sibly might make part of that multitude, which cried, " Crucify Him, Crucify Him."

It is likely, that there would be many who would go much further than these; many who would hear CHRIST with attention, and respect, and with a prejudice in His favour; who would be ready to rank themselves among the most faithful of His followers; who would be eager in making comparisons between CHRIST and his enemies, the most honourable to CHRIST; who would extol His character, admire His sayings, and be forward in his cause; and who, in a word, would come short in nothing, except in fulfilling the things which He commanded them.

Our Saviour, in the close of His Sermon on the Mount, makes a very close application of it to all His self-deluding followers. He had, just before, warned them against false teachers; whom, said He, ye shall know by their fruits : and He now bids them use the same test for themselves.

The term "doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven,"* is certainly not to be understood in the strictest sense which it will bear for we are told, that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not ;" and it is one design of this very Sermon on the Mount, which remarkably exhibits the strictness of the Law of GOD, to show to us our own violations of it; and thus to prove, that it is mere mercy which must save us.

There is, however, a real disposition to unreserved obedience, and an actual attainment of some good measure of it, to which it is a main intention of the Gospel that we should be brought: and, unless we arrive at this point, the Scripture teaches us, in divers places, that we must beware of thinking that we are accepted by GoD: for "he, that doeth righteousness," says the apostle, "is righteous;" and, again, "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only; deceiving your ownselves."§

The term "will of God" has a very broad signification.

It is sometimes extended in Scripture, even to that which we are to believe, as well as to all which we are to practise. It is the will, the commandment, the work of GoD, "that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." It often means general holiness; thus, it is observed by an apostle, "for this is the will of God, even your sanctification."* The general sanctification of the human heart is that which GOD may be said to will; and this is one very fair interpretation of the expression of the text. The Sermon on the Mount will itself explain to us, what it was that CHRIST meant, by the expression in this place for He uses it with a reference to the several precepts and sayings which He had been just delivering.

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Let us, in the second place, apply this saying of CHRIST to the people of our own age and country. "Not every one that saith unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." And, first, it may serve to reprove some who, because they are not Atheists or Deists, but are professors of Christianity; because they call CHRIST LORD, LORD," in the slightest of all the senses in which the term can now be understood,—conclude, therefore, that they are members of the kingdom of heaven.

An opinion has prevailed in modern times, that the mercies of CHRIST belong, of right, to all who are baptized and call themselves Christians; with the exception only of those few persons by whom some extraordinary crimes have been committed. With a view to favour this opinion, some have given an unfair representation of the nature of baptism: they have described it not so much as the taking upon us of the profession of Christianity, and the receiving of the outward sign of an inward regeneration, but as altogether constituting regeneration itself. It may be asked of such persons ;—can all those, who have been baptized, and who profess Christianity,-with the exception only of a few profligates-be said to fulfil in any Scriptural sense

* 1 Thess. iv. 3. St. Matt. vii. 26.

the will of their Father which is in heaven? Is it not clear, that many of them never even think of Scripture; nor of that will of GoD which Scripture is intended to teach?

Others carry their profession of Christianity somewhat further. They profess to pay attention to the Scriptural precepts; and thus to do the will of their heavenly Father. The persons, however, of whom I now speak, by no means understand the will of GoD aright. They interpret Scripture carelessly and loosely. They are apt, on the one hand, to weaken its doctrines; while, on the other, they also lower the practical part. They reduce, especially, the spiritual sayings of CHRIST, in His Sermon on the Mount, to something which is easy for a worldly man to perform; to something which may be attained without any fervent prayer to GOD, or any influence of His Holy Spirit; to something, which may exist independently of the efficacious faith of the Gospel; to something, which, instead of amounting to the will of GOD, amounts to little more than the morality of infidels.

But we must speak also of those, who are more zealous for the doctrines of the Gospel, and profess to be more strict in their interpretations of Scripture. There is in many of these (what belongs indeed to the very nature of man) a disposition to elude, in one way or other, the selfdenying and practical part of religion. Their zeal for doctrine is of that kind which prevents their extending their attention sufficiently to practice. The fault of such persons is the converse to that of those, of whom I was before speaking. They were described as deceiving themselves, by imagining that they did the will of God, when they only did a few ordinary moral duties. Those, of whom I now speak, perceiving the mere morality of the others, and their inattention to doctrinal truths, run towards the contrary extreme-of rendering almost every text doctrinal; and of discrediting what is practical in the instructions of their teachers, by giving to it the name of "moral."

To some persons of this class the practical interpretation even of a practical text gives dissatisfaction, if not offence. It has happened, that the whole Sermon on the Mount, while its spirituality has been overlooked by some, has, by others, been represented as a mere description of the severity of the law, and as serving only to lay a foundation for the doctrine of justification by faith. It has scarcely been at all considered by these persons, as conveying any direct exhortation to practice; a mode of treating those many practical pages, which must seem surprising to every plain Christian, who is unacquainted with doctrinal dispute. How completely practical, above all, is that text which we are now considering. "Not every one, that saith unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he, that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven."* Surely we shall find it hard to elude that obligation to do, under which our SAVIOUR has laid us by His expression in this place.

Let us, then, beware of this error. Let us not,-under the idea that the faith of the Gospel is of itself to produce obedience, refuse attention to obedience; or be sparing in our pains to become acquainted with any branch of practice. Let us fear, lest, too much neglecting the sundry precepts of CHRIST and His apostles, we should adopt, in their stead, the uncertain dictates of our own feelings, and imaginations, or the strictnesses of our own narrow sect; and lest we thus substitute the morality of men, in the place of the true graces of the Gospel.

It has happened from this cause, that many persons, who are strict in some particulars, have been greatly defective in others. In particular, there is a meekness, and candour; a disposition to judge ourselves, rather than our neighbour; a modesty, and humility; and an exact uprightness, and integrity in doing to others as we would they should do unto us; to which some, who are well instructed in doctrine, do not attain: and in which our SAVIOUR'S Sermon

*St. Matt. vii. 21.

on the Mount would instruct them, if they would give a practical attention to it.

But there are several other classes, of whom we would also briefly speak.

Some are enthusiasts. They have seen visions and revelations of the LORD. All is miraculous in their religion. Some of these persons are often seen evidently to fail in doing the will of their Father which is in Heaven. There is a sober performance of all the duties of life, and a prudent and careful abstinence from sin, which as much form a part of the will of GoD, as the most spiritual exercises.

Others, again, speak only of faith. They seem able to believe every thing. They appropriate to themselves all the promises of the Bible; though no fruit of holiness be to be seen in them: they substitute, in the place of faith in CHRIST, an unbounded confidence in their own particular salvation: they call CHRIST, "LORD, LORD;" but do not the will of their Father which is in Heaven. Many are the ways in which men deceive themselves, so as to forget the plain and practical nature of the Gospel.

A few, by too much confining their attention to the corruption which is in man, and too little admitting the readiness of GOD, for CHRIST's sake, to give us grace to save us, are led to mourn over their depravity, rather than to oppose it. Theirs is a barren wish for holiness; rather than the actual attainment of it. Their religion consists in profession, and in words; or in sighs, and in tears, and in sorrowful complaining of themselves; rather than in real action, and practice.

Let us make due allowance for the various kinds of human infirmity: nevertheless, let us not fail to remember, and insist, that, after all, THIS IS THE TEST by which men of every sect, character, and opinions, must be tried :"Not every one, that saith unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he, that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."