lity which is set before us, and that "no man take from us our crown."

When we farther direct our view to the extent of the Divine mercy, to that universal offer of grace, which the Gospel proclaims to all who hear the glad tidings of redemption; when we consider the frequent calls, the earnest solicitations of the spirit within us to partake of the promised inheritance; when we cast our eyes backward on the awful warnings which we have slighted, the numberless and pressing opportunities which we have passed by with presumptuous negligence; when we review this long extended train of mercies from on high, surely a reasonable apprehension must intrude even upon the hardest heart, that the night may come when no man can work; that when the day of mercy is past, all is darkness: a sin against the mercy of God, is a sin unto death. When the compassion of our Saviour condemns us, who shall be our advocate ?

Farther, the best criterion and test, by which we shall be enabled to judge whether our confidence in the mercy of God is sound and rational, or vain and fallacious, is the effect, which this persuasion shall work upon our minds.

Do we find that it creates in us a more powerful disinclination to tempt the most High? Do we find that it produces a greater guard and

caution in our behaviour? that it closes the avenues of the heart against the incursions of iniquity! Do we find a greater abhorrence of sin, and a more ardent inclination to the fulfilment of those terms of salvation? Do we find that the more confident we are of God's mercy, the more fearful we are to offend the purity of his holiness? If these feelings of fear predominate, we shall then have reasonable ground to suppose, that these persuasions are not mere delusions, but the attestations of God's Spirit upon our hearts, the comfortable assurances of salvation through the blood of Christ.

But if from the persuasions of mercy we lose our fear of offending the Almighty, if we think that because we are under grace, that we are therefore not liable to temptation, because we have been raised by Christ, that we cannot fall by Satan; we shall be warranted in concluding, that all such assurances of mercy are the influences only of a destructive infatuation. He, therefore, that from the Divine mercy finds no opportunity for fear, may conclude, that there is mercy with God, but will too fatally discover that there is no mercy for a bold and fearless sinner.

Thus, then, from every consideration, whether of mercy in the abstract, or in that particular dispensation of pardon revealed through Christ

to the children of men, the idea of fear will uniformly result, that fear, which under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will be the ever watchful guard of our innocence, the influential principle of repentance, the preservation from all evil. It will become us to guard against its abuse, to vindicate its place in our moral construction, lest it should overbear reason, instead of assisting it; lest it should be suffered to tyrannize in the imagination, or to raise the self-created phantoms of terror and dismay.

As from the mercy of God, springs every hope, so from the perfect justice of God, arises every fear. That these two attributes co-exist in the Almighty mind, reason itself must teach; but, how they co-exist, reason will also teach, that in the present contracted state of our faculties, man can never know. In the mean time our hopes, and our fears, must accompany us in our journey through life, till the dark veil of mortality is removed from our sight, till, at the great day of the Lord, these two attributes shall be reconciled for ever before our eyes. Then, every hope shall be consummated in the perfection of bliss, and endless enjoyment; and every fear shall be swallowed up in the abyss of Divine mercy.

SERMON XIV.

GALATIANS iii. 19.

Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

In surveying the history of the dispensations of the Almighty to man, as recorded in Holy Writ, in tracing the long series of events both in their origin and effect, we cannot but observe the close connection which subsists between every part, and the wonderful adaptation of each separate link in the chain of occurrences to the one grand end and purpose of the whole. Such an unity both of design and execution might reasonably be expected in a scheme framed by infinite wisdom, and enforced by infinite power; but when the free agency of man is taken into the consideration, when we see every purpose frustrated apparently by rebellion, every promise annulled by disobedience, how wonderful is the power of that Almighty arm, which can render even con

fusion itself the unwilling minister and instrument of order, guiding the perversity of man to the completion of the will of God!

From this consideration may be deduced the reconciliation of those seemingly contradictory principles which appear in the moral government of the Almighty, all originating in the mercies of his eternal wisdom, and working together for the same great end of our creation, the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ.

A more remarkable instance of contrariety does not occur, than in the striking distinction between the mode of worship enjoined under the Mosaic, and the Christian dispensation. Viewing the one as closely connected and preparatory to the other, considering that the same one selfexisting Being was equally the object of adoration; that his attributes were as clearly declared, and as fully understood under the former, as under the latter covenant, it may perhaps appear somewhat extraordinary, that the one should be burdened with a tedious ritual and long train of ceremonial observances, while the other proclaims the liberty of the Gospel, and the worship of God who is a Spirit, "in spirit and in truth."" Wherefore then serveth the law?" It existed not under the patriarchal, it is superseded and abolished by the Christian dispensation; wherefore then should it have been imposed