sures, or contract their resources for amusement. Let such persons be assured that it is impossible I should have any other view in my exhortation than the eternal salvation of their immortal part: every word I say issues from an affectionate regard to their best interests; and they must know that I am emboldened both by the example and the command of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, to tell men plainly, that, unless they repent, they shall perish;-to tell them, that unless they secure the one thing needful, they will have lived to little purpose; for "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" For such persons to tell me that I carry things too far, will never, I hope, have any effect on me, till they first make it appear that they themselves carry things far enough.

I have reason to hope that some, who may have often thought my admonitions troublesome or superfluous, will not now think so; and they will be still less disposed to think so on their dying beds and it is my earnest prayer, that many, who seem still satisfied with their present condition, may examine themselves before it be too late,

and take care not to be misled in the vast concern

of their immortal souls.

Those who, in a judgment of Christian candour and charity, are really "new creatures in Christ Jesus," walking no longer after the flesh, but the Spirit, I would briefly entreat, by the mercies of God, that they "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Remember, that the smallest encouragement to sin, afforded by a few persons of a religious character and religious pretensions, strengthens the hands of wickedness and wounds the cause of religion more than many vices of the grossest sinners. On the contrary, let your conduct "shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Very often you have heard me maintain, that though (if saved at all) we must be saved by the merits of Christ alone, and, as our Church says,

not by our own works and deservings;" yet, nevertheless, religion is a work, and the greatest of all possible works. The " new creature in Christ" is neither to be begun, supported, nor

finished in a way of indolence. The salvation of

the soul, the preparation for heaven, is a great work, which must be carried on, and which must be finished. The new creature, as I have observed

already, has a race to run, a battle to fight; and he must win "the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus."

!

Those who are truly wise will listen to a piece of very important advice in this business, and which materially concerns every individual who is anxious to make a progress in the character of the new creature,-namely, to spend as little time and thought as possible on nice, intricate, and doubtful questions in divinity, which minister only to disputation, and not to edification. The loss and destruction of useful time is not the only evil consequent on such things; they divert the mind from better things; they sour the temper, and ill dispose it to that humiliation of soul which prepares the sinner to receive the Gospel of Christ with sober contemplation, and peace and joy and thankfulness.

Hitherto, by the blessing of God, I have determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified; fully convinced, that, wherever the grace of God in Christ Jesus is

fairly set forth, it will

prove the " power of God unto salvation ;" and that the congregations who

receive it faithfully, will become new creatures in

.

Christ; and that He will be made unto them

"

wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

37

SERMON XIV.

1

MATTHEW vii. 7.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

THERE are two methods by which men are apt to deceive themselves respecting the important duty of secret prayer. One is, when they think it a matter of no great consequence, and suppose there can be no material danger in omitting it.

Almighty God," they say, "is not only omniscient, and therefore acquainted with all our wants and necessities, but compassionate also, and more ready to give than we to ask:' nor is God to be moved by any solicitations of ours from what, in the depth and wisdom of his counsels, he has determined to do."

There would be some argument in this, if the