SERMON XXV.

CONCLUDING DISCOURSE.

1 CORINTHIANS, XV. 1, 2.

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand: By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain."

THE foregoing words convey to us a clear and distinct idea of the nature of the religion which we profess. They present to our view a comprehensive though general outline of that divine scheme, the Gospel dispensation, which has been conferred upon mankind to be received by them as reasonable creatures, and thus to be applied to the welfare of their immortal souls. They do not, in any respect, sanction or uphold that species of hypocrisy and self-conceit which induces men to believe that they can be "justified by faith only," and that they themselves actually will be justified when many less fortunate and less favoured of God than themselves

will be condemned. They affirm, indeed, that the Gospel, which those who call themselves Christians have received and wherein they stand, is the means by which men may be saved. They, nevertheless, assert, that men may believe in vain, and that they cannot be saved, unless they keep in memory that in the belief of which they have signified their assent. "Therefore," says the Apostle, after a parenthesis, or digression, which is comprised in fiftythree out of the fifty-eight verses of this chapter, "Therefore," says he, "my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord;" that is, as his meaning evidently was, though your "belief" may be, yet most assuredly cannot your "labour" be in vain in the Lord.

Such, indeed, are the words of encouragement and consolation by which St. Paul, who was converted from darkness unto light by the miraculous intervention of the Spirit of Christ, has been prompted to exhort all who profess themselves disciples of the same Divine Master whom at all times he so readily acknowledged. Let it, therefore, brethren, be your earnest, your most constant and most assiduous endeavour, to thank God for the most invaluable assurance which, through his Holy Apostle, he has condescended to convey to you; and while you thank God for this inestimable kindness, be careful that you neither mock him nor deceive yourselves by wilfully misinterpreting and

misconceiving that, the clear meaning of which can only be denied by the superficial and the thoughtless by those who can have no serious expectations of being hereafter benefited by the meritorious and all-sufficient sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. The Gospel which St. Paul preached to the Corinthians is substantially the same as that which Jesus Christ preached to the Jews, and that which had been more or less remotely beheld from the beginning of evil until the actual advent of the Redeemer, by all who were acquainted with those facts respecting God's intercourse with men, which have been recorded in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The term "Gospel" signifies good news. And the "good news" which St. Paul preached, and which Jesus Christ preached to the world, is that those who seek to follow the example of Christ shall be saved through faith in his name; those persons shall be saved and rendered happy hereafter who, believing in the redeeming power of Christ's body and blood, endeavour to perform those conditions which are necessary to render this power available in their behalf.

Whoever reads the portion of this Epistle of St. Paul which precedes our text, will find that the term "Gospel" means more than is sometimes supposed by those who assert, or who pretend to believe, that any one, whoever he may be, can be saved by faith alone. "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister'

be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

It is, therefore, brethren, in full accordance with the general tenor of the Word of God, and consequently of that portion of it which is designated as "the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," that, as I humbly conceive, I have acted during the period of my ministry among you. I am, indeed, fully aware of the weakness of my human abilities; yet am I, as I think, fully justified in believing that, as a minister of Christ, duly appointed in the course of that succession which has been handed down from the age and by the authority of the Apostles themselves; invested, moreover, as I trust, with that moderate understanding which falls to the lot of most men, and by the habit, too imperfect I admit, of examining into the Holy Scriptures and praying for God's blessing on my endeavours; with these advantages, I say, am I fully justified in believing that I cannot materially err in attempting to point out the way which leadeth to eternal life. And therefore, brethren, do I counsel and exhort you, not merely to think, but to act ; not merely to believe in your salvation, but to work out this salvation with fear and trembling. More particularly do I exhort those among you who are a St. James, ii. 14-17.

duly qualified, who have been taught to read, and who have been accustomed by thought and reflection, to estimate words according to their acknowledged value, and to extract from them the meaning which by custom they are intended to convey, to look into the word of God for yourselves, and there see whether it is not the duty of a Christian, whether it is not the only condition of our salvation -of our reconciliation hereafter, through the perfect righteousness of Christ, that we should apply our belief in the Gospel to the practice of our ordinary occupations and pursuits; whether it is not the necessary-the indispensable condition of our salvation, that we should in every respect do as we would be done by, that we should love God as we hope and trust that He now loveth and will here. after love us. It is, indeed, lamentable to reflect how defective even the best of us are, in respect of those practical duties which have just been mentioned. In charity towards all, brethren, I am willing to except, as I think they ought, to some extent at least, to be excepted from this censure, those vast numbers of our fellow creatures who have been born and nurtured in ignorance, and on whom the advantages of education, and, I will add, of the most moderate and necessary comforts, have never been conferred. The poorest of our fellow creatures, having comparatively no foundation to build on, no talents by the possession and the proper application of which more talents may be added unto them, are, we may be assured, unless their lives be