which, though I was ignorant of the cause, kept me miserable till this hour.. I cling to it, and am safe. His precious blood purges my conscience. It extends peace to me as a river, and the glory of redemption like a flowing stream. My worst fears are dispelled: the wrath to come is not for me: I can look with composure at futurity, and feel joy springing up with the thought that I am immortal.

Thirdly: In addition to deliverance from wrath, Christianity provides relief against the plague of the heart.

men.

It will not be contested, that disorder reigns among the passions of The very attempts to rectify it are a sufficient concession; and their ill success shows their authors to have been physicians of no value. That particular ebullitions of passion have been repressed, and particular habits of vice overcome, without Christian aid, is admitted. But if any one shall conclude, that these are examples of victory over the principle of depravity, he will greatly err. For, not to insist that the experience of the world is against him, we have complete evidence, that all reformations, not evangelical, are merely an exchange of lusts; or rather, the elevation of one evil appetite by the depression of another; the strength of depravity continuing the same; its form only varied. Nor can it be otherwise. Untaught of God, the most comprehensive genius is unable either to trace the original of corruption, or to check its force. It has its fountain where he least and last believes it to be; but where the omniscient eye has searched it out; in the human heart— the heart, filled with enmity against God—the heart, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. "But, the discovery being made, his measures, you hope, will take surer effect." Quite the contrary. It now defies his power, as it formerly did his wisdom. How have disciples of the moral school studied and toiled! how have they resolved, and vowed, and fasted, watched, and prayed, traveling through the whole circuit of devout austerities! and set down at last, wearied in the greatness of their way! But no marvel! the Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor the leopard his spots. Neither can impurity purify itself. Here again, light from the footsteps of the Christian truth. breaks in upon the darkness; and gospel again flows from her tongue; the gospel of a new heart-the gospel of regenerating and sanctifying grace; as the promise, the gift, the work of God. "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you; a new heart also 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 to do them." Here all our difficulties are re

solved at once. The spirit of life in Christ Jesus, quickens the dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord, our strength, works in us all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power. That which was impossible with men, is not so with him; for with him all things are possible; even the subduing our iniquities; creating us anew, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness; turning our polluted souls into his own habitation through the spirit; and making us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Verily this is gospel; worthy to go in company with remission of sin. And shall I conquer at last? Shall I, indeed, be delivered from the bondage and the torment of corruption? A new sensation passes through my breast. I lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help; and with the hope of perfecting holiness in the fear of God, hail my immortality.

Fourthly: Having thus removed our guilt and cleansed our affections, the gospel proceeds to put us in possession of adequate enjoyment. An irresistible law of our being impels us to seek happiness. Nor will a million of frustrated hopes deter from new experiments; because despair is infinitely more excruciating than the fear of fresh disappointment. But an impulse, always vehement and never successful, multiplies the materials and inlets of pain. This assertion carries with it its own proof; and the principle it assumes is verified by the history of our species. In every place, and at all times, ingenuity has been racked to meet the ravenous desires. Occupation, wealth, dignity,'science, amusement, all have been tried; are all tried at this hour; and all in vain. The heart still repines; the unappeased cry is, Give, give. There is a fatal error somewhere; and the gospel detects it. Fallen away from God, we have substituted the creature in his place. This is the grand mistake: the fraud which sin has committed upon our nature. The gospel reveals God as the satisfying good, and brings it within our reach. It proclaims him reconciled in Christ Jesus, as our father, our friend, our portion. It introduces us into his presence, with liberty to ask in the intercessor's name, and asking, to receive, that our joy may be full. It keeps us under his eye; surrounds us with his arm; feeds us upon living bread which he gives from heaven : seals us up to an eternal inheritance; and even engages to reclaim our dead bodies from the grave, and fashion them in beauty, which shall vie with heaven! It is enough! My prayers and desires can go no further: I have got to the fountain of living waters-Return to thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee!

- This gospel of immortality, in righteousness, purity, and bliss, would be inestimable, were it even obscure, and not to be comprehended without painful scrutiny. But I observe again,

2

Fifthly: That, unlike the systems of men, and contrary to their anticipations, the gospel is as simple, as it is glorious. Its primary doctrines, though capable of exercising the most disciplined talent, are adapted to the common understanding. Were they dark and abstruse, they might gratify a speculative mind, but would be lost upon the mul titude, and be unprofitable to all, as doctrines of consolation. The mass of mankind never can be profound reasoners. To omit other difficulties, they have not leisure. Instruction, to do them good, must be interesting, solemn, repeated, and plain. This is the benign office of the gospel. Her principal topics are few; they are constantly recurring in various connexions; they come home to every man's condition; they have an interpreter in his bosom: they are enforced by motives which honesty can hardly mistake, and conscience will rarely dispute. Unlettered men, who love their bible, seldom quarrel about the prominent articles of faith and duty; and as seldom do they appear among the proselytes of that meagre refinement which arrogates the title of Philosophical Christianity.

From its simplicity, moreover, the gospel derives advantages in con. solation, Grief, whether in the learned or illiterate, is always simple. A man, bowed down under calamity, has no relish for investigation. His powers relax; he leans upon his comforter; his support must be without toil, or his spirit faints. Conformably to these reflections, we see, on the one hand, that the unlearned compose the bulk of Christians; the life of whose souls is in the substantial doctrines of the cross-and on the other, that in the time of affliction even the careless lend their ear to the voice of revelation. Precious, at all times, to believers, it is doubly precious in the hour of trial. These things prove, not only that the gospel, when understood, gives a peculiar relief in trouble but that it is readily apprehended; being most acceptable, when we are the least inclined to critical research.

