faith and salvation; for this one plain reason,

he knows not what real faith is. A change, however, is visible. The man, once all gaity, is become decidedly godly; though formerly thoughtless on the most important points, he is now rationally serious; instead of living only for this world, you see him acting with another always in view; and though he be represented as the gloomy, he is silently envied, as the happy, the really happy, man. In truth, he is saved from all tormenting fears, and has obtained "joy and peace in believing." To show his case in few words, he has found "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

If, then, this change cannot be accounted for on the ground of worldly principles, motives, feelings, rules of action, and sources of enjoyment; it is clear that something above the world has brought it about; and when the man who finds himself the subject of it, is conscious of a happiness which is superíor to anything before realized, and feels himself under the control of new motives, new feel

ings, energies, and delights, he can rest assured that "the spirit of glory and of God is upon him," and savingly working in his heart, working unto the perfect day, while he continues watching unto prayer.

SERMON V.

ACTS, XVI. 33, 34.

"AND HE TOOK THEM THE SAME HOUR OF

THE NIGHT, AND WASHED THEIR STRIPES;

AND WAS BAPTIZED, he AND ALL HIS STRAIGHTWAY.

AND WHEN HE HAD BROUGHT THEM INTO

HIS HOUSE, HE SET MEAT BEFORE the " AND REJOICED, BELIEVING IN GOD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE."

HAVING very fully considered the important question of the jailor, and the appropriate answer of St. Paul, we are naturally led on by the narrative of this interesting case, to notice the immediate effects of the doctrine contained in that answer; effects which clearly prove that the faith through which we are saved, is a life-giving, peace-imparting, joy-inspiring principle-a belief of the heart which leads to a confession of the mouth, and

shows forth the praise of its author, not only with our lips, but in our lives.

What is commonly but certainly most erroneously, called faith, is its own witness, and establishes its own falsehood, by its want of a living influence; as much as a dead tree shows its real condition by the bareness of its branches, the absence of both leaves and fruit. We may repeat the idea, that faith, as recognized in the sacred scriptures, is like the simple principle of life in seed, which only requires proper nourishment, and the due course of concurring favourable circumstances, to bring out to perfection its expanding, fruitful, and beautifying powers.

And that what the jailor understood to be a true belief in Jesus Christ, and what he immediately put into exercise, was of this nature we clearly see by

THE SINCERE AVOWAL OF HIS FAITH

THE PROMPTITUDE OF THAT AVOWAL

THE KIND TREATMENT OF HIS PRISONERS -and

THE JOY ARISING FROM HIS BELIEVING IN GOD.