truths concerning our Saviour, the knowledge of which are necessary to our being saved by Him. He is "the Christ, the Son of God." Such was the confession of St. Peter, on account of which our Lord pronounced Him blessed. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And agreeable to this confession, was that of the Ethiopian Eunuch, which Philip deemed to be suffi cient for salvation," I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God*.”

In fact these few words contain every thing which is necessary to be known respecting the offices and person of the Redeemer. We are here reminded first, that Jesus is "the Christ." From the beginning, that is, from the fall of man, God had promised that He would send a Saviour into the world; one, who should destroy the works of the Devil, and open a new way for sinners to the tree of life, and to the paradise of God: one, who when he came, should be the Prophet, Priest, and King of his church and people; their Prophet to instruct them; their Priest to sacrifice and intercede for them; their King to rule in them, and for them. And since Prophets, Priests, and Kings, whenever they were specially appointed by God, under the Jewish law, were usually consecrated to their respective offices by the * Matthew, xvi. 16. Acts, viii. 37.

pouring of oil on their head; so this promised Saviour, to shew that He would be appointed and consecrated to these offices by God Himself, was proclaimed under the title of the Anointed One, the Messiah, or the Christ, which words have the same meaning. Now the Scriptures teach us, that Jesus of Nazareth was this promised Saviour, this Christ or Anointed One, who should come into the world; and consequently the great Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church of God.

We are reminded in the second place, that He is also the Son of God." This truth relates to His person, as the other referred to His offices. He is "the Son of God," who" is in the bosom of the Father," and "had glory with Him, before the world was:" that Son, by whom " He made the world;" "whom all the Angels of God worship;" "who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen. *" Yes, my Brethren, this is a part, and a very essential part of that Knowledge, which we must have of Jesus Christ, in order to be saved by Him. Let us bear in mind this great truth, so plainly taught in the Bible, that Jesus is not only Man, but God; that He is a partaker, not merely of the human nature, but of the divine nature also that, as the language of our church expresses it, He

is "God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world: Perfect God, and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul, and human flesh subsisting; equal to the Father, as touching His godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching His manhood; who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ *"

Such is the Knowledge of Jesus, to which the Scriptures are designed to bring us. This knowledge they prescribe as one step towards spiritual and eternal life. But it is only one: another still is wanting to the complete attainment of the end in view, and without which it never can be attained at all: and that is,

2. A living Faith in Jesus Christ. "These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." I call the belief here prescribed a living faith, in order at once to distinguish it from a mere nominal dead faith; from that profession of the truth, which has no influence on the heart and life; from that presumptuous confidence, which men often mistake for a saving faith; from that assent of the understanding to the doctrines of Scripture,with which many deceive, and satisfy themselves. My Brethren, the Faith to which the Scriptures design to bring us, is

* Athanasian Creed.

something very different from any of these things. It is indeed a profession of the truth; but it is something far more; it is a feeling and unexperience of it. It is indeed an assent to the understanding to the doctrines of Scripture; but it is something far more; it is an assent also of the heart to them. Faith, saving faith, is a vital principle in the soul i nor is it a principle natural to the soul; one which springs up, takes root, and grows there of itself. Far otherwise. It is a supernatural production; a seed sown in the heart from above; a plant which the spirit of God alone can implant there, can nourish, and make fruitful. This is the Faith to which the Scriptures are designed to bring us, a faith of the operation of God: a faith wrought in the heart, by the very same Almighty Power by which Jesus was raised from the dead: a faith which is at once the work and the gift of God. In short, the faith of which we speak, is a faith arising from that deep consciousness of guilt and misery which the Holy Spirit alone can impart, and comprehending that humble but confident reliance on the Saviour, which the same divine agent can alone inspire. This, my Brethren, is that Faith, which the Scriptures inculcate as essential to salvation: and which, as they teach us, is to be sought, and obtained by hearing

tion. Oh! let us bear in mind, that from first to last, in every stage, in every step, "eternal life is the gift of God." The Saviour Himself was an "unspeakable gift." The knowledge of that Saviour is a gift freely bestowed on us. The Faith whereby we embrace, and apply to ourselves His great salvation, is a gift wholly unmerited by us. "Of God are all things," "to whom be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end." From this view of the end, for which the Scriptures are declared in the text to have been written, and of the steps which they prescribe for attaining it, I now come to consider,

III. The connection between these two things, between the end itself, and the steps which lead to it. Why are a right Knowledge of Jesus Christ, and a living Faith in Him necessary to the attainment of spiritual and eternal life? For this plain reason; because they are the only steps by which this end can be obtained. The text says, "that believing we may have life through His name. It is only through the name of Jesus that life can be had. It is only through Faith in His name that we can have life.

Let us shortly attend to these two points. 1. It is only through the Name of Jesus, that life can be had. The Name of Jesus, in fact, is the same with Jesus Himself; and