grace, blessed by his love and care, and who, with justice, look upon Him as their only and all-sufficient Saviour, at least let them give up the innumerable proofs of their delinquencies and defects when they appear before him humbly; and while they adore the inexhaustible patience, and the divine benevolence which Christ manifests in being still their advocate with the Father, let them abjure the sins which they confess. Let us henceforth detest the offences by which we wrong him no less than we injure our own souls, and plead with the precious blood of Christ, as that which alone can do away with our guilt. Let us humbly ask for pardon at the hands of God, for His sake, not our own, not vainly pretending to avert His wrath by any doings of our own, but pleading the mercy of God, and the merit of Christ, as that which is alone our plea now, and shall be our plea at the judgment seat. All must be of mercy from the first moment of peace, which we now receive through the peace-speaking blood of Jesus to the unknown glory that will crown our brows when we stand complete before the throne of God. All must be a mercy from God, all through the righteousness of Christ, our only plea in life, and death, and in eter nity. But, then, when you have thus pleaded his merit and his righteousness, go to the throne of grace once more to ask for grace to serve him better than you have ever served him. Let us, my brethren, not pass this very day without taking one step onward in religion, one step at least, so that we may lead a better life, a holier and more Christian life, and hereafter recognise our own defects; let us incessantly ask for the grace He is ready to bestow, that we may henceforth do His will; and then, as Solomon has said, "Let our eyes look right on to the glory which God has set before us, and never deviate to the right hand, nor to the left." He has bid us be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect; and if we cannot reach the goal at once, let us, like the Apostle, press onwards towards this act, at least, each striving to be humbler, wiser, holier, more consistent, more benevolent, to our fellowmen, more loving to our fellow-creatures, more like Christ our Lord, till we reach the eternal world. Like Enoch, let us walk with God. Like Paul, press onwards, and seek to be filled with those influences of the spirit, by which alone we can walk consistently in this dangerous world, and commit ourselves to the mercy of God, thus endeavour to secure our own happiness, bless our friends, and be useful to our country.

Now, God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost, we ask Thy blessing, and be all honour and praise to Thy Name. Amen.

FAITH AND FAMINE.

A SERMON

PREACHED BY

THE REV. JOHN JESSOP, M.A.,

AT THE

ASYLUM FOR FEMALE ORPHANS, LAMBETH;

MARCH 24, 1847.

"Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine."-Psulm xxxiii. 18, 19.

My Brethren, I firmly believe that it is to the absence of real religious faith we may ascribe the maladies which prevail throughout our social system at this moment, and the effects of which are sorely felt by the sister kingdom. The religion of the multitude is nothing more than an empty form, without influence on the one hand, and without meaning on the other; and thus despite a civilization altogether Christian, our habits declare a denial of Christ. I contrast the strength of the religious feelings of our ancestors, notwithstanding their ignorance and their errors, with our indifference towards that same Christianity, which has come down to us hallowed by so many associations and so many benefits; and I see in the return to practical religion, the sole possible remedy for the numberless evils with which we are now afflicted. And this is not a mere opinion, it is a reasonable and deep conviction which I feel bound to justify, and which I would especially desire to transfer to your souls.

That which the Apostles of the Lord declared eighteen centuries ago, to the gaoler of Phillippi, "Believe in the Lord Jesus: Christ, and thou shalt be saved." That which they preached to all mankind, and, which we in our turn, are charged to repeat

to you unceasingly in our endeavours to incite you to work out your own salvation, I proclaim this day. I say to all here present, in a more restricted sense, it is true, but in a sense no less absolute, and having specially in view, not simply the life to come, eternity, and the safety of the soul, but also the present life, the happiness of society, the prosperity of our country. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and in this latter respect likewise, "Thou shalt be saved." Not only will “ He deliver your soul from death," but He will "keep you alive in famine.”

Yes, "Thou shalt be saved," that is to say, as a people, a society, you shall escape those evils of which the actual crisis of the present moment offers the first symptoms, and which the absense of general Gospel Christianity lays in store for the coming time. The sufferings of which I greatly fear the present are otherwise, but the commencement will then receive relief. Our political institutions will regain that respect which originally consecrated them, and which alone guaranteed their durability. The law will cease to be regarded as nothing more than the symbol of power to receive the homage of respectful duty. That spirit of excitement and discontent which displays itself on all sides, and threatens still an increase of outrage, will disappear, and the social body so grievously shaken will recover its tone and influence. Such, my brethren, is the salvation I announce, provided that in the souls of the people. as a nation, there spring up faith "in the Lord Jesus Christ." At the same time I would have you perfectly understand what I mean by this faith.

