misery, so there is no assignable limit to its capacity for happiness and glory, when, after walking here

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by faith and not by sight," it shall be reunited to Him who is invisible to earthly eyes, the fountain of life and light, the source of all perfection, in whose presence is joy for evermore.

SERMON IV.

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1 TIM. i. 5.

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.

IN a former discourse we endeavoured to shew that if Justification by Works formed any part of the scheme of revelation, it would involve great partiality and injustice, so far as the integrity of the divine attributes was concerned. When human interests, our advancement in true holiness, and the general welfare of the species were taken into consideration, it was found to be a very dangerous doctrine, being a sure foundation for credulity, superstition, avarice, profligacy, and imposture, to build upon it what superstructure they please. So much was then said of the inefficacy of a mere moral code to ensure purity of heart, of the misrepresentations to which it is liable, and the abuse to which it naturally leads, that it is deemed superfluous to enlarge further upon that subject. With far more satisfaction may we turn our minds to the effects which a sincere and humble faith in Christ produces on the

believer's mind. The great truths of Christianity cannot be apprehended with a lively application of them to ourselves, without exciting our best feelings and kindling our warmest affections. If they do this, our faith will evince its presence by outward acts prompted by these powerful emotions. They will shew themselves in active exertions for man's benefit and God's glory, because such strong motives cannot possibly lie dormant in our minds. To suppose the contrary would be to falsify every established principle of human conduct, and violate all those general laws which the human heart obeys. It is very true that a perfectly accurate belief in revealed truth may exist without producing these consequences, since it may fail to excite those feelings by which it is intended to influence the conduct. We may receive it with the understanding and give it the assent of our reason; but this will be of no avail, unless we clearly perceive how it applies to the circumstances of our own situation, and affords a remedy for all the evils to which our present condition is exposed. Though such a belief in Christ be" the evidence of things not seen," by referring to objects which are beyond the range of our bodily senses; it does not produce hope, joy, or the love of God; it is not " the substance of things hoped for," and therefore must be excluded from our idea of a justifying faith.

"The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." This sentence entirely agrees with those

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which have been already adduced on the subject of Justification by Faith; but it surpasses them considerably in strength, clearness and precision. It informs us that charity, or that sincere love of God which induces man to obey him, is the great end and object of the Christian faith. It also intimates that this unfeigned and lively faith produces that love of God, by purifying the heart and cleansing the conscience. "The end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." This shews us that the reason why justification is made to depend on faith, is simply this;that faith, by its natural operation on the mind of man, has a power to exterminate sin as a principle of action, to produce mental purity, and promote active virtue, far greater than any moral code, and to an extent in which no other condition of acceptance with God could have possessed it. If, therefore, it can be proved that faith, by a lively apprehension and application to ourselves of the truths of the Gospel naturally produces these effects, then it will be apparent that, as a means of reconciliation with heaven, it is perfectly reasonable and just, not only meeting all man's wants and necessities, but entirely harmonizing with the attributes of Almighty perfection. Let us, then, enquire what effects, in minds ordinarily constituted, might be expected from a belief in the great essentials of the Christian religion.

The Scriptures invariably represent to us the holiness and purity of the eternal great Cause of all.

To this they add the property of unchanging and unchangeable happiness, as necessarily belonging to him, an attribute which nothing can either increase or diminish. The glorious intelligences and beatified spirits that surround him, derive from him alone whatever portion of holiness and felicity they possess. We are also taught that these qualities are inseparably and necessarily connected, not only in him who unites in his own essence all possible perfection, but also in those who are permitted to approach him, in whatever proportions they may be able to attain moral excellence. They can be happy only so far as they are holy. By those eternal laws which govern the spiritual as well as the material world, he has declared that sin and misery shall be constant companions. So great is the natural antipathy between vice and happiness, so inveterate their repugnance to each other, that they must for ever be irreconcileable. We can ourselves establish some part of this important truth by observing the tenor of God's moral government in the present life. The information derived from that source corresponds with that obtained from his written word so exactly, that we can readily assent to the doctrine there laid down, that "there is no peace to the wicked and that without holiness " no man shall see the Lord'." There is something very alarming, and oppressively awful to the feelings of sinful creatures, such as we must know ourselves to be, in this view of the necessary connection between

* Isaiah lvii. 21.

Heb. xii. 14.