received from the instruction of Christ, and lead us to reject the proffered salvation of the Gospel of Christ; they also displease God, who "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son"-they displease Him so as to induce Him to give us up to our own waywardness of thinking--so as to allow the consequences and results of our opinions to take their course in hardening our hearts and securing our

utter ruin.

The decision of the New Testament, therefore, is completely and perfectly and firmly opposed to the fashionable dogma, that it does not matter what we believe, provided that we believe it sincerely. Men talk of cant; why, philosophers have as much cant as any religious people ever had, and this is a specimen of philosophic cant. Were we for once to consider what is meant by believing a thing sincerely, we should see how contemptible this cant is. Why, to believe a thing sincerely is simply this to believe it really, to believe it firmly, to believe it verily, to believe it honestly--not to pretend to believe it, but to believe it actually. This sentiment, then, means, that it is no matter what a man believes, provided he believes it really-provided he believes it sincerely and thoroughly and honestly. Therefore, superstition and error, all superstition and error of every kind and grade, if believed in really, if sincerely and thoroughly believed to be true, are quite as beneficial to the formation of moral character, and quite as acceptable to the God of truth, as the truths and the duties which He Himself has revealed and enjoined. My brethren,can it be thus? A man may work himself to believe sincerely that there is no God; and is this quite as acceptable as the belief that there is a God? A man may believe sincerely that there are two Gods, like the Manichæans-one good and one evil; and is this as pleasing to God, as to believe that He is the only true God? Upon this principle, it matters not whether our opinions are honourable to the Divine character or dishonourable, provided we believe them really and sincerely! My brethren, just apply the sentiment to the affairs of common life, and ask yourselves -How can sincerity make an opinion safe or available? If a man sincerely be lieves poison to be food, if a man sincerely believes that oxalic acid is only the carbonate of soda, will his sincerity save his life when he takes it? If, again, as I mentioned before, a traveller in selecting his path believes that a certain path is right when in fact it is wrong, will the sincerity of his belief save him? If a man intends to go to Hampstead, and sincerely believes that he should take the Greenwhich Road instead of Tottenham Court Road, will his sincerity bring him to Hamp stead?

No, my brethren, man is held responsible; and he must be prepared to take the consequences of the opinions and the sentiments which he adopts. And whatever principles we hold concerning the way of salvation, acceptance with God, and admission into heaven, we must be prepared to abide by the result.

We are not, of course, to suppose that all sentiments and opinions concerning Christ equally involve our interest and our eternal welfare; so that all our thoughts and opinions and all mistaken views concerning the Person of Jesus Christ may be in the same degree pernicious and damning. We may have different views and sentiments and opinions, with regard to the time of His birth, for instance, or with regard to His early education, or with regard to Church government and the mode of administering Church ordinances, without these opinions having a damning influence upon our destiny. But in Christianity, as in all other cases, there are some classes of truths, which affect our interest and our welfare more deeply than others. These are called saving truths; and a belief in them, and acting upon that belief, is called saving faith. And it is the opinions and sentiments which we form in direct reference to this class of truths, that are destructive and pernicious and damning. We understand this distinction very well in the af fairs of common life. For instance; in the apothecary's shop there are many articles and ingredients, about which our opinions may be comparatively very harmless and very innocent; but an opinion about arsenic and an opinion about oxalic acid are matters of life and death, and may prove fatal. There are, then, classes of truths, affecting life and death. So also, supposing a criminal left at Newgate for execution, his opinions about many principles and circumstances in government may

be comparatively harmless and innocent, but his opinions concerning a reprieve or a pardon from the monarch are opinions which affect his life; and if he so despises or hates the monarch that he will not accept of a pardon, it is fatal; or if he has such a dislike to the means or instruments or agents, say the Secretary of State, through which he is to receive the pardon, that he will not accept it, it is fatal; or if he will not accept it but upon the ground that he is perfectly innocent and has never been found guilty, that, again, is fatal. And thus also, there are connected with the Gospel of Christ certain truths, which affect the life or the death of every man who hears them-every man who either receives or rejects them.

11. Instances of opinions which may be considered pernicious.

I will just mention a few of these principles, with very brief illustrations of their tendencies. I will mention five or six.

