order of God's providence, attendant upon those habits which true religion fosters. But, even where, for infinitely wise and merciful reasons, the case is permitted to be otherwise; where sickness, or poverty, or reproach is the lot of the faithful and consistent follower of Christ; he has still within his breast a peace which the world cannot take away, and he looks forward with earnest expectation to those higher and never-failing blessings which shall be his lot in a future world, knowing that "these light afflictions which are but for a moment, work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Have we then become acquainted with God? are we at peace with him? and do we obey his commandments? If not, how vain our hopes ! how worthless our pursuits! how unsatisfactory our pleasures! how gloomy our prospects! Living and dying unacquainted with Him, we shall be banished for ever from his presence; the direst misery which can befal one of his creatures. If we reject that sacred communion with him to which he invites us upon earth, he will withdraw from us the light of his countenance in the eternal world, and consign us to the blackness of darkness for ever. And do we not tremble at the thought that such may finally be our lot? Do we not repent of our past folly and disobedience, and desire to begin a new

and spiritual life? Long enough have we lived in habits of practical disregard to him; long enough have we despised his offers of peace and reconciliation; long enough have we rejected the promised grace of his Holy Spirit to restore us, in virtue of the merits and intercession of the Saviour, to that state of fellowship with God which we had forfeited by our transgressions. Let us no longer be insensible to our duty, or blind to our best interests. Let us "seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

453

SERMON XXXVII.

FAITH PURIFYING THE HEART.

ACTS XV. 9.

And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

THE connexion in which these words stand will best shew their meaning. A dispute had arisen in the church of Antioch, whether or not it was necessary that the Gentile Christians should submit to certain of the Jewish rites. The dissension having risen to a great height, it was determined that Paul and Barnabas, and some others, should go to Jerusalem to consult with the other apostles and elders upon the subject. St. Peter, who did not think the Jewish rites necessary for the new converts, rose, and informed the assembly of the wonderful manner in which God had converted the Gentiles by his ministry. And in order to shew that they were become true believers without the Jewish rites, he insisted strongly upon the fact that God had given to them the Holy Ghost,

and had purified their hearts by faith.

As

though he had said, 'It is useless for us any longer to dispute whether or not the Gentiles can become true Christians without the ceremonial rites of the Jewish law; for here is a fact which sets the matter at rest: I bring you forward the case of some who actually have become so; persons who, without circumcision, have been admitted into the covenant of God as much as ourselves: as a proof of which, the Holy Spirit has been given to them, and has purified their hearts by faith. There is, therefore, no longer any difference between them and us; for with God, neither "circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."

It will afford an instructive view of the passage under consideration, to consider the two following particulars:

First, That under the Gospel dispensation faith possesses that important property which the Jews attributed to their ceremonial observances-it purifies the heart.

Secondly, The means by which it effects this purification.

First, then, faith does for the Christian what the Jews attributed to the rites of the ceremonial law-it purifies the heart.-When Jehovah gave his covenant to his chosen people Israel, he

instituted a variety of ritual observances, both for their pardon and their cleansing. The rite by which they were admitted in their infancy to the privileges of their church, was intended to point out the necessity of purity of heart. Their divers washings, and their abstinence from every thing ceremonially unclean, had a similar object. In like manner, their sacrifices, offered as God had commanded, were connected with the pardon of sin. The penitent confessed his transgression, presented the customary offering, and received by faith the promised blessing.

Now the Jews readily understood these circumstances. They well knew, that, through the means of God's appointment, their sins were atoned for, and their consciences were cleansed.. Not indeed, as St. Paul most convincingly shews, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, that there was any virtue or merit in these outward rites; but they had reference to that Great Sacrifice which should be offered in the end of the world for the salvation of men. It was by means of the death and merits of the Redeemer, of which their sacrifices were a type, that their sins were pardoned and their consciences were purified.

The Jews, therefore, had long learned to connect the idea of purification in its twofold sense, as a deliverance both from the guilt and the defilement of sin, with the rites of the