the language of Christ, concerning self-denial, renouncing the world, enduring the cross, labouring and striving to enter in at the strait gate, be not much stronger than any thing here stated. If any of you should not be able to reconcile these passages to your views of salvation by grace; be assured that your views are unscriptural; and beg of God to open your understanding, that you may more clearly discern the truth as it is in Jesus. But beware of indolence and partiality in reading the Scriptures; do not select a few passages and pass over the rest, as unsuitable to your system, or uninteresting to you; for this springs from lukewarmness, and tends to its rapid increase.

But are any of you convinced, that you have hitherto been infected with this Laodicean spirit, and almost ready to tremble for the consequences? Let me call your attention to the subsequent part of our Lord's address to such lukewarm professors. He condescends to say even to them, "I counsel thee to buy of me, gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent." Think then frequently and intensely on eternity and its infinite importance: meditate seriously on the death of Christ; the design, manner, causes, and effects of it; the instructions conveyed, and the obligations conferred by that great event. Pray earnestly for the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, which alone can prevent or cure lukewarmness, and maintain the life and power of godliness in the soul. Examine particularly every part of your disposition and conduct: be willing to know the whole of your case as it really is. Withdraw from the company of the lukewarm, and associate with zealous Christians: and never admit a doubt, but that the more fervent, diligent, and fruitful you become, the greater will be your peace and comfort in life and death, and the more abundant your gracious recompence in the realms of blessedness.

We have all of us, my brethren, considerable cause for humiliation in this matter: and have need to redouble our diligence in using all these means, that we may make progress, and grow in grace. But while the Lord says to all, "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me:" he adds for the encouragement of those who are fighting the good fight of faith, perhaps with conscious feebleness and many fears, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit down with me upon my throne; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne. He then that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

SERMON XII.

CHRISTIANITY RECOMMENDED BY AN EXEMPLARY
CONDUCT.

MATTHEW, v. 16.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

OUR blessed Lord, just before his ascension into heaven, thus addressed his apostles; "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of

the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Matt. xxviii. 18-20. Hence we learn that there is a kind and measure of instruction which precedes an intelligent profession of the gospel, comprising the first principles of the doctrine of Christ: and that there is also a more particular and exact instruction, by which ministers should endeavour to form the judgment, and direct the conduct of believers, in all the several parts of Christianity. This distinction ought to be carefully remembered; that we may not suppose, the practical exhortations given to believers supersede the necessity of regeneration, repentance, and faith in the Son of God, as numbers seem to think; nor yet deem it inconsistent with the purest evangelical views, to explain particularly and inculcate most earnestly, the several parts of our duty to God and to our neighbour.

In the sermon on the mount, our Lord first shewed in the several beatitudes, that happiness results from the state of the heart, and not from external circumstances: and then addressing the disciples, in the presence of the multitude, he said, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men." Christians scattered over the earth, ought to communicate a purifying savour of piety and righteousness, and thus to prevent the increasing depravity of the human race: but graceless preachers and professors of the gospel are the vilest and most hopeless of men. "Ye are," says Christ," the light of the world; a city set upon an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house." True Christians, placed in different families, villages, streets, cities, and nations, diffuse the light of divine truth, received from the Sun of righteousness, throughout the world. This also renders them conspicuous: their dispositions, words, and actions, will surely be observed and exactly scrutinized. Nor were they enlightened from above, in order to be immured in cloisters, or to retire into deserts, like lamps put under a bushel; but it is the Lord's will, that they should resemble candles placed on candlesticks in the midst of a room, to give light to every part of it. Therefore "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It may be proper for us,

I. To consider the persons, to whom this exhortation is especially addressed.

II. To examine more fully its import. And,

III. To state the object which we should aim at in complying with it.

I. The persons to whom the words are especially addressed.

Some expositors seem to confine the exhortation to the apostles; or to the ministers of the gospel exclusively. But though the words are peculiarly proper and energetic in this application; yet it is evident that all Christians are, in their own circle and measure, "lights in the world;" and all who profess Christianity, may be exhorted to act consistently with their avowed character. In other parts of Scripture similar exhortations are addressed to believers in general. The evangelical prophet viewing the church as a disconsolate female sitting in darkness upon the ground, thus encourages her, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth; and gross darkness the people but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be upon thee: and Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Isaiah lx. 1-3. When the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ, illuminates the church; then she arises from the dust, reflects the bright beams of the Sun of righteousness, and shines as a light to the Gentiles. The preached gospel is sent "to give light to them that sit in darkness, and the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of

peace:" "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God:" and when these effects are produced, men are made the children of light and of the day," and are exhorted to a becoming deportment. Luke i. 78, 79. Acts xxvi. 18. Eph. v. 8-14. St Paul addresses the Philippians in words very similar to those of the text: "Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine, (or shine ye,) as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." And St Peter uses language to the same effect: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." Phil. ii. 14, 16. 1 Pet. ii. 9.