To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Saviour of the world, is to believe in the Gospel: . e., in the misery of man, in the longsuffering of God, and in the necessity of regeneration by means of the Holy Spirit's influence. In terms more general, and which, although less explicit, are sufficiently so for our purpose, to believe in Jesus Christ is to embrace, profess, and practice the Christianity of the Gospel.—I say of the Gospel, since true, genuine, efficacious Christianity must rest upon the Gospel, and does not necessarily consist either in submission to the authority of this or that sacerdoty,— nor in subscribing to this or that profession or faith,--nor in adhesion or attachment to this or that form of worship. In fact, in the Church of Jesus Christ-that church of all times and all places, and of which it is written, that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against her," the various sects, which are only different expressions of Christianity, are simply external

forms, which grow old and crumble away when the change of times and the advancement of knowledge have destroyed their influence. The confessions of faith, again,—whether you call them articles, or catechisms, or creeds, and which are but the religious prospectuses of this or that epoch,-banners raised by human hands whereon each sect, by turns, inscribes what it believes to be the faithful interpretation of the truth,-endure but for a season, when they also pass away with the interpretations they have formuralised. Lastly, the authority of this or that hierarchy, of this or that particular church, whatever might have been their power and duration, is after all nothing more than the voluntary delegation of the faith of the generations who submitted to them, and those delegated rights expire the moment hat conscience reasserts its hitherto transferred dominion.

The Gospel alone, distinct from the terrestrial accidents of priesthood, sect, and creed, remains immutable, pure, and independent; for, although it may associate itself with these things, and avail itself of their assistance for a time, it never amalgamates itself with them, nor is ever identified with these its accompanying incidents. Well, it is the Gospel thus considered apart from all human forms and interpretations, to which we must return, in order to cherish into life those religious feelings which I hold to be the only possible remedy for the evils which threaten us on every side. It is to the sublime and simple lessons, the profound and striking doctrines of the Bible, we must call the attention of our generation. We must place it face to face with the Saviour, in order that the people may receive from him, without the intervention of any intermediary agency, all that they require to make them sober and honest, wise and happy-viz.: the conviction that there is a future in store for them, the inspiration of duty,-the love of truth,-a practical religion ;-in short, a faith, for a reception of the word of God alone, in its integrity, can produce these consequences, which, by their influence over the manners of the nation, may arrest society in its apparent progress towards anarchy and ruin : "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine."

The foregoing assertions will, I am aware, he contested; they will be so, even perhaps, by well meaning men, sincere admirers of the moral beauty of the Gospel. They will say that its only object is the salvation of the soul, and not the safety of a people, and that its entirely individual influence cannot remedy

the evils which abound throughout the social system. But if we reflect for a moment, we at once perceive that it is precisely because its influence is individual, and exerts itself immediately upon each separate soul, that it is at once the readiest and most certain engine to regenerate society. The reason of this is obvious. Society being simply a collection of individuals, all questions of morality, of improvement, and of happiness, that interest it, are at bottom merely individual questions, questions oncerning the morality, improvement, and happiness of each of the individuals who compose it. Thus, the more citizens there are in a state who are moral, upright, and submissive to the laws, the more will the state abound in enlightenment and patriotism, power, and stability.

Whence it follows, that the prosperity of a nation depends much more upon its moral improvement than upon the perfection of its political institutions. Now, if it be admitted (and here I defy contradiction) that no scheme of legislation, no system of morals, no school of philosophy, can so surely or so well improve the individual as the religion of the Gospel; it must be equally admitted that the same Gospel is the surest means to regenerate society, to direct and assist its progress in the road to perfection, to give it new life, and to consolidate the empire of the laws, order, justice, and opinion. Now, to apply these observations to our present condition, what remedy more efficacious than Christianity could we apply to the state of social disorganisation and distress into which the absence of faith has thrown us? In order to understand this, my brethren, we have only to glance at some of the most prominent grievances and complaints of the Irish nation. It suffers from that spirit of resistance to the constituted authorities, and the rights of property which displays itself on every side, and which, if it is not repressed, will at length render all government impossible; and Christianity by bringing men's minds into submission to the laws of God alone can win them back to obedience and respect. It suffers from that licence of individual passions which attack and shake every guarantee of stability, and even of existence; and Christianity alone can oppose a sufficiently powerful check, by substituting charity for violence, gentleness for ambition.

It suffers also from that state of excitement and animosity in which the different political and religious parties who contend for power live, and who all alike want moderation, honesty, and true patriotism; and what can inspire real love for the country