our hope, the great grace and peculiar blessing of the Gospel; the one sole method ordained of God for our eternal justification, and not any lame works, imperfect duties, or scanty obedience of the greatest saint that ever lived. This is the salvation declared to Adam in Paradise, conveyed by him to his children, renewed to believers in the several ages of the world, and at last fully manifested and accomplished in the coming and person of the blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ; and according to this faith we stand or fall for ever. On this ground we are safe; in this belief, and this only, we have full relief against all our fears, and all the accusations of conscience; with this light in our hands we can see the way open for us to heaven, notwithstanding our manifold defects. It must be the way of holy obedience; but not to be pleaded, or trusted in, as full payment to the law, and full performance of our duty, because in its best state it is imperfect, and cannot possibly be accepted for its own sake.

You now see why St. Paul, after the declaration he had made, that he knew nothing by himself," immediately, and in the same breath, withdraws that plea; you see clearly that no other man must take it up, and that for the reason here given, because "he that judgeth us is the Lord." He does, and cannot but require perfect obedience from us. He will not suffer man to control him, or repeal his law, by saying, Thus much I will do, and no more. If it is broken more orless, sin is found upon us, and our souls are forfeited; and where will it not be found, when he shall "judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ?" When he comes with his rule in one hand, and the book of heart and life in the other, who can abide the trial? "Who shall stand when he appeareth?" "Who can say, I am clean without transgression?" Not Noah, not Abraham, not Job, not Daniel, not David, not Paul, not Peter. Oh! it is a searching word, "He

that judgeth me is the Lord!" "His eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good," and he“ seeth not as man seeth." Every day and hour, every action of our lives, every thought, intention, and purpose of the heart, and every word of the tongue, must be brought to account before him, and weighed in his strict balance.

Will not this shake you off the bottom of self, tear away all your vain confidences, and drive you to Christ, the only rock? You have been baptized in his name, call him your Saviour, and think you believe in him; when in the main you slight him, and make ten times more account of a few acts of customary worship, heartless prayers, and what you call your good deeds, though they are soon reckoned; and none will stand you in any stead, if you have not fled to him as your only refuge from the guilt of sin, and “the Lord your righteousness" in a day of trial. You dream away your lives in the easiness of a superficial blind faith and outward profession; but do not cleave to him for life, having never had the sentence of death in yourselves, never seen the shortness of all your best works and duties, or entered into the depth of this saying, "He that judgeth me is the Lord." But if ever your eyes are opened to see what you have done and left undone, if ever you know a passing from death unto life, the sense of your sin and miserable unworthiness, and of the necessity of Christ to save you wholly, will be so strong upon your minds in the power of the Holy Ghost, that you would not go without him, nor lose your interest in him for the world: you will then know of a truth, that in speaking peace to yourselves, and thinking all safe for heaven, because you are not open, scandalous sinners, and have some form of religion, you trusted to a broken reed.

And whoever he is that has no

knowledge of Christ for salvation, never was troubled in seeking after him, or earnestly desired his benefits, as I

fear is the case of great numbers, dies a lost man, if he is called out of the world in this condition.

My brethren, be not afraid to know the truth of your state. Your sins are many and great, and may well strike a damp upon your hearts; your obedience is very imperfect, and you must needs be ashamed to present it to God. What then can you do but look to Christ? Bless God that you may, and that you have your call to it: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," Isaiah, xlv. 22. Look any where else, look only or chiefly at yourselves, and you will never know peace. Paul will tell you why he was not daunted, but, on the contrary, always rejoicing in the Lord, though he knew he was to judge him: "Being justified by faith," says he, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." And again, "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Know the value of God's peace, and hold to Christ's righteousness, and you may pass through the world full of hope, lie down in your beds with a quiet conscience, and meet death without fear. Make any thing else your confidence, and where then will be your quietness, assurance, and ground of rejoicing; and how will you ever be able to bear up against the tormenting thought, "He that judgeth me is the Lord ?"

66

But may all come to Christ, and be happy in this trust, that he is their Saviour and Peace-maker with God, their atonement and righteousness? Is this hope for the ungodly and for sinners? Yes, when they know their danger and misery in sin, are burdened with it, and would be glad of mercy; when they come to him for a new heart and a new spirit, as well as for washing in his blood, and can be content with nothing less than his whole salvation. He came into the world to save sinners,

L

and has none but such to save, and can save the greatest; and this is his praise in heaven and earth. But then the work and glory of his salvation is the mercy of God to us, and the power of God in us; and he cleanses none from the guilt of sin who will not be freed from the love of it.

Observe, therefore, the drift of this whole discourse, and how the two parts of the text hang together. St. Paul could say, "I know nothing by myself." So every Christian would say, and knows that his heart is not right with God if it is not his aim, endeavour, and sincere prayer. You may, perhaps, think that saying this truly is enough for salvation; and, I believe, is what the generality think more than enough: but without Christ it is nothing; and that we are thereby justified, was more than St. Paul durst say. In the faith of Christ he was a new man, but knew, to the last, he could be saved only by Christ. Let us be the better for his teaching and example. Let us learn of him these two great points of a Christian state, the way of justification by faith in Christ, and a pure obedience in the love of Christ. Let us make Christ our trust, and our all, without being concerned at the reproach of an ignorant world, as if this was making him the minister of sin; without any fear of diminishing from our obedience by so doing, or having our attention taken off from the other part of the words, as the rule we should walk by, and the mark we are pressing to, "I know nothing by myself." On the con trary, the two parts of the text confirm and support each other; and the belief that, through Christ, we shall be enabled to stand before God in judgment, is the Gospel means of bringing us to God in the sincerity of obedience, from the ground of a thankful heart.

So faith works; and if it does not, proves itself at once to be false. When we come to Christ for life, hope,

and comfort, praise God for him, and rejoice in the great deliverance he has wrought for us, we shall cleave to him in well-doing. In the belief of his grace we shall keep his commandments. If we take him for our Saviour, we shall take him for our Master, knowing that he is a master who will be obeyed, and choosing to obey; crucifying sin in ourselves, because he was crucified for it; serving him with dutiful affection, and fearing nothing so much as to offend him whom we delight to call our Saviour. When we have laid him for our foundation, elect and precious, and are established in the faith of complete deliverance and redemption by him, not only from the death we are under by the sin of our first parents, but the countless sum of our own, as this matter is presented to our view, Rom. v. 15-17; we shall "give all diligence to make our calling and election sure; and in the hope of seeing him in his glory, "purify ourselves even as he is pure," dreading the vanity of a dead faith, neither fruitful in good works, nor converting the heart, nor engaging to prayer; and desiring to say, with his blessed servant, in the truth of an obedient conscience, “I know nothing by myself."

To sum up all in a word, " in God's sight shall no man living be justified;" but every believer shall by the grace of God in Christ. And as sure as we are true believers, "accepted in the Beloved," we shall learn of him to follow after holiness, and give ourselves up to the will of God. May we all experience such a work of grace! May the good Spirit make us all such Christians in faith and purity, that being grafted into Christ by our own choice, act, and deed, as well as by baptism, and knowing how "mercy rejoiceth against judgment," we "may serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." Be always praying thus yourselves, and aiming at it in the power of a true