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But independently of duty and responsibility, the Christian has within him a constant spring of tender interest for all his fellow-creatures. Faith is as a fountain, out of which his benevolence flows: if there is no such current the fountain must be dry at its source. St. John says, "Whoso has this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him." At first we might be surprised, and be disposed to inquire-What has the love of God to do with the wants of man? But if we reflect for a moment, we see that it has indeed much to do with it. The Apostle puts a just and natural question, a brother is a fellow Christian; God is his Father, through the adoption that is in Christ Jesus: by the same adoption God is our Father; and can there fail to be love between the brother and sister of the same family? Where there is love, will there not be pity, fellowfeeling and relief? Nothing but sin could prevent this; nothing but that deep rooted sin-self-love, self-preference, self-indulgence. But this is the sin of the world, not the sin of the believers in Christ Jesus; their faith must subdue the sin of self love, as well as every other sin; their faith must give them a stronger affection than the desire of earthly things. And therefore, St. John may justly assert-that if faith in Christ Jesus has brought a man to the love of GOD, such faith will be manifest in his dealings and conduct towards his neighbours.

It has always proved so. When the world first began to see bodies of persons who were actuated by Christian faith, it first began to see those who considered the interests of their fellow-creatures as their own. We need go no further than Scripture to prove this, where we find St.

Paul giving directions to his Christian disciples, -" On the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him." This was to provide for the necessities of those brethren who were in adverse circumstances. So, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read of a dearth prevailing through a great part of the Roman empire: the Disciples in Asia, when they heard of it, were “ every man according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren which dwelt in Judea." To this they were brought by their faith; their faith thus wrought with their works, they denied themselves, that they might impart to others. Where no such faith exists, no such relief is thought of: self-love is in us all. The natives of India, some years ago, experienced a like visitation of grievous dearth, and they were astonished that our coutrymen sojourning in that land should endeavour to save the lives of many destitute creatures who had laid down in the fields, and lanes, and roads to die. The Gospel had not been preached among them, and taught them to regard and pity the miseries of their neighbours. O! brethren, those who neglect or despise the Gospel know not how much they are themselves indebted to it. That Gospel preached in our country, and believed and followed by many has a diffusive influence, of which we can hardly trace the limits: just as the sun in the heavens communicates his genial warmth not only to the spot that it reaches by its rays actually shining, but those also which are far distant it cheers and benefits by its reflections.

But to come to the subject more immediately before us, I would now say, brethren, in conclusion, that the same feeling which induced the early Christians to send relief to their brethren in Judea, has set in motion

that society which intreats your aid | cifully shot indeed, which reaches the heart, and produces the "death unto sin," and the "new birth unto righteousness."

to day. The same principle leads to the same results; the same faith influencing the same practice. Those who are its advocates are aware, that in a vast and crowded metropolis, much suffering must be felt: and notwithstanding the institutions which are designed to relieve them, some of the most distressed, and often of the most deserving, will remain unseen by any eye but that of GOD. These they desire to discover, and to be the instruments of Him who seeth in secret, that they may discover and relieve them. They are aware they cannot alter the nature of a fallen world, in which pain, and sickness, and privation will prevail; but they desire to do what they can to mitigate the evil which is not in man's power to cure. But a farther motive affects them; they feel much for the temporal calamities of those around them, but they feel more for their eternal state; and they know, that, in the ways of the divine government, present distress or pain is often a preparation as it were of the ground of the heart, that it may receive the seed of everlasting life. Religion never appears more lovely than when it takes the form and speaks the language of disinterested charity. And it may be a word dictated by that spirit, and uttered by that alone, it may be the arrow, mer

Such is the expectation which influences the Southwark Female Society, and such the motive by which it is influenced, and such, I may add, through God's blessings the encouragement it has received. And you my friends, are now intreated to supply the funds by which it is kept in existence; and to consider this appeal as a trial of your faith. Is it strong enough to produce a present sacrifice? Is it sincere enough to appreciate rightly the blessing which may ensure? Does it recognize the demand of Him whose you profess to be, over all you are and all you have -over your time, your talents, and your possessions? For such is the faith which St. James describes as embodied in the life-the government of action. And hereby I trust, my Christian friends, faith this day will not be found a body without a spirit, but a spirit animating your hearts; that you may "walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing, being fruitful in every good work; for so shall an entrance be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour," which may GoD of his infinite mercy grant, through Jesus Christ our Lord.-Amen.

