listless indifference about prayer, about the knowledge and love of God, about heavenly things?— What a damp does the very mention of such things in company strike on your minds! But how alert, how lively are you in things of the world, and in any matter that does not lead you to God! It would carry me a great way to point out the various thousand proofs of man's fallen perishing state. Indeed, if we were not disposed to shut our eyes against the plainest truths, when they are mortifying to our pride, we have within us, in abundance, proofs of man's fallen, miserable condition, being such as the Bible represents it; and hence, as our Lord observes to Nicodemus, in the discourse, of which the Text is a part, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Men may pretend what they please, but God knows, and they themselves may come to know, with horror at last, that the real cause of their aversion and opposition to Scripture doctrine is an internal, rooted, hatred to holiness; and that such are the workings of in-dwelling sin, that depraved creatures never fail to prefer any kind of religious notions, which allow them to retain a good opinion of themselves.-But, let me beseech You, whom the first head of this discourse may more particularly concern, to weigh the subject most seriously, in self-examination and prayer, till you feel its truth and its importance.

2. The conviction of our depraved state, was our first head; and it is so weighty a matter, and so connected with all that follows, that, already we have encroached upon the second head, and may,

therefore, now be more brief in considering it,namely, the beholding of Christ crucified, for our relief and redemption.

This will teach us what is meant by the exercise. of the true faith of the Gospel, a thing most necessary to be rightly apprehended, though, often, slightly, or untruly represented, and, in fact, misunderstood by those who feel not their need of Christ. It implies in it, that consciousness of misery, and that desert of everlasting destruction, of which we have been speaking. It carries the soul immediately to Christ for life and salvation; it directs the attention to the crucified Saviour; it beholds a holy God, as fixing his beloved Son to the Cross, that the Son might make satisfaction to Divine Justice for man's sin: It sees sin infinitely hateful, yet completely pardoned and done away in that most astonishing, and most glorious of all transactions.

Beware, Brethren, lest you content yourselves with merely good NOTIONS of Christian faith, instead of faith itself, considered as a humble, holy, practical determination of the soul. Our Lord used no flattering, or complimentary expressions to Nicodemus on the goodness of the religious principles of that "Master of Israel;" No; though Nicodemus had all his life the HISTORICAL faith before mentioned, Jesus thought it necessary to lead him to a right sense of the necessity of the New Birth, and to the living faith which we are describing: And let me exhort all who, in the consciousness of their lost condition by nature, truly long for Christ's salvation, but think it presumption for them in their simple state, to call him their Saviour; let me exhort all such to come nearer to their

Redeemer, to their high priest, their king, and their prophet.--He is your object: Look with a steady, earnest, persevering attention; and if you cannot yet discern your Saviour so distinctly, as to apply his remedies suitably to your distemper,―continue to look for him in his ordinances, till, in the light of the Spirit, you can behold him with comfort. Truly humbled, awakened, sinners, who equally wish to be free from the dominion, as well as from the penalty of sin, and to whom sin is an intolerable burden, are the very persons with whom he delights to dwell. Guard against Satan's fiery darts, and your own self-righteous, unbelieving, nature. It may seem a poor direction to say, "Look unto me, and be saved;" Natural reason would rather say, Do some great work, and then God will take notice of you; nevertheless, this is God's way, and it must be your's: It seems strange to nature, that to look at a piece of brass, a lump of inert metal, should be the means of healing a wound. Certain chirurgical applications might be thought better adapted to cases of that kind. But, if God commands, there is no room for hesitation. It is just so it spiritual things; and if you will patiently look to Jesus, and go on, trusting in him, because he bids you to do so, you shall not be disappointed. The poor Israelites, though just expiring,-if, with languid look, they caught but a sight of the brazen Serpent on the pole, recovered from the deadly effects of the poisonous bites, and lived.—

Apply this, in your last extremity, when you have been struggling, perhaps in great darkness of mind, to save yourselves, and are almost reduced to despair, and you shall find Christ a Saviour indeed.

And it is not only to weak ones of the good Shepherd's flock, but to the strong also, that I would say the same thing. There is none other that can "deliver after this sort*:" There is none but Jesus, who, even unto death, can heal and bestow life. He, then, MUST be our Saviour.

Brethren, let us all often think of our approaching dissolution. Death cannot, even in the case of the youngest of us, be FAR off: Let us, therefore, familiarize to our minds the awful thought. Ah! which of us then will dare to plead how good he has been? The purest saint on earth, has, daily and hourly, need of forgiveness, and will need it to his dying moments. Let, then, the prayer of each individual be; "May I be favoured with a view of God's pardoning love," and, with good old Simeon, I shall say, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."-Now, precisely, as will be our need at the hour of death, so is it, in reality, at the present moment. In this sense, therefore, we should die daily, and live lives of faith on Jesus.

3. But where are the true Christian works of the believer? Where is that holiness, without which, no man, it is said, shall see the Lord ?—

It was in the third part of this discourse, that we were to consider the precious fruits of looking to the Saviour with the eye of a living faith. The dying Israelite is restored to health by a look at the brazen Serpent; the perishing sinner, by believing on the Son of Man, lifted up and crucified, obtains eternal LIFE.—Every one knows what is meant by ETERNAL; but the significant term LIFE, is not, I fear, always rightly understood. It refers, not

merely to an eternal existence in Heaven, but also to that happy change of state, which, even while we remain in this world, takes place, in a sound conversion of heart. By believing on his Saviour, in the sense so often explained, the pardoned sinner passes from death unto life; he becomes a new creature: old things are past away, behold, all things are become new

Wonderful indeed is the effect of true and lively faith, or rather of the healing virtue of the blood of Jesus duly applied to the wounded spirit of a man firmly believing in the efficacy of the remedy he is about to use. The conscience is relieved: True joy and solid peace take possession of the heart : At this fire the most stubborn lusts and tempers melt. In this, and in no other way, you mortify the whole body of sin. You are thus brought to a new view of God, as your Father; and you walk before him in humble reverence, and yet in spiritual dignity, serving him as Sons, with love; not as slaves, with terror. Heavenly things become your delight: The love of the world,—that great idol,is subdued, You learn to forgive, and to love all, and to have patience with all. Neither will your passage through the sea of life be very stormy: He, the same Jesus, rebukes the winds and bids the sea be still, and they obey him,-but remember Heaven is your Port.

This is but a very slight sketch of the blessed effects of a spiritual view of Christ crucified; and yet several may say, I find them not.-I ask, do you believe on Christ, for the express purpose, and in the hope and expectation of experiencing them? See to

* 2 Cor. v. 17.