the wrath of the Almighty to be poured out upon him; which brings us,

Thirdly, To speak of our Jesus as bearing sin, or taking away the sin of the world;-a most delightful subject. The doctrine of the putting away of sin, is of great antiquity. Peter speaks of Christ as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and it is a doctrine of such importance, that the remembrance of it is kept up in heaven: the happy souls who now behold the face of Jesus, are continually shouting, "Worthy the Lamb that was slain." This doctrine Satan hates; and our legal hearts oppose. What! Christ take all my sin upon himself, and be made a curse for it, and bear all the punishment due to it, and God the Father pronounce me pardoned-acquitted? Justified upon the footing of it, "Oh," says our naughty hearts, "this is too good news to be true; surely grace is not so free as this; surely I must bear a part of the punishment;" and thus we want to share it with Christ; but the weight of one sin would have broken all the angels' backs; none but the God-man could have stood up under the weight of it; and the text declares the Lamb of God has taken sin away. Lord help us to believe the doctrine, in spite of Satan, self, and all that oppose it. There is a most horrible trade carrying on in the world: thousands are substituting their own doings in the stead of Christ. They engage in this, that, and the other, hoping the Most High God will be the better pleased with them; that they shall curtail the workings of depravity, and thereby they will not stand so much in need of this worthy Lamb. Surely such persons do not consider that they have a whole body of sin within them, and that all their actions are rottenness and corruption in the sight of God; and so they would be in their view, had they seen the Lord Christ. When our minds are enlightened by the Holy Spirit to take in scriptural ideas from the word of God, of the person and finished work of Jesus, and see that he has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, oh, such a soul trembles at the thought of sharing the glory with Jesus; oh, it will cast its every crown at the royal feet of Jesus. I will be bold to affirm, that this doctrine will do to live by, and die by. Shall I tell you how you may please Jehovah the Father? By going to a throne of grace, and saying, "Lord, I present myself before thy majesty: I am in and of myself all sin,-full of sin; every act I perform is sinful; all my past acts, present acts, and future acts, have been, are, and will be, contaminated with sin; I come, pleading the person, life, sacrifice, and salvation of Jesus." Oh, this will engage the ear of God; such a soul shall have a hearty welcome, and have what they ask; indeed, the crown of Christ would fade in heaven to reject such a one, for he has pawned his word: "He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Oh, some may be saying, this is a smooth way of going on: sin,

and go to the Lord. There is no way of going on and living down sin within us, and living above sin without us, but by living a life of faith on the Son of God. Nothing said in the text about a man's experience, or that he must feel so and so; no; but a permanent object is set before him-Jesus to gaze at; and a most blessed subject to think upon, the putting away sin. Lord, bless thy own word.

JAMES.

AN UNPUBLISHED SERMON OF A LATE EMINENT GOSPEL MINISTER.

(Concluded from page 5.)

I SHALL now, as proposed, consider the latter part of the text; which is the answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" The answer is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

These are the words of Paul and Silas. If any should say, these are the words of men, if you are not satisfied with them, hear what Christ himself saith: "This is the commandment, that ye believe on him whom God hath sent;" if you should say who is that, hear Christ again: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.'

The command is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." If it should be said, "Why, who is it in these our days that does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; are we not brought up in a christian country, and how can we be otherwise than christians?" Let me tell you, that all natural or unconverted men or women are not believers in Christ, let your bringing up be what it may. Another, perhaps, will say (which often has been said), "That if believing be all that is necessary, it matters not then what our works are; we may as well indulge ourselves in sin as not."

How soon must such have forgotten what has been said respecting the conviction of a sinner. If they mean the works of a natural man, they cannot be worse than they are, for every natural man is at enmity with God; and while he continues in that state, God's word says, he is both under the wrath and curse of God, let his works be what they will. There is no doubt but all the works in their natural state, both of the gaoler and Paul, were offensive to God, as they were all sinful, and nothing but sin, as are all the works of all the unconverted; they all sprang from an evil root; the natural root is nothing but evil, and that continually. If this be the case (which it certainly is), how is it possible that such a root can bring forth good fruit? But I don't think you meant the natural man, because you say,

"If believing be all that is required;" therefore, you mean, (if you have any meaning at all,) that believers may as well sin as not, which is nothing short of blasphemy against God; for how can a holy God give a license to sin? Did you see that in the gaoler after his conviction? No, quite the reverse; instead of persecuting and punishing the Apostles, he immediately was baptized, and washed their stripes, and brought them into his house and set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing God. This is quite different from flogging and fettering them. If you should say, "What makes this difference?" Why, God had put a fresh root in him, the root of his Spirit; a spiritual root, which will produce spiritual fruit; which the natural root could not do.

See the same in Paul; so soon as he was converted, he straightway preached Christ publicly in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God, who, just before, he had been persecuting with all the malice that the world and hell could produce. But so soon as God's Spirit took root in his heart, he must, in spite of all the shame and malice of men and devils, who were before his pretended friends, and now are all turned against him, I say, in spite of all this, he must be led by the Spirit.

