nothing good, no mercy, no favour, no happiness, no heaven hereafter. Your rightful due is nothing but evil, the dreadful evil of God's displeasure, with all its fatal consequences, but Christ has lived, and suffered, and died, that his merits may be placed to your account, and that for his sake, you may be esteemed worthy of blessings to which you never had, nor could acquire, any title of yourselves. Believe in him, and your natural unworthiness shall not hinder your salvation." This is the meaning of justification by faith, a doetrine which implies that man through sin, is in himself utterly lost, and incapable of restoration to God's favour by any other means than the merits of his Redeemer, in which he must believe, and on which he must rely, to render them effectual to his salvation.

I have explained the doctrine to you: Must I prove it? Must I prove that the scriptures assert it? One branch of it I should think you need no proof from scripture to confirm-the sinfulness of man. For who, that has but a moderate knowledge of himself, who that recollects his past history from his youth up, who that watches his daily life, who, that sometimes, in ever so cursory a way, examines his own heart, can doubt of this? Do we need any superior authority to produce in us a belief of this glaring and self evident fact? Is

it necessary that we should be actually informed, upon the testimony of God's word, that our "hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked?" that "all we like sheep have gone astray?" that "we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God?" that " if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us?" that "in God's sight no man living can be justified?" that "in the flesh (in our natural state) it is impossible to please God."? We do not, we can not, need this; the truth is too manifest. But what we need is, to be persuaded to face this humbling truth, to examine it, to feel it. We cannot deny it, but we can turn away our eyes from it, we can refuse to reflect on it, we can forget it. I beseech you not to deal so treacherously with yourselves; you must be humbled before you can be exalted; you must feel the burthen of your sin, before it can be removed; you must know your great need of mercy, before you can hope to receive it. And what is sin in all its branches, in all its varied hues? You must not trust your own estimate of it; you will flatter yourselves to quiet your own consciences ; your very sinfulness itself will make you think favourably of that sinfulness ;-" by the law," not by man's opinion, "is the knowledge of sin." Bring your hearts and lives to the test of God's

word, see what God declares to be sin, and so ascertain how guilty you are before him. Examine the nature and degree of holiness which he requires, and so learn how deficient you are before him. Study our blessed Saviour's sermon on the mount, his parables, his precepts, scattered throughout the gospel; weigh what the Holy Spirit has dictated on the subject of the christian disposition and life, in the other parts of the new testament; observe what piety, what charity, what humility, what purity, what zeal, what renunciation of the world, what self-denial, what heavenly affections, what love of God, what simple and steady devotion, what a solemn consecration of all our views, thoughts, words, and actions, to the one great work of religion, the salvation of the soul, are demanded of christians; and then turn and examine yourselves, how far you have hitherto complied, or are complying with these demands. Thus you will best ascertain the nature and number of your sins; thus you will most readily perceive your inability to save yourselves, your need of justification through the merits of a Redeemer.

and

And must I now prove that other part of the doctrine of justification to you, that the Redeemer's merits must be received and applied to yourselves by faith? A few passages from scripture will

suffice, particularly for those who, on a contemplation of their own condition, feel persuaded that if this be not true, they have no hope. Hear then how plainly this is delivered; "he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned;" "He that believeth in the Son of God hath life in himself, he that believeth not, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;" "These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have life through his name ; " "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not, is condemned already;" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man shall boast; Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." I need not multiply quotations, you cannot require more or stronger proof, that the Scriptures bear witness to Christ that "through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins;" and that "there is none

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other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Such being the doctrine, let us now enquire, as I proposed,

In the second place, what reception it ought to meet with from sinful man.

How would a criminal, condemned to death, receive intelligence of a reprieve? How would an anxious patient, suffering under a painful and mortal disease, receive a remedy which promised certain restoration to health and strength? With what feelings would a person, exposed to any evil or danger, accept the friendly assistance whereby he might be rescued from it? If our sense of the danger, to which we are naturally exposed, bore any proportion to its real magnitude, and if our feelings at being delivered from it at all correspond with the greatness of the mercy therein shown us, our thoughts would in vain attempt to find utterance in language. We should be reduced to say, with David, when contemplating the mercies of God, "If I should declare them and speak of them, they should be more than I am able to express." What joy, what gratitude, what love for our great benefactor, would fill our hearts! If the angels in heaven rejoice at the repentance of a single sinner, how