set up against the honour of God, and the safety of their own souls: when they have felt a little smarting from a wound of sin, they have got it slightly healed; and their repentance is that, of which they may repent-it was partial and inefficient; and its end proves this. They have not through the excess of sorrow for sin, fled to lay hold on the hope set before them; and refused to be comforted, till they felt that word powerfully spoken into their hearts, "Son !-daughter!--be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee." No man should consider his repentance as having answered a saving end to his soul, till he feels that God for Christ's sake has forgiven him his sins; and the Spirit of God testifies with his spirit that he is a child of God. Those who, by their preaching, cause the people to rest short of this, and to be satisfied with such a problematic repentance and conversion, are healing the hurt of the people slightly; and crying peace! peace! where God has not spoken peace. All the advantage that such people have under such preaching, is, at best, no better to them than the blood of bulls and of goats, and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer. They have not had the work of repentance, nor the work of faith, nor the patience of hope, and consequently are not able to perform to GoD or man, the labour of love. Their consciences are not purged from dead works; and therefore they cannot, by a loving obedience, serve the living God. Reader, learn that true repentance is a work—and not the work of an hour :—it is not a passing regret, but a deep and alarming conviction, that thou art a fallen spirit-hast broken God's laws-art under His curse- -and in danger of hell fire. Think also that the grave may be ready for thee; that here, thou hast no continuing city-that now is the accepted timeand now the day of salvation. Now, God waits to be gracious to thee, to grant thee repentance unto life, to blot out thy sins, and give thee an assurance of His love: and in that day thou wilt praise Him; for though He was angry with thee, His anger is turned away, for lo, He comforteth thee. Henceforth thou mayest draw with joy, water out of the wells of salvation. And if thou follow on to know the Lord, thou wilt soon find in addition to the pardon thou hast received, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth thee from all sin. Thus, thou wilt magnify God, for the work that Christ has wrought in thee, as well as for that which He has wrought for thee. And now remember for what end God has purged thy conscience from dead works-works which procured not the life, but the death of the soul. It is, that thou mayest serve the living God. The phrase vexpa spya, dead works, is only used here, and in ch. vi. 1: it refers to those dead things by which legal defilement was contracted; and in both the above places, it seems to be intended by the Apostle, to point out such works as deserve death-the works of those who are dead in trespasses, and dead in sins: and dead by sentence of the law, because they had by these works broken the law.— The conscience being purged from dead works, signifies the forgiveness of all those sins, the sentence of death reversed, and the spirit of life imparted, so that they might, having this life from the dead, and this inward spirit of life, serve the living God:-the living God requires a living service, performed according to the light of God and according to that measure of His love shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. The experience of such, is beautifully sung by the poet, New light new love, new love new life hath bred; A love to Him, to whom all loves are wed; A light to which, the sunne is dark as night: Eye's light, heart's love, soul's only life He is: He eye, light, heart, love, soul; He all my joy and blisse! Fletcher's Purple Island; Canto I. stanza 7. Heathens offered sacrifices, made vows, did services, and expected rewards from dead gods, idols of stone, wood, metal, clay, &c.; gods who had ears, but could not hear, eyes but could not see, tongues, but could not speak; wholly inanimate, and at best, only representations of dead men, or of nonentities, or of devils. Stones, trees, fountains, rivers, woods, mountains, the sun, moon, planets, and stars, were objects of worship among the nations of the earth; and into this absurd worship of dead things, the Jews frequently relapsed, and followed the abominations of the heathens. The Apostle here shews what the true worship is:—its object is the true and living GOD:-Its grand rite is the true Sacrifice, the pas sion and death of the Lord Jesus. It is performed by the in fluence of the Eternal Spirit; and its end is the purgation of the conscience from the stains contracted by the dead works above mentioned; and the purification of the heart, that the living God might have a living service; and that those who thus served Him might have spiritual life in the work; and this is agreeable to the exhortation of the Apostle to the Romans, ch. xii. 1. I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Such a service is as rational as it is divine. The living only, can shew forth the praise of, and render service to the living God. And the true worshipper lives by his religious service; for, by these things do men live; and in all these, is the life of the spirit; and this is agreeable to the gracious declaration of God Himself.Your hearts shall live who seek the Lord, Psal. lxix. 32. Amos v. 4. I LIVE, says the apostle, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the LIFE that I now LIVE, I LIVE by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me, Gal. ii. 20.-The true believer lives to His God; and genuine Christianity is, the LIFE of God in the soul of man: and because Christ died for man and rose again, therefore, they which live, should not live unto themselves, but unto Him, who died for them and rose again, 2 Cor. v. 15. And the true Christians can say, Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's, Rom. xiv. 8. Nothing can be more high, nothing more noble, nothing more glorious, than this CALLING: well may those who have got into it, "heartily thank their heavenly Father, that He hath called them into this STATE of SALVATION through Jesus Christ their Saviour and pray to God to give them grace that they may continue in the same unto their life's end. From all this, we learn, that a genuine Christian has a right creed, and a right conduct. That he hears, that he may learn: that he learns, that he may believe that he believes, in order to be saved: that he receives salvation, in order that he may shew forth the virtues of Him, who has called him from darkness into His marvellous light and that he walks in the light, bringing forth the fruits of righteous ness unto the glory and praise of God, that he may be prepared for the kingdom of glory; and having overcome all enemies, and all difficulties, through the blood of the Lamb, he may sit down with Christ on His throne, as He, having overcome, is sat down with the Father on the Father's throne. May this be the happy lot of every Reader, for Christ's sake! Amen, so be it, Lord Jesus! x 2 SERMON XXVII. THE PRAYER OF AGUR. PROVERBS, Chap. xxx. 1–9. 1-6. The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, &c. 7. Two things have I required of thee: deny me them not before I die: 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord! or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. I SHALL first consider the short history which Agur gives of himself: secondly, his discourse concerning God and His word and thirdly, examine his prayer, and the import of the different parts. I. The history which Agur gives of himself. This occurs in the first, second, and third verses. Ver. 1. " The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the prophecy the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal." The first sentence, The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, has been supposed to be the title given to the succeeding words: so in my old MS. English Bible—The wordes of the gederer, sone bompteringe, and then the chapter begins, The vision that a man spake, &c. Coverdale makes this clause a regular heading to the chap ter, The wordes of Agur the sonne of Jake, in his Bible, fol printed 1535: likewise in the Bible of Thomas Matthew, |