutely so, in judging rightly of ourselves. To our hearts, therefore, we must look for the marks and tokens of salvation, for the evidence of being in the right way. "That on the good ground are they, who in an honest and good heart bring forth fruit with patience."

One of these marks, and that no slight one, is seriousness of the heart. I can have no hope at all of a man, who does not find himself serious in religious matters, serious at the heart. If the judgment of Almighty God at the last day, if the difference between being saved and being lost, being accepted in the beloved, and being cast forth into outer darkness, being bid by a tremendous word either to enter into the joy of our Father, or to go into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for all who have served him and not God; if these things do not make us serious, then it is most certain, either that we do not believe them, or that we have not yet thought of them at all, or that we have positively broken off thinking of them, have turned away from the subject, have refused to let it enter, have shut our minds against it, or lastly, that such a levity of mind is our character, as nothing whatever can make any serious impression upon. In any of these cases our condition is deplorable; we cannot look for salvation from Christ's religion under any of them. Do we want seriousness concerning religion, because we do not believe in it? we cannot expect salvation from a religion which we reject. What the root of unbelief in us may be, how far voluntary and avoidable, how far involuntary and unavoidable, God knows, and God only knows: and, therefore, he will in his mercy treat us as he thinketh fit, but we have not the religion to rely upon, to found our hopes upon; we cannot, as I say again, expect salvation from a religion which we reject.

If the second case be ours, namely, that we have not yet thought of these things, and therefore it is, that we are not serious about them, it is high time with every one that he do think of them. These great events are not at a distance from us; they approach to every one of us with the end of our lives; they are the same, to all intents and purposes, as if they took place at our deaths: it is ordained for men once to die, and after that judgment. Wherefore it is folly in any man or woman whatever, in anything above a child, to say they have not thought of religion; how know they that they will be permitted to think of it at all? it is worse than folly, it is high presumption. It is an answer one sometimes receives, but it is a foolish answer. Religion can do no good, till it sinks into the thoughts. Commune with thyself and be still. Can any health, or strength, or youth, any vivacity of spirits, any crowd or hurry of business, much less any course of pleasures, be an excuse for not thinking about religion? Is it of importance only to the old and infirm, and dying, to be saved? is it not of the same importance to the young and strong? can they be saved without religion? or can religion save them without thinking about it?

If, thirdly, such a levity of mind be our character, as nothing can make an impression upon, this levity must be cured, before ever we can draw near unto God. Surely human life wants not materials and occasions for the remedying of this great infirmity. Have we met with no troubles to bring us to ourselves? no disasters in our affairs? no losses in our families? no strokes of misfortune or affliction? no visitations in our health? no warnings in our constitution? If none of these things have befallen us, and it is for that reason that we continue to want seriousness and solidity of character, then it shows how necessary these things are for our real interest and for our real happiness; we are examples how little mankind can do without them; and that a state of unclouded pleasure and prosperity is of all others the most unfit for man. It generates the precise evil we complain of, a giddiness and levity of temper upon which religion cannot act. It indisposes a man for weighty and momentous concerns of any kind; but it most fatally disqualifies him for the concerns of religion. That is its worst consequence, though others may be bad. I believe, therefore, first, that there is such a thing as a levity of thought and character, upon which religion has no effect. I believe, secondly, that this is greatly cherished by health, and pleasures, and prosperity, and gay society. I believe, thirdly, that whenever this is the case, these things, which are accounted such blessings, which men covet and envy, are, in truth, deep and heavy calamities. For, lastly, I believe, that this levity must be changed into seriousness, before the mind infected with it can come unto God; and most assuredly true it is, that we cannot come to happiness in the next world, unless we come to God in this.

I repeat again, therefore, that we must look to our hearts for our character; not simply or solely to our actions, which may be and will be of a mixed nature, but to the internal state of our disposition. That is the place in which religion dwells: in that it consists. And, I also repeat, that one of these internal marks of a right disposition of an honest and good heart, as relative to religion, is seriousness. There can be no true religion without it; and farther, a mark and test of a growing religion, is a growing seriousness; so that when, instead of seeing these things at a distance, we begin to look near upon them; when, from faint, they become distinct; when, instead of now and then perceiving a slight sense of these matters, a hasty passage of them, as it were, through the thoughts, they begin to rest and settle there; in a word, when we become serious about religion, then, and not till then, may we hope that things are going on right within us: that the soil is prepared: the seed sown. Its future growth and maturity and fruit may not yet be known, but the seed is sown in the heart: and in a serious heart it will not be sown in vain; in a heart not yet become serious, it may.

Religious seriousness is not churlishness, is not severity, is not gloominess, is not melancholy but it is nevertheless a disposition of mind, and, like every disposition, it will show itself-one way or other. It will, in the first place, neither invite, nor entertain, nor encourage, any thing which has a tendency to turn religion into ridicule. It is not in the nature of things, that a serious mind should find delight or amusement in so doing; it is not in the nature of things, that it should not feel an inward pain and reluctance, whenever it is done. Therefore, if we are capable of being pleased with hearing religion treated or talked

