our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort." I pray God fill you with this comfort, and show you the deceitfulness of every other. Indeed, indeed, my brethren, peace with God by Jesus Christ, and eternal justification by the blood of his cross, is glad tidings for sinfnl man, and sweet preaching to the distressed conscience, if you were but once laid low enough in your own eyes to receive it, and say, with the humble publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Luke, xviii. 13.

I have now told you, on the warrant of the text, how the conscience is purged, what it is that gives relief to our minds, when the sense of guilt and of God's wrath for sin lies hard upon us, or what foundation we must be upon for life. Not our own works; they can be no saviours to us. If they were much better than ever they will be, and we were never to commit another sin as long as we lived, they could not blot out the hand-writing that is against us; the best thing we can do, is to give them all up to mercy. I beseech you observe, the apostle says, the sacrifices of the law ceased, because they could not purge the conscience, or set us clear with God. It was necessary that they should give place to something that would, viz. the sacrifice of Christ. It is therefore evident, that his sacrifice, and his only, was sufficient for this end, and that by trusting in it, we have. remission of sins, and reconciliation with God, peace of conscience, and a hope of glory. If any thing else could have wrought this great effect, or made such a happy change in our condition, we may venture to say the blood of Christ would never have been shed. The opening of the matter is briefly this: as the sin of the first man brought us under a sentence of death and eternal separation from God, so we also learn, from the punishment inflicted on it, who the God is with

whom we have to do; and that every other sin, every single sin we commit, subjects us to condemnation. If, therefore, God was to have proceeded with us only and altogether in a way of justice, we must have been undone for ever, and no man upon earth could be saved. And yet his justice is as much a part of himself as any of his other perfections, and must be satisfied: but how could this be without exacting the penalty of sin? It did this; but, behold! at the same time, in a most adorable way of mercy, and so condemning the sin as to spare the sinner! When no other sacrifice of atonement for the sin of the world could be found in earth or heaven, God gave his eternal and only begotten Son to redeem us from the curse and penalty of our sins; and, what was equally necessary, to work out a perfect righteousness, by his unsinning obedience to the law in our stead, and on our account. And he, by covenant with the Father, and for the joy of redeeming a multitude of lost souls, willingly took the curse upon himself, and came into the world to suffer what we should have suffered, and do what we could not. Hear the words, and let your hearts leap for joy, for they are very comfortable: " Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," Psalm xl. There is great force in that word I. Not a man like ourselves; not the highest angel. One of them was sent to the blessed Virgin with the glad tidings of her conception; that was honour enough for him, and all he could do. Not the whole multitude of the heavenly host: they could join in the song of praise for the glory of his humble birth; but none of them could say, with respect to the great work of man's deliverance, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." None of them could accomplish it. No, O Jesus! mighty to save, it is thy work and thy praise. And if mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, had not met together in thy person, in perfect harmony with each other; if the blood

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which was shed for us had not been the blood of God as well as man, we must have been unhelped, unpurged, unsanctified, sad monuments of God's justice, outcasts from his mercy, and for ever unclean in his sight. Blessed be thy grace, blessed be thy love, blessed be thy bowels of compassion, thou didst come; thou didst empty thyself to take upon thee the form of a servant, and become obedient to death, even the death of the cross; thou, who couldst, hast done the will of God, and by this will we are sanctified,” i. e. pure in God's `sight by his sacrifice, merits, and righteousness. So he hath bruised the serpent's head for the first man, and his fallen sinful posterity; so he hath blotted out our transgressions, original and actual, as a thick cloud is scattered by the heat of the sun, and vanishes quite out of sight. So, by his own blood, he is entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us," Heb. ix. 12; so the heart is eased of its burden, and the purged conscience, instead of being filled with dread and amazement, and "a fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation," rejoices before God in the holiness and merit of that blood; so" God is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," Rom. iii. 26; so he is "faithful"-to his word and promise, and "just" to himself and to us— "to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 1 John, i. 9; so he is the reconciler of his name," the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious," and yet, "by no means clearing the guilty; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin," but, at the same time, appearing in all the majesty and sovereignty of a judge and lawgiver, against sin, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7; laying the punishment of it in full measure upon his own dearly beloved Son for the satisfaction of his justice, and "to the praise of the glory of his grace," delivering him up for us all, because he only could bear it.

II. We are next to show" the influence of this grand Gospel remedy upon the temper and practice of all true believers." It is a precious antidote against the fears of an awakened, guilty conscience; sustains the fainting soul amidst all its weaknesses and imperfections, and is the only remedy we have to fly to when we are so unhappy as to fall into sin. But if we plead it for living in sin, we turn it into poison; it cries against us for vengeance, binds every sin upon us, and is the seal of our damnation. Christ's peace is a glorious article of our faith, but can never be peace with sin; and the Scripture knows of no "grace of God which bringeth salvation," but that which "teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world," Tit. ii. 11, 12. It does so teach us; and I pray God you may observe, and know by your own experience, that it does it with great efficacy. It is the beginning and seed of a new life of holiness; and the same Spirit which opens the grace of God to the heart, fixes it in a state of willing subjection to him. Faith says, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" from a sense of its obligations to him, and is powerfully constrained by his love to keep his commandments; — and the obedience we pay on this principle is both pleasant to the soul and acceptable to God. When " we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," we are carried to them with the stream of our inclination, and have the greatest of all satisfactions, to know that we serve God with a measure of delight, as well as from a sense of duty. And the service we thus perform is well pleasing to him; who, as he calls for the heart, accepts nothing at our hands but what comes from thence. See, now, what advantage we have in the faith of Christ crucified, for making all we do a free-will offering to God from the

ground of a thankful heart. You that believe the Gospel know, that when you must have lain for ever under the weight of your sin, for any thing you could do to help yourself, God did not take the forfeiture of your soul; he did not give you up to condemnation. He pitied, hẹ spared, he saved you by a great deliverance. He sent his Son, in the likeness of your flesh, to take the curse of your sin upon himself; he must have died for you, if there never had been another sinner in the world; and for the joy of redeeming your soul from death," he endured the cross, despising the shame." Oh! let me speak a plain word: where is your love, where is your gratitude? How can you be the basest of all creatures, or come any thing near that severe censure of grieving his heart, and crucifying him afresh, by doing what he hates, taking part with his and your greatest enemy, and cleaving to the sin which forced that astonishing, bloody sweat from him, nailed him to the cross, thrust the spear into his heart, and brought the anguish of hell into his spotless soul? I say, here is all possible advantage for the desire and love of holiness; here is the will's turning to God, and, in the Spirit's hands, the strong bowing of its stubbornness ; here is such a call to the heart, and such a sacred bond upon it to love the Author of our salvation, and to show it in the way he so earnestly requires, by keeping his commandments, as no believer can resist. If it were possible that you could have half so many obligations to any man upon earth, you would think yourself bound to make some suitable return, and scorn the imputation of ingratitude, or enmity, to your benefactor. And, therefore, if you can be unmoved and insensible where you have received more than tongue can express, or heart conceive; if you can live in opposition to the known will of your dying Saviour, and in spite of his most affectionate