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heart and one voice, crying "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God, even the Father, be honour, and glory, and praise, for ever and ever! Amen and Amen."

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SERMON V.

THE SAVIOUR'S CHARACTER.

ROMANS, xiii. part of the last verse.

"Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ."

SUPPOSE that a heathen, who was entirely ignorant of the nature of the religion we profess, and who had come from some of those benighted portions of the earth, where the idolatrous inhabitants worship, with horrible rites of impurity and blood, imaginary deities, represented as monsters of cruelty and lust; suppose such a heathen were to visit this assembly, and to be told that it was a congregation of the professing disciples of the founder of our faith, and that he formed the very natural conclusion that the disciples resembled their master, and that therefore he might derive a correct opinion of the character of the founder of our religion, from observing the character of those who profess attachment to His name as their boast, and imitation of His example as their badge, and suppose the conversion of that

heathen, hinged on his thus forming a correct opinion of the character of Him whose name we bear, which of you, I would solemnly ask you in His presence, which of you would wish to be selected for this purpose as the representative of the Redeemer? which of you would be willing that the conversion of that heathen should hinge on the opinion, which, from observing your prevailing tastes and tempers, your favourite pursuits and pleasures, the general tenour of your conversation and conduct, he would form of the character of the Son of God, as bearing such an unequivocal impress of divinity, that the heathen could not doubt that His religion was indeed divine? Is it not, my friends, a melancholy reflection, (and should it not stir up each of us to searching self-examination,) that after having observed the characters of multitudes of those who profess and call themselves Christians, as developed abroad or at home, in their avocations or amusements, after having watched their tempers and dispositions, the objects they most delighted to pursue, the conversation in which they most delighted to indulge, and above all, could he look into their hearts to see the thoughts and desires they most delighted to cherish, that heathen might go back to his own land and tell its idolatrous inhabitants that he had returned from a land of idolators like themselves, that as far as he could judge from the characters of His professed fol

lowers, the God we worship differed rather in name than nature from the gods they themselves worshipped-that however the outward forms and ceremonials of our religion, in its public services, differed from theirs, still pleasure and power, rank and riches, with us as with them, were the objects really worshipped in secret with intense and supreme adoration; that a few indeed seemed to aim at higher objects; but he supposed they must be in error, as by the generality, even of those esteemed the wisest, these peculiar people were despised and ridiculed as weak enthusiasts or extravagant devotees; and that, in truth, from all he had observed, judging of the character of the Master from the character of His disciples, he was led to conclude that the founder of Christianity was Brethren, I dare not give utterance to what the heathen would thus be led to pronounce as his opinion of the adorable Author and Finisher of our faith. Are these things so? and does it not then well become each of us to ask ourselves, how far we would be accessary to the libel which that heathen would unconsciously pronounce on the character of Him we call our Master?-would it not be well if you would each, today, put this question to yourself: what opinion would that heathen form of Christ, judging of His character by mine, which I profess to have modelled after my Divine Master's? And put this question to your

own hearts solemnly, for your salvation or condemnation for eternity is involved in the reply: since it is as certain as the declaration of the word of God can make it, that those who bear the name without bearing the image of Christ, those who are so unlike Him in the spirit of their character, that a stranger to Christ judging of Him by them, would suppose the character of the Son of God to be altogether different from that which is delineated in the Scriptures of truth-those individuals, to whatever church or denomination they belong, whatever be their profession or pretensions, their confidence or their claims, cannot have a scriptural hope of salvation through a Saviour's blood; for though it is altogether true, (and it is a most glorious and consolatory truth,) that no measure of conformity to the Saviour's character is required as a previous qualification for coming to Christ as a Saviour, to receive pardon and salvation, for a sense of our own sinfulness, and a belief of Christ's sufficiency is alone required for this: though it be also true, (and it cannot be too frequently enforced and remembered,) that what constitutes the alone meritorious ground of a sinner's acceptance with a holy God, is not in the least degree the personal righteousness of the believer, but altogether and exclusively the imputed righteousness of the Redeemer, which is "on all and upon all them that believe;" though it be of the very essence of the

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