pel is good news, my friends; it publishes a free, full, everlasting salvation to the chief of sinners.

Observe, Who it is that St. Paul recommends to the notice of this distressed man. It is the LORD JESUS CHRIST. It is the LORD. The Maker of heaven and earth, Col. i. 16;-"the Lord of all." Acts x. 30, who came down from heaven. The "Son of God," who became "the Son of Man," that we, the children of men, might become the children of God. His name is called JESUS, which signifies a Saviour, and he was so called, because "he came to save us from our sins," Matt. i. 21. Yet, this is, indeed, a "faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus came into the world to save sinners." He is also called CHRIST, or the Messiah, long promised, and long expected by the Jews; and it signifies the Anointed, which implies, that he was every way qualified for the work of salvation, and appointed to it. This then is the glorious person, to whom a sinner is directed to look for salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He exhorts him to believe. What is it to believe on him? I answer, it is to believe all that God says in the gospel concerning him, so as to look to him alone for salvation, Faith is explained by coming to Christ; it is the application of the mind to him for relief. It is called receiving Christ; soul accepts him as held forth in the gospel, in all his saying characters and offices. It is a committing the soul to him, knowing there is salvation in him, and in no other, and humbly relying on his love and faithfulness to preserve it unto eternal salvation. But the nature of faith is more fully considered in another Sermon.

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Observe, further, the comfortable assurance that is here given to the distressed Jailer. Thou shalt be saved. Salvation was what he longed for. He wanted to know the way of it. He is directed to Jesus as the Saviour, and to believe on him, as the way of being saved by him; and in so doing, he is assured that salvation shall be his. Blessed be God for many precious promises to this purpose in his word. Hear what Jesus Christ himself saith, John iii. 36. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." And in another place, John vi. 40, " This is the will of him that

sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.

APPLICATION.

And now, my friends, let me ask you, Are you concerned about your souls? Were you ever brought, like the Jailer, to ask, with seriousness, with earnestness of soul, what must I do to be saved? Are you not a sinner? Are you not a dying sinner? Must you not soon appear before your Judge? What, then, will you plead? Are you ready for the solemn trial? O consider these things! Trifle no longer with your souls! Eternity is at hand, Heaven or Hell, will soon be your portion. And can you be unconcerned? Be assured that serious consideration, and deep conviction, are absolutely necessary. There is no real religion without these. If you never felt a concern for the salvation of your soul-if you never felt a desire to know how you must be saved, you are yet a stranger to any true religion. You are a Christian only in name. You are far from God, and in a most dangerous condition. O then look up to God for the teaching of his Spirit; beg him to take away your heart of stone, and to make you truly desirous of his salvation.

If you are concerned about your soul, which way do you look for help? If you would be saved, what course do you take? Do you say, "I must repent and reform ?" It is true; so you must. But do you think that repentance or reformation, is sufficient to save your soul? No, Jesus is the only Saviour. The apostles directed sinners to believe in him. That is your first business. Pray for faith. It is the gift of God; and he will give it you, if ye will ask him. And if you truly believe, repentance and re`formation will surely follow, together with all good works, by which a true faith is as certainly known as a tree is discerned by its fruits. How soon did the Jailer prove the truth of his faith in this manner? He shewed the utmost readiness to hear the gospel preached by the ministers of Christ; and he joined to works of piety, those of charity; " he took Paul and Silas, the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes;" he also took upon himself the full profession of this new and despised religion, by being baptized, and so separating himself from all his heathen VOL. I. B

neighbours. Thus let us immediately separate ourselves from the vain world, and boldly confess to whom we belong; while we shew the strongest affection to the ministers and people of God.

SERMON II.

THE BROAD AND THE NARROW WAY.

Matt, vii. 13, 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be which find it.

T is with great propriety, that human life is compared

very short, and the present state is not our final rest, but only preparatory to it. Every man has some particular point at which he aims, and is daily travelling either to heaven or hell.

