or to the English bible, any more than he would say to the ocean itself, "Hitherto shalt thou go but no farther, and here shall thy swelling waves be stayed!"

3d. Once more; we may derive from this whole subject a reason, why we should all improve the use of the bible as we have it, with joyful and thankful hearts, for our own salvation, and all unite in endeavoring to send it to those who are without it, wherever they are to be found. Time was when the word of God was found only in rare and exceedingly costly.copies, even among the people of God themselves. Every copy had to be laboriously written out with the pen, and of course but few could afford to have even a part of the sacred treasure in their own hands; for the art of writing then was also but little understood.* The price of Wickliff's testament alone, was equal to at least a hundred and fifty dollars of our currency. Time has been too, when few could find the bible, on any terms, to read in their own tongue; or when it was at the peril of life itself, that any could venture to steal the precious opportunity, when it came within reach. But all these hindrances with us are taken out of the way. The spirit of the Reformation has made the bible free, and the art of printing has brought it within the reach of every family that wishes to enjoy its light. A copy of the New Testament may now be had for twelve and a half cents! We have the word of God in our own language, and under the most happy form; and in all places, and at all times, it is near to us with its heavenly instructions, like an angel of God, to show us the way of life and lead us to the holy paradise of redeemed and happy souls. And are we brought

under no special responsibilities by all these advantages; or do they constitute no reason, why we should diligently see to it that we are not found neglecting so great a salvation, and be filled at the same

*In the fourth century, it was accounted deservedly an extraordinary act of munificence, when the Emperor Constantine ordered Fifty Bibles to be carefully prepared, at the expense of the state, and placed in different churches at Constantinople, for the use of the people. Toward the close of the seventh century books were so scarce, that one volume on the history of the world was bought by the king of Northumberland from the monastery of Weremouth, at the price of eight hides of land, which is said to have been equal to eight hundred acres. In 1364 the royal library of France did not exceed twenty volumes; and at the beginning of the same century, the library of Oxford consisted only of "a few tracts kept in a chest." The celebrated German abbot Trithemius died in 1516; he had collected about two thousand manuscripts; a literary treasure, which excited so much attention, that princes and eminent men of that day made considerable journies to see it. "There have been ages" says the entertaining author of the Curiosities of Literature, "when for the possession of a manuscript, some would transfer an estate; or leave in pawn, for its loan, hundreds of golden crowns; and when, even, the sale or loan of a manuscript was considered of such importance as to have been solemnly registered in public acts. Absolute as was Louis XI, he could not obtain the MS. of Rasis, an Arabian writer, to make a copy, from the library of the faculty of Paris, without pledging a hundred golden crowns; and the president of his treasury, charged with this commission, sold part of his plate to make the deposit. For the loan of a volume of Avicenna, a baron offered a pledge of ten marks of silver, which was refused; because it was not considered equal to the risk incurred of losing a volume of Avicenna! These events happened in 1471. One cannot but smile at an anterior period, when a countess of Anjou bought a favorite book of homilies, for two hundred sheep, some skins of martins, and bushels of wheat and rye."

time with a sacred zeal to have it widely published to all the rest of the world? If Moses on the banks of Jordan could appeal to the distinguishing favors bestowed upon the nation of Israel, in the history of God's dealings with them in the wilderness, as a reason to engage them to piety; with how much more reason may I draw an argument of duty, in our case, from the review of what he has done for our English and American Zion! "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart, all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons.' "Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people!" And with how much emphasis may it be said to us, in view of our manifold privileges as contrasted with the moral desolations of other lands, and in view of the ample facilities we possess for sending them the word of life, "Freely ye have received; freely give!"

GAL. 6:15.-For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

It is a question of some interest, whether the millenium will entirely destroy all differences of religious opinion. From the nature and extent of certain promises some infer that all shall think alike on those points, which now are matters of frequent discussion. But when we duly consider the great weakness of the human mind and the unfathomable depth in the great things of God, we will be apt to conclude differently. The improvements of the millenium will consist not so much in any advancements in cold speculative theology, as in preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, in more earnest attention to the plain, fundamental, and practical parts of religion, and in a great increase of holiness of heart, purity of manners, and ardent zeal. That a most wonderful and unexampled change must take place to bring about entire unity of opinion, is manifest from all church history. Even good men in every age have frequently differed in opinion. It was so in the days of the apostles. Men of corrupt minds too have as yet always existed, who have loved and propagated error. Such in Paul's time were certain Judaizing teachers, who troubled the Christians of Galatia. To oppose the doctrines of such men and bring back a falling church, seems to have been the chief object of this epistle. In prosecuting this object he states, among other things, that "in Christ Jesus"-in the formation and subsistence of a spiritual union with Christ—" neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature:" or, as it might be translated, a new creation.

