And now, my brethren, consider the result of this inquiry; we find that the most holy and best men of antiquity, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, were accustomed to pour out their hearts before God in the most humble and selfabasing language; we have the general tenor of scripture instructing us that God will be approached by us in this manner; and we discover, upon examination, that the whole service of the church of England, from its introductory addresses to the most solemn sacrament of the Lord's Supper, abounds with language which cannot be exceeded in energy and plainness, expressive of conscious guilt, alienation from God, and need of his free mercy and forgiveness. Suffer me, then, to ask, my brethren, whether they can be good divines, or good churchmen, who endeavour to soften down and qualify this humbling doctrine? Who admit that man is sinful, but not wholly so; that he has a tendency to evil, but a tendency to good

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also; contrary to the positive declaration of God,* that "the imaginations of man's heart are ONLY evil, and that continually!" Can it be sound doctrine to exalt poor fallen human nature, and to endeavour to clear its character from that stain with which sin has darkened it, contrary to scripture, fact, and the experience of our own hearts and consciences, if we let them speak? Is it not the true doctrine of our church to describe the state of man by nature as at enmity with God, as totally alienated from him, as dead in trespasses and sins, without hope, without power to save himself, and then to exhibit that powerful and efficient remedy, the great salvation which is in Christ Jesus? In the one case, the depth of the malady is concealed, and the only remedy is slighted; in the other, the fatal and deadly effects of sin are admitted, and the only true and

* Gen. vi. 5.

efficacious medicine is applied to the soul. And is it possible that any one can question this point? Have not you yourself, for years, been confessing its truth with your own lips? You have called yourself" a miserable sinner, a miserable offender;" you have confessed this day "that there is no health in you;" you have called for mercy repeatedly, and have prayed to God to spare you. Perhaps you have often acknowledged and bewailed the burthen of sin at the sacramental table, and when this has been the language of your lips, can you be surprised at being addressed as a sinner, and at being invited to fly to that Saviour who came to seek and to save the lost? It is impossible that you can be surprised or offended at this, unless you have uttered with your mouth that which your heart has never felt! and indeed, it is to be feared that many have done so!

If we all felt deeply the importance of confession and absolution, the ac

knowledgment of our sins, and the promise of pardon offered in Christ, could so many of us attend the house of God so irregularly as very often to lose that most affecting and interesting part of the service? Let me affectionately exhort you, my brethren, not to think this a' point of little importance; late attendance on the worship of God argues sai culpable indifference and negligence, and offers a most serious hinderance to the devotions of those who are desirous to join in the service from its commencement. If we feel that we have sins to confess, and need the promised pardon in Christ, we shall not only be anxious to be present during this part of the public ordinances, but shall enter the house of God early enough to collect our thoughts beforehand, lest we increase the sum of our offences by approaching his mercy-seat hastily and unprepared!

Finally, I would endeavour to impress upon all, the vast importance of

correct views and feelings on this truly fundamental doctrine of the Bible and of the church; our ideas of all the other truths of christianity will depend upon our view of this; if we take a limited and partial estimate of our guilt and sinfulness, innate and actual, we shall of course have limited and partial views of the salvation which is revealed in Christ. If we do not feel that we are lost, we shall never earnestly seek him who came to save the lost; if we have not a full conviction of our spiritual poverty, we shall never labour for "the unsearchable riches of Christ." If we do not know that we are dead in sin, we shall never appreciate him who is the life of those who are dead. If we are ignorant that we are spiritually rich, we shall not regard the good Physician; and on the other hand, the more extensive are our views of our own fallen condition, the more we shall discover of the goodness and grace of Christ.

O that we may all enter into the spi