Him that loved them; then, come whatever may, being firmly fixed on a rock, they will be animated to all holiness and all devotedness unto God.

Bear this only in mind, then, that the cause which gave offence to those who were only nominally disciples was the statement which Jesus Christ gave of his Father; the freeness of the grace of the Father and the appeal that he made to their personal experience.

Now, beloved brethren, permit me to ask, What think you of these things? What think you of the love of the Father being the fountain-head of your salvation? Are you acknowledging that and renouncing every other hope? I speak to the unconverted and say, What think you of these representations? If you deny it, you deny not the word and the truth of man, but you deny God's word and God's truth. If God be right, then you must be wrong: and if you have not that which you have heard herein stated on the part of Christ, there can be no life in you. Now let me earnestly entreat you to give up your own sentiments and your own feelings, and your own apprehensions of truth, to the truth as it is stated in the word of God; and let me earnestly implore you to remember that God is love; the fountain-head of love is the Father; none can bring you to Christ for salvation but the Father. Come, therefore, to the Father; through Him, who is the way, the truth, and the life; make mention of his name; and earnestly intreat the Father that you may be taught of God: for it is written, "And they shall be all taught of God:" therefore all that are taught come to him. Trifle not with these things.

Now are you offended? Do you say, "It is a hard saying?" It is the saying of God: it is not the truth of man, it is God's truth, and if you are offended, you are offended with God's statement. And will you go back? And will you turn your back from that truth? Will you turn your back on the gospel of God because it does not comport with your ideas? Beware how you turn your back on the light. Consider these things; meditate upon them, and pray over them; and may the blessing of God rest upon all your investigations, and lead you to the possession of that truth which is the pearl of great price, and your everlasting salvation. »

GOD'S TESTIMONY TO THE FAITH OF ENOCH

REV. JAMES PARSONS,

TOTTENHAM COURT CHAPEL, JANUARY 19, 1834.

"For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”— Heb. xi. 5.

THE methods, my brethren, by which the children of men have become partakers of the spiritual blessings of salvation have in all periods of the world been precisely and exactly the same. The dispensations and economies of divine mercy have indeed sometimes presented to us not inconsiderable varieties; but those varieties refer to the manner and the extent of those communications, and not to the essential principles of them; nor should we observe them without discovering, that they uniformly exhibit one foundation, as being that on which the hopes of men must always repose. It is delightful to remember, that there is " one Lord and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all."

is very

The perfect uniformity of the method of obtaining redeeming mercy, powerfully displayed in the important epistle, from a portion of which we have now to address you; the main object, you observe, being, to shew that the preceding economies of religion, both patriarchal and levitical, were only shadows and fleeting types of the gospel; intended to set forth, and finally to be resolved into the same principles of truth. Without adverting to many examples of this fact, you cannot read the contents of this important chapter without perceiving how distinctly and remarkably it is displayed, exhibiting all the heirs of salvation in different ages of the world, as being governed by one impulse, and as being guided in one path to heaven. It is thus, my brethren, that we who live in the last days, have a deep and profound interest in their history, deriving hence no small portion of that instruction and excitement, by which we are to be urged yet more and more in our march towards glory, honour, and immortality.

The verse, my brethren, from which we are now to address you, is a record concerning Enoch, a saint who lived previous to the visitation of the general deluge, whose piety, in that age of darkness and corruption, was eminent and enduring, and who was especially summoned to his reward by some mitigated and mysterious change, with which the King of Terrors had no concern, and which was a peculiar testimony of the approbation of his God.

The history of this remarkable and eminent individual is recorded with extreme brevity in the book of Genesis: "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Here, you remark, it is more fully stated, although still with brevity: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;

and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." In the discourse which is now to be delivered, it is not my design to employ your attention upon the individual case of the Patriarch himself, though his character must of course be referred to in the illa:tration we are about to render; our grand object will be to state the general attributes of the character he sustained as one that is equally sustained by all who are true saints of the living God, and which must be sustained by all men if they are to receive the eternal happiness of heaven. "He had this testimony, that he pleased God."

We propose to examine, by what agency this state of existence is secured; in what characteristics this state of existence consists; and by what advantages this state of existence is commended.

First, we propose to consider, BY WHAT AGENCY THIS STATE OF EXISTENCE IS SECURED. It must always be regarded as of the first consequence, to ascertain the sources of human characters and human habits; and to find out, as far as we possibly can, from what sources they originate, and to what supports they are indebted for their continuance, their permanence, and their stability. For many purposes it is important to ascertain, and to acquire information, with respect to what we may call the secondary virtues of man; that is, those virtues which do not affect his relation towards God, and his interests for eternity: but, infinitely more important respecting those dispositions of mind which tend towards futurity, and which are intended to seal the state of the human soul in happiness or misery for ever.

It is then above all things important to know, how men are led to please God. And here, my brethren, it must be observed, that men never attain to the state of existence which is now to be described, whilst they are left to the ordinary operation of their own faculties, and governed by the ordinary impulses of their own passions and desires. While men remain in their original condition, under the government of the primitive tendencies of their nature, they are in fact the uniform and positive objects of divine disapprobation and displeasure. God, we are informed, is a being of pure and spotless holiness; a being of purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look at iniquity: man, on the contrary, is a polluted being, having a depraved heart, a heart that is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" and practically indulging in those things which correspond with his heart, and which in all things are hostile to the character of the Creator, and the holiness and spirituality of his law.

