and consume, or for the ingenuity we may have displayed in obtaining them, still, such praise can have no influence beyond the objects by which it was occasioned; consequently, our interests, after the close of this life, will not be advanced by it. Let us remember, that we have two interests to consult, the one in time, the other in eternity. The choice as to which we make the first object of our pursuit is with ourselves. May God direct our hearts to do that which will be most profitable for us when we come before Him at the general resurrection! May we so follow His directions as "not to be conformed to this world," but " transformed by the renewing of our minds," that, He being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal."

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SERMON XV.

SALVATION THE GIFT OF GOD.

EPHESIANS, II. 8.

"For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God."

In all the dispensations of Providence the prevailing character is mercy. His grace is poured out upon us as from a fountain of living waters. It gushes from the rock of our salvation, to strengthen and refresh us-as it did to the thirsting Israelites, in their arduous journey to the land of promise during our progress through the wilderness of life to that heavenly Canaan, where we shall dwell with the "root and the offspring of David;" and where the beams of "the bright and morning star," mentioned by the Prophet, shall rest upon us for ever.

When we turn our thoughts to the mighty scheme of Providence, with respect to man, how does the subject overwhelm the pious Christian

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with astonishment at God's love and his own unworthiness! The divine mercy has prepared for us an everlasting abode beyond the realms of mortality and the boundaries of time, where "he that overcometh shall inherit all things;" where "there shall be no more death," but one uninterrupted and eternal day, "for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Such a habitation has the Deity prepared for us, who have already forfeited all title to his favour, but whom he has restored, through the merits of the Redeemer's death, to the privileges which we had lost by transgression.

Let us now proceed to consider the mercy of God, as it is exhibited in the words of St. Paul. First, "By grace are ye saved through faith.” Here, then, we perceive how mercifully the Almighty condescends to level his requisitions to the moral capacities of fallen man. Did he rigidly exact from us the full conditions of legal obedience, all flesh must perish, because perfect obedience is incompatible with an imperfect nature. All law demands a complete performance of its conditions. The least infraction provokes the penalty. If, then, we could only be justified by works of law, we should be utterly without hope of salvation; because, being imperfect creatures, we could not by any possibility perform that which is perfect. But mark the divine mercy, extended to us in consequence of Christ's remedial sacrifice,

"by grace are ye saved, through faith." As the Almighty then has dispensed with the strict exaction of perfect legal obedience, because it is utterly impossible for us to perform it, and condescends to accept, as an equivalent, that “ righteousness which is by faith," because we are able to attain to this; there can be no question, but that our sin assumes a highly aggravated character, when, by closing our hearts against the ingression of the Holy Spirit, we neglect to encourage and acquire this faith, as it is absolutely slighting a divine indulgence. It is virtually to proclaim "the blood of the everlasting covenant, wherewith we have been sanctified, an unholy thing." It is practically to deny "the Lord that bought us."

Our justification by faith, is at once a full and sufficient proof of God's desire that our redemption should be complete. It is by his grace alone that our faith-that is, a living faith, is "imputed to us for righteousness:" and this is, indeed, a prodigious manifestation of indulgence towards the infirmities of creatures, who have never done one single act of meritorious service. No impediments are thrown in the way of our salvation. On the contrary, all the aids which we can require, are extended to us. The Holy Spirit is constantly ready to assist us in our struggles against the opposing desires of the flesh, if we will only devoutly yield our hearts to its holy impressions. So that we but too justly deserve condemnation, if

we refuse to strive with the spirit in the work of conversion to God. "Be not faithless, but believing." This is the sole art of becoming righteous, because we shall never seriously believe, without doing well. Righteousness of life is as inseparable from a pure and implicit belief, as light from the sun. It is our faith that shows us the necessity of good works; because, if we believe the gospel, we must believe that the duties which it enjoins, are indispensable to salvation. "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." So that we are here taught something beyond the mere privative acts of

denying ungodliness and wordly lusts:" we are enjoined also the positive performance of actual holiness. We are "to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world:" that is, we are to do good, as well as to abstain from evil; to perform "the labours of love," as well as to mortify our corrupt and greedy affections.

Faith and practice are as inseparable as cause and effect. In fact, the one is but the elementary, the other the perfecting principle. "Abraham believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness." But to what did this belief actuate him? To obedience to the divine commands! We thus see him leaving his home, his kindred, and his country, to wander in a strange land. We see