stant or wavering faith; but a sure, stedfast, grounded, and unfeigned faith. God sent his Son into the world saith St. John. To what end? That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have life everlasting. Mark these words, that whosoever believeth in him. Here is the mean, whereby we must apply the fruits of Christ's death unto our deadly wound. Here is the mean, whereby we must obtain eternal life; namely, faith. For, as St. Paul teacheth in his Epistle to the Romans, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Paul, being demanded of the keeper of the prison, what he should do to be saved, made this answer: Believe in the Lord Jesus, so shalt thou and thine house both be saved. After the Evangelist had described and set forth unto us at large, the life and death of the Lord Jesus, in the end he concludeth with these words: These things are written, that we may believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, and through faith obtain eternal life. To conclude with the words of St. Paul, which are these: Christ is the end of the law unto salvation, for every one that doth believe."-Second Homily concerning the death and passion of our Saviour Christ.

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SERMON II.

JUSTIFYING RIGHTEOUSNESS AND CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE.

MATTHEW v. 20.

say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

If we would avoid making shipwreck of our faith, there are two extremes, against which we must diligently guard—Pharisaical self-righteousness, and Antinomian licentiousness. To fortify us against these widely different, but equally pernicious errors, seems to be the principal design of our Lord in that part of scripture from whence the text is taken; and to answer this end it is pre-eminently calculated. The only effectual antidote for either of the evils alluded to, is a full and accurate

discovery of the nature and end of the law of God. And here in his sermon on the mount, our blessed Saviour becomes himself the expositor of that law, declares it in its nature to be eternal, unchangeable, and spiritual; clears it of the false glosses of the rabbinical traditions and sets it forth as the great mean, under the influence of the Spirit, of convincing the sinner of his sins, leading him to Christ, and directing him in the path of obedience.

Let me, in this place, remind you, my brethren, that an intimate acquaintance with that law which has been declared to be "holy, and just, and good,” must lie at the groundwork of all true knowledge and practical experience in religion. Regarding the subject sentimentally-if this be lost sight of altogether, or only superficially considered, the remaining part of our system, utterly destitute of stability and coherence, will be like a house built upon the sands;-the pillar will want its base, and the arch its key-stone. But contemplating the thing in a much higher point of view,-in relation to

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christian experience; until a man, under divine teaching, has been brought acquainted with the law, until that law has come with convincing power to his heart, he will remain unhumbled; every avenue of his mind will be closed to the light, and his whole soul disqualified for receiving, in the love of it, a single doctrine of the gospel.

If then, my brethren, you would “ go on unto perfection," be careful in the very outset of your christian course to begin, with the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. Begin where the bible begins; commence where Christ commences; and with the lesson which he, in the first place, inculcates-an humbling sense of your state before God as originally both guilty and depraved, corrupt in every faculty, actual transgressors of the law in ten thousand instances, and the objects of Almighty wrath. In a matter of such importance, spare no pains to form a correct judgment, a just estimate. With this view, bring your character and conduct to the test of the divine

word; and study that word, (especially the part of it now before us,) with childlike simplicity of mind, with humble dependance on the spirit, and with fervent prayer for divine teaching.

With what solemnity does our divine Teacher usher in the subject of the text; and well might he do so; for it is one which, in a peculiar manner, involves, and is identified with, our eternal interests. "I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." By the concluding phrase is sometimes intended a state of grace; sometimes a state of glory. Here it is probably to be understood in the latter sense. What a train of important considerations, therefore, present themselves! The glories of heaven; the way which leads to them; the very gate of admission into the heavenly mansions; and, above all, that righteousness upon the ground of which an abundant entrance is ministered into the everlasting kingdom, and that holi