husbandman, saith the Saviour: and again, I am the vine, ye are the branches. And with respect to the fruitfulness of the branches he tells us, in the most particular manner; “Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: FOR WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING: which he confirms by the negative declaration; If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. He that is not in Christ, is under condemnation, and is nigh unto being burned-nigh unto everlasting burning: but he that is in Christ Jesus-he that is united to him by a living faith-he, saith the Saviour, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. He is a living branch in the true Vine; and he hath his fruit unto holiness, in this world; and the end, everlasting life in the next. For there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

My brethren, I would ask you, What has been, and what is now, even this very day, the habitual course of your lives before God? Are you walking after the flesh or after the Spirit? Are your minds and affections engaged on the

perishing vanities of this perishing life; or on the enduring realities of the life to come? They that are after the flesh (saith the Apostle) do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. To which he joins the absolute and awful declaration, for to be carnally minded IS DEATH-to be daily under the habitual influence of the natural carnal mind, is so necessarily connected with spiritual death before God, that the Apostle makes them synonimous: to be carnally minded

IS DEATH.

My brethren, what is the testimony of your own consciences individually? Are you daily making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof? If so, you are yet under condemnation, for you are yet enemies. And this being your state, I would entreat of you to hearken to the words of the Apostle: We beseech you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God. Ask of Him who is waiting to be gracious, who assures us that he desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn to him and live-ask Him to give you his Holy Spirit, by whose quickening influences alone you can be raised from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. And ask in His name, and for His sake, who assures us that heaven and earth shall pass away, but His word shall never pass away: and his word is,

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Go to Him, to that Divine Saviour, who invites you, saying, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; and who declares, Whosoever cometh unto me I will in nowise--mark that word!-I will in NOWISE cast out. So shall ye be made partakers of his Divine Spirit, and shall individually experience the truth and the reality of the words of the text, which you now only hear with the outward ear; "There is therefore, now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" and you shall find and feel, according to the Scripture, that to be spiritually minded 1seven in this world-life and peace:

61

SERMON V.

ST. JAMES ii. 24.

Ye see, then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

THERE is no subject about which there has been so many awful mistakes, and so many unchristian disputes, as on the relative importance of faith and works. From the Apostles' days down to the present time men have contended earnestly on the subject. The cause of these things is, that men have first separated, and then have confounded together, what God hath perfectly joined together in a simple and natural order. God hath indissolubly united faith and works in the kingdom of grace, even as he hath indissolubly united cause and effect in the kingdom of nature: and as the cause must always precede, or go before, the effect: and then the effect must as necessarily follow from the cause; so there must first be faith of the operation of the Holy

Ghost in the heart, before there can possibly be works; as, also, there must, and will necessarily be, works, wherever there is faith the gift of God.

This is the universal language of Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments: this is the doctrine of St. Paul, and this is also the doctrine of St. James. Men under the influence of their carnal minds, destitute of the wisdom that cometh from above, have often represented these two Apostles as being opposed to each other; but the truth is, they are most perfectly agreed; and this union of agreement between them is as perfect as the union of the faith and works of which they wrote: for both were under the immediate influence of the same Divine Spirit; both thought the same thing, and hence both spake the same language. It is the constant testimony of St. Paul, that a man is justified before God by faith only, without works; and this is so absolutely certain, that it is the marked declaration of both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures, The just shall live by faith. The man who is justified before God; who has spiritual life in the sight of Him who seeth the truth, who beholds every man as he is in matter of facteven the life of that man is maintained and supported, not by works, but by faith. Faith