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so sublime and spiritual, so widely removed from the discoveries of sense and reason, that they who cordially make him the ground of their confidence, must be seen to have a stability of character, a purity of motive, an elevation of purpose, and a sublimity of pursuit, altogether above the low range of unbelieving minds. This heartfelt confidence in Immanuel, is transforming. It is in some sense a participation in his nature. It carries its subjects along in the path he has marked out. So that the virtues of the heart and life, so much extolled among men, and which have long been vainly attempted to be grafted on the unrenewed nature of our fallen race, become the natural elements of the believer's character. There, works of righteousness spring spontaneously as from their native soil. There, they flourish after the pattern, but never as the substitute of the perfect righteousness of the Redeemer. There they shed abroad evidence of the energy of that principle whose element is love, whose sphere is the heart, and whose conquest is the world. And there they must increase to the glory of him by whose operation is wrought the work of faith, until the root and branch-the believer followed by his works, receives the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul. Be it remembered, then, that his faith cannot be right whose life is wrong.

2. If, as I think it has been seen, an abiding and lively sense of dependence on Christ, is the grand secret and spring of a decided and consistent christian character, I feel that I have an argument to enforce the duty of cherishing a strong impression of such dependence, which none of his real disciples will gainsay or resist. It is an argument derived from the consideration of the glory of their Master, and of their own usefulness and happiness. I am not required to show, that the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified by a consistent holy determination of conduct in his followers. It is giving a living form to the great principles of his gospel. It is sending abroad in the world a living demonstration of the mighty

efficacy of his religion. Causes may exist and act for a day, which give to human conduct a direction coincident with that of the gospel. But they will be fluctuating, inconstant, transient. Not so the sway of religion. It will carry such as yield to it, steadily, safely, completely, gloriously through the career of their earthly destiny. And while it thus bears them onward to glory, it tells to the world, whose that unearthly energy is which makes them walk and not faint, run and not be weary, and ascend upward as on eagle's wings. And what christian does not know, that his personal usefulness almost exclusively depends on that holy determination of mind, which moves him onward along "the even tenor of his way?" It is not a few splendid acts of christian enterprize and selfdenial-it is not now and then a gush of zeal in the cause of Christ, which makes his disciples useful. No, it is a noiseless, steady and unbroken series of acts simply directed to the advancement of undefiled religion, which makes the christian useful. But with the true christian, to be useful, is to be happy. To be simply and consistently devoted to a cause which has already begun a succession of triumphs that are to multiply and extend through eternity, is in itself the most satisfying and godlike employment, which can engage finite powers. Yet this is not all. A consistent devotion to such a cause, takes the soul away from the disturbing forces-the bewildering impulses of this troublous scene. And now, I can only say, that I pity the christian who perceives in all this, no motive for making his avowed faith in Christ more real, more personal, more practical, more perpetual in its sway. Profess what you will, my brethren-believe what you will, it must all leave you far apart from your duty and happiness, until your faith so fastens on Jesus Christ, as to render you steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Shall we not, then, immoveably plant ourselves and our all, on the

Rock Christ Jesus? Shall we not so believe in him as not to make haste? Shall we not bring our souls to rest so firmly there, as no more to wound his cause by our precipitation in feeling, in judgment, and in conduct; or to destroy our own peace by rash and groundless fears; or to hazard our salvation by presumptuous sins? Then, O! then should we be useful and happy in life, and as the visions of eternity break upon our souls, it will be ours to say-Lo! this is our God-we have waited for him, and he will save us-this is the Lord-we have waited for him, we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation.

3. I must be permitted to remark in conclusion, that there is a counterpart to the consistent, even, useful and happy tenor of the believer's course. They who believe not shall make haste. This is asserted by implication in the text. It is a truth of necessity. In the existing constitution of the moral world, it must be so. They who believe not with the heart, the grand and all pervading truth of the bible—that there is need of, and provision for, the salvation of our fallen race, can have no resting place. They can feel none of the high, and holy, and everlasting motives of the gospel. They can have no well defined, and settled principles of action. They must, consequently, be swayed by the hurrying and conflicting power of those motives, which grow out of circumstances, times, and occasions. Whatever independence they may affect, they have nothing which can rise above, or triumph over the merest incident of an hour. Thus are they the victims of unnumbered, impetuous, and opposing impulses, but yet all sending them one way-the way that leads to death. It is their chosen way-it is a broad way—it is a downward way -it is the only way they love; and they give themselves no rest in their haste to find its end. Yes, they are hastening their steps to hell! And will you suffer me plainly, though affectionately and tenderly, to warn

you of it? You cannot rest. You cannot remain as you are. Every thing in your heart, in the world, and in the truth of God too, until you obey it, is swelling the dreadful force which bears you downward. One thing only can save you. It is faith in Christ. Believe, and the hurrying impulse shall cease. Believe, and with steps steady and safe, you shall go on your way rejoicing towards the paradise of God!

SERMON XIX.

Objects and Effects of the Christian Hope.

1 JOHN III. 3.

AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM, PURIFIETH HIMSELF, EVEN AS HE IS PURE.

NOTWITHSTANDING all the descriptions and living examples of saving religion with which men have been favored, its real nature and influence are but little understood in the world. The notions formed of it, are too commonly derived from materially defective, or imperfect representations of it. We seem to prefer almost every other means of learning what it is, to those by which alone we can ever reasonably expect to gain sufficiently exalted views of its unearthly character. The great reason is, we are afraid to subject our own piety to the requisite test, and, therefore, are willing to call those, the marks and fruits of religion, which God has never called such. Rather than disturb the foundation of our own hopes, we consent to be so charitable as to trust, that many are true christians in whom scarcely a single genuine feature of piety appears. In such cases we are willing to exercise that charity which hopeth all things, because we are anxious to cherish a hope, that we ourselves are in a state of safety. It is obviously much more easy to expose the ruinous fallacy of such a method of acquiring and confirming our hopes, than

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