Sixthly: The gospel, so admirable for its simplicity, has also the recommendation of truth. The wretch who dreams of transport, feels a new sting in his wretchedness, when he opens his eyes and the delusion is fled. No real misery can be removed, nor any real benefit conferred by doctrines which want the seal of certainty. And were the gospel of Jesus a human invention; or were it checked by any rational suspicion, that it may turn out to be a fable; it might retain its brilliancy, its sublimity, and even a portion of its interest; but the charm of its consolation would be gone. Nay, it would add gall to bitterness, by fostering a hope, which the next hour might laugh to scorn. we may dismiss our anxiety; for there is no hazard of such an issue. Not only "grace," but "truth" came by Jesus Christ. The gracious

But

words which proceeded out of his mouth, were words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness; and those which he has written in his blessed book, are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace, purified seven times. His promises no man can deny to be exceeding great; yet they derive their value to us from assurances, which, by satisfying the hardest conditions of evidence, render doubt not only inexcusable, but even criminal. By two immutable things in which it was IMPOSSIBLE for god to lie, we have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Now, therefore, the promises of the gospel which are "exceeding great," are also "precious." We need not scruple to trust ourselves for this life and the life to come, upon that word which shall stand when heaven and earth pass away. Oh, it is this which makes Christianity glad tidings to the depressed and perishing! No fear of disappointment! No hope that shall make ashamed! Under the feet of evangelical faith is a covenant promise, and that promise is everlasting Rock. I know, said one, whose testimony is corroborated by millions in both worlds, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Lastly: The gospel, as a system of consolation, is perfected by the authority and energy which accompany it. The devices of man originate in his infancy, and expire with his breath. Destitute of power, they play around depravity, like shadows round the mountain top, and vanish without leaving an impression. Their effect would be inconsiderable, could he manifest them to be true; because he cannot compel the admission of truth itself into the human mind. Indifference, unreasonableness, prejudice, petulance, oppose to it an almost incredible resistance. We see this in the affairs of every day, and especially in the stronger conflicts of opinion and passion. Now, beside the opposition which moral truth has always to encounter, there is a particular reason why the truth of the gospel, though most salutary, though attested by every thing within us and around us; by life and death; by earth and heaven and hell; will not succeed unless backed by divine energy. It is this: Sin has perverted the understanding of man, and poisoned his heart. It persuaded him first to throw away his blessedness, and then to hate it. The reign of this hatred, which the scriptures call enmity against God, is most absolute in every unrenewed man. It teaches him never to yield a point unfriendly to one corruption, without stipulating for an equivalent in favor of another. Now as the gospel flatters none of his corruptions in any shape, it meets with deadly hostility from all his corruptions in every shape. It is to no purpose that you press upon him the "great salvation;" that you demonstrate his errors and their

corrective; his diseases and their cure. Demonstrate you may, but you convert him not. He will occasionally startle and listen; but it is only to relapse into his wonted supineness: and you shall as soon call up the dead from their dust, as awaken him to a sense of his danger, and prevail with him to embrace the salvation of God. Where then," you will demand, "is the pre-eminence of your gospel?" I answer, with the apostle Paul, that it is the power of God to salvation. When a sinner is to be converted, that is, when a slave is to be liberated from his chains, and a rebel from execution, that same voice which has spoken in the scriptures, speaks by them to his heart, and commands an audience. He finds the word of God to be quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged-sword. It sets him before the bar of Justice; strips him of his self-importance; sweeps away his refuge of lies; and shows him that death which is the wages of sin. It then conducts him, all trembling to the divine forgiveness; reveals Christ Jesus in his soul, as his, righteousness, his peace, his hope of glory. Amazing transition! But is not the cause equal to the effect? Hath not the potter power over the clay? Shall God draw, and the lame not run? Shall God speak, and the deaf not hear? Shall God breathe, and the slain not live? Shall God lift up the light of his countenance upon sinners reconciled in his dear Son, and they not be happy? Glory to his name! These are no fictions. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. The record, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart, is possessed by thousands who have turned from the power of Satan unto God, and will cer- ; tify that the revolution was accomplished by his word. And if it performs such prodigies on corruption and death, what shall it not perform in directing, establishing, and consoling them, who have already obtained a good hope through grace? He who thunders in the curse, speaks: peace in the promise; and none can conceive its influence, but they who have witnessed it. For proofs you must not go to the statesman, the traveler, or the historian. You must not go to the gay profession, or the splendid ceremonial. You must go to the chamber of unostentatious piety. You must go to the family anecdote, to the Christian tradition, to the observation of faithful ministers. Of the last there are many who, with literal truth might address you as follows, “I have seen this gospel hush into a calm the tempest raised in the bosom by conscious guilt. I have seen it melt down the most obdurate into tenderness and contrition. I have seen it cheer up the broken-hearted, and bring the tear of gladness into eyes swollen with grief. I have seen it produce and maintain serenity under evils, which drive the worldling mad. I have seen it reconcile the sufferer to his cross, and send the song of