SERMON VIII.

RELIGION ESSENTIALLY PRACTICAL.

TITUS, CHAP. II. ver. 7.

"In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works."

ACTIVE virtue is the great result of religion. It is not "as the gleaning-grapes when the vintage is done," but as the full fruits, ripe and ready for the gathering. Purity of soul, and all those inward accompaniments of the spiritual man, are distinguished by the certain issues of practical good. These issues are "righteousness and true holiness." No man, therefore, can be good who does not exhibit them. His temporal characterthat is, his character among men-will not necessarily secure him divine honours, since it may be false; and those honours are only secured to such as are recognized, by the unerring Judge of human actions, on account of their works :-to such, in short, as are "doers of the word" as well as hearers of it. Persons who are the re

verse of righteous in the sight of God, often pass for righteous among men. The many who "say and do not," are of this class. They are held to be pious people for their "much speaking," and, because they are not openly licentious, are thought to be inwardly sanctified.

But this does not follow. There is such a thing as hypocrisy, and unhappily it is not uncommon even in Christian lands. In order to reach the perfect Christian measure, we must not only renounce what is wrong, but do what is right. The latter is a natural consequence of the former. When, therefore, this consequence does not ensue, those kindred results necessary to the due maintenance of moral order, are in fact obstructed. By effectuating these results, we obtain experimentally a knowledge of the pernicious effects of not doing right, by being brought to a clear perception of the advantages resulting from a contrary course. We must, however, do right out of pure love of it, and with "faith unfeigned," ere we can have an availing perception of accruing advantages. No one can possibly abstain from evil but by doing good. For the moment he ceases to do good, he does evil. This is the infallible consequence. Sin attaches to the failure, since the obligation to do good is positive, involving as it does, by a moral necessity, the renunciation of evil. He, therefore, who fails in this indispensable ancillary of spiritual life, is guilty before God.

The demands, then, of religion are essentially

practical, every thing which renders a man an object of satisfaction in the sight of God, being a special result of holy practice. We must not only "cease to do evil," but likewise "learn to do well," because until we do both, we can really do neither; both in fact blending into one integral obligation. Therefore it is that religion is an active service, a sum of good works; not a bare profession of creeds and adherence to doctrines; these, however essential, and they are, in truth, eminently essential, being subsidiary to practical holiness. Doctrines are guides to practice, and where spiritual results do not flow out of them, it is certain that we have embraced them not to our benefit, but to our reproach.

There are many pharisaical Christians in the world, who profess much and pray often; who bow to God with great show of reverence and with earnest protestations of piety, and yet are very wicked. Why? Simply because their piety is almost exclusively confined to praying and to professions of devotion. They "say and do not." They are deficient in active godliness; in the performance of Christian virtue; in devotion of the life and actions, as well as of the thoughts, to God. They love themselves much, God little, and their neighbours next to nothing. Good works are to religion, what food is to the body; "health to the flesh and marrow to the bones." Without them there will be neither health nor

marrow.

By our works we shall be judged. By our

works we shall be saved. By our works we shall be condemned. Which of the two latter consequences is to accrue, will depend upon whether those works are for good or for evil. These then, will influence our acquital or condemnation at the Judgment of the Great Day. Piety without them is a sapless branch, which must be lopped from the trunk, or both will wither and become only fit for the burning.

"I

Shall we think that the crimes of a Cromwell are less detestable than those of any other usurper, nay, than those of any other criminalbecause, under the tyranny of prosperous usurpation, he committed wholesale murders with the name of God upon his lips, and dared to offer thanksgivings to the Supreme Majesty of heaven that his atrocities were successful? tell you, nay." He will be judged by his deeds, not by his professions. The former were not, like the days of Jacob, "few and evil," but many and evil. Were they performed at God's suggestion? No! They were too wicked. And yet this ermined transgressor-this LORD PROTECTOR of these realms, has his admirers who bow to him as the abstract of all that is illustrious, wise and good. However the pen of eulogy may gild his vices, the base metal will shine through the gilding. Intellectual and potent though he was, he evidently had no confidence in his own spiritual security. He feared his summons to the bar of Judgment. Cromwell was a great bad man, in spite of his holy professions; in spite of his as

sumed sanctity; in spite of his frequent prayers. Profession will not neutralize crime; devotion will not neutralize crime; prayer will not neutralize crime. I speak of crime persisted in and unrepented of. Holy practice must accompany each and all, or they will only realize the beautiful illustration of the Barren Fig-tree in the parable. They who commit sin, either negatively or positively, that is, when they forbear to do good, as well as when they actually do evil, are guilty before God, whether they profess holiness or profess it not. "By their fruits shall ye know them." This is the only sure test of godliness, which is inseparable from good deeds.

You may take the word of the Gospel, which is the word of Christ, for this, that practical Christianity, involving faith in that Gospel, is the only true Christianity. Faith, in its state of full maturity is the result of practice. Belief, indeed, gives its impulse to pure practice, but, by this latter, faith is matured to its highest state of spiritual consummation. "Faith without works is dead." It is not quiescent, but experimental. It grows to a giant's bulk out of practical experience, and the greater this experience, the greater our faith. That is utterly unsound which is not followed by good actions, and which has not been enhanced by good actions. These are its necessary produce. Where the one abides the other must be manifest. Neither can exist apart from the other. We believe “to the saving of the soul;" good works at once proving