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your souls shall be saved: your everlasting happiness shall be secured."

Thus God speaks in the Gospel. How does the heart, which is right in His sight, reply? It replies, Lord, I humbly and thankfully embrace thy gracious offers. I know that I am a lost and guilty creature. • I am far off from Thee, and if left to myself must perish. I deserve to perish, but blessed be thy name, there is mercy with Thee. Thou hast given me a Saviour, even thy Son Jesus Christ; and I joyfully receive Him as my Saviour. I look to Him: I trust in Him: I desire only to be found ⚫ in Him. His death is my only plea. His ⚫ righteousness is my only safety. I hope that for His sake thou art reconciled to me. Lord, I believe; help thou my un⚫ belief.'

Such is the language which becomes a Sinner under a dispensation of mercy. Such therefore is the language of a man's heart, when it is right in the sight of God. But,

3. Another particular is yet to be noticed. The Man whose heart is in the state described, longs after holiness. He not only humbly condemns himself because of his guilt; he not only thankfully believes in Jesus Christ for the pardon of his sins: but he earnestly desires to be made holy, to be

thoroughly weaned from the love of sin, and to be entirely freed from the power of it. God is holy, and loves holiness, and would have all men to be holy, even as He is holy. How is it possible then for the heart to be right in his sight, if it does not love what He loves, and desire to be what He is? If men are anxious to have their sins pardoned, only that they may escape punishment, while they have no anxiety to be made free from sin, that they may serve God and walk in newness of life; they clearly have not those views, dispositions, and desires which become their situation and circumstances. They show that they are ignorant of God and of their own heart, and of the whole design of the Gospel. God, in having given to them the Gospel, intends their deliverance, not only from the pains of hell, but also from the power of sin. He knows that without this deliverance, there can be no real salvation for them. He knows that so long as the soul willingly serves sin, it can never be happy. Therefore He says to it, "Be thou holy, for I am holy." And when a man's heart is right, under a conviction of the same truths, he says, I desire to be holy, that I may be happy. I would not willingly obey sin in any of the lusts thereof. I long to serve God, with all my powers. I grieve that I do not serve him better. Lord,

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make me a partaker of thy holiness. Break the chains of sin, with which I am tied and bound. Give me victory over my inward enemies, and deliver me from this body of sin and death, which cleaves to me, distresses me, and hinders my going in thy ways.' So speaks the man whom am attempting to describe. On the whole we see when a man's heart is right in the sight of God. I show,

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II. Wherein the necessity of its being so consists.

It consists in this; that until a man's heart be in the state described, he has "no part nor lot in the matter:" he is a stranger to true religion, and has no share nor interest in the blessings of the Gospel. There are several arguments by which this conclusion may be proved.

In the first place, till a man's heart be thus right in the sight of God, he can have no Interest in the Promises of the Gospel. Call to mind what these Promises are, as well as the Persons to whom they are given. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." "God giveth grace to the humble." "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall find mercy." Again, "This is the promise which God hath given us, even eternal life; and this

"He that believeth on

life is in his Son." the Son, hath everlasting life." By Him all that believe are justified from all things. -Further, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the Law, but under Grace." "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."-Such are the Promises of the Gospel: and how then is it possible for a man to have any share or lot in the matter, whose heart is not right in the sight of God? If he humble and condemn not himself on account of his sins; if he believe not in Jesus Christ for the pardon of them; if he desire not deliverance from the love and power of them, what has he to do, what can he have to do, with these Promises? They are not given tosuch as him. They are given to the humble, to the believing, to the seekers after Holiness. He does not answer to this description; consequently he can have no interest in the mercy, and blessedness contained in them.

In the second place, till a man's heart be right in the sight of God, he can neither perform the Duties, nor taste even the present Pleasures of Religion. To perform the Duties of Religion, is not merely to go through the forms and ceremonies of religious worship. This a man may do, let his heart be in a state ever so contrary to the

one described. To perform the Duties of Religion, as it is here meant, is to perform them acceptably to God, in a spiritual manner, with a penitent, a believing, and an holy frame of mind. But how can this be done by those, who are unhumbled in heart, who have no living Faith in Jesus Christ, nor any real desire after holiness? Such persons cannot pray to God, cannot worship Him, cannot serve Him, as He requires. They may offer to Him lip-service; but that will not satisfy God. They cannot worship Him with the heart, which is the only service that he will accept; and consequently, not performing the Duties of Religion, they can clearly have no share in its privileges.

Neither can they taste even the present Pleasures of Religion. True Religion brings great pleasures in this life. But those only whose hearts are right in the sight of God, can enjoy and relish them. Others can know nothing of them, and therefore cannot taste them. Consider what these pleasures are. They are pleasures springing from a sense of pardon; from a hope of mercy; from God's love shed abroad in the heart; from communion with Him; from confidence in his fatherly protection; from the consolations of his spirit; from a consciousness of being in Christ; from an increasing experience of his power and grace in the