judgment seat of CHRIST! a necessary, a prudent supposition; it ought to be a very frequent one. The Judge demands, "what hast thou to plead for a portion in the blessedness of the righteous?" The plea must be, "O my glorious judge, thou hast been my sacrifice. O thou judge of all the earth, permit dust and ashes to say, my righteousness is on the bench. Surely, in the LORD have I righteousness. O my Saviour, I have received it, I have secured it on thy own gracious offer of it." The Judge proceeds; "but what hast thou to plead that thy faith should not be rejected as the faith of the hypocrite?" Here the plea must be, "O LORD, my faith was thy work. It was a faith which disposed me to all the good works of thy holy religion. It sanctified me. It brought me to thee, my Saviour, for grace to perform the works of righteousness; it embraced thee for my LORD as well as Saviour; it caused me, with sincerity, to love and keep thy commandments, and with assiduity to serve the interests of thy kingdom in the world "

Thus you have Paul and James reconciled.' Thus you have good works provided for. The aphorism of the physicians, is, "By a man's outward acts of vigour, you judge of his internal health*." The actions of men are more

Per brachium fit judicium de corde.

certain indications of what is within than all their sayings.

But there is yet another consideration upon which you must be zealously affected to good works. You must consider them as a part of the great salvation which is purchased for you by Jesus Christ. Without a holy heart you cannot be fit for a holy heaven, "meet for the inheritance of the saints in that light," which admits no works of darkness, where none but good works are done for eternal ages: but a holy heart will induce a man to do good with all his heart. The motto on the gates of the holy city is, "None but the lovers of good works to enter here ;" it is implied in what we read, "without holiness no man shall see the LORD:" yea, to be saved without good works, were to be saved without salvation. Much of our salvation consists in doing good works. Heaven is begun upon earth when we are so engaged; and doubtless no man will get to heaven who is not so persuaded. ·

I shall mention but one more of those principles from which good works proceed: it is that noble one of GRATITUDE. The believer cannot but inquire, "What shall I render to my Saviour?"—the result of the inquiry will be, with good works to glorify him." We read,

that "faith worketh by love." Our faith will discover the matchless and marvellous love of God in saving us! and the faith of this love will work on our hearts, till it hath raised in us an unquenchable flame of love to him who hath so loved and saved us. These, these are to be our dispositions : "O my Saviour! hast thou done so much for me! now will I do all I can for thy kingdom and people in the world. Oh! what service is there that I may now perform for my Saviour and his people in the world?"

These are the principles to be proceeded on : and it is worthy of special observation, that there are no men in the world who so much abound in good works, as those who, above all others, have abandoned every pretension to the merit of their works. There are Protestants who have exceeded Papists in our days, as well as in those of Dr. Willet. No merit-mongers have exceeded some holy Christians, who have performed good works on the assurance of being already justified, and entitled to eternal life.

I observe that our apostle, throwing a just contempt on the endless genealogies, and long intricate pedigrees, which the Jews of his time dwelt so much upon, proposes in their stead,

"charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned:" as if he had said, "I will give you a genealogy worth ten thousand of theirs," first, from faith unfeigned proceeds a good conscience; from a good conscience, a pure heart; and from a pure heart, charity to all around us. It is admirably stated!

IT may justly be feared, that we too rarely inquire after

Opportunities to do good.

Our opportunities to do good are our talents. An awful account must be rendered to the great God, concerning the use of the talents with which he has intrusted us in these precious opportunities. Frequently we do not use our opportunities, because we do not consider them: they lay by unnoticed and unimproved. We read of a thing which we deride as often as we behold it. "There is that maketh himself poor, and yet hath great riches." This is too frequently exemplified in our opportunities to do good, which are some of our most valuable riches. Many a man seems to reckon himself destitute of these talents, as if there were nothing for him to do; he pretends that he is not in a condition to do any good. Alas! poor man, what can he do? My friend, think again;

think frequently: inquire what your opportunities are you will certainly find them to be more than you were aware of. "Plain men dwelling in tents," persons of a very ordinary rank in life, may, by their eminent piety, prove persons of extraordinary usefulness. A poor John Urich may make a Grotius the better for him. I have read of a pious weaver, of whom some eminent persons would say, " Christ walked, as it were, alive on the earth in that man." A mean mechanic-Who can tell what an engine of good he may become, if humbly and wisely applied to it?

Without

This then, is the next PROPOSAL. abridging yourselves of your occasional thoughts on the question, "What good may I do today?" fix a time, now and then, for more deliberate thoughts upon it. Cannot you find time, (say once a week, and how suitably on the Lord's day,) to take this question into consideration:

What is there that I may do for the service of the glorious Lord, and for the welfare of those for whom I ought to be concerned?

Having implored the direction of God, “the Father of lights," consider the matter in the various aspects of it. Consider it, till you have resolved on something. Write down your