mercy, no supplies of grace to serve him, no cheering hope of heavenly joys, nor even present comfort to our souls. And how awful must be the case of that man whose very prayers are vain! are even turned into sin, by their heartlessness, a mere lip labour, a taking of God's name in vain. Yet may not many fear, that up to the present hour, they have never offered any better service than that which the text condemns? "Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Let us look back, my brethren, with shame, on our formal, empty services; let us seek the forgiveness even of our holy things; let us beg of God to pour on us the spirit of prayer and supplication, that so we may escape the doom of dissemblers with Him.

SERMON XVII.

JOHN ix. 35.

DOST THOU BELIEVE ON THE SON OF GOD?

A

THE narrative, of which these words form a part, is highly interesting. Our Lord had met with a man who was born blind; and had conferred upon him not only the power of vision, but the ability of at once employing the newly acquired faculty. miracle so remarkable, probably the first of the kind that Jesus had performed, excited much attention, and produced, we may suppose, a conviction in the minds of many, that he was indeed the promised Messiah. The rulers of the Jews, dreading the increase of our Lord's influence among the people, had the man brought before them, with the intention, as they professed, of enquiring into the truth of the miracle; but in reality, with the design of finding some pretext for pronouncing it an imposture. In this, however, they completely failed. The man replied to some of their insidious and captious enquiries, by the plain and simple declaration, "this one thing I know, that

whereas I was blind, now I see.' The change had been effected by "a man called Jesus," and since it never had been heard that any one had opened the eyes of a person born blind, he concluded, from what he had experienced, that he who had done this must be from God. Baffled in their design by this simple argument, yet in no degree disposed to admit, that Jesus of Nazareth was from heaven, they vented their anger upon the man, whose eyes had been opened. They told him that "he was altogether born in sin," and asked if he would presume to "teach," or dictate to them : and forthwith put him out of the synagogue, as an excommunicated person.

Our Lord, having been told of the treatment which the poor man had received from the Scribes and Pharisees, went out to seek him, and having found him, he put to him the question forming our text, "Dost thou believe in the Son of God?"

This question, in itself a very simple one, involves in it subjects of the deepest interest, to every one of us. I propose then,

I. TO MAKE SOME REMARKS UPON ITS SCOPE; and

II. TO CONSIDER THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ABLE TO ANSWER IT IN A SATISFACTORY MANNER.

I. Let us, then, consider the SCOPE OF Our LORD'S QUESTION.

The man to whom the enquiry was primarily

addressed, had some faint and inadequate notions of the dignity and power of him who had opened his eyes. He declared his conviction that Jesus was "a prophet," that he must be "from God," or otherwise he would be able to do nothing. Still, however, his conceptions of our Lord's character and powers were very low, for he did not know whether he was cc a sinner" or not, though this one thing he knew, that whereas he himself had been blind, he then could see.

Here was then a grievous deficiency in knowledge and acquaintance with spiritual things. He did not really as yet believe in Christ, because he did not know him; he had not heard of him, or been instructed in the things which related to his everlasting peace. Yet still, deficient as was his knowledge, we discover traces of a right state of mind; there was a disposition to embrace the truth, wherever it might be found. Our Lord puts the question to him, that he might be made to feel his ignorance, and apply for instruction; and, conscious of his ignorance, he did immediately apply for instruction, "who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" And no sooner did Christ assure him, that he, who was then speaking to him, was the Son of God, than he felt the full force of the miracle which had been wrought on him, as demonstrating the truth of our Lord's declaration, and cried, "Lord, I believe; and worshipped him."

The question, as addressed to a Jew, was in fact

this, "Dost thou believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah-the Son of God-the Saviour of the world-Emmanuel, God with us? Dost thou recognize in him all those excellences which were to characterise the long promised Redeemer, in whom all nations were to be blessed; and whom Isaiah announced as the "child born," yet the " mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of whose government and dominion there would be no end." The Christian beholds all this in him, who was once despised and rejected of men," when he took upon him the form of a servant, and appeared in the likeness of man.-The Jew denies all this, he says that Jesus was a deceiver, that his nation did right in condemning him to die, and that all who worship him as God, are guilty of idolatry. But it would not be at all to our profit, to follow out the argument as relates to the Jews, on whose heart" the veil still remains untaken away."

The question "Dost thou believe in the Son of

God?" as addressed to the members of a Christian congregation, assumes a very different aspect, and gives rise to enquiries of a very different nature. Were we indeed to give full credit to all that passes, in the course of the services of our own Church, we should without hesitation say, it was answered, as regards all its members; for all in the most open manner avow, that they do believe in the Son of God-in all that he did on earth-in all