justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." And again in another place he declares, that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin:" thereby plainly intimating that whatever is of faith, is holy. He enjoins the Ephesians besides, to take this faith as their buckler to guard them from the snares and assaults of the devil. "Above all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." And to the Philippians he writes, “I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now let us attend to what St. James says relative to the faith which he reproves, and we shall find that so far from its being a righteous principle, the very devils themselves may hold it. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble."

From the preceding observations, it has, I trust, been made clearly to appear, that there is in reality no discrepancy between the doctrine taught by St. Paul, and that inculcated by St. James: that in the passages from their writings, which we have placed in seeming opposition to each other, the two apostles speak of a different faith

For whilst it has been

and different works. shewn that the faith which St. Paul preached, was a holy and lively faith; a faith which through the influence of the Holy Spirit, tended to purify and spiritualize the affections, to draw our anxieties away from the world, and fix them upon God's promises in heaven; we have fully proved that the faith animadverted upon by St. James, was a mere assent to the Christian truths, which wrought no change in the heart, and was so far removed from every thing that was holy and pure, that even the spirits of evil professed it, though they trembled. Again, we have seen that St. Paul spoke of works done in self-righteousness, in the arrogant expectation of earning heaven, as it were, by the merits of our own obedience; than which nothing can be farther from the true spirit of the gospel: whereas, St. James treats of those truly evangelical works, those Christian virtues, which are the fruits of a faith that worketh by love. Hence the two apostles, instead of contradicting, explain and illustrate each other. And we shall now, I apprehend, have no difficulty in perceiving, that the example of Abraham was equally forcible in confirming their respective arguments. For St. Paul it proved, that the patriarch was blessed, because his heart was guided and controuled by a firm belief in God's mercy, and an humble reliance upon his power to fulfil the pro

mise he had given. And to St. James, it afforded the most irrefragable evidence, that a barren faith would be of no avail, because it testified, that the exaltation of Abraham's posterity was predicted, not upon the mere expression of his belief, but upon his performance of an act of solemn obedience.

My brethren, we have been enabled, I trust, to-day, by God's help, to clear up an apparent difficulty in the Sacred Scriptures; but we shall have gained little by such elucidation, if we do not, from the observations made, derive spiritual improvement to our own souls. One simple and solemn lesson may be readily deduced,—that we hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience; the mystery of that faith, which hopes for mercy only through the blood of Christ, and the merits of his gracious and continual mediation. When we preach this faith, we preach every thing that is holy; we preach good works in the only light in which good works can be acceptable to God, namely, when they proceed from a contrite and humble heart, and are done from love to that gracious Redeemer, in whose righteousness alone we may dare to present our imperfect offerings. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" and without faith, our good deeds are but as dust and corruption before him. It is vain to assume the name of Christian, if we depart not

from iniquity; and when we see a man professing to be a follower of his Saviour, neglect his precepts, and despise his ordinances, we may well exclaim with the apostle, can such faith save him? Be ours, my brethren, that holier faith, of which St. James himself has declared, that they who are rich in it, though they be poor in this world's goods, will yet be the chosen of God.* Let us hold fast this faith without wavering; it will strengthen us in our earthly pilgrimage, it will comfort us in our earthly troubles, it will carry us in joy and triumph to our journey's end. Here we may be in mourning and sorrow; but a true faith can blunt the dart of anguish, can snatch the sting from death, and the victory from the grave. And if St. Paul has this day been, under God, a light to lighten our souls to the knowledge of the truth; oh! may each of us, when the hour of his last mortal agony is at hand, be enabled to exclaim with him, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."

* James ii, 5.

SERMON X.

PSALM XC, 9.

When thou art angry all our days are gone, we bring our years to an end as it were a tale that is told.

THE shortness and uncertainty of human life, is a theme on which moralists and philosophers of all ages have been prone to dwell. By those who lived before Christianity had shed its blessings upon mankind, it was employed as an argument to prove the instability and vanity of the great objects of human ambition, and as an inducement to spend the brief span of existence, in the enjoyment of such pleasures, as might make life's little day pass cheerfully along. Men were enjoined to consider the present hour, as the only one they could call their own; to seize the gratifications that were within their grasp, and not to suffer their anxiety for the future, to mar or prevent the happiness of the time before them. They were reminded, that the path of death