But we need not multiply proofs in so plain a case. The apostles derived a primary splendour from Christ, the Light of the world; and their shone before vast multitudes with peculiar lustre. The ordinary pastor diffuses the same light in his circle, and according to his measure: and the meanest Christian has his little influence, and a few observers, among whom too his light may be made to shine. Even nominal Christians, being favoured with the light of truth, are inexcuseable, in proportion to their advantages, in not receiving and communicating the inestimable benefit. For "this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” John iii. 16-21.

This may suffice to shew, that we are all concerned in the exhortation: for in our favoured land, and our peculiar situation, we have every advantage for aiming to "let our light shine before men:" and if we do not, “we have no cloak for our sin:" so that it will be more tolerable, in the day of judgment, for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for us.

II. We will then examine more fully the import of the exhortation. God hath made other men his instruments in communicating to us the light of the gospel: and we should desire and endeavour to impart the benefit to others also: though we seem rather lamps in the street, or candles in the room, than luminaries in the firmament of heaven. The means to be used for this purpose may vary, according to our several employments, abilities, and relations in life: but we all ought to have the same habitual design of bringing our neighbours and friends to the knowledge of God and themselves; the holy law and the gospel of salvation; the way of peace and the path of duty; and all other things which pertain to evangelical piety..

In order to accomplish this purpose, it is requisite that we make an explicit profession of our faith; that it may be understood what doctrines we believe, on what foundation our hopes are builded, and what we think concerning the person and redemption of Christ. We ought to avow our expectations from him, and obligations to him; that it may be perceived on what account we deem ourselves bound to love him more than our greatest secular interests, or our dearest earthly friends: and unreservedly to keep his commandments. This profession is absolutely necessary to evince the sincerity of our faith: "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 10. And "Whosoever shall be ashamed of the Son of man, and of his words, in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also will he be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of the Father with the holy angels." Mark viii. 38.

This profession is thus indispensably demanded of Christ's disciples, in order that they may "let their light shine before men," and diffuse the knowledge of divine truth in the world; without yielding to the dread of shame, reproach, or the most cruel persecution. It is not indeed expedient forwardly to declare our peculiar sentiments, in all places and companies, without some special reason, or favourable opening: but if regard to charac

ter, or other secular motive render men so reserved in this matter, that their neighbours, friends, and relations remain, in a great measure, strangers to their religious principles, their sincerity may well be questioned: for this is a direct refusal to render to the Lord the glory due to his name, and to recommend his holy religion to mankind. And even if their conduct in some respects be suited to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, the observers are left to ascribe it to other causes, and thus an opportunity is lost of evincing the excellent tendency of evangelical truth.

This profession of our faith should especially be made, by attending on the ordinances of God, according to the directions of his holy word: and this also forms an important method of "letting our light shine, before men." In the primitive times, when a Jew or Gentile began to attend on the preaching of the gospel; and when, professing "repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," he was admitted by baptism into the visible church; when he associated habitually with Christians, statedly joined in their public worship, and commemorated the love and sufferings of Christ at his table; he avowed himself the servant of the one living and true God, and the disciple of the only-begotten Son of God. This conduct would be fully understood by his former companions, and he might expect contempt, reproach, or persecution as the consequence. We indeed live at a time, when most men in our land choose to be called Christians; and such a variety of discordant opinions are maintained by the professed disciples of Jesus: that the mere circumstance of attending public worship is no explicit avowal of our peculiar religious sentiments. But it is known that in some places, the mystery of the Trinity, the perfections of God's character, the righteousness of his law and government, and the wisdom and sovereignty of his providence are maintained. Connected with these doctrines, man's accountableness to his Creator and Governor, a future judgment, and a state of eternal retributions; the fallen condition of the human race, the evil and desert of sin, the justice of God in the condemnation of sinners, and his free mercy in their salvation, are strenuously insisted on: and the person, redemption, and mediation of Emmanuel, Jesus the Son of God; regeneration and renewal unto holiness by the Spirit; repentance and fruits meet for repentance; justification by faith alone; love to the Saviour constraining to devoted obedience; and patient continuance in well-doing, animated by the hope of eternal glory, are the principal topics to which the attention of the auditories are called. These things are evidently enlarged upon in some congregations, and not in others; and if a man be convinced that they are the doctrines of Scripture, he ought seriously and statedly to attend at some place of worship answering to this description; avowing that his conduct is the result of examination, conviction, and regard to the authority of God. In doing this, not only hearing the sermons, but joining in every part of the service with reverent devotion, and associating with those who hold and adorn the same principles, he will make a very distinct and intelligible profession of his faith and in bringing his family and others whom he can influence, to attend on the same ordinances: he may "let his light shine before men," and exhibit an edifying example to his neighbours. To render this the more impressive, he should not only appropriate the Lord's day to this purpose; but embrace opportunities of attending on any day when it does not interfere with his other duties: coming early, and shewing in his whole deportment, that he takes delight in the worship of God and in hearing his word. Such a conduct tends exceedingly to draw men's attention to the gospel, and to promote vital godliness in the world.

