do their duty, apply this standard to themselves; they are made to learn the humiliating lesson of their own deficiency. That such our deficiency should be overlooked, so as not to become the loss to us of happiness after death; that our poor, weak, humble endeavours to comply with our Saviour's rule should be received and not rejected; I say, if we hope for this, we must hope for it, not on the ground of congruity or desert, which it will not bear; but from the extreme benignity of a merci. ful God, and the availing mediation of a Redeemer. You will observe, that I am still, and have been all along, speaking of sincere men, of those who are in earnest in their duty and in religion: and I say, upon the strength of what has been alleged, that even these persons, when they read in Scripture of the riches of the goodness of God, of the powerful efficacy of the death of Christ, of his mediation and continual intercession, know and feel in their hearts, that they stand in need of them all.

In that remaining class of duties, which are called duties to ourselves, the observation we have made, upon the deficiency of our endeavours, ap. plies with equal or with greater force. More is here wanted than the mere command of our actions. The heart itself is to be regulated; the hardest thing in this world to manage. The affections and passions are to be kept in order; constant evil propensities are to be constantly opposed. I apprehend, that every sincere man is conscious how unable he is to fulfil this part of his duty, even to his own satisfaction; and if our conscience accuse us, "God is greater than our conscience, and knoweth all things." If we see our sad failings, he must. God forbid, that any thing I say, either upon this, or the other branches of our duty, should damp our endeavours. Let them be as vigorous, and as steadfast as they can. They will be so, if we are sin. cere; and, without sincerity, there is no hope: none whatever. But there will always be left enough, infinitely more than enough, to humble self-sufficiency.

Contemplate, then, what is placed before us-heaven. Understand what heaven is: a state of happiness after death, exceeding what, without ex. perience, it is possible for us to conceive, and unlimited in duration. This is a reward, infinitely be yond any thing we can pretend to, as of right, as merited, as due. If some distinction between us and others, between the comparatively good and the bad might be expected on these grounds, not such a reward as this, even were our services, I mean the services of sincere men, perfect. But such services as ours, in truth, are such services as, in fact, we perform, so poor, so deficient, so broken, so mixed with alloy, so imperfect both in principle and execution, what have they to look for upon their own foundation? When, therefore, the Scriptures speak to us of a redeemer, a mediator, an intercessor for us; when they display and magnify the exceeding great mercies of God, as set forth in the salvation of man, according to any mode whatever, which he might be pleased to appoint, and therefore in that mode, which the gos pel holds forth, they teach us no other doctrine than that to which the actual deficiencies of our duty, and a just consciousness and acknowledgment of these deficiencies must naturally carry our own minds. What we feel in ourselves corresponds with what we read in Scripture.

SERMON XX.

THE EFFICACY OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST CONSISTENT WITH THE NECESSITY OF A GOOD LIFE: THE ONE BEING THE CAUSE, THE OTHER THE CONDITION, OF SALVATION.

What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.-Rom. vi. 1.

THE same Scriptures, which represent the death of Christ as having that which belongs to the death of no other person, namely, an efficacy in procur

ing the salvation of man, are also constant and uniform in representing the necessity of our own endeavours, of our own good works for the same purpose. They go farther. They foresaw that in stating, and still more, when they went about to extol and magnify, the death of Christ, as instru. mental to salvation, they were laying a founda. tion for the opinion-that men's own works, their own virtue, their personal endeavours were superseded and dispensed with. In proportion as the sacrifice of the death of Christ was effectual, in the same proportion were these less necessary if the death of Christ was sufficient, ifredemption was complete, then were these not necessary at all. They foresaw that some would draw this consequence from their doctrine, and they provided against it. It is observable, that the same consequence might be deduced from the goodness of God in any way of representing it: not only in the particular and peculiar way, in which it was represented in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, but in any other way. St. Paul, for one, was sensible of this; and, therefore, when he speaks of the goodness of God, even in general terms, he takes care to point out the only true turn which ought to be given to it in our thoughts" Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering? not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" as if he had said-With thee, I perceive that the consideration of the goodness of God leads to the allowing of thyself in sin: this is not to know what that consideration ought in truth to lead to it ought to lead thee to repentance, and to no other conclusion.

Again; When the apostle had been speaking of the righteousness of God displayed by the wickedness of man; he was not unaware of the misconstruction, to which this representation was liable, and which it had, in fact, experienced: which misconstruction he states thus:" We be slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say, Let as do evil that good may come." ." This insinuation

however, he regards as nothing less than an unfair and wilful perversion of his words, and of the words of other Christian teachers: therefore he says concerning those, who did thus pervert them, "their condemnation is just:" they will be justly condemned for thus abusing the doctrine, which we teach. The passage, however, clearly shews, that the application of their expressions to the en couragement of licentiousness of life, was an application contrary to their intention; and, in fact, a perversion of their words.

In like manner in the same chapter our apostle had no sooner laid down the doctrine, that " a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," than he checks himself, as it were, by subjoining this proviso: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Whatever he meant by his assertion concerning faith, he takes care to let them know he did not mean this, " to make void the law," or to dispense with obedience.

But the clearest text to our purpose is that, undoubtedly, which I have prefixed to this discourse. St. Paul, after expatiating largely upon the "grace," that is, the favour, kindness, and mercy of God, the extent, the greatness, the comprehensiveness of that mercy, as manifested in the Christian dispensation, puts this question to his reader-" What shall we say then! shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" which he answers by a strong negative" God forbid." What the apostle designed in this passage is sufficiently evident. He knew in what manner some might be apt to construe his expressions: and he anticipates their mistake. He is beforehand with them, by protesting against any such use being made of his doctrine; which, yet he was aware, might by possibility be made.

By way of shewing scripturally the obligation and the necessity of personal endeavours after virtue, all the numerous texts which exhort to virtue, and admonish us against vice, might be quoted, for they are all directly to the purpose; that is,

we might quote every page of the New Testament. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." In both these texts the reward attends the doing the promise is annexed to works. Again; "To them, who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil." Again; "Of the which," namely, certain enumerated vices, "I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they, which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God." These are a few amongst many texts of the same effect, and they are such as can never be got over. Stronger terms cannot be devised than what are here used. Were the purpose, therefore, simply to prove from Scripture the necessity of virtue, and the danger of vice, so far as salvation is concerned, these texts are decisive. But when an answer is to be given to those, who so interpret certain passages of the apostolic writings, especially the passages which speak of the efficacy of the death of Christ, or draw such inferences from these passages, as amount to a dispensing with the obligations of virtue, then the best method of proving, that their's cannot be a right interpretation, nor their's just inferences, is, by shewing, which fortunately we are able to do, that it is the very interpretation, and these the very inferences, which the apostles were themselves aware of, which they provided against, and which they protested against. The four texts, quoted from the apostolic writings in this discourse, were quoted with this view; and they may be considered, I think, as shewing the minds of the authors upon the point in question more determinately, than any general exhortation to good works, or any general denunciation against sin could do. I assume, therefore, as a proved point, that whatever was said