This is the case with all, in a degree, when they are born of the Spirit; they may, and do, sin; and frequently, through temptation, or surprise, may commit great sins too; but that they are sure to smart for it, most of God's children know something of this.

But after all this, they cannot love sin in their hearts; nor can they have any enjoyment in it, for they hate it. Sin, they know, is the cause of all the evils that befal mankind; and sin was the cause of the sufferings of Christ. When a man sees that it was his sins that nailed Christ to the cross, can he possibly delight in crucifying him afresh? No; impossible. Whoever he be who delights in sin, he may rest assured, that he hath no part in Christ; and if he so dies in that state, to hell he must go.

Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is the same thing as faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith, or believing in the Lord Jesus Christ; and yet this faith is not of ourselves, it is not in our natural state: it is the free gift of God, without any merit of any works of ours. God, in his own appointed time, by his Spirit of grace, gives his people faith, love, repentance, and every Spiritual blessing that they stand in need of. Hear what the word of God says that this Spiritual faith doth for his children: "Faith in Christ is a saving grace wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God, whereby we receive Christ, as he is revealed in the gospel, to be our Saviour." Again, "this faith enables us to trust in, and rely upon, Christ, and his righteousness alone, for righteousness, justification, and

sanctification." Again, "this faith begets a sincere obedience in the life and conversation, and has a prevailing influence upon the will; it also draws the affections, and renders the whole will of the man to the obedience of the gospel." Again, it is called "the faith through which we are saved. It is a faith which worketh by love."

It is not an idle and inactive grace; no, it shews itself by producing in us love to God and our neighbour; it also purifies the heart; and not, as some say, gives a license to sin. It is called the faith of God's elect. This faith hath wrought a change in their hearts, they love God, and the people of God, (which before this change they hated); hereby they know that they have passed from death unto life, because they love the brethren; hereby they perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for them. They love not in word only, but indeed and in truth; hereby they know that they are of the truth, and do assure themselves before God. If their hearts condemn them not, then have they confidence towards God; and whatsoever they ask, they receive, because they keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is the commandment, "That they should believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and love one another as he hath given commandment;" and those that keep his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in them: and hereby they know (that is, they believe) that he dwelleth in them, by the Spirit which he hath given them. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Is this the Scripture account of faith? say to these things? If God be for us, to hurt us?

What, then, shall we who can be against us,

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, (note, all His people, not all the world, as some say,) how shall he not with him also freely give us all things. Who shall lay anything to God's elect? It is God that justifieth; it is Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God, who also is making intercession for his own sheep.

If any poor heavy-laden sinner be here, who is saying to himself, "Oh, that I could feel the experience here stated; but it is too high for me, for I am tossed about in a tempest of trials, afflictions, and temptations, and sometimes doubtful and fearful that my sins are beyond the reach of God's mercy ;" will you ask yourself if you feel a hatred of sin in your heart? If you do, it is the work of the Spirit of God in you. The natural man when he feels a dread of punishment, will naturally be stirred up to wish to avoid it; natural conscience will often do this for him, but it is quite contrary to his wish; he therefore

uses every means to lull it asleep, and the devil is sure to assist, for he does not care how still that lies.

But no sooner than the alarm is gone, but sin lies still again in his conscience. How can it be otherwise, so long as his nature is in league and in love with sin?

I say, do you hate sin? If you do, it is God's work; it is his Spirit that is in you that has changed your heart from the love of it to a hatred of it: and if his Spirit has begun a good work you, he will carry it on; and, in his own time, will establish your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

in

"Come unto me," says our dear Redeemer, "all ye that are weary and heavy laden with your sins, and I will refresh you, and give you rest." Remember, you are under his blessing and promise both: for he says, "Blessed are they who do hunger after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Both the gaoler and Paul at their conviction were just where you are; they felt the weight of their sins, and loathed them; and cried out, "What must they do?" Paul told the gaoler to believe; and Annanias laid his hand upon Paul, and the Holy Ghost gave him faith, and he straightway preached Christ, whom before he persécuted. But remember, when Paul was convicted, he prayed. "Behold," saith God, "he prayeth for the first time by the Spirit." No doubt, his being a Pharisee, he had pretended to pray many times before, but it was not by the Spirit, for he had not that: therefore, it never reached God. I say, Paul prayed; and remember, you are commanded to pray; and there is a promise to your prayers, which there is not to the unconverted man: no, "His prayers and sacrifices," says God, “are an abomination to me."

I say be much in prayer, and attend to God's word, which saith, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; and though your sins be as red as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool;" all this is done by the blood of Christ being spilled for a sacrifice for the sins of his people.

Note the last clause of the text: All believers in Christ shall be saved; note the strength of the words: shall be saved; it is impossible to be otherwise. Jesus himself saith, "He that believeth shall be saved." Again, "Whoso cometh unto me,. I will in nowise cast out." Again, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." He already hath it-it is the present tense that is spoken; whenever the Spirit of God enters the hearts of the elect, neither the world, the flesh, nor the devil, shall be ever able to separate them; no: "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."

May God bless, &c.

VOL. IX.-No. 106.]

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