under the severe trials, temptations, and afflictions, to which it pleases God to subject his faithful servants in this probationary world; and to check the confidence of approaching bliss, which sometimes beams upon his dying hours, and gives an animating lesson to the witnesses of his death. I conceive, however, that the few persons who may be distinguished by this mark of special favour, will be found among those whose works correspond with their professions of faith, whose affections are really set on things above, while they neglect no duty within their sphere of action, whose hearts are prepared by habitual devotion for the gifts of the Spirit, and who evince an humble sense of their own unworthiness, and a sincere belief in the superintending providence and controlling power of God, by a cheerful resignation to his will, and a constant trust in his protection, without falling into the presumptuous excesses to which these doctrines are carried by the arrogant enthusiasts of the present day.

The difficulties with which the parochial clergy have now to contend, arise from the perversion and abuse of true doctrines, by misguided or illdesigning men. It is no casy matter to define with precision where truth ends, and error begins. That human nature is corrupt, is a true doctrine; but it is not true, that it is so corrupt that all

endeavour

endeavour on our part to amend it must be totally ineffectual. The depravity of human nature is the ground upon which the necessity of redemption rests; but to represent this depravity as utterly incorrigible, is destructive of every human effort, of all moral virtue, and of every earthly comfort. If men be persuaded that they cannot arrive at any degree of goodness, they will be apt either to yield to every temptation, because they fancy resistance useless, and thus become profligate in the extreme; or, anticipating the pains of future punishment, they will suffer all the miseries of religious despair. The clergy therefore cannot caution their parishioners too strongly against listening to those preachers who are continually describing man as irrecoverably sunk in sin and wickedness; they should impress upon their minds the duty and necessity of exertion; and teach them, that the frailty and corruption derived from our first parent will not be admitted as an excuse for criminal indulgencies, since we are assured that we shall always be assisted by divine grace in our struggles to withstand the evil propensities of our nature: "God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it (f)."

(f) I Cor. c. 19. v. 13.

We

We must however be careful not to represent men, even in their most improved state, as deserving of positive reward at the hands of their Almighty Creator. The obnoxious and unfounded doctrine of human merit, held by the church of Rome, fosters pride and presumption. The equally erroneous and baneful doctrine of moral incapacity, in the extent unhappily adopted by Calvin, tends to produce hopeless melancholy, or hardened profligacy (g). The former exalts too high, the latter depresses too low, the powers of man. Our Church, with its usual accuracy and judgement, avoids both these errors, by considering men as capable of contributing in some degree to their own moral and religious improvement, through the influence of God's preventing grace; and by maintaining that their constant and zealous exertions to purify their hearts and minds, will be furthered by more ample supplies of divine assistance; not because of their own deserts, but for the sake of their blessed Redeemer. Obedience is commanded, and it is therefore our duty; our practicable duty, or it would not have been commanded. We are expressly told, that when we have done all "those things which are commanded us," we are still "unprofitable

(g) Non equidem nego quin multi audientes nihil esse boni in nobis, sibi in suis vitiis liberius indulgeant. Calv. in Phil, c. 2. v. 13.

"unprofitable servants (h);" we can have no right to reward; and an eternal reward, as a matter of right, ought not even to be named among us. But who can say, he has done all? What man liveth and sinneth not? In many things we all offend; and pardon is the object of the daily petitions which our Lord himself enjoined. Where then is boasting? It is excluded and disclaimed. It is one thing to say, that such an action, performed from a sincere desire to obey the will of God, is partly the effect of our own voluntary exertion; and another, to boast of the action as in itself meritorious. It is one thing to trust to the goodness of God, as declared in Scripture, for the effectual assistance of the Holy Spirit; and another to assert, that from our own intrinsic merit we have a right to divine favour here, and to reward heareafter. The "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come (i)," the means of grace, and the hope of glory, we owe solely to the undeserved mercy of God through the merits and mediation of his blessed Son. It is not possible for man, with reference to the original connexion between the creature and his Creator, to have any merit towards God; for whatever powers and qualifica

tions

(h) Luke, c. 17. v. 10. (i) 1 Tim. c. 4. v. 8.

tions he possesses, he has received them all from God; and God has a right to every exertion which man can make. But God has been pleased to enter into a covenant with man, subsequent to the rules and directions which he gave him at his creation, and to promise certain privileges and blessings, upon the performance of certain conditions. This new Dispensation, so far from being the consequence of any right conduct in man, is founded in his misconduct, the first intimation of future redemption being given immediately after the Fall, at the moment God was denouncing punishment upon the disobedience of Adam. It is to be acknowledged in all its parts as entirely gratuitous, as proceeding solely from the free mercy of God; and our performance of the required conditions is not to be considered as constituting any merit in us, or conferring any right to reward, independent of his promises. If the conditional offer of spiritual aid in this world, and of eternal happiness in the next, had not been made, the same conduct in us, supposing that possible, would have given no claim to favour or reward from God here or hereafter, a right to any recompence from God being absolutely impossible. I am here speaking upon the ground of strict justice, and upon no other ground can the abstract question of merit be argued. The question

becomes