It may further be observed, that all these ends are more decidedly answered, when the believer, after mature deliberation, statedly attends at the same place of worship, than when he wanders from one to another: for thus he sets an example of constancy in his attachments to the truths and ordinances of God; and he more effectually insures the attendance of his family. Perhaps it may be added, that this conduct indicates a more healthful state

of soul, and best promotes the growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Our light should also shine before men, by instructive and pious conversation. "The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment:" and it is remarkable, that the most opposite effects are ascribed to the tongue in the Sacred Scriptures. The Psalmist calls it "his glory:" and Solomon declares, that "the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life;" "the tongue of the just is as choice silver:"" the lips of the wise feed many;" and that "the tongue of the wise is health."

On the other hand, "The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison :-it is a fire, a world of iniquity;-it setteth on fire the whole course of nature, and is set on fire of hell." James iii. The fact is indeed undeniable, that the gift of speech, when abused, is the grand instrument in the propagation of atheism, infidelity, impiety, blasphemy, heresy, licentiousness, discord, and every other evil, through private circles and large communities, all over the earth. Yet this same gift, under the influence of divine teaching and holy affections, is also principally instrumental, in diffusing the light of the gospel among mankind: not only by public preaching, but by the private instructions of parents and masters, and by familiar conversation. The speech of prudent zealous Christians, being "seasoned with salt," pure, pious, and affectionate, " ministers grace unto the hearers." It is therefore emphatically true, that "life and death are in the power of the tongue; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." If then we be the disciples of Christ, and partakers of his grace, we shall, after his example, "from the good treasure of our hearts bring forth good things." For even if we keep our mouth, as it were with a bridle, from all corrupt discourse, but do not embrace opportunities of profitable conversation; we shall be found guilty of burying our talent in the earth.

All indeed have not the gift of properly introducing religious topics in mixed companies, where they are too generally unwelcome, however prudently and seasonably managed: but every man has a little circle, in which he may speak with freedom on the great concern of salvation. Most persons have relatives, and many have families, among whom they are peculiarly bound to communicate the knowledge of the gospel. There are also seasons, in which almost any one will endure the serious and affectionate introduction of religious subjects; especially in times of peculiar affliction, or when death hath visited his house. In some companies a man is, as it were by common consent, called to take the lead in discourse, and may select his subject and in most situations some opening will be found for a serious remark, which may be afterwards recollected, if it do not at the time introduce further conversation. The event of such reflections frequently give us reason to say, "a word spoken in due season, how good is it!" And upon careful examination it will be found, that far more good is done in this way, than is in general supposed.

An objection, however, will naturally arise in the mind of many, from the consideration of the aversion and contempt commonly expressed for this kind of conversation. But it is certain, that the rules prescribed by the Lord himself to his people, could not be reduced to practice, without exciting the same disgust and reproach. Deut. vi. 6-9. xi. 18-21. Even the conduct of Christ must be involved in the same censure: for he hath set us an example of this duty, and also of the manner in which it ought to be performed. In fact, the opposition of men, who have no habitual seriousness in religion, rather recommends, than forms an objection to pious discourse: and surely we ought not to neglect any part of our duty from that "fear of man which bringeth a snare!" Thus saith the Lord, "hearken unto me, my people, who know righteousness, in whose heart is my law: fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings; for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them as wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation." Isaiah

li. 7,

8.