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In the first place, opinions which represent Christ as an impostor and a deceiver. The Jews, for instance, hold these opinions, God had promised them a Messiah, a Deliverer, a Redeemer and a Saviour; and Christ came into the world as such; but the opinions which they had formed concerning the expected Messiah, and the sentiments which they cherished respecting Him, operated upon their minds so as to lead them altogether to exclude Him, and to regard Him as not worthy of their acceptation and therefore they cried, : Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him, crucify Him.' And what is the result of that opinion? "His blood is upon them" to this very day; and whithersoever a Jew wanders, or wheresoever a Jew settles, he is a standing testimony to the influences and the consequences of opinions upon the minds, the characters and, the destinies of mankind. This is also the case with infidels; here they are to be classed with Jews, as they reject the same Person. Infidels believe that no revelation is necessary; infidels believe that all pretensions to revelation are impostures, and that Jesus Christ in professing to bring a revelation was the prince of impostors. These opinions, according to the whole genius and evidence of Christianity, are pernicious and destructive. The Jews revolted against their God by rejecting his own Son; and the consequence has been that He has disowned them as a people. Infidels reject the authority and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and profess that they cannot believe Him; no, they can believe Voltaire, they can believe Tom Paine, but they cannot (they say) believe Jesus Christ; they reject His authority. They regard God as if He were a Father dumb in His own family-as if He were a Father living in the midst of His family, but had never communicated His mind to them and had left His children to infer it. They represent Him as a Father mute among His own children— a God silent in His own universe. But these opinions must be pernicious-must act damningly upon those who cherish them. A man must be ignorant, and left to his ignorance, who refuses a teacher; and these men refuse the Teacher designed to instruct them in the way to heaven. The sick man must die, who rejects the appointed remedy; and these spurn from them the very Remedy of God's provision. The traveller in the wilderness must lose his way, that rejects his guide; and these men cast away from them the only Guide, that leads to eternal life. The slave must remain in captivity, who rejects the emancipation offered to him; and these men spurn the Saviour, the Deliverer, whose name was called Jesus, because He saves His people from their sins."

In the second place, we might mention in this class principles or opinions, which degrade the person and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some think, for instance, that Jesus Christ was nothing more than the carpenter's son, that he was a man altogether like ourselves, and a sinful man-or at least what is called a peccable man, a man capable of sinning. Others think, that he was not only a man, but that he was a good man, a holy man, though in some things mistaken and erroneous. Others think, that he was something more than a man-a super-angelic being-but still a creature, a mere creature, and therefore a creature that God could annihilate; so that the Father could annihilate the Son. Now opinions of this kind are pernicious and destructive and damning; because they trifle with the clear testimony of God concerning His Son. I cannot enter largely on this at present; I can but gather this testimony, as it were, into a nut shell for you afterwards to think and to meditate upon it. Suppose you were requested to state how you know

that the Father is God; you would bring certain attributes of His character, certain perfections of His essence, certain works and operations ascribed to Him, certain titles and names which designate Him, and certain devotion and worship paid to Him. These things satisfy your mind that the Father is God, and if they were absent you could not prove that He is God. But these very things are also mentioned in the New Testament to prove that the Son is God-the very same attri butes and character, the very same perfections, the very same works, the very same titles and names, the very same worship. If these things prove the divinity of the Father, they prove also the divinity of the Son; or, taking the other side, if they do not prove the divinity of the Son, neither do they prove the divinity of the Father. A denial, therefore, of the divinity of Christ involves us, as far as revelation is concerned, in the gulf of atheism itself-a denial of God. This, then, is pernicious, because it trifles with the clear testimony of God. Moreover it denies the mission of Christ, as being an atonement for sin; and hence those who advocate this class of opinions deny to Christ the title of a Saviour from sin. They reject all pardon as given or exhibited in the name or for the sake of Jesus Christ; and the refusal of that pardon must secure the loss and destruction and perdition of the soul, for God has no other way of pardoning man, than for the sake of the work and atonement of Jesus Christ. These views deny that atonement; they suppose that men are so innocent or so good, as not to need the interference of another for their safety and for their salvation. They reject the only way of salvation, revealed to us by God in the Gospel of His Son.

