propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."a

These words, brethren, have probably been often heard and read by you before; but you may perhaps have never seriously considered their meaning. I will therefore endeavour to explain them, by a practical application to your own case. When men are asked how they expect to be saved after death, they frequently give such replies as these; that "they are not great sinners; they are no worse than others; they have never done any thing particularly wrong; and they never did any harm to any one; and therefore they hope that, as God is merciful, all will be well with them." Even if they allow that they are "not quite so good as they ought to be," and admit in general terms that they are "sinners," yet it is too often next to impossible to bring them to acknowledge the guilt of any particular transgression. Alas! such persons are utterly unacquainted with God's perfect law, and are entirely ignorant of themselves! For, what is sin? Not merely what man will acknowledge to be wrong, or what human laws will punish. Sin is what God declares to be wrong; "for sin is the transgression of the law." And what says this law? It requires an obedience of the heart and mind. God searches and knows the heart, and therefore demands its perfect obedience, and forbids its evil dispositions. Hence the law is made for the inmost recesses of the soul, as well as for the actions of life. The law, as it is interpreted and enforced by our Lord Jesus Christ, pronounces sinful anger to be murder, and unchaste thoughts adultery. (See Matt. v. 21, 22, 27, 28.) The law requires of every human being a perfect obedience in thought, word, and deed. Hear our Lord's statement of it: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, 'Thou

shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." a And, as he said on another occasion when speaking of these two commandments, "This do, and thou shalt live." b And now, brethren, have you done this? Have you thus loved God and your neighbour? Now St. James says, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." So that the venerable Richard Hooker truly remarks, "If our hands did never offer violence to our brethren, a bloody thought doth prove us murderers before him" that is, before God: "if we had never opened our mouths to utter any scandalous, offensive, or hurtful word, the cry of our secret cogitations is heard in the ears of God. If we did not commit the evils which we do daily and hourly, either in deeds, words, or thoughts, yet, in the good things which we do, how many defects are there intermingled!" &c. d How many, how great, are our sins therefore, when every such departure from God's law, in thought and feeling, as well as in word and action, is sin! I need not detain you by attempting to prove that other men are wicked; for all men act on the presumption of this truth. Take an instance; where is the man who will feel it safe to trust his neighbour to make a bargain with him, without narrowly watching over his own interests lest he should be defrauded? So true it is that all men really and practically admit the general wickedness of mankind, though they too often in words deny it, especially in their own case! But let me apply this general truth more closely to yourselves. Your consciences must tell you that you were born the subjects of your Creator, and are therefore bound to obey his voice, and "to walk in his laws which he" may "set before you." Now it is certain that you have violated them in many instances. Search the records of your own consciences. Let me ask you seriously, have you never in your life sinned wilfully against God? Have you never wilfully broken his laws? Supposing you have been free from gross sins which are punishable by human laws (such as murder, theft, and adultery), can you pretend that you have never violated God's laws relating to piety, charity, and

c James ii. 10. e Dan. ix. 10.

temperance? Is there no person who can testify that you have said or done something amiss? or would you be willing to disclose even to your dearest friends all that passes in your thoughts during even a single day? Is there no thought which you would feel ashamed to declare? And, if so, why, if it be not sinful and wrong? Yet God knows and observes these thoughts, and forms his judgment accordingly! And will you venture to say that you are compelled to commit these sins in thought, word, and deed, and therefore that it is unjust to charge you with the guilt of them, or to punish you? You would not, I am sure, take such an excuse from a servant who had robbed you, or injured you, or insulted you, even when impelled by anger to do so; nay, I think that there are many who consider that a servant or a child who assumes a sullen and sulky look, though he does not betray it in words and obeys their commands, is worthy of punishment almost as much as if he had offended in word or deed. Moreover, there is scarcely any fault in our fellow-men which offends and annoys us so much as vanity and pride; though perhaps there is none which really injures us so little, or to which we are ourselves more prone. Remember, therefore, "with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." Men, indeed, generally think lightly of sin; but God does not. Many will attempt to persuade you that God does not take much account of it; but what says God on the subject? "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Did you ever reflect that it was only one sin which brought misery and death into the world, filling it with pains and groans? What are those numerous hospitals, full of the sick and maimed-those loathsome gaols and dungeons, and those bloody carnages on the field of battle? What brings plagues, pestilences, famines, and other evils? What has converted the world into one great buryingplace for its inhabitants? It is sin which has done all this! And will you not tremble as your own hearts convict you of innumerable sins, so hateful in God's sight, and you remember that, "if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things "?c For, if the sin of eating the forbidden fruit could not be passed over, though its punishment involved such fatal consequences, we must conclude that sin