These words must have great weight with all who reverence the name and authority of Jesus Christ; for they are his words, and they contain matter of eternal importance to us all. They consist of a short exhortation"Enter ye in at the strait gate ;" and a very important reason for preferring that to the wide gate: for the wide gate leads to destruction, but the narrow one to eternal life. In discoursing on the text, let us consider,

I. The wide gate, and the broad way, with the end of it.

II. The strait gate, and the narrow way, with what it leads to. And,

III. Enforce the exhortation-"Enter ye in at the strait gate."

And now, O thou that beholdest the evil and the good; Thou who knowest every heart, and seest which of these ways we are in, make the word useful to us all, and incline poor sinners to choose the narrow way, that so they may find everlasting life!

I. We are to consider the wide gate, and the broad

way. And what is this but sin? If there is a way to hell, sin is certainly that way, for "the wages of sin is death;" but let such persons remember, that "what a man soweth, that shall he also reap." "If we live after the flesh, we shall die," Rom. vi. 23. But, to be more particular, this broad way includes, a thoughtless mind, a carnal heart, and a wicked life.

1. A thoughtless mind. And O how common this is! How many live as thoughtless about their souls, as if they had none. They think no more of God, and Christ, and salvation, than if they were incapable of thinking; they are like the beasts that perish. Although the great end of our being is, to know, serve, and glorify God; yet this is wholly lost sight of and forgotten. Although the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the care of the soul it the one thing needful; yet thousands, even in this Christian country, live like Atheists, and God is not in all their thoughts. O prodigious and lamentable stupidity! Awake, O sleeper, arise, and call upon thy God, lest thou perish! Where is thy conscience? What says death? Is it not approaching? O rouse yourselves from this dangerous lethargy, and think what you are, and where you are going. Some of you may be free from the grosser vices: not chargeable, perhaps, with profaneness or drunkenness ; yet know, that if living in ease and security, without any care about your soul and eternity, you are, equally with the vilest characters, in the broad road to destruction.

Again, The carnal or filthy heart is included; so the Holy Ghost describes the heart of man in its natural and depraved state. The immortal mind of man, originally created in the image of God, and formed for spiritual exercises, is now, by the fall of Adam, become carnal. So St. Paul speaks in the 8th of Romans, verse the 5th, "Thay that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." The carnal man is all for the world. His cares, his hopes, his fears, his desires, his pleasures, his pains, his conversation, is all about the world. His fleshly mind is crowded with worldly thoughts, and, as it was at Bethlehem, there is no room for Christ in the inn. But let it be observed, that whoever is in this case is in the broad road;

for the scripture declares, that "they that are in the flesh cannot please God," and that this "carnal mind is enmity against God." This is the miserable condition of many, who pass for moral, industrious, good sort of people; but they are far from God;-they are "sensual, not having the Spirit ;" and minding only earthly things, their end is destruction. Phil. iii. 19.

Once more, observe, that the broad way includes-A wicked life. A life of sin. Whoever lives in wilful disobedience to the commands of God is assuredly in the road to destruction. Let none deceive themselves with

"He that committeth sin

vain words and idle excuses. is of the devil," 1 John iii. 8. "Know ye not," saith the Apostle Paul, "that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, shall inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. God will not hold him guiltless, who taketh his name in vain ; nor will the sabbath-breaker escape unpunished. How is it then, that poor sinners flatter themselves with hopes of salvation; "for these things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience," Eph. v. 6.

To these destructive sins another may be added, which is more destructive than them all; namely, the sin of unbelief. Though a person should be free from many of the sins just mentioned, yet unbelief would be like a millstone about his neck, and sink him for ever into the gulf of perdition. God having, in his rich mercy to mankind, sent his Son to be a Saviour, and sent his gospel to publish this in our ears, nothing can be more displeasing to him than to "neglect his great salvation," or "refuse him that speaketh from heaven." Our blessed Saviour, while he mercifully promises, that "he who believeth shall be saved;" solemnly declares, that "he who believeth not shall be damned." Mark xvi. 16.

This, then, is the wide gate and the broad way-namely, a thoughtless mind-a carnal heart-and a wicked life; all which, by unbelief, which refuses the only method of salvation, lead to certain and everlasting ruin.

But you will ask, Why are these things so described? Why are they compared to a wide gate and a broad way?