In treating this subject it is proposed,

I. TO NOTICE SOME THINGS WHICH WILL BE OF NO AVAIL IN A SINNER'S SALVATION.

II. TO SHOW WHAT A NEW CREATION IS, OR WHAT WILL AVAIL IN A SINNER'S SALVATION.

I. We proceed to notice some things that will not avail in a Sinner's Salvation.

No one, well acquainted with Scripture, can deny that it is our duty to dedicate ourselves to God in the ordinances of his house; among which baptism and the Lord's Supper are prominent. The Scriptures most clearly teach that those who, through fear of man, or shame of the Gospel, or contempt of God's ordinances, decline yielding submission to divine appointments, cannot enter the kingdom of God. For, says Christ, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels"-And "whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God.”* While these passages make it abundantly evident that it is our duty to observe all the external duties of religion, and to witness a good confession of Christ before men in all suitable and divinely appointed methods; they do not teach that all who are baptized and partake of the Lord's Supper shall surely be saved. Simon Magus was baptized-Judas Iscariot probably partook of the Lord's Supper. And at this day multitudes both of those who have been baptized in infancy and in adult age, manifest such a spirit and temper as clearly proves them under the dominion of sin. And in many cases, persons having communed at the Lord's table, have gone back to the world and become the most bitter and malignant enc mies of the cross of Christ. The advocates of baptismal regeneration, and of the invariable efficacy of sacramental observance, are certainly called upon to remove these difficulties or renounce their theory. But they never can remove them. In determining the acceptableness of any observance in religion, we must first ascertain whether knowledge, faith, repentance, love, hope, joy, and thankfulness, moved to the observance. If all of these are wanting the observance is sin.

The same remarks may apply with full force to any religious observance, even though not sacramental-such as tithing mint, and anise, and cummin-formal fastings and prayers-which were never intended to take the place of hearty piety. Such things could not save the Pharisees. Though they abounded in them, they still remained "a generation of vipers," and the recipients of wo. The truth is all men are naturally disposed to "rend their garments, rather than their hearts"-to make religion consist in show, and forms, and names, and modes, and ceremonies, rather than in substantial acts of piety towards God and love towards men. Behold the superstitious Catholic, elevated on some point of observation, near some pass in the mountains of the south of Europe, busily engaged in counting his beads and chanting his prayers, and every few moments raising his eyes to observe the approach of some unsuspecting traveller, whom he has marked as the victim of his covetousness and robbery.

Many of the most hardened, bloody pirates, are even punctilious in their superstitious observances. Even in Protestant countries, more importance is often attached to the shape of a bonnet, or the cut of a coat, or the mode of administering an ordinance, or the name of a party, than to acts of "faith, justice, and mercy." Need men be told these things cannot avail?

In like manner, acts of voluntary humility, which dishonor the body and are of the nature of penance, have no tendency to fit us for the kingdom of God. "Men have sought out solitary places, exposed themselves to the inclemencies of the weather, spent weeks and months in the most miserable hovels, deprived themselves of human society, sustained nature with a very small pittance of food, treated their bodies in the most rigid manner, taken long and wearisome pilgrimages, and done even more than all this,"* while the heart was becoming more and more lofty, proud, sullen, revengeful, misanthropic, and hardened. How long shall it be, before men shall learn that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

There can be no reason given, why men may not as well find fuel for their pride in religion as in any thing else. Present to them some object or plan, where selfish feelings can be gratified, or selfish interests promoted, and they will forego almost any thing else to obtain that one object, or execute that one plan. This remark leads to another of vast importance, which is, that it will be of no avail to have changed one sin for another; one passion or lust for another. In this way many of those reformations are produced, on which so many rely for salvation. "I am not so wicked as I have been, therefore I will be saved," is too common a way of reasoning. Some, who in youth were given up to habits of dissipation, or frivolity, or carnal pleasure, have at a later period of life laid aside those habits; and thence concluded that they are better prepared to meet their Judge than formerly. But could you search their hearts, you would soon see that they were still lovers of themselves more than lovers of God, and that instead of having forsaken their passions, their passions, or the means of gratifying their passions, had forsaken them. Besides, there are many sins, the dominion of which will exclude the dominion of other sins. A great desire to be popular will exclude the indulgence of haughtiness. Avarice excludes pomp, and riot, and dissipation. There are innumerable ways in which persons of every class, and age, and sex, may change their habits of life, their trains of thinking, and the objects of their affection and dislike, and yet never have any exercise of Christian graces, nor any desires after conformity to the will of God. Often the sinner is, according to the warnings of his conscience, so closely pursued by the avenger of blood, that he will lay aside many sinful practices, and thus attempt to compromise the matter with God. He may, like Ahab and others, seem very much. humbled. He may, like Saul, send for the ministers of religion; and

*Life of Xavier,