a

a Matt. vii. 2.

b Ezek. xviii. 4.

c 1 John iii. 20.

a

appears in every case the same in the sight of a holy God, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Every sin, therefore, being an act of rebellion against him, must be the object of his displeasure, and will for ever separate from him every soul of man in whom it is found unpardoned; “for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." b

I have thus endeavoured, brethren, to bring home the conviction of sin to each of your consciences; and may the Holy Spirit so apply the conviction that you may feel it deeply, and thus be led earnestly to seek an interest in the appointed means of escape from its awful consequences. You see that, following a line of argument similar to that of St. Paul in chapters i. and ii. of the epistle from which my text is taken, I have proved beyond dispute "that every mouth" must "be stopped, and all the world" must "become guilty before God." And as to yourselves, brethren, you "must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." The Lord will then "bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." And what do the consciences of each of you say to this? Are you prepared for this disclosure? Will eternal bliss or eternal woe be your recompence according to the records of conscience? Does not the solemn question occur to each of you, "How must I prepare to meet my Judge?" You will perhaps say within yourselves, "Though I have often sinned, yet I will endeavour to reform; and then I hope that God will accept my sincere, though imperfect, obedience." But the decree has gone forth, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." To suppose a law given by God, which would admit of imperfect obedience, would be to leave it impossible to define what is sin, and what is not. For, "sin is the transgression of the law;" and, if the law itself would be satisfied with sincerity of intention only, or merely

a James i. 17. c Rom. iii. 19.

f Gal. iii. 10.

b Rom. i. 18.

d 2 Cor. v. 10.

e 1 Cor. iv. 5. g1 John iii. 4.

with such imperfect obedience as a fallen creature could bestow, how could any transgression of it be defined? Supposing we are at liberty to call in question the threat annexed to the law by taking allowance for one sin, what is that sin? And, if for one sin, why not for two, or three, or more? If we could thus suppose that God would overlook one transgression of his law, we might reasonably conclude that he would overlook more; and who could decide where we were to stop? And would not this give to man the power to dispense with the law of God at plea sure, and thus, in fact, to abrogate it? For, if once the right of judging be taken out of God's hands, there will be no end of pleading for transgression; no fear of it; no sense of good and evil; no submission to God's authority; and hence no obedience. It is therefore just in God to enact a perfect law, and to annex condemnation to the least transgression of it.*

How, then, brethren, do you, who have been guilty of innumerable transgressions, expect to fare in the judgment-day? "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" a Of God it is said, "Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?"b "Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?" c What then, have even the best of men to offer to God worthy of his acceptance? Is it works? Alas! we have none-none that can stand God's test, or satisfy his justice! Consider what may appear the best action in your lives; examine it by the rule of the law, as it extends to the thoughts and intents of the heart; in the matter or manner, principle or end, be assured you will find some defect. Let the pious and learned Hooker speak upon this head, "The best things we do have something in them to be pardoned. How, then, can we do anything meritorious, and worthy to be reb Job iv. 18, 19.

c Job xxv. 5, 6.

a Job xxv. 4. The substance of the latter part of this paragraph is taken from the Preface to the late Rev. H. Venn's "Complete Duty of Man."