village shall have its church-when every many of whom have already believed person shall have his bible-when every Though healed once, you may have been heart shall be a holy shrine for the habi- again stung. Believers are not angels. Cortation of the Spirit-when the language of ruptions cleave to the very best of men. praise and of prayer shall be heard from Passions, inflamed by the agency of Satan, every lip and when the dominion of Jesus are continually bursting forth and impelling shall extend from sea to sea, and from the us to commit sin. And how are these daily river to the ends of the earth, and then it is sins to be forgiven? Why, by looking again that Jesus will fulfil his promise, contained to the same Saviour from whom we at first in my text, in all its extent, and draw all received ample and free forgiveness. If the men unto him. Israelite was stung, he looked to the brazen Let us beware, however, of the folly of serpent, and obtained a cure; if stung a those who study prophecy, and forget them- second time, he looked to the brazen serpent, selves-who devise plans to meliorate the and obtained a cure; if stung a third time, condition of our race, and live themselves he looked to the brazen serpent, and obtain. in personal wretchedness. Jesus either is, ed a cure. And in the same manner, he who or should be, lifted up before you. It is has been induced to look to the cross for the mine to tell you that he was wounded for pardon of all his sins in a state of nature, your iniquities, and bruised for your of must ever and anon revert to the same cross fences. It is mine to preach the doctrine for the daily forgiveness of his daily sins in of Christ crucified. Yea, woe is me, if I a state of grace. Hence Jesus taught all preach not the Gospel. It is yours to hear, his disciples constantly to pray-" forgive us to believe, and to live for ever. And do you our debts, as we forgive our debtors;" and know, that to this Gospel way of salvation David, long after his conversion, when he you are imperiously called, because there is fell again into sin, entreated to have his no other. Do you know that the old ser-heart sprinkled as in former times. pent has stung you? Do you feel the poison in your veins ? Are you sensible that the head is sick, and the heart is faint, and that there is no soundness in you, and that it has taken such fast hold of your heart, that you are ready to stagger, to faint, and to die? And now when you hear of this sovereign remedy-when you are told that the cross of Christ will deliver you both from the power and the penalty of sin-when you are assured, that if you look in faith, you shall live-do you feel your sinking heart revive, do you feel that you are disengaging yourselves from all other methods of salvation, and that you are pressing nearer and nearer to the cross, just as we can conceive the wounded in the camp of Israel pressed nearer and nearer to the spot where the brazen serpent stood? Fixing your eye steadfastly upon a crucified Saviour, and looking as if you were about to obtain something, silver and gold shall not be given you, but, in the name of Jesus, it shall be said, rise and live. His invitation and his assurance are, "Look unto me all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else." But I must not forget that I am addressing an assembly of professing Christians, Of those before me, God knoweth them that are his, but I am warranted to declare those to be in the safest state who turn not the grace of God into a ground of sloth, presumption, or licentiousness, but who are living a life of continual faith, and penitence, and prayer; aye, and who live with this prayer upon their lips, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Whatsoever, therefore, is your spiritual state, I call upon you, at every fresh sin, to look afresh to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, and to implore its forgiveness with earnestness, (and with peculiar earnestness, if you have sinned as a believing disciple, for your transgression is aggravated by the consideration that you have been sinning against your reconciled Father, and your benignant Saviour,) and to implore pardon, with the confident hope that it shall be imparted; for you shall not be lost, unless you refuse to look, as Jesus is enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty on High, for the purpose of giving repentance unto Israel, and the remission of sins. When God's own Son is lifted up, GLASGOW:-W. R. M‘PHUN, PUBLISHER, 86, TRONGATE, EDWARD KHULL, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY. A Sermon preached by the Rev. JOHN THOMSON.-Concluded. (1.) It is contrary to the nature of the christian life. The life of the true Christian, as the uniform experience of God's people incontestibly proves, is very far indeed, from being characterized by perfect unvaried peace. Still exposed to temptation, and not unfrequently overpowered for a time by its repeated and much hated assaults, the progress of the genuine believer is ever chequered by the visitation of fear, of despondency, and of sorrow, as well as of the opposite emotions of hope, and confidence, and joy. Nay, indeed, such oppressive feelings are often necessary; at any rate they are in all cases subservient to his present advancement in his spiritual course and his final triumph over his spiritual foes. Of such being the fact all possibility of doubt is completely removed by the history of the saints of God, as delineated in the pages of inspiration. To mention no others, is it not fully demonstrated by the experience of the patriarch Job, who thus speaks to God under the pressure of his afflicting hand? "Why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be;" or of the psalmist David when he exclaims in the spirit of dejection?" Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" or of Asaph when he puts forth the remarkable words? "Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for Price 2d. evermore?" or of Heman, the Ezrahite when he thus speaks? "Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness." While such was the experience even of these peculiarly faithful and distinguished servants of God, we are not only warranted to expect that the progress of other and more ordinary Christians will be similarly characterized, but this legitimate expectation has been in all ages, and in almost every situation, most fully realized. On the supposition, however, that assurance is of the essence of faith, the diversity of emotion thus exhibited in the experience of God's people is utterly inexplicable. For it is very obvious that assurance of salvation, in its very nature, precludes the possibility of every kind of perplexity or alarm as to present condition, and every degree of anxiety or doubt as to future success. It follows, therefore, that the life of every individual believer, if necessarily distinguished by such assurance, must exhibit one unbroken course of comfort and spiritual joy-in short, that an alarmed, or doubting, or sorrowful, or dejected Christian, must be a glaring contradiction in terms. 