A Sermon,

DELIVERED BY THE REV. HUNTER FELL.

AT TRINITY CHURCH, CLOUDESLEY SQUARE, ISLINGTON, ON SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 1833.

John, xv. 22.-" If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin."

EVERY sin that we commit is rebellion against GOD, an infinitely gracious GOD. Being under a law to Him, every transgression against that law must be against Him. All sins, however, are not equal; circumstances, in various ways, render guilt more or less heinous. It may be aggravated or diminished, by the advantages or by the disadvantages of the offending party. Upon this principle we find our Blessed Lord and Master denouncing particular woes against the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida,-because they were most especially blessed by Christ being amongst them, and doing many wonderful acts before their sight, but all to no purpose. And to the same effect the Redeemer speaks concerning the Jews, in the language of my text, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin."

Brethren, it will be obvious, that the same reasoning is, in its degree, applicable to us. I will therefore endeavour from this passage of GOD's | holy word, to point out to you, in the first place, how greatly the Jews increased their sin by the rejection of Christ, the Messiah; and then, in the second place, how much more inexcusable we are if we, under the blaze of Gospel light, reject the Redeemer. From whence I shall briefly advert to, and answer, some of those cloaks or excuses which men make for them

selves for their rejection of Christ. May the Holy Spirit of Gop so convince us of our sinfulness that we may flee to the Redeemer for righteousness and salvation!

First, I OBSERVE, HOW GREATLY THE JEWS INCREASED THEIR SINFUL STATE, BY REJECTING CHRIST. I have already intimated, that sin hath in itself so many degrees of malignity, so many shades of darkness, that one sin, by comparison with another sin, might almost be said to be no sin. But, my brethren, it is impossible for us ever to be without sin. That is a most fallacious doctrine, that leads men to suppose they can attain to perfection in this world. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make GOD a liar, and his word is not in us." But, comparatively speaking, we may be said to have no sin. It was in this sense that our Lord addressed himself to the Israelites. If the Messiah had not come to them-if he had not preached to them, they might, to a certain extent, have pleaded the want of the necessary means of salvation. But the coming of the Lord and Saviour, and the teaching which they did receive (or, rather, might have received) from him, rendered such excuses null and void.

They were left without any means of escaping the just condemnation of their Lord and Master.

Unless they repented and received Christ as the atonement for their sins, they could find no mode of es

cape; for in Jesus Christ they beheld an instructor and guide, a mighty counsellor, as well as a Prince of Peace. The humble, and teachable indeed, among the children of Israel were instructed by him in various ways; there were many, that followed him, to whom he made himself known by the power of his Spirit. He taught them, as we find it on record, by the simplest, as well as by the most powerful means, and in the plainest language; for though he would use parables as the general mode of his instruction, yet these parables were open to the meek and the lowly they were only intended to inflict judicial blindness upon the proud and self sufficient; they were well calculated for the instruction of the humble. But, besides this method of disclosing the purpose for which He was come, of instructing and bringing them to an acquaintance with His doctrines, they were told by Him in direct and positive terms, that He was the Christ-that He was the Saviour of the world; and, therefore, none of them could say, that they were without divine teaching.

