frail and perishable being, to alter the will of the Almighty, for our reason and experience teach us that He has imposed no supreme necessity upon Himself to condemn or bless; or upon his creatures to obey or disobey. His grace hath appeared to all men. The universal offering of prayer, the precept and command to pray, is a sign that He has fixed the doom of none. He hath declared in his word that The Books shall be opened; "the secrets of the heart manifested," to determine the judgment of every one of us, who must give account of himself to God.

He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. Acts xvii. 31.

For the Son of man shall come in

the glory of his Father with his angels ;

and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Matt. xvi.

27.

IV.

We have a token and earnest of this future and everlasting reward, even in this present world. Who ever felt a solemn and grateful impression of implicit reliance upon the Divine approval following his sincere obedience to the Divine will, or the peace which the world cannot give, after a prevailing resistance to temptation, without being conscious that he is capable of being above the power of temptation, and beyond the reach of sorrow? We cannot doubt that our conduct is a subject of the Divine approval or displeasure; and how blessed the thought that we can, that we may please Him, both in will and deed; that our actions may in

N

fluence his dealings with us, and our devotions always influence and sanctify our actions, so as that we may obtain favour in his sight, and in every religious duty draw nearer to his love, mortal as we are born of our parents, but immortal as born of God.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works. Ps. cxli. 2, 3, 4.

Incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering. Mal. i. 11. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Ps. xxiii. 3.

Cause me to hear thy loving kindness; for in thee do I trust. Ps. cxliii. 8.

V.

To acquire faith, we must act as if we believed in the truths and doctrines of the Gospel. It is evidently God's will that we should believe in the "record" which He has given us of his Son; and if we have even sufficient faith to try the doctrine by its duties, and by the experience of the effect of these duties upon the soul, we shall soon be satisfied that its process is unto life eternal; its power a power unto salvation."

There is no miracle in the Gospel so awful as the mystery of our own being would be, supposing that with all our conceptions of God's goodness, and consciousness of our own deserving of an infinite punishment for our sins, we should be left to peIrish without an effort of the Divine

compassion to recover us, consistently with the laws of an eternal Justice." May we obey our Saviour's solemn injunction to do his will, that we may know of the doctrine that it is of God, for he who doeth what he knows of the will of God will soon know more?.

VI.

Still let us remember that our holy religion proportions the degree of conviction which it affords to the earnestness with which it is sought, and the sincerity with which its first truths are embraced in our repentance. The heart is so much concerned as well as the understanding in arriving at a conclusion upon this momentous question, that it will be in vain to pursue the inquiry, if our

2 John vii. 17.