II. Unitarianism in the West-W. G. Eliot, 601 VIII. Way for a Child to be saved-By the Author of 629 THE WESTERN MESSENGER; DEVOTED TO RELIGION AND LITERATURE. Vol. I. MAY, 18 3 6. ART. 1.-A SERMON, On Faith and a Good Conscience. By Rev. FRANCIS PARKMAN, Boston, Mass. I Timothy, I. 19. No. 10. Holding faith and good conscience, which, some having put away, of their faith have made shipwreck. It is a solemn truth, that a sound or a correct faith may be held with a bad conscience; and it is an equally solemn truth, that such faith will not avail either to holiness of living, or to acceptance with God; and these are the truths which the Apostle intimates in the text, and which it will be the object of this discourse to illustrate. They are truths which approve themselves at once to our judgment. All rational views of religion, every just conception we can form of the will of God concerning us, and of our obligations, conspire to teach, that faith of itself cannot avail; that however just or well founded, may be a man's religious speculations, they cannot avail him, either as motives to action, or as grounds of hope, unless dwelling in a pure heart, and expressed and made manifest in a holy life. This sentiment is maintained with great clearness and energy, by the Apostle James, in his admirable epistle, written to instruct and comfort the dispersed of Israel, and to show them the necessity, especially under the trials to which they were exposed, of approving their faith by their mutual charity and all the works of righteousness. It is not in the power of words to express more forcibly than does he, the necessity of virtue to render faith acceptable. We are taught, in the most explicit manner, as if it was a truth we were most |