Christ; why the breaking of one or more, I will venture to say all the commandments, when rightly understood, is as nothing in your eyes, and gives you no real concern; why you take God's name in vain, and profane the sabbath or keep it only in part; why you defraud and speak evil one of another; why you covet, envy, and bear malice; why the axe is never laid to the root of inward sin and evil lusting; why so many of you, who call yourselves Christians, show little or no regard to the solemn, dying command of your Lord to remember him in the holy sacrament: it is because he has no tie upon your hearts. It is because you never were burdened with your sin; never once cried out with St. Paul, 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" - never saw the greatness and necessity of Christ's salvation; and therefore, whatever you pretend, or however you may have been taught to speak, do not truly believe in him as your Saviour. My brethren, lay it to heart; make haste, and escape for your lives; for,

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2. If you are not governed by him, as you never will but in the faith of his love, and the power of his Spirit, you do not, you cannot belong to him. He has pronounced the doom of all such, "Those mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Is it then weighty upon your hearts, that all the disciples of the crucified Jesus must come in upon his summons, submit to his authority, and hear the invitation of his love? If ever you call to mind what he has done for you, and how dearly he has purchased you to his service, can you think much to receive a law at his mouth, or refuse him the tribute of your obedience, when you know it is his due, and what he so earnestly and affectionately requires

of you? You would scorn any man who thought so meanly of you, as that you could be ungrateful, churlish, or disobedient to the best friend you have upon earth; and are you the man or woman who slight the almighty love of your God and Saviour, and set yourself stubbornly in opposition to his will? When he says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God; thou shalt not take his name in vain ; thou shalt keep holy the sabbath day; thou shalt not do this or that thing which my soul hateth; you turn a deaf ear to him from year to year, hate to be reformed, and will take no warning. And can you be so wretchedly deceived as to fancy you belong to him, and that he will own you at the day of judgment? Upon cool reflection you cannot think it possible. All Scripture is against you. You cannot open any part of the Bible that will not fly in your faces; and I dare appeal to your own consciences, whether they do not bear witness to that saying of St. Paul in particular, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ," to be led by him, "he is none of his," he is no child of God.

Know then that there is terror in the cross of Christ, as well as love; and at the same time that it speaks peace to the penitent and believing, it proclaims aloud the accursed nature of sin, God's abhorrence of it, and will to punish it in every soul of man that obstinately continues in it. And let me beseech you, by all your hopes, not to think confusedly of this point of your obedience to the Saviour, but come to a clear understanding of yourselves. Do you read the Scripture to know what God commands, and what the law is which you are to be governed by? And do you read it with this thought and purpose, that you must and will be governed by what you hear, assuredly believing that the mercy therein. revealed, if it does not rule, cannot save you? You need not be blinded in so plain a case; if you love the

Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, if you love your souls, you will not; but remembering and considering how he has redeemed you from the curse of sin by the labours of his life, and the sufferings of his death, that he might present you to God, washed in his blood, and clothed with his perfect righteousness, you will answer his love, and fulfil the desire of his heart, by applying yourselves, with diligent endeavour and true prayer, to know his will that you may do it. You will pass through the world with this thought deeply engraved in your hearts, and these words always sounding in your ears-"The kingdom is the Lord's; and he is the Governor among the people." "For so," and not otherwise, as an inspired apostle witnesses, in opposition to all selfdeceivings, "an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

SERMON XV.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Rom. xv. 4.

HOPE is of something desired and wished for. And, in proportion to the opinion we have of the thing hoped for, we generally use all the methods in our power to secure it, and think ourselves happy or unhappy, are pleased or discontented with our state, as we are likely to succeed, or in danger of being disappointed. So we act, and so we are affected, with respect to the things of this world. According to the settled judgment we

make of their value and usefulness, and especially if we think them necessary to our happiness, we keep them constantly in view, bend our thoughts that way, pursue them eagerly, and put forth all our strength to attain them.

So we should be affected with respect to the concerns of our souls, of God, of Christ, of eternity. We should learn from Scripture to place our hopes on the immovable foundation of God's word and promises, in full belief that we shall not fail of our end, but have something to trust in that cannot deceive us, and will be the stay and comfort of our lives. This is our wisdom as men, and our profession as Christians. This is what the apostle here calls us to; and it is worth our while to inquire what it is. And if we find that it is suited to our wants, and will answer all our wishes, then, my friends, lift up your eyes and hearts to it, and put yourselves in a way of securing it. Hear what St. Paul says, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." What is this hope? It is the hope of reconciliation with God, of living and dying in his favour; in a word, the hope of salvation by Jesus Christ. Happy are the men and women who make it their hope, rejoice in it, hold it fast as their only treasure, and would think themselves utterly undone if it was taken from them. Let me, therefore,

I. Tell you what we are without it;

II. What we are, and what our behaviour will be, when we really have it. And,

III. I shall exhort you to understand, receive, and embrace it.

Blessed God! it is a great thing I am speaking of;

thyself, thy Son, thy love to a lost world; the present comfort and everlasting happiness of us all. Oh! do thou speak where man cannot! Call powerfully to the dead soul, which has hitherto resisted thee in unbelief, that it may now at last listen to thy word, and pray with me for a blessing upon it: make it as a refreshing shower upon the hearts of all here present, that they may be fruitful in faith and love, in every good word and work, and grow up unto thee day by day in the hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

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I. I am to observe to you what we are without the Christian hope. With respect to our state and being in this world, God himself has written vanity and vexation of spirit upon all our hopes and expectations from it; and the Scripture tells us, once and again, that “ man that is born of a woman, is of few days and full of trouble." So said Job, xiv. 1. So likewise said Jacob, Gen. xlvii. 9. Few and evil have the days of the years my life been;" after enjoying as much prosperity, and as many signal blessings from the hand of God, as any we read of. He was not unthankful for the favours he had received, but what he said is left upon record for our instruction, and set up as a warning for all future travellers in the same road, that we might not build our hopes upon the sand, and that none might delude themselves with vain prospects of rest and happiness from a deceitful world. And does not the experience of every man living confirm what he said? Our best laid designs miscarry; our fairest hopes are blasted; and every thing about us and belonging to us, our bodies, substance, relations, all bring in this verdict against us, and declare, with one consent, that our rest is not here, and that thę world will as certainly deceive us as it has done every son and daughter of Adam from the beginning.