too,* respecting the merit of good works, and the nature of justification, may be traced to their ignorance of the extent and spirituality of the divine law, and their unscriptural views of the principle of moral obligation. If man is bound to do only what he is inclined to do; if the extent of his moral ability or in other words, his disposition, be the measure of his obligations; if the law of God is relaxed in its requirements and accommodated to the weakness of man; and if this relaxation, by which a perfect obedience to the divine law is rendered much easier than it otherwise would have been, be the principal benefit we derive from the interposition of Jesus Christ -then it is not difficult to conceive of the merit of obedience, and the possibility of that obedience going even beyond the extent of legal requisitions, and thus contributing to the accumulation of a treasure out of which indulgences may be granted to some, and punishments remitted to others! But if on the other hand, the law of God be as immutable as his throne; if he cannot diminish or annul one iota of its obligations; if the inability of the creature affect not for a moment the extent and force of those obligations: if God can sooner cease to be, than to require a holy, spiritual and perfect obedience to his law, and Satan himself "It may save the trouble of a more ample exposition, to make the general remark that on the subject of the terms of acceptance with God, and the nature of justification, regeneration, grace, and sanctification, the doctrine of the Church of Rome (abstracting the ceremonial peculiarities) is the very system, which a living prelate of the English Church has with no small assuming and with most disgraceful ignorance of theology, laboured to make out, to be the doctrine of the Church of England; in a book which he has been pleased to entitle, "a Refutation of Calvinism." The possessor of that book may felicitate himself on having a very fair compendium of Roman Catholic Divinity." Dr. Smith's "Reasons of the Protestant Religion." p. 23. is as much bound by that law now, as he was before his apostacy; if Jesus Christ came to magnify the law and render it honourable; and if no pardon can be dispensed to the guilty, no favour conferred upon the unworthy, but through and on account of his perfect and all-sufficient righteousness-then no good works, no obedience of the sinner, either in whole or in part, can constitute the basis of his acceptance in the sight of Godno legal merit can possibly attach to his good works, and that alone can be, and continue to be, the ground of his hope, which is perfectly adequate to all the demands of the law, on which the pure complacency of the Almighty can rest with unmingled satisfaction, and which is, “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." It is the glory of the gospel that it reveals the combination of mercy and of justice in the salvation of sinners; and teaches us to glory ONLY in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to the statements of the sacred volume, our justification consists in being accounted righteous and treated as such, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith in the gospel testimony. Such is the plan of the Christian scheme of redemption, that faith alone is the constituted method of interest in the blessings, it proposes and makes known. "It is of faith that it might be of grace. But while faith is thus exclusive in the matter of our acceptance with God, it is at the same time the spring and principle of holy obedience. "True, it is," says Archbishop Leighton, "that faith purifies and all graces flow from it; but in the work of justifying the sinner, it is alone and cannot admit of any mixture.” "It is a childish cavil," affirms the judicious Hooker, "wherewith in the matter of justification, our adversaries do so greatly please themselves, exclaim ing that we tread all Christain virtues under our feet and require nothing in Christians but faith, because we teach that faith alone justifieth; whereas by this speech we never meant to exclude either hope or charity from being always joined as inseparable handmates :-and to shew that faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ for justification, and Christ the only garment which covereth the shame of our defiled nature, hideth the imperfection of our works, preserveth us blameless in the sight of God; before whom otherwise the weakness of our faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable, yes to shut us out from the kingdom of hea ven. 66 66 My Christian friends, have you been convinced by the teaching of God's Spirit, from right views of the purity and extent of his law, that you are guilty creatures? Have you, to use the emphatic and appropriate phraseology of scripture," fled "for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before you? Have you obtained joy and peace in believing," and are you, "living by the faith of the Son of God?" Then you will hate sin and "abstain from all appearance of evil." You will not "imprison the truth in unrighteousness;" you will abhor the thought of sinning, because grace abounds: but while you renounce all dependance on your holiest services, while you rely for acceptance in the sight of God, as little upon your duties as on your transgressions, and are conscious of innumerable infirmities, blended with all your motives and actions, you will rejoice to contemplate that obedience of the divine Saviour, which is perfect, and that "righteousness which endureth for ever." will be thankful for what the grace of God has done for you and enabled you to do: but it is not the testimony of conscience, however desirable as S You an auxiliary support in some states of mind, and in some circumstances, which will give you relief and comfort in the prospect of eternity. With trembling diffidence and conscious apprehension, you will reflect on the contamination that has been mingled with your best obedience: and in the solemn anticipation of that day, when“ every one of us shall give an account of himself to God," instead of imagining that your services have been "truly deserving of an eternal reward," instead of supposing that you have merited eternal glory by all your best actions combined, you hope individually to exclaim with gratitude and confidence, appealing to him that sitteth on the throne" "Since the dear hour, that brought me to thy foot "I never trusted, in an arm but thine, Forgive their evil and accept their good. " THIS IS THE RECORD THAT GOD HATH GIVEN TO US ETERNAL LIFE, AND THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON. THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH; BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! * Cowper, Vol. I. on Truth. LECTURE VIII. ON THE ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY, IT is the high boast of the advocates of the Roman Church, that she is immutable. They assert that her doctrines, institutions and government are apostolic; that while 'heresy is continually varying its aspects, and all its changes can be traced from their origin to their termination, the truth maintained by the Church of Rome, is in all respects the same with that which the primitive Christians received; and that the medium of its transmission, by the unbroken line of the priesthood, has preserved it, pure and incorruptible to the present day. According to these apologists it must follow, that the powers and prerogatives of the See of Rome are precisely what Jesus Christ conferred upon St. Peter; that the jurisdiction of bishops, is exactly conformed to primitive models; that the gradations of clerical rank obtained in the first Churches; and that the archetype of the existing Church of Rome is to be found amongst the archives of Christian antiquity. But let us look at this ecclesiastical polity, on behalf of which, such high pretensions are set forth. Let us examine the principles, constitution and actual state of this venerable hierarchy, |