manner, participates in his holiness, and includes his own existence in his. Thus, when the husbandman grafts a feeble branch upon a stem of vigorous growth, it cannot, if the union is complete, remain barren; but, nourished by the same sap which circulates in the tree of which it has become a part, it is clothed with blossom, and crowned with abundant fruit.

Ah! how could the wretch who felf himself on the point of perishing, and whom a saving hand snatches from destruction; how could the sinner, who has known the horrors of condemnation, but who now beholds the Son of God suffering the penalty due to us;-how could such an one endure, how dare, to offend his benefactor anew! Would not even the very inhabitants of hell, the " spirits reprobate" themselves, were it possible for them to be the objects of so much mercy, be thereby constrained to love and serve Him!

Again, therefore, I repeat it,--and too often re-asserted it cannot be,-true faith consists in a sense of our own deficiencies, and of the blessings obtained for us by our Lord. At

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once a motive and a consequence, it suffers not the heart to lie unfruitful and unmoved.

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works there as an operative principle, and stimulates it by the most energetic impulses; it strives to exhibit external evidences of its existence, both actively in works, and passively by sacrifices. The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."

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You, then, who lay claim to faith, and yet continue in sin, and live still a sensual life, and give up no habits of criminality, none of vices, natural or acquired ;-you deceive yourselves grievously: yours is not Faith; you love not for, like the Pharisee, you deem you have no need of pardon; you have never yet felt what you would be without Christ, never conceived what Christ hath suffered for you.

The Christian in whose soul Faith dwells, no longer questions, no longer procrastinates: he is prepared to do every thing, to sacrifice every thing, for the love he bears to his Redeemer.

If, in a word, you loved Him, you would surmount all obstacles; and to complain that this sacrifice is too great, that this effort is too painful, amounts to a confession that you do not love your Saviour as you ought; for, to those who feel that love within, all things are easy.

Now, then, My Brethren, do you conceive the value and the extent of a genuine faith? You have had set before you its surprising efficacy. On God's part, it disarms his vengeance, and propitiates his mercy. From having been obnoxious to his indignation and wrath, it renders us the favoured objects of his pity and his love: through its influence, the lightnings of his anger become the crowns of our immortality. On the part of man, not only does it tranquillize him, console him, and excite in him the most glorious hopes; it inspires him with a new existence. It is of him in whom this faith dwells, that Scripture uses this consolatory language: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin."-Can there be any principle in the world, nobler, greater, or more blessed, than such a faith?

Let us, Christians, make it the object of our wishes; let us exert every endeavour in our power to possess ourselves of it. And thou, O my soul, awake! and recall into thy meditations the death of the Son of God, which we this day commemorate. Now turn thy gaze upon Calvary. What object strikes thee there?—The Prince of Heaven suspended upon the cross, the companion of malefactors. In his adorable countenance, I behold the Divinity veiled by the shadows of death;-his glorious head wears a crown of thorns;-his sacred blood trickles drop by drop; his feet and hands are pierced through with the nails. Oh, King of Glory! Creator of the thrones and dominions of heawen! is it indeed Thou, whom I behold reduced to this condition of debasement and of woe? Were we but to see a mere man, like ourselves, undergoing a like torture, even were he unknown and unrelated to us, the last and lowest of mankind, we should yearn over him with an emotion of the deepest pity. But this crucified sufferer is no stranger, no unknown person, no criminal: he is not even a mere mortal man:

he is the HOLY ONE, the JUST; he is our Brother, our Head, our King; he is the Only-begotten Son, in whom the Father is well pleased; before whom the hosts of heaven bow down in adoration!

And wherefore does he thus suffer?-Ah! that recollection, like a sharp arrow, has pierced me to the soul! It is I,-it is my sins that have caused his death: the just sentence of my condemnation is executed upon my unoffending Saviour; and by his stripes and his agonies, I am healed. At length, O Jesus, I embrace Thee; with every faculty of my being I adore Him who dies for me. Too long I have been ungrateful; too long obdurate; now, at last, I feel my soul impressed with a just sense of thy benefits "I am bought with a price, therefore will I glorify God in my body and in my spirit, which are God's."

Are these, dear Brethren, your sentiments? May God inspire such, or may he strengthen them, and impress them upon our souls by his spirit everlastingly! Of that spirit, this faith,