That this is the view inculcated in my text, will appear from the explanation of it in detail. "By grace are ye saved;" by an act of the mercy of God, not from a claim upon his justice, as though they who obtain this salvation were righteous and deserving of heaven: "through faith;" that is, while we are saved by Divine grace alone, it is faith which is the instrument of salvation. Faith humbly relies upon Christ as the Redeemer. Faith, acknowledges the value of his death, and the efficacy of his intercession. Faith ascribes all our salvation to him, giving glory and honour to him as our only Saviour. Faith renounces self, that God and that Christ may be exalted: "And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." The words "and that" have been differently understood. Some commentators make them relate to faith, and understand St. Paul to say, that even "that faith" is not of ourselves. Others interpret them as relating to the whole of our salvation, which the grammatical construction of the original words seems rather to favour. It is immaterial which interpretation is preferred. Either of them shew the mind of the Apostle to be intent upon proving that we are not to be saved by our own merit or power. Every thing which contributes to our salvation, even our faith, is humbly to be ascribed to the power and grace of God. "Not of works, lest any man should boast." Salvation is not to be considered as procured in any measure by the merit of our own works; and for this very important reason, that man may not be able to arrogate to himself any title to reward before God. Salvation must be an act of God's mercy, for which man must be ever deeply under a sense of obligation to him, and for which he must ascribe praise to God throughout eternity. But it would be inconsistent with such a state of heart if man should attribute any thing to himself. We must be laid prostrate before God as sinners, and saved in that posture of humiliation. "Boasting," says the Apostle, in another place, "is excluded." By what law? Of works? "Nay, but by the law of faith."

If men exalt a good life in their own esteem so as to expect their salvation from it, they may suppose that, even should their opinion be erroneous, their mistake would be harmless and unimportant. But let them be assured, that such an expectation will be not less dangerous than deceitful; it will be dangerous, because it is inconsistent with that humiliation which is indispensably requisite in sinners, with that frame and temper of mind which are necessary in the system of salvation. If Christ be the only Saviour of the world; if the song of heaven be, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, by thy blood;"-then should the same acknowledgment be made by his redeemed people on earth, and they also should unite together in ascribing their whole salvation to him. But self-righteousness, or boasting, is inconsistent with such an acknowledgment. Whatever good works are performed by the people of God, are the effect of their faith in Christ. They first approached him as penitent sinners, confessing their guilt and imploring his mercy. Having redeemed them from the curse of the Law, he imparted to them the grace of his Holy Spirit, to form and fashion their souls anew, after his own image, to create in them all holy affections and dispositions, to excite the love of holiness and the practice of it. They "are his workmanship"-the fruits of their faith, no less than their redemption, are his own gracious work-they are by him "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them." Their deliverance from sin, no less than their redemption from death are entirely and exclusively the work of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus, therefore, while the Christian scheme exalts the value and excellence of good works, and enjoins them by the most solemn sanctions, it does not admit that they are in any sense meri

torious. It at once glorifies God, and humbles and sanctifies man.

From this view of the inefficacy of our holiest actions to work out our salvation, let us learn to draw near to God in a spirit of the deepest humility. Before him let us renounce our own merit, looking only to his mercy, and to the intercession of Christ. But God forbid that these considerations should lessen our estimation of practical holiness and piety! We must press after them with the earnestness of men who know that they must perish unless they become holy. We must hunger and thirst after righteousness. Till we "walk with God” in a holy life, we must never cease to distrust our state before him. Thus pursuing good works with a right spirit, and for the right end, seeking them in the strength of Christ, desiring them as the evidences and the fruits of faith in him, acting from a principle of attachment to him, and aiming to promote his glory, we shall attain the true Christian end. We shall produce "the fruits of righteousness through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

SERMON VIII.

ON THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION.

Romans xiv. 17.

The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

WHEREIN does true religion consist? No inquiry is more important than this; for it involves our happiness, not only in the present life, but in that eternal state into which we must soon enter. Now, independently of the knowledge of the character of God which we derive from the Scriptures, it might reasonably have been concluded from the relation which he bears to us as our Creator, that he would not leave a subject so important to his creatures in uncertainty. The most important truths are generally the most simple and plain; and that which materially concerns the happiness of mankind, it seldom requires great attention or unusual discernment to discover. Yet, although God has given to us a revelation to ascertain the real nature of religion, no subject has been the occasion of greater doubt and controversy. Religion was supposed by many, in the time of the Apostles, to consist chiefly in oblations in abstaining

from the use of several kinds of food, or from the touch of various unclean things. "Touch not, taste not, handle not;" were with them some of the most essential precepts in religion; and it is in opposition to their opinions that the Apostle declares the kingdom of God not to consist in meats and drink-in the using of them, or in the abstaining from them.

The most frequent error, respecting the nature of religion, has consisted not so much in proposing something which is essentially contrary to it, as in selecting a part of it, and substituting that part for the whole. No one ever thought that religion consisted in lying, swearing, or stealing. There must be something plausible, something resembling the truth in any error which is long or widely received. Now, in fixing upon some part of religion, and magnifying its importance till the rest appear of little account, there is a foundation on which the fabrick of error may rest. In the case before us, the legal oblations, abstinence from particular kinds of food, the observance of new moons and sabbaths, and of various other rites and ceremonies, had been ordained by God: they constituted a part, and only a part, of true religion under the Levitical dispensation: they were rather means to religion than religion itself. Yet, from an undue estimate of the importance of these duties, which they diligently practised, many of the Jews were led to flatter themselves with a persuasion of their own superior sanctity, though they neglected the weightier matters of the Law-justice, mercy, and faith.

Their error, and the absurdity of it, we now clearly discern. We perceive that they had formed unworthy conceptions of the character of God, who they imagined would take pleasure in vain and useless ceremonies. They had narrow notions of religion itself; for they did not perceive that it consisted in the reformation of the heart, and in purity of life. They confounded the means with the end, not observing that all ceremonies are useful only as promoting some fur