2. While the doctrine, against which we never, in any instance, called upon, as the truth of the doctrine held by our opponents necessarily requires, to exult in the favour of God, or to rest satisfied on the ground of the security which they may, and actually do, not unfrequently indulge. On the contrary, they are uniformly exhorted to penitence and abasement, to mourning in reference to their pollution and consequent spiritual misery, and to fear in reference to their guilt and consequent danger. It is not till after they have first sought the kingdom of God and obtained his righteousness, that they are required to rejoice in the appropriation to themselves of the divine promises of grace and of glory. So that the assurance referred to, so far from being necessarily inherent in the first step of the christian course, must, to be consistent at all with the exhortations of Scripture, be regarded as dependent, even for its very are now contending, is thus in obvious con- | trariety to the nature of the christian life, it is also, at the same time, very manifestly inconsistent with the general bearing of Scripture statement and exhortation. Nothing is more apparent, even to the most cursory reader of God's holy word, than the encouragement that is there given even to those whose state of mind and of heart is just the very opposite to every thing like security or confidence. Time, indeed, would fail to set forth the invitations of kindness and the promises of acceptance, repeatedly addressed to such as are "poor in spirit," or "broken in heart," "mourning in Zion," or "trembling at the word of the Lord." And most assuredly, if there be any thing more expressly declared than another, it is just that the humble, the fearful, the depressed, the feeble-minded, those who, in the language of the prophet Isaiah, are walking in darkness and have no light-existence, on the previous conviction upon that these, and all such as these, are peculiarly the objects of the Saviour's regard. If, however, assurance be essential to faith, then it is unquestionable, that since all such feelings and emotions utterly preclude the existence of that assurance, every individual, without exception, in whose spiritual state these are found to occupy any place at all, must of necessity be an unbeliever in the full meaning of the term. How, then, are we to account for the expression of approbation and regard so frequently addressed to them in the Sacred Record? Do they not rather, if the doctrine of our opponents be true, come under the Saviour's striking denunciation of wrath, when he declares so expressly that "he who believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Nor are the exhortations of Scripture less manifestly inconsistent with the doctrine under consideration. Instead of being directed, as the first step of the christian course, to confide in the certainty of our calling and election, and to rejoice in the possession of absolute safety, which is unquestionably with much reason to be looked for, if assurance of salvation constitute the very essence of genuine Christianity, we are uniformly called upon to receive and rest upon Christ for salvation, as he is offered in the gospel, and then to seek after that certainty and consequent rejoicing, not as a necessary ingredient, but as THE NATURAL FRUIT of such genuine faith. The unconverted are scriptural grounds, that that first step has actually already been taken. The very fact, moreover, that (as must be well known to every one who is at all familiar with the Sacred Record,) while the real disciples of Jesus are frequently exhorted to aim at, and follow after, the full assurance of hope as an object still to be obtained, the professing disciples of Christ are not less frequently directed to examine themselves whether they be in the faith-the very fact that such is the case clearly overturns the position maintained by our opponents. For, in regard to the real disciples of Christ, if faith and assurance be mutually essential, where is the use, nay, where is the propriety, of requiring them to seek after the one when they have actually obtained the other? And, then, as to the professing disciples of Christ, surely the requisition from such of any thing like examination as to their christian belief, is, on the supposition of our opponents, as evidently superfluous and absurd; seeing that, according to them, the moment any doubt is found to exist at all, the question is at once and completely decided. 3. But not only do the contrariety of the doctrine, against which we are contending, to the nature of the christian life, and its inconsistency also with the general bearing of Scripture statement and exhortation thus clearly demonstrate its fallacy: the conse quences likewise to which it naturally leads are sufficient, we apprehend, to convince every candid inquirer, that it is, at the same time, MOST PERNICIOUS AND DANGEROUS. Of these consequences we have a very melancholy, and by no means indecisive, example in the fact, that not a few of its most zealous adherents have been led to adopt, as manifestly necessary to the completeness of the system advocated by them, the doctrine of UNIVERSAL PARDON, which proclaims the forgiveness of sins as already, by the death of Christ, secured for, and actually conveyed to, every individual of the human race without any exception—a doctrine of which we have not time, nor do we think it necessary at present, to take any further notice than just to remark, that its close connexion with the doctrine of assurance as essential to salvation, is enough to warrant the immediate suspicion as to the truth of that doctrine, if not the most complete reprobation of all that is implied in it. Without dwelling in particular, however, upon this deplorable specimen of its fruits, we have to observe that the doctrine has a natural tendency to encourage, if not to produce, licentiousness. For, however positively this consequence may be disclaimed by our opponents, it is quite undisputable that the moment we assume, as they do, the legitimacy of the sinner's title to rejoice in the certainty of his salvation, even before he has, or can have, obtained any unequivocal proof of the renewal of his heart and life, we put an end to the necessity of holiness as an evidence of