1 for vengeance; the misery of their condition is greater than can be expressed; he came with bowels of melting pity to rescue and to save them; he gave his life a ransom for theirs; his hands and feet, heart and head, were all pierced, and his sacred blood poured out, even to the last drop, for their redemption; and yet they despise it, and the language of their hearts is, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? My brethren, do not so wickedly; do not thus trample under foot the blood that was shed for you, do not perish for ever by rejecting such mercy. opened for sin and uncleanness. are, there is a fountain opened in his side, and he calls aloud to you from his cross to "behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." And would to God you might begin from this day, with shame and sorrow, to behold him pierced by you, and sacrificed for you! I know it is vain to expect attention from any but the humble and penitent sinners. To such I would speak comfortably; and, O Lord, do thou speak powerfully to their hearts! Come to the fountain Now that your eyes are opened to see your sin, you will, perhaps, think it is too great to be forgiven; and the sight of your defilement will be apt to strengthen your unbelief, and drive you from Christ, instead of bringing you to him. But remember that he died for sinners, for enemies, and rebels; and the conclusion is good against all your fears, and in spite of the enemy of your souls, that he, therefore, died for such as you. Know your desert, plead your unworthiness, humble yourselves before him, come to him in faith, and you may safely leave the rest to him; he knows how to bear the weight of your sins, and make your peace with God. Remember that saying of St. Paul, "it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" Why then should any be so much their own enemies as to condemn themselves? Remember that this may be said by the greatest of sinners, if they will receive Christ, if they are convinced of sin, and willing to lay it down at his feet; and so long as there is a God in heaven, or a Bible in the world, they need not give themselves up for lost. Lost! No; not till the blood of Christ has lost all its virtue. They may have their consciences purged, and their souls revived, and be happy for ever in the belief of God's mercy in Christ. The door stands wide open for them; and nothing can shut it against them but the impenitence and hardness of their own hearts. Some greatly undervalue the blood of Christ. They have a fair appearance, both with respect to the worship of God, and their conversation in the world; and they make a merit of it, supposing that God will account it to them for righteousness, and bestow heaven upon them for it. My brethren, your own obedience, if it was a thousand times better than ever it will be, is not, cannot be the purging of your consciences; and that for this plain reason, because at the best it is very imperfect, and far short of the strict demands of the law. And how then can you trust in it, and expect to be justified by it, when, in truth, and in the sight of God, it is no better than sin? Let me advise you to beware of this mistake, as you love your souls, as you value your peace, as you would have any joy of Christ, and of the grace which is by him. The question you all have to answer is this "What must I do to be saved?" If you say, 66 Repent and grow better, as God shall enable us, so you must; but let me tell you, this answer is not according to knowledge. St. Paul's answer to this question was, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," Acts, xvi. 31. And again, he says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God," Heb. xi. 6, i. e. without faith in Christ, as "of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30; in a word, our whole salvation. For he is all, and we are nothing. His unsearchable riches will answer all our wants; his blood will be above the cry of conscience; his peace will quiet the heart; his righteousness will be a glorious covering for our souls. But if, instead of being thus rich and happy in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will wrap yourselves in a righteousness of your own, consider how you will ever be able to make it good. The righteousness which the law approves, and God will accept for its own sake, must be perfect and entire, without flaw or spot of sin, from the beginning to the end of your lives. Have any of you such a one to plead before God? No, you do not say this. But you would gladly hope that you have some degree of goodness, which God will pronounce to be such; so setting one foot at least upon your own righteousness. What then is that goodness, or something like it, which you make the ground of your boasting, and would have it look as great in the eyes of God as it does in your own? Is it that of loving God with all the heart, reverencing his name, word, sabbaths, and sacraments, owning him in all your ways, praying to him in secret, and setting up his worship in your families? Is it that of loving your neighbour as yourselves, wishing all the good to his soul that you should to your own, doing to him in all cases, fairly and equitably, as you would have him to do to you, and neither speaking nor thinking ill of him? Is it striving, watching, and praying against all sin, resolving to do the will of God sincerely and with a perfect heart, as unto the Lord, never turning aside to the right hand or to the left, nor making any reserve in your obedience? I may come much lower; is there one grace of your soul, one action, one hour of your life, which you think will bear to be tried in God's balance? Verily, we are all concluded under sin; and you now see why we must not put our own doings in the place of Christ, nor join them together with him in the office of justifying us. It is because they cannot justify themselves. His Here, then, the necessity of some other method of justification forces itself upon us. And if there is one of God's revealing and appointing, let us turn the eye of the soul that way. If all we can do is utterly ineffectual to this end, let us give up all pretensions to it, and thankfully ascribe to Christ the whole glory of making us clean; for he will do it, and he only can. blood is cleansing; his righteousness is sufficient to answer all the demands of law and justice; and blessed be God that it may be ours by faith. Blessed be God that we have this hope to fly to, and though undone in ourselves, may be "accepted in the Beloved." Abraham was called the friend of God; and yet he looked to Christ for salvation, saw his day, and was glad. And of him it is that St. Paul says, "to him that worketh not"in perfection, or with a view to be accepted on that account before God—" but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly"-as every man upon earth is in the sight of God" his faith is counted to him for righteousness," Rom. iv. 5. David was the man after God's own heart, in respect of his zeal for the true religion and worship; and yet he, knowing his own sin, says, "Blessed is the man,"mark it well; not who has no sin, but"to whom the Lord will not impute sin," Psalm xxxii. 2. Job had this testimony, that he "was a perfect man and upright, one that feared God, and eschewed evil;" i. e. far beyond what the generality of men do. And yet he is represented to us as taking a false measure of his integrity, and standing upon it with unwarrantable confidence before God. And when his eyes were opened, he was struck dumb with the sight of his vileness, and humbled himself before his Maker with this confession, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes," Job, xlii. 6. Cornelius "66 was a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, and gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway," Acts, x. 2. And what then? Was this his righteousness in the sight of God? No; he was directed by a vision to send for Peter," who should tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved," that is, to preach Christ to him for salvation, xi. 14. Paul, "touching the righteousness which is in the law, was blameless." He had a great zeal for it, and walked so strictly according to it, as to be able to justify himself before men; but after he was struck to the earth with a light from heaven, he was taught to "account all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus," Phil. iii. 6—8. Ah! let these examples, which were written for our instruction, and speak so full to the purpose, strike up a light within you, and settle you once for all in the knowledge of Christ, perfecting and sanctifying, justifying and saving you. Do what you will, you will find sure footing no where else. If he does not purge your consciences from dead works, you will either be blinded with self-conceit, and stand before God in the confidence of that greatest of all falsehoods, your own righteousness; or be continually haunted with tormenting fears of his displeasure, on every breaking out of natural corruption, and have those sayings ringing in your ears all your lives, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," Gal. iii. 10. "The wages of sin a word, what our is death," Rom. vi. 23. Hear, in church says of this matter in the 11th Article: "We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for |