been cleansed from it by the blood of Christ; whose hope it was, whose endless joy it is, to know and worthily to love their Maker. These are not of us, nor we of them; we know not God, and never shall know him; we know evil, and it shall be our portion for ever. Truly, this fearful portion is but the natural end of ungodliness; the moment that created things have passed away, those who loved nothing else must needs be miserable!

But God is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto him. To know him and to love him is life; for he passes not away for ever. Whoso seeks after him shall find him; and whoso finds him has found an eternal portion of blessing. All the evil which we now suffer in this world arises from the imperfection of our knowledge of him, and from the feebleness of that faith which now should be in the place of knowledge. Our earnest prayer should be, Lord, increase our faith!" That prayer includes every thing, for Christ has revealed the Father to us; and all that is wanted is, that we should heartily believe his testimony. Lord, increase our faith, that we may believe in thy holiness, and believe in thy love; that we may know and feel, in their full meaning, thy Son's most gracious revelation of thee, that thou didst so love us as to give him for our salvation, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life!

VOL. III.

E

SERMON V.

CHRISTIAN REDEMPTION.

ROMANS, vii. 24.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

THE thing here described St. Paul has, to use his own words on a similar occasion, "transferred to himself in a figure for our sakes:" that is, he has applied to his own case what is in fact a general truth, referring not to himself particularly, but to all men. There is a time in every man's life, probably a great many times, in which he ought to feel what St. Paul expresses in the text; it may be that he does not feel so, but that is because he is not aware of, or impressed by, his own real condition; and if he does not feel it himself, so much the less is the likelihood of his being delivered from it. There is a time, or times, in the lives of all of us, when we ought to feel what St. Paul

expresses: let us consider, each for himself, whether this present time be one of them.

The time when the text is applicable to any one would seem to be a very sad one: for the language is that of great unhappiness. The words, whether taken as in our translation, or whether they might be more properly rendered, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"-" this state, which is one of mere destruction,"-describes a great misery; they suppose a man to be bound down to ruin, and with no prospect of escaping from it. And when we look back a little to inquire what is meant by a man being thus hopelessly lost, the explanation is very striking; for we find it to be, that "when he would do good, evil was present with him." From whatever reason, his good resolutions were always being overcome by the presence of temptation: the purpose of his heart in the morning was, "I will do good this day;" but the witness of his conscience in the evening always tells him, "Thou hast done evil." So it appears, according to St. Paul, that every one whose good purposes so end in nothing, is bound, like a prisoner, in a state of certain destruction; and may well bemoan his fate, and ask, "who will deliver him?"

The peculiarity in St. Paul's view of such a man's case is in the strength of his impression as to its misery. No doubt our common sense tells

us, that resolving without doing is worth little; still, in points of morals, men's feelings are inclined to persuade them that there is more good in resolving well, than evil in not doing well; they take more credit for wishing to do good, than shame at finding that all the time evil is present with them. The fact is a curious one, and shows plainly how low is the standard of merit which we are naturally inclined to set ourselves. It seems a great thing even to resolve to do well, because there are so many who do not so much as this; who do evil without scruple, or who live on carelessly, never taking the pains to ask themselves whether they are living well or no. Compared, therefore, with this large portion of the human race, those who do examine themselves, who do think of their evil or careless life with regret, and who resolve to mend it, appear to be persons of positive excellence. So it is, that comparing ourselves with ourselves we are not wise. But the Apostle Paul compares those who resolve to mend their lives not with those who do not resolve at all, but with those who both resolve and do accordingly. It is very true that the light soil in the parable, where the seed did spring up, though only for a short time, was better than the hard wayside, where it never sprung up at all. And so, after long walking on the stones and shingle of the sea-beach, the commonest weeds, the mere thistles,

and briers, and reeds, which cover the first piece of ground out of the reach of the waters, appear refreshing by the contrast. But when compared with the soil which yields fruit for man's life, the ground that produces only thorns and briers is accursed, and to be burned; and so the state of him who resolves to do good, but finds evil present with him, when compared with the state of Christ's redeemed people, is justly called by the Apostle a condition of death.

Now there are, probably, a great many persons who have, from time to time, been impressed more or less strongly with a sense of their own evil, who have been much struck with religious language, and whose minds have been opened, in a manner, to a new world, by being made acquainted with their relations to God. This impression has been often insisted on with great earnestness; it has been called conversion, and, in some cases, those who have experienced it have felt themselves safe for ever, and certainly to be reckoned amongst Christ's redeemed. But if we want to know whether it really is conversion or no, we have only to examine ourselves whether, when we would do good, evil is present with us; or, in other words, whether our good resolutions are kept in practice, as well as sincerely made. What was said once in a different sense is still true; that we must through much trouble enter into the kingdom of