true Faith. But what is that ugly monster that stands overagainst it? It is Damnation, the child of Sin and Unbelief. And what, my brethren! is unbelief only the cause that any of us shall perish? If we come to Jesus in sincerity, shall we escape all these things that are coming upon the world of the ungodly, and share in all this so vast salvation? So Christ himself tells us, you see; for I am but arguing from his own words. And are we already sentenced to this so great a death? And yet is this so great a life this day freely offered I am almost ashamed to ask which you will choose. But I know the enemy of souls will be striving hard to catch away the purpose which, I am hoping, now glows upon your heart. And will you suffer him? He will certainly do it, unless you call upon God to help you. I beseech you therefore, by all your eternal hopes, go and pray; pray that the thoughts which have been suggested to you may sink deep into your heart. And when at any time you begin to stagger and faint, remember this word He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.' I earnestly commend you to God's grace, for the sake of his infinite love in Jesus Christ.

SERMON XLVIII.

1 JOHN ii. 3, 4.

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

THIS whole epistle of St. John is a catholic exhortation; and the special occasion and design of it seems to be, that none, being deceived by the love of sin, might take up an imagination, that what they called faith was that saving faith, which, by the constitution of the Gospel, is appointed to be the means of making us partakers of the salvation purchased by Jesus Christ, when it produced not its genuine and proper fruit of obedience in the heart and life. This he had entered upon in the first chapter, and declared very peremptorily, If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.'* From which last words having taken occasion to address some seasonable comforts to sincere believers, who, in the experience of daily infirmities, and in the case of disallowed falls into sin, might be ready to be discouraged, he returns again, in the words of the text, to his main matter; alleging, that though, as he had just before been intimating, it was true that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin,' yet they only are partakers of this glorious privilege, who are possessed of that faith in God which engages their hearts and lives into his service. And hereby we know,' &c. The truth of the assertion contained in these words is evident. The effects manifestly show whether any, or what, the knowledge is. A man may be well assured that

1 John i. 6, 7.

6

he knows God rightly, if what he knows of him is productive of an obediential spirit and conduct. But if these do not follow, whatever he seems to know, he is still in darkness, and a perfect stranger to a saving knowledge of him. Here therefore we are evidently taught two things:

First. That a right knowledge, or (which is the same) a right faith, is the only principle of true obedience. And,

Secondly. That true obedience is the direct proof of a right knowledge or faith.

First. A right knowledge or faith is the only principle of true obedience. To know God is to know him to be what he is; and unless God be known to be that most blessed Being he indeed is, and unless the relation we bear unto him be known also, there can be seen neither motive nor obligation to serve him; so that a right knowledge of God is the main thing. They that live without God, as too many do in Christian as well as Heathen countries, are such as do not at all know him to be what he is. Did they in any measure of truth know that, they would find some influence from it on the heart and conduct. But it is not every sort of knowledge of God that will produce a true obedience.

To manifest this, let us consider what is meant by obedience. Present your bodies,' saith St. Paul to the Romans, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Take bodies here in the most strict and literal sense, and still the obedience of the mind, which alone can make any service reasonable, must be implied in presenting the body to the Lord. The body cannot present itself. It is the heart willingly presenting the body to God that can make it an acceptable sacrifice. So that the life of obedience lies in the willingness of the heart; Delighting in the law of God after the inward man.'t Without this, bodily services can be neither living, holy, acceptable, nor reasonable. True obedience is the conformity of the whole man to the will of God, a will within to do what God pleases, and a power without to put it in practice. This is strongly expressed by St. Paul to the same Romans, Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.'‡ Wherein the spring of obedience, from

the heart, the practice of it in the conduct, ye have obeyed, and the rule and measure thereof both for the heart and life, that form of doctrine which was delivered you, are plainly noted.

Now the question is, "What is that knowledge of God which will produce such a will to do God's pleasure? in other words, such an obedience from the heart ?”

It must be observed that naturally we have no manner of will hereto, but just the very contrary, the carnal mind being enmity against God; and that in such a degree, that there is nothing in the whole world we are so averse to as this. Our inclinations carry us quite another way; and that with such a desperate hatred of God, that we incline to undergo any difficulties or hardships much more readily than to perform any the least part of the will of God; which is manifested by this single instance, amidst many others, that the most of those, who toil ten hours of a day in painful labour, find it a thousand times more irksome task, indeed cannot at all prevail on themselves, to spend even a quarter of an hour in a day in prayer. then shall this enmity be overcome, and the will of man brought to the will of God? That it cannot be done where there is no knowledge of God is unquestionable.

But, First.-Will not a knowledge of God in his attributes, or as he is in himself absolutely considered, overcome this enmity of the will, and produce an obedience from the heart? Say this knowledge of God should be never so exact and complete; that he were known to be all that glorious God that he is, self-living, all-sufficient, omnipresent, eternal, almighty, most holy, and just and good; that the soul, as I may say, was standing looking upon, and with the utmost diligence and attention contemplating, this all-glorious Being; would the effect of this knowledge and sight be the turning of the will to God, to serve him? What answer does the case of Adam, immediately after the fall, and before the promise was made, furnish us with as to this matter? Before his fall, he saw God with a degree of delight which the heart of man is now a stranger to; but then he hid himself, as well as he could, among the trees of the garden. What made him do so? It was guilt made him do it, he was afraid, he could take no comfort in the sight + Gen. iii. 8.

Rom. viii. 7.

↑ Ib. iii. 10.

He was

What

of God. God indeed was the same, but he was not. fallen, he had sinned, his heart was gone from God. then could there be in the sight of an all-perfect Being, whose very perfection pleaded for and threatened his destruction, to engage his heart back again to God? He was afraid, and hid himself. This is the true picture of a guilty creature looking only upon God according to his essential perfections. The most do not look on God at all. But when any are drawn seriously to consider him, the first thought fills them with fear; and were they not relieved and encouraged by some apprehensions of his mercy, the sight of his excellencies would be so far from drawing over their wills and hearts to him, that the more they knew of his power, knowledge, eternity, and greatness, the more settled would be their abhorrence of him, as discerning him in all these to be a sure, almighty, everlasting enemy to them. This is the very state of the fallen angels. They know God to be what he is. They know also that he has no mercy for them: and therefore every thought of him, while it makes them tremble, does but unavoidably rouse up the bitter and malignant hatred of their hearts against him for being what he is. Fallen creatures therefore have no motive in the sight of God, while only under an absolute consideration, to turn unto him to obey him from the heart.

And as they have no motive thereunto, so neither have they, nor can they derive, any power to turn unto God from such consideration of him merely. The power of turning to God, in a love of him, and of his commandments, is not of man, but of God; Turn thou me, and I shall be turned,' is the language of every truly enlightened soul, knowing who has said, 'A new heart will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them'.* Now if the turning of man's apostate will unto God to obey him from the heart be an act of God's power, then there must be a will in God thereunto. But such a will in God does not arise necessarily from his nature. He is not obliged by his holiness, or justice, or goodness, or

* Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.