of with levity, made, in any manner whatever, an object of sport and jesting: if we are capable of making it so ourselves, or joining with others, as in a diversion, in so doing: nay, if we do not feel ourselves at the heart grieved and offended, whenever it is our lot to be present at such sort of conversation and discourse, then is the inference, as to ourselves, infallible, that we are not yet serious in our religion: and then it will be for us to remember, that seriousness is one of those marks, by which we may fairly judge of the state of our mind and disposition, as to religion: and that the state of our mind and disposition is the very thing to be consulted, to be known, to be examined, and searched into, for the purpose of ascertaining whether we are in a right and safe way, or not. Words and actions are to be judged of with a reference to that disposition which they indicate. There may be language, there may be expressions, there may be behaviour, of no very great consequence in itself, and considered in itself, but of very great consequence indeed, when considered as indicating a disposition and state of mind. If it show, with respect to religion, that to be wanting within, which ought to be there, namely, a deep and fixed sense of our personal and individual concern in religion, of its importance above all other important things, then it shows, that there is yet a deficiency in our hearts, which, without delay, must be supplied by closer meditation upon the subject than we have hitherto used, and above all, by earnest and unceasing prayer for such a portion and measure of spiritual influence shed upon our hearts, as may cure and remedy that heedlessness, and coldness, and deadness, and unconcern, which are fatal, and under which we have so much reason to know that we as yet unhappily labour.

SERMON XVIII.

THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

(PART 1.)

Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. HEB. ix. 26.

THE salvation of mankind, and most particularly in so far as the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are concerned in it, and whereby he comes to be called our Saviour and our Redeemer, ever has been, and ever must be, a most interesting subject to all serious minds.

Now there is one thing in which there is no division or difference of opinion at all, which is, that the death of Jesus Christ is spoken of, with reference to human salvation, in terms and in a manner in which the death of no person whatever is spoken of besides. Others have died martyrs, as well as our Lord. Others have suffered in a righteous cause, as well as he ; but that is said of him, and of his death and sufferings, which is not said of any one else; an efficacy and a concern are ascribed to them, in the business of human salvation, which are not ascribed to any other.

What may be called the first gospel declaration upon this subject, is the exclamation of John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus coming unto him: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." I think it plain that, when John called our Lord the Lamb of God, he spoke with a relation to his being sacrificed, and to the effect of that sacrifice upon the pardon of human sin: and this, you will observe, was said of him even before he entered upon his office. If any doubt could be made of the meaning of the Baptist's expression, it is settled by other places, in which the like allusion to a lamb is adopted; and where the allusion is specifically applied to his death, considered as a sacrifice. In the Acts of the Apostles, the following words of Isaiah are, by Philip the evangelist, distinctly applied to our Lord, and to our Lord's death: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearers: so opened he not his mouth; in his

humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth." "For his life is taken from the earth :" therefore it was to his death, you see, that the description relates. Now, I say, that this is applied to Christ most distinctly; for the pious eunuch, who was reading the passage in his chariot, was at a less to know to whom it should be applied. "I pray thee," saith he to Philip, "of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself or of some other man?" And Philip, you read, taught him, that it was spoken of Christ. And I say, secondly, that this particular part and expression of the prophecy being applied to Christ's death, carries the whole prophecy to the same subject: for it is undoubtedly one entire prophecy; therefore the other expressions, which are still stronger, are applicable as well as this. "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed: the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” There is a strong and very apposite text of St. Peter's, in which the application of the term Lamb to our Lord, and the sense in which it is applied, can admit of no question at all. It is in the 1st chapter of the 1st epistle, the 18th and 19th verses: "Forasmuch as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." All the use I make of these passages is to show, that the prophet Isaiah, six hundred years before his birth; St. John the Baptist, upon the commencement of his ministry; St. Peter his friend, companion, and apostle after the transaction was over, speak of Christ's death, under the figure of a lamb being sacrificed: that is, in having the effect of a sacrifice, the effect in kind, though infinitely higher in degree, upon the pardon of sins, and the procurement of salvation; and that this is spoken of the death of no other person whatever.

Other plain and distinct passages, declaring the efficacy of Christ's death, are the following. Hebrews, ix. 26. "Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." And in chap. x. ver. 12. "This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, for ever sat down on the right hand of God, for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” I observe again, that nothing of this sort is said of the death of any other person: no such efficacy is imputed to any other martyrdom. So likewise in the following text from the Epistle to the Romans: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him: for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life." "Reconciled to God by the death of his Son;" therefore that death had an efficacy in our reconciliation; but reconciliation is preparatory to salvation. The same thing is said by the same apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians: "he has reconciled us to his Father in his cross, and in the body of his flesh through death.” What is said of reconciliation in these texts, is said in other texts of sanctification, which also is preparatory to salvation. Thus, Hebrews, x. 10, we are sanctified: how? namely, "by the offering of the body of Christ once for all:" so again in the same epistle, "the blood of Jesus is called the blood of the covenant by which we are sanctified."

In these and many more passages, that lie spread in different parts of the New Testament, it appears to be asserted, that the death of Christ had an efficacy in the procurement of human salvation. Now these expressions mean something: mean something substantial : they are used concerning no other person, nor the death of any other person whatever. Therefore Christ's death was something more than a confirmation of his preaching; something more than a pattern of a holy and patient, and perhaps voluntary martyrdom; something more than necessarily antecedent to his resurrection, by which he gave a grand and clear proof of human resurrection. Christ's death was all these, but it was something more; because none of these ends, nor all of them, satisfy the text you have heard; come up to the assertions and declarations which are delivered concerning it.

Now allowing the subject to stop here: allowing that we know nothing, nor can know any thing, concerning it, but what is written and that nothing more is written, than that the death of Christ had a real and essential effect upon human salvation, we have certainly

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