commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and Love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him; and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

The consideration of the other means for keeping ourselves in the love of God, the praying in the Holy Ghost, and the looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus to eternal life, must be reserved for discussion till some future opportunity.

This discourse, like the one which preceded it, has been addressed all but exclusively to true Christians. They, they only, can build themselves up on their most holy faith. It naturally, however, brings before the mind a great general truth, in which all men are equally interested, to which, in conclusion, I wish for a little to turn your minds. The truth I refer to is this: That Christian truth believed is the only basis on which can be raised in the human mind solid hope or true holiness.

There is no hope for man, the sinner, but through the free grace of God, manifested in harmony with his justice, through the atonement of his Son; and that hope cannot become mine, if I do not believe the gospel, which contains the only and the well-accredited account of that harmonious manifestation of Divine grace and righteousness on which alone rational hope, in a righteously condemned sinner, can rest. There is no holiness for man but in that love to God, and conformity to his character, mind, and will, of which he is naturally destitute; and it is only in the gospel we have such views of God as are fitted to excite love in a being like man; only in the gospel that we have such a revelation of the mind and will of God as makes conformity to them possible; and the gospel must be believed, in order to these views and this revelation producing their appropriate effects. Nothing can come in the place of the gospel believed to serve these purposes. Good works will not serve the pur

pose; for where are really good works to come from, in the absence of just views of the Divine character, which only can proceed from faith in the gospel? And if we had them, in all the extent that some men seem to dream of their being attainable by man, how could they form a ground of hope to a sinner? how can they, which are but imperfect payment of present debt, obliterate "the handwriting" that is against the sinner, the curse which has gone forth against every soul that hath done evil? and as to holiness as an internal quality, surely good works can never confer it; we must have it, in order to our doing good works.

Strong religious impressions can as little stand in the room of the gospel believed, as a safe foundation of hope, or a permanent source of motive. Feelings, except as they are excited and regulated by true principles, are in every respect valueless, in many respects dangerous, things. Instead of being able to support hope, they need themselves to be sustained by faith. The religion which rests on mere excited feeling is at best a tottering fabric. It gives way the hour of temptation; it will be consumed in the day when every man's work must be tried by the fire of Divine judgment. Nothing, nothing but the true gospel, really believed, can give a well-grounded hope to the sinner, or produce in him a consistent, progressive, permanent holi

ness.

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To men, then, seeking a ground of hope and confidence before God, the advice we must give is, Believe and hope: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." No hope for thee but in him; no access to him but by believing the truth respecting him.

To those who are putting the question,-How must we work the works of God? how are we to obtain that holiness without which no man can see the Lord ?—our answer must be, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." It is the truth-the truth about him understood and believed-that alone can make you free: that will "make you free indeed;" and "enable you to

walk at liberty, keeping God's commandments;" to "serve him without fear, in righteousness and holiness, all the days of your life." To lead men, who are concerned about the interests of eternity, to seek and expect either hope or holiness by works of righteousness, or by internal exercises of mind, instead of directing them immediately to the only Saviour, the only Author of hope and holiness, in the only way in which they can come to him-in the belief of the truth respecting him as contained in the Divine testimony -is to delude, and, if they are not brought under better guidance, to destroy them.

Unconverted men! we cannot bid you build yourselves up on your most holy faith; for the most holy faith is not faith. You do not believe the gospel; if you did, you your could not be destitute of hope, destitute of holiness, as you are, and as I doubt not some of you are aware that you are. But while we cannot call on you to build up what has never been laid on the foundation, we can, and we do most earnestly, beseech you to look at the gospel, the most holy faith of all Christians, and tell us if it is not fitted to be a foundation for you as well as for them; if you do not stand in need of such a foundation; if you know of any other foundation which can form a basis for hopes, and for a character, which will bear the scrutiny of the final judgment; and if you can give any satisfactory reason why, in the belief of the truth, this foundation should not become your foundation. This, this alone, is the immovable rock; all else is shifting sand or yielding air. We beseech you, as you value the interests of eternity, begin at the beginning; it is the only way of reaching the end.

We call on you, then, in the faith of the truth, to receive Jesus Christ, the Saviour and the Lord; and, "having received him, walk in him; rooted and built up in him." Oh! may the good Spirit accompany these statements and exhortations with his efficacious influence! opening the understandings of unconverted men, to understand the truth as it is in Jesus! opening their hearts to receive the love of

the truth, so that they may be saved by it! And, under His continued influence, may those who have commenced building on the foundation of our "most holy faith," prove themselves "wise and diligent builders;" show that "they have a mind to work!" Then will the spiritual house in every heart, "fitly framed, grow into a holy temple in the Lord;" and erelong the copestone will be laid on, amid the shoutings of the angels, and of the spirits of the just made perfect." How beautiful! Grace, grace unto it!" Meanwhile, remembering that "we have not attained, neither are already perfect, let us forget the things that are behind, reach forth to those things which are before, and press to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord!

SERMON III.

ON PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST.

JUDE 20, 21-But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

WHEN I entered on the consideration of the interesting passage of Scripture, now a third time read to you, as the subject of discourse, I proposed to attend, first, to the duty which the Apostle calls on Christians to perform, or the object which he calls on them to prosecute, the "keeping themselves in the love of God;" and secondly, to the means which he recommends for the performance of this duty, the attainment of this object, "building themselves up on their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." The first discourse was entirely occupied with the first of these topics. In that discourse I endeavoured to show that "the love of God" here, signifies the complacency with which God regards his graciously chosen, called, justified people, as regenerated and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, through the belief of the truth; and that for Christians to keep themselves in this love, is to preserve and increase in those holy tempers and habits which are the foundation of this complacency; and in the continuance and growth of