entitle him to immortal happiness and glory? Turn to the commandments of God, as delivered, by the Deity Himself, to His own peculiar people. Examine the Decalogue. What are the "works" there enumerated? In full knowledge of man's impotency, no mighty actions are, there, prescribed for him to exercise himself in; but the commands are, almost entirely, negative. These commandments refer to man's conduct, as regards his Creator, and as regards his fellow man. Take the first table: "Thou shalt have no other Gods but me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, &c.-thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them, &c. Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy GOD in vain, &c. Remember the Sabbathday to sanctify it (or keep it holy) — the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy GOD; in it, thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, &c." Take Exod. xx. the second table: "Honour thy father and thy mother, &c. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet, &c."k Now, suppose a man to obey each, and all, of these commandments; what, let

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us ask, and where, are his "works?" What, and where, is his claim to eternal life in heaven? Take our Saviour's beautiful consolidation of these laws: "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 pro

1 Matt. xxii. phets." Thus, the sum of the decalogue, is love toward GOD, and love toward man. And, how consistent is this sum total of all that is required from man with the view which we have taken, of GoD's scheme of justification through Christ alone, and of man's impotency! How intimately connected with this view, are love towards GoD and man; and how naturally, as it were, do the obligations to love God and man arise out of this exposition of the Christian scheme! since, as man owes the gift of eternal life, wholly, to the exuberant love and goodness of GOD, so ought he, from the natural impulse of gratitude, to love Him with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind; and, in so loving Him, he could not establish any claim to merit; for, as our Saviour argues,

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"if ye love them which love you, what reward have you?" And, as God has so loved Matt. v. us, so ought we, as the Apostle argues, to love one another;" so ought we to love our fellow 1 John iv. man, for whom God has evinced such inconceivable love; our fellow-man, who is included with ourselves in the same eternal scheme of love; who is frail, and impotent, and sinful, as ourselves, but not more so. And, as our love and gratitude towards GoD cannot be indulged in any act by which we can offer Him any requital for His vast love toward us; how ought these feelings, independently of the love which we owe towards man, to overflow, in sentiment, and in acts of kindness and of charity, towards our brethren! Yet, survey the world. Look, not to that part of it, alone, which is left to the dim light of nature; but, take a view of what is called the Christian world. Examine all the countless sects, into which blindness, or error, or pride, has divided, and sub-divided, those, who agree, only, in assuming to themselves the name of Christians. Are love toward GOD, and love toward man, the leading principles which regulate them, the leading features observable in their conduct? Many of these, loudly, maintain the necessity of "good

us.

works;" but, are they as careful to maintain, and to exhibit in their conduct, love towards GOD and man? And, if they be not, where, and what, are the "good works" which they inculcate? "GOD is love;" and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in GOD, and GOD in him. We love Him, because He, first, loved If a man say I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.-And, this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth GoD, 1 John iv. love his brother also."" "He that loveth another," says St. Paul, "hath fulfilled the law; for this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if (there be) any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyP Rom. xiii. self." And, again, the same Apostle says, "Now the end of the commandment is charity

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out of a pure heart and (of) a good conscience, 91Tim. i. 5. (and of) faith unfeigned;" and again, "We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of right

eousness by faith; for, in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncir* Gal.v.5,6. cumcision, but faith which worketh by love." Thus, by the sacrifice of Christ, has justification been purchased for all men. Nothing

is required of man in return, but love and faith; love toward GoD and man; love, springing out of "faith unfeigned;" "faith, which worketh by love."

t James ii. 19.

And what is faith? It is firm assurance, rooted conviction, unshaken confidence, unwavering reliance, steady trust. Faith," (IOTIC) says the apostle, "is the substance (UTI) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.". It is not that ready cre- Heb. xi.l. dence which the careless mind gives to an idle tale; nor, is it the mere assent which the understanding gives to that which it cannot refuse to believe. It is not mere belief; for "the devils believe and tremble." t But, the "faith," required of the Christian, and, without which, it is impossible to please GOD," is a firm, and unhesitating, reliance on "Heb. xi.6. GOD our Saviour; a sure trust in the promises of the gospel. It is a "faith," which makes us renounce all claim to merit on our own part, and look for justification to Christ alone. It is an abiding faith, a lively faith, an operative faith, a "faith which worketh by love toward God and man. This is that "faith" on which St. Paul lays so much stress, and which he so commends, as the grand, and indispensable, qualification for the reception.