life, which is not that of faith and evangelical obedience, will terminate in any thing but ruin? We have some useful virtues, some amiable dispositions, some laudable emotions; but are we bringing forth the fruits of righteousness? Let us remember the awful declaration of Jesus Christ: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." If we trace our conduct to its source, we shall not wonder at the doom which is pronounced against. those who live like us. What shall we find

within but principles at variance with those of the Gospel, and affections incompatible with its spirit? If we were partakers of the Divine Nature, if we were transformed into the image of God, if we had a new heart and a new spirit;" instead of the thorn would come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier would come up the myrtle tree." which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit."

"That

Are we convinced of these truths; and do we feel the necessity of that entire change

of

of heart and life which the Gospel declares to be essential to salvation? Let us seek it, where it may be found, at the footstool of Divine grace, in reliance on the merits of our Saviour, and in dependance on his gracious intercession. Then will our thoughts, and words, and works, though they will not procure our acceptance with God, be an evidence that we have been accepted; and, in proportion as they are more regulated by Christian principles, and more conformable to the precepts of Jesus Christ, they will communicate to our own souls the comfort of an assured hope; glorify Him after whose name we are called; and recommend the religion which we profess, to those who have not yet understood its excellence, nor experienced its inestimable benefits.

SERMON XIX.

On the Mistakes of religious Professors.

7TH. CHAP. OF ST. MATTHEW, 21ST. 22ND. AND 23RD. VERSES.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

WHEN, in the exercise of our public

ministry, we denounce the terrors of Divine vengeance against daring vice, and open impiety, our hearers listen with com

placence

placence because the subject does not seem to apply to them. Those, who have denied the faith of their forefathers, and relinquished the hope of immortality, do not enter the assemblies of the faithful, to listen to our exhortations, or to encounter our reproofs. Those, who are living in a profligate contempt of all the rules of morality, as well as of all the sanctions of religion, while they are constant in the haunts of dissipation and vice, are seldom or never found in the house of the Lord, whose offices are distasteful to their feelings, and whose seriousness is repugnant to their frivolity. They, to whom we have an opportunity of unfolding the solemn truths of the Gospel, are for the most part decent and respectable in their moral character, decorous in their observance of the rites and ceremonies of religion, and attentive to the form of godliness, though they may be destitute of its power. To such therefore the abstract doctrines of Christianity are often unfolded in vain. General exhortations to repentance, faith, and holiness,

are

are considered admirable for others, but quite unnecessary for themselves. They recognize the evidences of revealed religion, admire its excellence, and conform to its institutions. They live in a quiet and unostentatious exercise of the virtues which promote the happiness of others, and of the dispositions which contribute to their own. Every sermon therefore which they hear is considered a reproof which is only applicable to the absent, while they judge of it as they would of a literary disquisition, or a lecture on philosophy. It amuses their fancy, or exercises their reason; is listened to with momentary approbation, or perhaps with momentary censure, made the subject of a few passing remarks, and then dismissed from the mind for ever.

But there is a style of preaching which may, with the blessing of God, alarm the security and dissipate the illusions, even of those who are thus self-deceived. It is when the errors of the seemingly religious are attacked, when the deficiencies of the respecta

ble