But, in addition to the instruction which he gave the Jews, mark, my brethren, that they had the most powerful evidence of his Messiahship. Indeed, the evidence which was granted to them, was so powerful, that, I may venture to say, none but the hardened and impenitent sinner's heart could have resisted it. Every one of those signs might have been convincing, that Christ was the Saviour of the world, had they attended to them. The display of the divine nature united to the human, was to be seen in every work which the Redeemer performed. They were done in the presence of multitudes, and the benevolence and the goodness of them, was as clear as their effects were open and undeniable. He healed the sick, he

cleansed the leper, he raised the dead; and all these by a touch, by a word, or even when at a distance from the happy object of his mercy. But alas, how did such manifestations of his divine power and kindness act upon the eye witnesses of these his wondrous deeds. Did they pay adoration to his all glorious name? Did they feel doubts, and own the band of GOD in all that he said and did? Oh, no; alas! those who wished to disbelieve them, and to remain in their sins-influenced by Satan the enemy of man, the father of lies: excited by Satan, they imputed them to the agency of their own destroyer; they said, that "he cast out devils, by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." And thus blinded by prejudice, thus deaf to the voice of reasoning, they hardened their hearts against the receiving of the truth.

But, my brethren, observe what the Redeemer says in the same chapter, the twenty-fouth verse, upon the miserable state of those who saw these works, and after seeing them rejected his Messiahship: “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father." How strong is this language-" but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father."-They hated "both me and my Father." Neither had they any excuse to make, because our Lord did not give them to understand what they had to expect if they remained in wilful ignorance of him as their Saviour; for in addition to the instruction that they received, and in addition to the evidence which was granted to them, which was as it were before their eyes, Christ gave them express and positive warnings; the Jews were expressly exhorted to "Flee from the wrath to come."

Christ was ever faithful in his ministry of reconciliation. However they might object to have such awful denunciations as he had to unfold, and to pronounce on the unbelieving and impenitent sons and daughters of men-however, he was said to be possessed of a devil-he endured their revilings, he meekly suffered their reproaches. But we mark this characteristic of his preaching that he told them the truth in all plainness and honesty. "I said, therefore, unto you," is the language of the Redeemer -"I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins:" thus clearly showing to the hardened Israelites, that "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed the name of the only begotten Son of God:" and manifesting to them the reason of their condemnation-that "Light was come into the world, but that they loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

But in addition to instruction, in addition to evidence, in addition to warning, Christ gave the Israelites every kind of encouragement. His actions alone were silent invitations to them to approach him with humble boldness. They might perceive in his works an infinity of love, as well as an infinity of power; and holiness, also, in its infinity was perceivable. But his anxiety for the salvation of man was made manifest by frequent calls to them, to accept the unsearchable riches of his grace. By the words of his mouth, from his own blessed lips, was delivered most strong and urgent invitations to come to him and be saved to the uttermost. How free, how full, how simple, and how intelligent, are the invitations of the Saviour to any that are disposed to receive them.

"If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink; he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." "Take my yoke upon youand ye shall find rest to your souls." "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." And in the beautiful language which I read in the second lesson this morning-" I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." In a word, he offered to them spiritual life, spiritual blessedness, emancipation from sin, and interest in Christ the Saviour. He offered to all that would come to him, to crown them with everlasting glory if they would only receive his blessing, and his free and sovereign grace. And thus they were left without excuse; they had no cloke for their sins; they had the offer of an everlasting crown of glory which they rejected and despised. Their carnal heart had led them to suppose that their Messiah was to be an earthly monarch, a potentate of this world, who was to exalt their nation to temporal power and grandeur. And when, therefore, the humble Jesus came to them in his most lowly form, and not as they wished-in pomp and in grandeur, in their eyes, their carnal natural views, there was no beauty, no comeliness, for which they could desire him; his mercy and lovingkindness were thrown away upon them, they rejected the counsel of God against themselves, they perished in their ignorance.

What a lamentable picture do the Jews present, when we consider them as rejecters of "The Mighty Counsellor, the Prince of Peace." Brethren, let us, in our families, as well as on our lips in the church, pray

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