The third class of opinions are those, which represent Christ as literally a Substitute for mankind, both for obedience and for suffering. For instance: some think, that Jesus Christ has been literally a Substitute for the suffering due to mankind; that God was displeased with sin, that there was a certain amount of displeasure and indignation due to it from God, that man could not bear this amount, and therefore that Jesus Christ was sent into the world in order that God might pour upon Him all the indignation and wrath that were due to the sins of all the world; so that now no sinners have any great need of fear of wrath from the Divine Being. I do not mention this at random; I have heard it upon sick and dying beds; I have heard this sentiment declared by meu of education, who believed that now God had no wrath for mankind, no displeasure for sinners-at least none for the common gradation of sinners, however it might be with very extraordinary sinners indeed, such as murderers and so forth-and this because the wrath of God was altogether exhausted by the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Now such an opinion as this is pernicious and destructive, because it leads a man to feel perfectly safe with regard to all his sins and wrong doings; it holds all the threatenings of God as being merely exhibited in terrorem, just to keep man in a little fear, without any real design, that they should ever be inflicted; and it makes the atonement and salvation of Jesus Christ an argument for sin, so that because Jesus Christ has died for man, man may commit himself to iniquity, and regard Jesus Christ Himself as really a minister to sin. This must be subversive of the whole scheme of salvation, and therefore destructive to the interests of holiness in the heart of man. Others, again, regard Jesus Christ as a literal Substitute placed in stead of the obedience, which man owes to the law of God. For instance: men have opined that God requires perfect obedience to His law, that this demand from God was more than any sinners could ever give to God, and, therefore, that God sent His Son into this world in order to keep the law instead of man; so that sinners now have no need to keep the law, no need to attend to the requirements of God's government, because the law has been kept perfectly by Jesus Christ for them. As if Christ had loved God, that they might not be under any obligation to love God; as if Christ had loved His neighbour for them and in their stead, that they should not be any longer under any obligation to love their neighbour. My brethren, you see at once, that this class of opinions must tend to the destruction of the soul, as well as to the destruction of all holiness of heart and life. To suppose that Christ magnified the law in order that we might despise it, destroys the most powerful motive to holiness, as exhibited in the cross of Jesus Christ; and it is in fact an encouragement to sin, founded upon the most tremendous demonstration of the evil of sin.

Again I might mention the opinions, which represent the work of Christ as insufficient to our salvation, It has been thought, that Christ has done much, very much, for our salvation; but still His merit is supposed not to be complete for salvation, and sinners must therefore attain some worth of their own in order according to the fashionable phraseology, to recommend themselves to the mercy of God. They represent Jesus Christ as instructing us how to be saved; in fact they make Jesus Christ only to help every man to be his own saviour. These opinions are cherished by three different kinds of persons. In the first place, by all selfrighteous men, who pride themselves upon their morality of character, upon their abstinence from gross sins, and who regard all their services and work done for God as meritorious and deserving of reward. These sentiments are also held by all the adherents of doctrinal Popery; by these it has been supposed, that the merits of Christ do not save without the penance of the sinner, and that where the merits of Christ and the penance of the sinner are not enough, there have been men in the Church, who had more merit than they ought to have had by their works of supererogation, and therefore they have formed a treasury, which, in connection with the merits of Christ and the penance of the sinner, is sufficient to save a soul even from Purgatory. And there is another class, who hold opinions like these; and that is, all who despond of the sufficiency of the atonement of Jesus Christ for their own case; who seem to think that it is sufficient for others, but not sufficient for them that it is adequate to the salvation of others, but not adequate to their own salvation. These opinions, though they may appear innocent for awhile, are destructive to their souls' salvation; for here is a soul, who believes that the law and justice of God have not been sufficiently honoured in the death of Christ, without having also the death of that soul in addition to meet their demands.

There is a fourth class to be mentioned, and that is--the opinions of those, who cherish the thought of the unwillingness of Jesus Christ to save. Some carry this so far as to think, that now in the midst of His honour and glory He is not particularly interested to save sinners, unless the intercession of saints and the prayers of His own mother persuade Him, influence Him, affect Him, and bring Him to feel concerned for their salvation. There are others also, who from their doubts and their fears and their unbelief, think that though Christ is able to save them, He is not willing. My hearers, this is a pernicious principle-a principle that tends to the destruction of the soul-a principle that throws insult upon the character and person of Jesus Christ. What! after all the scenes of Bethlehem, after all the scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary and the Arimathean's tomb-after all, doubt His willingness to save! After all His promises and declarations, after all the facts and the instances of His having saved the greatest of sinners, will you doubt His willingness to save? Oh! His willingness to save is inscribed upon every page of the Sacred Scripture-written upon the history of every sinner that has been saved-and every conscience that reads His Word must bear evidence, that He is not only able, but willing to 66 save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him."

