themselves unto the righteousness of God." We also shall be condemned if we believe not in God's way of righteousness; and, on the contrary, it will be our justification, if we believe," that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

But, when God has not only sent his Son, but sent him to suffer and die, shall we not much more believe? If a general should send one of his favourite officers to a besieged city with a promise of relief, knowing that that officer should pass through great dangers, would not the citizens most eagerly believe in that message, when they knew the dangers undergone, and saw the officer before them wounded and bleeding? Even so the great humiliation, and sufferings of the Son of God for us should most strongly urge us to believe in the message and way of salvation made known to us.

Let not, however, our faith be merely a barren belief in a message. For Christ came as the Anointed and as a King; and if he be a king, he has a kingdom of which we are members, and that kingdom is governed by laws, even his commandments. So that no man can truly believe in Christ who does not strive heartily to keep his laws; and any other faith in him than that which worketh by love, or shows itself in obedience, is dead; and like all things dead, is an offence in Christ's kingdom; nay, will be a greater condemnation to those who believe in him, but do not live to him.

But, secondly, as if duty were not enough to lead us to believe, the Text gives another reason why God

sent his Son, viz., we should in him " have everlasting life," thereby more strongly urging us to believe. By this God appeals to our own hopes and fears. In this life we see nothing but death, death stealing on us daily; and he here sets before us everlasting life. By all our hopes and wishes, then, of that life, by all our fears and dread of eternal death, let us believe on the Son of God. Life or death is the next step we take : by all our hopes of one, and fears of the other, let us believe in him who is the Life, that we may, through him, escape eternal death. By our hopes to reign with Christ in eternal life, and our fears of the second death which has no end, if we already believe, let us continue steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity to the end; for if God has loved us, let us do everything to justify that love, and proclaim its boundless goodness.

SERMON III.

HOLINESS PROGRESSIVE.

EPHESIANS, II, 10.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

THERE is a close and intimate connexion between a sincere desire to improve in holiness, and our creation by Almighty God. To trace this connexion will be the object of the present discourse.

When God created man on the earth, we read, that "in the image of God created he him." This image, or resemblance, was not in regard to his outward form. For God is all Spirit, and a spirit has no outward form or shape. But it was in regard to that in which man can be like God, viz., in reason and holiness. For man was not made like the brute beasts, which are incapable of true reason, or of any holiness; nor like that evil spirit, Satan, already existing in the world, and whose children men become by imitating him; but like God himself, truly rational, and in his degree holy also. For such only can be the meaning of being made in the image of God; and, accordingly, Solomon

could say, that " God hath made man upright." And that this image stands for holiness appears also by its being said, that when in heaven we become perfect and see God, we shall be like him. As, on the contrary, when Scripture describes the fallen state of man in Seth, the son of fallen Adam, it says, "Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image," that is, darkened in mind, and sinfully disposed, like himself.

Now, if God Almighty made man holy and upright, it is an evident proof of what he designed us to be, viz., holy; and that such a state was the best and happiest that a good and beneficent Creator could choose for us.

That God designed us to be holy, and that such was the best state for us is manifest also by the punishment which God laid upon Adam and Eve for their transgression of his command; which, though the first transgression, was sufficient to show that there had been a defection and fall from original righteousness. This punishment, then, inflicted at once, shows how contrary the smallest transgression is to God's design. in creating us; as, also, the sorrow and death which followed too clearly proclaimed that happiness is necessarily attached to holiness, and cannot be separated from it.

Moreover, that God made us to be holy, is manifest from his interfering to give the Law through Moses. For the Law was not given on purpose to condemn man, by showing how sinful he is, but really to guide him in the right way; as St. Paul says, "The Law is

holy," and "the Law is spiritual," and "the commandment was ordained to life," that is, to lead us to life and salvation. Likewise, the happiness attached to obedience under the Law is clearly proclaimed. Moses says, (Deut. iv, 40.) "Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments," "that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee." So David says, "Great is the peace which they have who

love the Law."

There cannot, then, be any doubt as to God's design when he made us, or that he has attached real happiness to an upright and holy life. For as a machine, intended for a particular purpose, works jarringly, and even ruinously when applied to another use; so we may be quite sure that we cannot be happy while we are working contrary to the design of our being, and the purpose of our Creator.

But we are now fallen from perfect righteousness. It may be asked, then, is God's design still the same, and does happiness still attach to holiness? Yes, it is still the same, and holiness is still the condition of happiness even here. I am not speaking of salvation and acceptance with God: these must be on different terms from what they were. The fact of our being fallen shows that by holiness no flesh can be justified; and therefore, St. Paul says plainly in the verse before the Text. "By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it," that is, the salvation, "is the gift of God."