ished? Let us endeavour to realize the thought; the conviction is essential to the being of faith : for in proportion to the sense we entertain of the reality and magnitude of our danger will be our joy at the prospect of escape, and the cordiality, with which we shall embrace the salvation of God. Self-despair must necessarily precede and accompany every act of believing on the Son of God. Is a Physician valuable in his official character? It is only to the sick.* Faith is a venturing of the soul on the narrative of facts, and those deductions from them, of which the gospel is composed. The Gospel, considered not as a system of ethics, but as a revelation of Divine mercy, is the foundation, on which the believer builds. Take this away, and he has nothing left to support the fabrick of his hopes and prospects. As the Israelites, when dying in torment through the venom of the fiery serpents that had bitten them, looked to the brazen effigy erected by Moses on a pole, and by looking derived life and health to their bodies; so the awakened sinner, through looking by faith unto Jesus on the cross, obtains salvation for his perishing soul. If you are a believer, you have a habitual acquaintance with your own guilty, helpless, and undone condition you perceive the imperfections of your prayers, tears, repentance, and faith; and renounce it all, considered as a basis for confidence

* Matt. ix. 12.

before God. For as the magnifying powers of the microscope discover imperfections in the finest works of human art, which the unassisted eye could not discern; and perfections in the works of God, which were also invisible without its aid: so faith perceives innumerable and gross defects in the most polished productions of man's righteousness, where reason saw nothing but excellence; and glories in the Person and obedience of Jesus, where reason could espy nothing worthy of admiration or love. If you are a believer, you know the difficulty of believing, and daily cry,

Lord, help mine unbelief!' For, while the person, whose faith is only the result of education or national tradition, and consists in a cold, uninfluential assent to certain propositions, considers the work of faith easy to be performed ; the sinner, who is convinced of unbelief,* who apprehends the value of his soul, and perceives its lost condition, is persuaded from experience, that genuine faith is the effect of the operation of God; and that truly to believe on Jesus is an act of the Divine life, which none can perform, but through the influence of the Holy Ghost. On what ground then may one, who hears the declaration of absolution, safely build an hope that he is interested in it? Some risk their eternal all on an unfounded conclusion that, since sin is so common, God will not punish such multitudes of

+ John xvi. 9.

His creatures. Many compare themselves with others, and found their claim on a comparative innocence of manners, and an exemption from grosser pollutions. Others conclude favorably for themselves on the score of God's forbearance of executing His threatenings, forgetting that this is not the world of judgment. These are sandy foundations. An inference of the favor of God, drawn from outward prosperity, is of the same kind: it receives no support from scripture. They who unfeignedly repent, and believe His holy Gospel,' are the only persons, on whom a pardoning God will smile with approbation. If you are truly sorry for sin, and earnestly desire to forsake it, this is repentance. If, renouncing all hope from the law and your own obedience to it, you cordially embrace the gospel, and lie at the foot of the cross, covered with holy confusion, crying, Lord, save or I perish ;' this is faith and the trembling sinner may rest assured, that it is not the high perfection, but the reality of faith, that gives an interest in the gracious promise, he that believeth shall be 'saved.'

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Many perhaps, on hearing this comfortable declaration, will immediately say, would to • God, I could repent and believe! But I find, by experience, that I might as easily form an aqueduct, that should convey to England the waters of Jordan, as force one tear of Godly

sorrow from mine own eyes; that to cleanse the Augean stable of my heart is not work for human ability; and that I could with equal facility touch the planet Saturn with my finger, or by a chain of my own fabrication bring it into contact with the earth, as believe on Jesus Christ, so as to pacify my conscience, or quiet my dreadful apprehensions of the consequences of my sins.' Happy, thrice happy conviction! This is a lesson you did not learn in the schools of Philosophy, but at the feet of Jesus, from the secret instructions of His Spirit. Flesh and blood did not

reveal it to you, but our Father which is in • Heaven.'* Come then, and let us beseech • Him to grant us true repentance, and His Holy • Spirit.' If you feel your own weakness, you are in a right temper for prayer, and will heartily cry to the strong for strength. Since Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness • and live :' Since He hath given power and 'commandment to His ministers to declare and 'pronounce to His people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins; since repentance and faith are necessary to salvation, and are both the gifts of God; with what holy

* Matt. xvi. 17.

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boldness may we approach the mercy-seat to ask for the influence of the Holy Spirit of promise, that, by His Divine agency upon us, we may be enabled to repent and believe. God giveth His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.' How encouraging are our Lord's words, Ask, and it 'shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one, that asketh, receiveth and he, that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you, that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or, if he ask a fish, will he for a fish 'give him a serpent? Or, if he ask an egg, will <he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?'*

Every true worshipper of God wishes to please Him. To such the attainment of His approbation is the great object of sedulous endeavour. The good opinion of the world, even of the virtuous part of it, is a matter of indifference, compared with the smile of heaven. This will compensate amply for toil and labor, obloquy and reproach, if met with in the path of duty. With them the grand inquiry is, not how may I make a conspicuous figure in the world; but how may I

*Luke xi. 9--13