Paul was calumniated'; and this accusation is still urged against those who tread in his footsteps. But God forbid that we should by any one be understood as thus making void his commandments. Still we must not desist from preaching the Gospel in all its fulness and freedom, because the corrupt heart of some men wrests it to their own destruction. As well might we abstain from giving food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, because some diseased and vitiated stomach will turn wholesome food into destructive poison.

Our preaching cannot be more unfettered from restrictions than the invitation of the text. Yet Isaiah does not feel at all embarrassed with it. He proceeds in the 7th verse to call men to repentance and to holiness, without stopping to explain how such demands are to be reconciled with the freedom of God's gifts. Rather it is his conviction that the display of kindness and love from God our Saviour will create in us a corresponding feeling of love and gratitude, and spur us on to godly sorrow for past offences, and zealous, persevering, consistent obedience for the future. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Repentance is no part whatever of the price of pardon; it is bestowed without price; yet

Rom. ch. iii. and ch. vi.

no man whatever shall be pardoned who does not repent. Neither are they who are thus freely pardoned released from their solemn obligation to obey the law, to observe the will of God. "Thus saith the Lord," I quote from ch. Ivi. ver. 1, "keep ye judgment and do justice; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed." The righteousness of God is to be met and answered by righteousness of our own; the dutiful, willing, abundant service of his redeemed is what God especially delights in. "Judgment and justice" comprehend all those numberless acts of duty in which we ought to be engaged continually; the judgments of God include the whole of the law which he has published for our guidance. Here then we find Isaiah pressing repentance towards God and obedience to his law as the natural consequence of God's offer of his favours without money and without price. In his estimation, and in the estimation of the Holy Spirit which inspired him, this liberal and gracious proceeding is the method by which man may be successfully roused to labour with earnestness in doing the will of God. And with such guides and such authority, we need not fear that the obligations of morality will be weakened, or the cause of virtue endangered, by strongly imprinting on your minds the important truth, that there is no merit or value in it, which weighs with God to give you the blessings which his Gospel offers.

I proceed to another view of the connexion between free grace and holiness. Let us observe what are the chief passions which supply motives for all we do. They are Fear and Hope and Love. And what is the operation of each of these under the Gospel system? Fear operates strongly on us all, it is at the bottom of our motives in much that we abstain from, and much that we perform. The fear of offending those from whom we hope for favours, or who can do us mischief, operates universally -I may say operates necessarily. It approaches to an animal instinct. But who does not see that there is nothing generous, nothing manly, nothing praiseworthy in it? who expects that fear will lead to high and lofty deeds, to works of self-denial for the benefit of others, to abundant kindness towards objects, who are too weak or too mean to be in any way dreaded by us? Selfishness exists in the very core of fear; and under the impulse of this passion we shall never proceed a step farther than our apparent self-interest prompts. In one word, it is of the same character with the obedience of the slave, who sees or dreads the uplifted scourge.

Now I grant that the manner in which God offers his blessings, does not work upon this passion. The proposal of all which infinite Power and Wisdom can give, solely on the condition that we are unfeignedly desirous of accepting it, is not a proposal addressed to our Fear. But of what value would it

be, if fear were to furnish the spring of our obedience? "God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." The service he delights in is the service of the heart, and nothing less will satisfy him. But what approach is made to this act of devotion to him by abstaining from certain vicious practices through fear of their dreadful consequences? Does it excite any grateful desire of serving God in your soul, that you know and tremble at the power of his wrath, and therefore unwillingly tear yourself from some darling lust? that you cease to perform certain wicked actions, because you believe that the price of your perseverance in them must be to endure the worm that never dieth, the fire that never can be quenched? As well might you expect that the terror of the gibbet would convert the merciless assassin, the midnight robber, the lustful adulterer, into a lover of those laws, and of that good government which threaten punishment to his excesses. The fear of hell operates most beneficially in preserving the peace and comfort of society; it is very important that the minister of the Gospel should urge it, in order to terrify the presumptuous sinner, and check him in his wild, selfmurdering career. It may be, when he listens thus far -when he acknowledges that he must no longer seek his pleasures where he has hitherto sought them-it may be that his desolate, unsupported soul

'John iv. 24.

will turn to him, who opens the arms of his compassion to receive him, like the affectionate father in the parable. Here is the proper office of fear. It alarms, but it does not convert. grace of the Gospel, it would but

to his miserable state, in order to long into the depths of despair.

Without the free awaken the sinner plunge him head

Let us turn then to the nobler passion of Hope, and observe its proper work under the encouragements of the Gospel. Hope is the mainspring of human exertion. It has direct reference to some good, which we propose to ourselves to obtain. It does not rank so highly, it is not of so exalted a nature as Love, but yet it is worthy of being associated with it; and in point of fact the expectation of furthering our own happiness is always joined with the purest love of which our nature is capable. Now in worldly matters hope becomes a powerful spring of our actions, exactly in proportion as we believe that the object we desire is placed within our reach. Great power and high rank are no object of hope to the man of low degree; the day-labourer never hopes to acquire the riches of his lord; the man whose education gives him little more than an ability to read the Bible, never hopes for the fame and credit which attach to deep learning. The reason is obvious. Each knows it to be impossible that he shall ever attain to such distinctions. They are not despised as unworthy to be accepted, but they are not thought attainable; therefore no desire is