sinned in a higher or lower degree, or to a greater or less extent, you are altogether unable to discharge any part of the debt you owe. The two debtors of whom our Lord speaks, had nothing to pay. Thus it is with you. No future obedience, no repentance, no prayers, no exercise of charity, can in the least degree cancel your sins, or blot out your iniquities. These are things which accompany salvation; but they are neither the causes nor the means of obtaining it. You have sinned against God, you are debtors to him, and you have nothing to discharge the account. You see therefore the necessity of remis sion. You are shut up to the faith. You must receive free forgiveness, or for ever abide the awful consequences of unpardoned guilt.

2. But there is forgiveness with God, and I now proceed to consider the means by which it may be procured.

On the plan of the gospel, God is ready to forgive every returning sinner, through the sufferings, obedience and death of his beloved and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. There is no such difference between one human being and another, as can entitle any one to a preference in God's regard and esteem. But whoever truly and sincerely returns to the Father of Mercies through Jesus Christ, shall surely be discharged from his debt, and receive the forgiveness of sins, with all the other unspeakable mercies of salvation. Jesus Christ has obtained deliverance from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Through his atoning blood and perfect righteousness,

3. One more argument that love never faileth, is the fact, that the principle is the special gift of God.

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All christian graces are produced by the operation of the Holy Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (or, as it here means, fidelity.) meekness, temperance." At the head of these graces is placed love, which is as much the gift of God, as the faith from which it proceeds; or as regeneration, which is accomplished by the immediate agency of the Holy Spirit, and which is the commencement, the groundwork, the foundation of all true religion-the seed from which repentance, faith, holiness, and other Christian principle springs and grows. me then to ask, Do you love God? Do you love the Saviour? Do you love the brethren? If so, how came you to be possessed of the principle? The answer is, It is the gift of God, and the fruit and effect of your regeneration. You do not possess it naturally. By nature we are the children of wrath. But can we at the same time be the children of wrath and the lovers of God and his saints? Impossible! If, therefore, you possess the grace of love, it is because God has implanted it in you by his grace. The religion of some is nothing more than an earth-born, self-sprung thing. They have never been the subjects of a supernatural work of grace, nor have undergone that great change in the temper of their minds which all must experience who pass from the love of the world and of sin, to the love of God and his people. But when God bestows his

gifts of grace, he never resumes them; for the word of his truth expressly declares that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

Now brethren, suffer me to ask, as the application of the subject, have you the love of God and your fellow-creatures in your hearts? If all of you who have it not, were constrained to retire out of the church, is there not reason to fear that the congregation would be awfully thinned? It is presumed you cannot doubt that the audience would be divided into two classes. Allow me then to speak a few words to each separately.

1. Let me address those who are destitute of the principle of love.

My fellow sinners, if you die without experiencing a change by grace, you can never enter into heaven. Alas! what would you do there, with your disaffected hearts. Heaven to you, instead of being a home of rest and happiness, would be an enemy's country. What pleasure could you enjoy in the services, or the society of heaven ! How could you mingle your praises or your employments with those of angels and saints? If it were possible that an unrenewed man could enter heaven as the place of the blessed, he would carry with him there, a hell in his own bosom. Hence our Lord says, Except a man be born again, he cannot see nor enter into the kingdom of God;" and again, "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." No one can go to heaven without the love of God. But if you are made par

preach "repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." But they neither conceal nor confound the doctrine, that forgiveness of sins is conferred only through the merits and righteousness of the Redeemer.

3. We pass on, thirdly, to notice the evidences of forgiveness.

These are, repentance, humility, zeal, love, and other Christian graces. But our Lord, in the case of the penitent referred to in the text, only mentions her love as the evidence of her forgiveness. "Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.” "For she loved

much." This for does not here denote the cause of her sins being forgiven; but the evidence or proof of it. The particle, as the grammarians speak, is not here causal, but denotes an induction of the antecedent from the consequence; or infers the truth of what goes before, in the sentence, from what follows. Wherefore, since she has shewn so great a regard to me, I say unto thee, it is plain that her many sins are forgiven, for (or because) she hath loved much. Thus God speaks respecting Ephraim: "All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them.” (Hosea ix. 15). Now it is plain that God's hating them in Gilgal was not the cause of their wickedness there, but the evidence or proof of it. Thus the love of this woman to Christ was not the cause; but the sign, evidence, or proof, that her sins, which were many, were forgiven. O how delightfully does her love influence her conduct! and how beautifully is it

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illustrated by Jesus Christ! With reverence let us briefly paraphrase his gracious words, for the purpose of explanation: Simon, seest thou this woman? dost thou observe her tender and affectionate conduct? I entered into thy house, as a guest, on thy own express invitation. On my arrival, thou gavest me no water for my feet; though this be so customary and necessary a refreshment, and a common mark of courteousness and civility. But behold her gratitude!—she has plentifully watered my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the tresses of her hair. When I first entered thy house, thou gavest me no kiss; though this be a common token of respect. But this woman, whom thou scornest, ever since I came in, hath not ceased, with the greatest humility, to kiss my feet! Thou didst not so much as anoint my head with common oil; though few entertainments fail of being attended with this circumstance; but she has anointed my feet with the most fragrant and costly ointment. Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which I well know to be many and great, are graciously forgiven her. And she has given an evidence of this, for she has loved me much; while he to whom little is forgiven, or who thinks his debt but small, is not so much affected with the kindness and grace of him that forgives him, and therefore loves but little."

4. One more particular, respecting the forgiveness of sins, remains to be considered; namely, the assurance of it.

By the assurance of forgiveness, I mean that