may gather from a consideration of the state of those persons to whom it was originally addressed. These, as we have seen, were the House of Israel; and when we remember that Hosea prophesied during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, that he was, in short, a contemporary of Isaiah, we must, of course, remember likewise, that the transgressions both of Israel and Judah had then well nigh reached their height; that they were "a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that were corrupters;" who had "forsaken the Lord," revolting more and more, so that "the whole head was sick, and the whole heart faint; and from the sole of the foot unto the head there was no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores."

Such being the state of God's favoured and rebellious people when they were enjoined to sow unto righteousness, it follows that that command implied nothing short of a complete and entire change in all their ways and habits,-a thorough, unshrinking reformation, an unqualified turning from sin to God.

And nothing short of this is required of us. It is to be hoped, that by God's great mercy, we have been so far preserved from breaking our baptismal vows, that none of us are in the actual state of open transgression, which they were, whom the prophet

Hosea speaks of, as having "ploughed wickedness," and as being "reapers of iniquity;" but if at this time we are not harbouring some cherished sin, it is to be presumed that there are a few of us who, at some period or other, have not continued for a longer or a shorter space in deliberate and wilful transgression: all have to bewail an interminable catalogue of negligences and ignorances: and all have the evidence within themselves of an inherited nature so corrupt, that from the sole of the foot unto the head there is no soundness in it ;-of a nature in which the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit, and with which, even to the last, the spirit must make war.

Now this "fallow ground,"—this soil, so hard and sterile, or so rank and matted together with roots of noxious weeds, must be broken up. Our hearts, which, in spite of our baptismal privileges, retain within them their original infection, must be brought into a state of religious cultivation. Vicious inclinations, sensual appetites, inordinate affections must be rooted up. The tares must be gathered together in bundles and burned. The soil must be ploughed ;that which lay below must be brought up to the surface, and exposed to the light of day. Self-knowledge and self-discipline must do their work, and the whole field be made fit for the reception and growth of the seed of righteousness.

And this if we do, the text leads us to hope that we shall reap in mercy; that is to say, we shall receive from the merciful hand of God our Father, an abundant reward of unfading happiness, and glory, eternal in the heavens.

Here, then, is the broad fact laid down, that if we lead righteous lives here, discharging our duties to God and man, we shall certainly meet a reward hereafter. But since, when thus stated, it may seem to follow, that our works are the immediate cause of our salvation, I proceed to show you that the maintenance of any such opinion would be the most perilous and fatal error into which we could fall, and to explain in what sense the statement is true, and in what sense it is not.

With this object in view I shall endeavour to establish these two points: first, that we have no grounds whatever to expect a harvest of mercy, without a previous sowing time of righteousness; that is, that we must not hope for God's favour unless we fulfil what He has enjoined; and secondly, that when we have fulfilled what He has enjoined, we must not plead any merit of our own in having done so, but must look for the reward of our righteousness only from the free grace and mercy of God.

And now with regard to the first of these propositions. We shall not reap in mercy, unless and until

we have sown in righteousness. Without a holy life here, no man need expect or hope for a happy life hereafter.

This is a truth which I need not multiply quotations to establish. St. Paul distinctly assures us in his epistle to the Hebrews, "that without holiness no man shall see the Lord," and in his first letter to the Corinthians, he maintains the same doctrine with equal clearness. "Know ye not," saith he, "that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." God is holy, and therefore His kingdom must be holy, and He will admit nothing into His kingdom which is not holy. To expect to enter that without holiness, would be as absurd as for the husbandman to expect a harvest, who has not tilled the ground, nor sown it with seed: and so the Apostle whom I have already quoted declares to us. "Be not deceived," he writes to the Galatians, "God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.”

Surely if it be possible to state a truth plainly and unequivocally, it has been done so in the passages which I have quoted to you. One would have thought that in this case, at least, there could be no doubt as to the true meaning of Scripture. And yet, even here, errors have arisen to darken and obscure the truth of God, for both the indolence and the pride of men have led them to devise some easier way of salvation than that which is offered in the Word of God; and accordingly, some have asserted that there is no necessity of righteousness in ourselves, since Christ's righteousness is our's, so soon as we rely upon Him; and others have taught that so as a man fears hell, purposes amendment of life, and confesses his sins to the priest, he is safe from perdition, and will reap in mercy, though he has neglected to sow in righteousness.

The fact is, that if we look into the various errors into which men have fallen, on the subject of religion, we shall find that those errors spring, for the most part from the spirit of convenience and self-indulgence. If a doctrine be unpalatable, it is denied; or, if that be possible, it is so qualified, or softened down, or explained away, or thrown into the back ground, that practically it is rejected altogether, by those who oppose themselves to it, even though they admit that it is to be found in the Word of God.