less the deeds of the old man, being done away, shall give place to the regenerate and the new creature in Christ Jesus, you have no part nor lot in the matter-you, as yet, form no part of God's workmanship or God's husbandryyou have none of that union with Christ which the fruitful branch has with the vine-you may name the name of Christ, but, spiritually and substantially speaking, you are not united with Him. All who are so united, not only name His name, but they depart from iniquity, and prove by their new obedience to Christ in all things, that the way of salvation is that high way which shall be called the way of holiness.

The whole explanation of the matter is to be found in Christ. He who is revealed as our Righteousness and Redemption is our Sanctification also. He who is titled our Saviour is also titled our Sanctifier. He to whom all power is committed both in heaven and in earth, can make a portion of that power to rest upon us. He who knoweth what is in man can, out of the gifts which He hath purchased by His obedience, make a right and a suitable application of them to man-can give wisdom where before there was ignorance and folly-can give strength where before there was weakness--can give love where before there was hatred and alienation-can give charity where before there was selfishness-can give forbearance where before there was malice and revenge-in a word, can give you to receive out of His fullness, and for the grace of His own pure and perfect example, can give you the same, so as to make you walk even as He walked, and to change you into His image from one degree of excellence to another, even by the Spirit of the Lord.

Thus shall I judge of your worthy participation in this sacrament. It is a new approach to Christ; and if it be something more than the mere bodily exercise which profiteth little if it be an approach to Him in faith as well as in appearance, then the effects of such an approach to the Saviour will be a closer union with Him; and as surely as the root sends up support and nourishment to the branch

es, so surely will the fruit of union to the Saviour be a firmer adherence to His law, and a purer obedience to Him in all things. The Spirit, which is at His giving, is shed forth on all who believe. Faithful is He who has promised it, and He also will do it. The same believing dependence on Christ by which you obtain His body to bear the burden of your offenses, and His blood to wash away the guilt of them, will also obtain for you His Spirit to dwell in your hearts, to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, to strengthen them with all might, and to fill them with that love of Christ which will constrain to all obedience.

Go not to think, my brethren, that this is some high, mystical doctrine, admitting of no application to the life and the circumstances of men. Can anything be more easy to understand than the conduct of Paul when beset with a sore temptation? Did he give way to it, under the overpowering sense of human weakness? No! he made use of the revealed expedient for making head against the temptation. That expedient was prayer; and the promise made to a believing prayer was realized upon him: he besought the Lord, and the grace of the Lord was made sufficient for him, and his strength was made perfect in weakness. Why, my brethren, will you affect to misunderstand me when I say, "Go, and do thou likewise?" When you rise from that table, and go to your homes and to your business, why may you not carry the imitation of the apostle along with you? At all times and in all places may it not be the prayer of your heart--"Support me, O God, in the matter that is now before me?" When you are in the midst of your family, and might be doing good to them by your conversation or example, may it not be the prayer of your heart" O God, direct me in this?" When you are going to make a bargain, and a convenient falsehood may bring you in a little more of the meat that perisheth—“ Ŏ God, preserve me from this temptation?" When you are going to have a reckoning with the neighbor who has imposed, or the servant who has disobeyed you-"O God,

give me to rebuke with the meekness of wisdom; and if he repents, enable me to forgive him, even as Thou for Christ's sake hast forgiven me?" When invited to a feast—“O God, may I watch every opportunity of ministering that which may be to the use of edifying, and may I refrain my tongue from speaking evil?" When working for your master in the field-"O God, enable me to serve him as diligently as if his eye were upon me, and may I serve him from the heart, as unto the Lord ?" When working for your mistress in the family-"O God, keep me from purloining that which is not my own, and by showing all good fidelity, may I adorn the doctrine of our Saviour in all things ?" This would be to fulfill the injunction of the apostle, to "pray without ceasing;" this would be to watch for the Spirit with all perseverance; this would be to do all things to the glory of God in the name of Jesus; this would be to make something more of the sacraments than a mockery and a farce-and I call upon you, my brethren, to prove that, in receiving these elements, you have received Christ; for if you have received Him in truth you will receive Him in love, and if you have received Him in love, you will yield to Him in obedience.

SERMON XII.

[PREACHED at Cupar on a Sacramental Fast, 30th June, 1813. In the College Chapel, Glasgow, 14th April, 1816.]

ROMANS III. 10.

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."

THE term beauty was originally restricted to objects of sight. We talked of a beautiful flower, a beautiful tree, a beautiful landscape. The word was appropriated to something external. The charm which constituted beauty resided in some visible object on which the eye loved to repose, and from which it took in an impression agreeable to the taste and to the fancy. In process of time, however, the term in question obtained a more extensive signification. It was transferred not merely to objects of hearing, but to what was purely moral and intellectual; and we speak in a manner perfectly intelligible to all when we expatiate on the beauty of a sentiment, or even the beauty of a doctrine and the beauty of a speculation.

In this way, when we propose to gain the acquiescence of others in a particular doctrine, there are two distinct circumstances to be attended to-the degree of its beauty by which we can recommend it to the taste, or the degree of its evidence by which we can recommend it to the understanding. There can only be one opinion on the question, which of these two claims should have the precedency. It is the boast of the philosopher, that Truth is the idol whom he worships, and that he will follow wherever the light of evidence shall carry him, though it should land him in conclusions the most nauseous and the most unpalatable. A system may have elegance and simplicity to recommend

it, and be decked in all the ornaments which the eloquence of it supporters can throw around it; but if a single flaw be found in its evidence, it from that moment becomes the philosopher's scorn; it is his glory to own no authority but Truth, and he throws aside the beautiful speculation as fit only for the amusement of childhood.

Now if this be the attribute of a good philosopher, why should it not be the attribute of a good divine? All that we plead for is the paramount and exclusive authority of evidence, and that the power of evidence upon the judgment shall at all times carry it over the power of beauty upon the taste. All that we demand-and in the demand we see nothing but fairness and modesty-is that a doctrine in theology be tried upon the same principles as a doctrine in science that the question shall be not what is the most alluring by its beauty, but what is the most convincing by its proofs.

In the prosecution, therefore, of the following discourse, I shall endeavor to lay before you the evidence that we have for the doctrine of the text. That evidence resolves itself into two kinds-the evidence of Scripture, and the evidence of direct observation.

I shall be very short on the evidence which Scripture affords for the doctrine of the text. The text itself is perfectly decisive. It is not in the power of illustration to make it more explicit; and though it had stood unsupported and alone, it carries home the universal corruption of man with an evidence and an authority which it is not in the power of sophistry to resist or to explain away. We forbear bringing forward any more quotations-not because we are at a loss to find them, but because of the multiplicity of passages which offer themselves-because it would be difficult within the limits of a sermon to exhibit even so much as an abridged view of the testimonies to the depravity of man which lie scattered over almost every page of the Bible. Without making so much as a single reference to particular passages, I would ask any man, upon his fair and honest perusal of the New Testament, to tell me what