his interest in Christ; and thus casting aside some of the most efficient motives to compliance with the injunctions and prohibitions of the divine law, we necessarily weaken, if we do not altogether break down, the power of moral obligation. And even granting that such may not be the necessary result, still its tendency to increase either the misgivings and fears of the humble on the one hand, or the false confidence and deceitful tranquillity of the careless on the other, leaves us little room, if any at all, to doubt that it is not, and cannot possibly be, "a doctrine according to godliness." One of the earliest symptoms of a renewed heart is just the most overpowering conviction of sin, in reference both to its hatefulness and to its danger. Indeed, it is very generally, by the production of such impressions, as to our natural state, that we are first led by the Spirit of God to embrace the gospel. While thus operated upon, it is quite natural for us to be oppressed by perplexity, and ble to avoid the intrusion of such distressful feelings. Nor is it only at the commencement of the christian course that these come forth to disturb us. Throughout the whole of our subsequent progress they make their appearance from time to time, according as we are weak or strong in the faith. And what, then, is the most probable effect of the doctrine under consideration, in regard to the emotions thus frequently prevalent? Is it calculated either to remove them, when first called forth, or to counteract their afflictive tendency when afterwards recurring? Is it possible—is it conceivable that any such doubt or alarm can be dispelled by the reception of a doctrine which tells us so plainly that the very existence of that doubt and that alarm is, of itself, the clearest proof of our insecurity? Alas! were there nothing else proclaimed for our encouragement and for our comfort, than this false and pernicious doctrine, our condition would be desperate indeed-ou misery would be utterly irretrievable. Our Nor is the tendency of this doctrine, in reference to the spiritual state of the careless and secure, less evidently pernicious and dangerous. For, let it be observed, that it directs them to the simple consciousness of faith, as the ground of spiritual peace. By obvious consequence, it turns them away from considering the inseparable connexion subsisting between character and privilege. Thus shutting up from their view, therefore, every thing in their hearts and lives which, if fully brought before them, might effectually open their eyes to the reality and the awfulness of their danger, the increase of their deceitful and fatal security must, as is obvious, be the inevitable consequence. From the remarks thus submitted, it is the obvious conclusion, that assurance or moral certainty as to our calling and election, is not, and cannot possibly be, essential to a state of grace. It is not on that account, however, the less desirable. Being, as we have formerly seen, really within our reach, it ought unquestionably to be ever regarded as a very prominent object of pursuit. Nay, indeed, whenever there is no wish or no effort to obtain it, there is always some ground to suspect that our spiritual condition is neither very prosperous nor altogether safe. The inquiry, therefore, as to the means of satisfactorily arriving at it, is manifestly of no little importance. Here, then, we are brought to the consideration of III. How is this assurance or moral certainty, in regard to our calling and election, really to be secured? The answer to this question is, by no means, attended with difficulty. Abundance of information regarding it, is set before us in the Sacred Volume. Indeed, scarcely any thing more is necessary than the language of the very chapter whence our text is selected. The Apostle, turning our attention to the virtues and graces of the christian life, very distinctly and unequivocally points to the exercises of such virtues and graces as the source of the assurance here more immediately referred to. In the preceding context, he puts forth to us this most important declaration, "If these things," (the holy dispositions and affections just before enumerated,) "if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." And then exhorting us in the text to "give diligence, to make our calling and election sure," he adds immediately as a powerful incitement to comply with this exhortation, "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." According to this language, then, of the apostle Peter, it is just by the cultivation of real christian principle, and by the exhibition of that principle in our external deportment, or, in other words, bringing forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, that we can ever reach the enjoyment of any safe, because scriptural, confidence in regard to our final salvation. Nor does this conclusion rest upon the language of the apostle Peter alone. Our blessed Lord himself, exposing the false confidence and spurious sanctity of the Pharisees, ex pressly declares to them, that the sincerity of the Christian's faith, and consequently his spiritual safety, is to be discovered by its effects. Either," says he, "make the tree good, and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit." The same inference is manifestly to be drawn from the language of the apostle Paul, when he tells us that "there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And in the writings of the apostle John likewise, we find these remarkable words, Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments." From these passages of Scripture, as well as from many others which might be referred to, it is most abundantly obvious, that in order to ascertain our interest in the gospel salvation, we must look not merely to the conscious act of believing in Christ, but to the exercise also of such belief as displayed in the general character of our dispositions, and habitual course of our external deportment. Let such then, brethren, be the evidence from which you seek to draw the confident and joyful anticipation of everlasting felicity. While regarding the "full assurance of hope" as not only of possible attainment, but truly desirable, and demanding your most active pursuit, beware of resting satisfied with the mere consciousness of faith in Christ, which, after all, may prove delusive and vain. Look to that "work of righteousness which,” as we are told in Scripture, "shall be peace," and the effect of which shall be "quietness and assurance for ever." And bringing forth fruits meet for repentance," see that, in compliance with the exhortation before us, you give "diligence to make your calling and election sure." |