This view, my brethren, of the relation existing between man and God is not a theory announced as the result of reasoning; it is a doctrine resting on the truth of the inspired record, which having been dictated by God himself, cannot by possibility err or deceive. Now the Sacred Writings uniformly describe our species as being in a state of hostility to God, resting beneath his displeasure and his frown. We read that men are "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them," that they are enemies in their minds by wicked works: and we are informed in one statement, which describes the general condition of man, that "to be carnally minded”—that carnal mindedness being nothing more than the government of the heart by the fleshly lusts and passions of unconverted nature-" to be carnally minded is death"-that death being at once the punishment, the proof, and the result of the reality of the displeasure of God: and then it is added, (many of you I hope will

remember that solemn statement in the eighth chapter of the Romans, it is added in connexion with the words of our text, as the solemn and conclusive reason-"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

The plain testimony of inspiration, my brethren, both that which is derived from express declaration, and that which is derived from the general import and influence of its principles, all combine to ratify this solemn assertion, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." No, and let the men who advocate the original purity and dignity of human nature, the men who are accustomed to assert, that nothing more is demanded than the influence of the hu an will for the purpose of bringing man into such a state as shall secure the approbation of Jehovah, and the final salvation of his soul know-" They that are in the flesh cannot please God." No; that God looks down with perfect disgust and abhorrence on the perversion of the life and the impurity of the heart, and he has already pronounced that tremendous curse of judicial equity which, if it be finally fulfilled, banishes man from his presence, and blasts him with misery for ever. We cannot permit too deep an impression of this fact on our hearts, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."

This fact, then, my brethren, that men in their own light never can arrive at a state which is pleasing to God, having been scripturally established, we are prepared to advert to a corresponding fact, which may also be scripturally established, namely, that men are brought into a state of existence that is pleasing to God, they are placed in it, and continued in it, solely and entirely by the exertion of the power of the Spirit of God himself. This doctrine cannot but be made to constitute a paramount and prominent part of the Christian ministry; no apology can at any time be needful for the repetition and reiteration of it; because it furnishes the only correct explanation as to the source and origin of that character on which there rests the light of heavenly love, and because the recognition of it is absolutely essential to escape the terrors of an overwhelming judgment.

Adverting, then, to the scriptural truth to which we now refer, you will remember what David acknowledges, when he ascribes to the Almighty the regeneration of the will and character, from whence alone he could expect to derive the immortal salvation of his soul, when he exclaims, for instance, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." We find that God himself announces the same fact, in the promise which he made with regard to the advent of the new covenant: "This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And again: "I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do then: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." And we find again, that our Lord Jesus Christ expresses the same fact when he announces "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Thus, also, the inspired Apostle has informed us, that "it is the law of the Spirit of life which makes us free from the law of sin and death;" that

we are saved, “not by works of righteousness which we have done; but according to his mercy, he hath saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." And, in one word, they secure by the Holy Spirit the regeneration of all those virtues, and all those graces, by which the new creation is alone moulded and matured.

The time, my friends, does not allow us to remark at length on the evidence which we have afforded us on this most momentous matter; on the source of it we would just observe, that all persons from the beginning, and in the very earliest ages, who have pleased God, that all persons who please God now, and that all persons who shall please God in the generations yet to come, must stand indebted for their character, and prospects, and hopes, entirely to the blessed influence of the Spirit of God on their souls.

Now I lead you up through all inferior processes, to the footstool of His majesty, and solemnly commit, and solemnly leave you there; beseeching you not to depart until you have breathed your fervent and importunate supplications, that He who is the life and source of all that is good and excellent and holy, may come down and establish his temple in your hearts; and without also presenting to him your tribute of humble, lowly adoration, renouncing yourselves, and ascribing to him the glory. Man is led to a state in which he pleases God, only by the sovereign agency of the Eternal Spirit of Jehovah.

We must now pass forward to consider more at length the second enquiry which was proposed; BY WHAT CHARACTERISTICS THIS STATE OF EXISTENCE IS DISTINGUISHED. This, you will observe, is an enquiry which properly and really arises from the consideration of the former.

You will observe in the first place, that this state of existence comprehends faith in the divine testimony; secondly, obedience to the divine commands; and thirdly, gratitude for the divine goodness.

First, it comprehends faith in the divine testimony.

It is to be judged, my brethren, that God having revealed to man a testimony, or in other words, having announced to him, by an unerring record, certain spiritual principles, as the unchangeable verities of truth, places us under obligation to believe that testimony, and those truths. And it is to be judged further, that as, on the one hand, unbelief excites his disapprobation, so, on the other hand, faith is connected with his pleasure. You will remark, that in describing the case of Enoch, the apostle states the exercise of faith as being that which peculiarly brought him into that state of existence which was pleasing to God. "By faith," that is through the power and exercise of faith in divine truth as at that time it was revealed-"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God." That is, he pleased God by his faith. In the subsequent verse there is a statement of a more general nature as to the absolute necessity of faith for bringing men into that state which is pleasing to Jehovah: for "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God" (in order to please him) "must believ that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." If there were no other testimony within the whole limits of Scripture, you cannot bu perceive that this declaration conclusively states the matter-that man in order w be a possessor of the divine favour, must first be a believer in divine truth.