The last class of opinions I shall mention, (and I can only briefly refer to it,) is the opinions that suppose Christ is not very strict in enforcing His claims to the attention, the respect, the esteem and the love of those who hear the Gospel. These are they who put off religion from day to day, and think that some little change upon a sick bed, some little disposition to be a Christian when a man comes to die, will do for Jesus Christ-that a few minutes' serious thought upon a dying bed will be quite as much as Jesus Christ expects-that He will not be strict in enforcing His claims. This is a pernicious opinion; an opinion, my brethren, that has damned its thousands. Yes, God "hates putting away," He hates procrastination; and procrastination has been means as efficient to the damnation of the souls of men, as any which have been employed by the devil for that purpose. Christ is strict in enforcing His claims. "Whosoever shall be ashamed" of receiving Me, and taking Me according to the representations of the Gospel, to the mortification of the pride of Greece and Rome and all philosophy-" whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory and in His Father's and of the holy angels."

There is one other passage: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha." Here learn the influence, the consequence of pernicious principles concerning the Author of salvation. "If any man" that means you" if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema when the Lord shall come." Oh! my hearers, the consequences will make themselves felt then-when the Lord shall come.

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Young men, you have now noble minds, minds inquiring, minds inquisitive. Cherish that inquisitiveness; cherish it to the utmost extent. Never be afraid of giving vent and freedom to your mind. In Christianity there is range and space enough for the best and most disciplined mind. Here you can study "the length and breadth and depth and height, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Then, young men, come; join the angels, who "desire to look into" these things. I invite you to become fellow-students with the angels of God in studying the mysteries of the cross-in gazing with all the penetration of your minds upon the claims and the glories of Jesus Christ.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR OPINIONS.

THAT a man may be morally guilty and obnoxious to punishment from God, on account of his opinions, is a proposition which admits of as rational an explanation, or rather, is grounded on the same presumption, as the prevailing conclusion, that he is subject to the judgment of God on account of his actions: there is precisely the same reason for asserting that he is amenable to a higher tribunal than that of his fellow-creatures, for the one as for the other. Our deeds are pronounced to be evil, inasmuch as they are presumed to be committed through an excess or perversion of the passions, or the predominance of a corrupt inclination over the sense of duty whether to God or man. In like manner certain opinions are held to be morally evil, and grounds of Divine displeasure, inasmuch as they are presumed to be embraced through the defect of a right disposition, the bias of some vicious propensity, or under the habitual influence of ill-ordered passions. In either instance the imputation of guilt is directed against the prevailing desire, the ruling affection, of the mind. Unless, then, it can be shown that the affections in general are inert in the process of belief, or the formation of opinions-inert so far as they can be characterised as morally good or evil-it must follow, that we may be as reasonably obnoxious to blame and punishment in the determinations of our judgment, as in the disposal of our conduct. It is not, we are aware, the opinion itself which is sinful, for the same conclusion may, in many instances, be embraced under the influence of widely different feelings and dispositions-may be arrived at in an upright conduct of the understanding, or reached by a perverted use of our reason, or the strength of unsubordinated passions. But neither is it the outward physical act which is morally evil. The destruction of the life of a fellow-creature does not constitute the guilt of murder; for this may be done by the hand of the executioner, or the fury of a maniac, as well as by the stroke of the assassin. Indeed the actions of an individual, in a moral acceptance, are properly significant of those desires which are conceived to prompt him in performing them. In like manner his opinions, morally estimated, denote those inclinations which are supposed to operate on the understanding in the course of his adopting them—those predispositions which affect the mind in its capacity for knowledge, or susceptibility of conviction; in its search and use of that evidence by which facts are ascertained, and conclusions are established.—Theyre Smith's Hulsean Lectures.