Good Works.

You cannot possibly, brethren, mistake the testimony which has sounded unfailing from this pulpit, that the salvation of man in every case is of the unmerited grace of God, and that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but of His own mercy, and of His own mercy alone, that He saves. But while we insist right manfully upon the absence of any meritoriousness in what are commonly called "good works," we shall not allow ourselves by fear of misrepresentation or of calumny to be deterred from insisting upon the absolute necessity of good works as fruits meet for repentance, as evidences of a living faith.

Comes there a man to me with boastful words, strong in sonorous comforts and in the platitudes of an exclusive theology? Makes he a loud profession to me of his personal election, of his safety, whatever betide, of the superiority of the heritage to which his faith entitles him? I ask about his life. Is he lovesome, and

philanthropic, and unworldly?

pure, and

Is he a

painstaking Christian,-like the violet, as

fragrant in the mossy hedge-row as on the table of the belted earl? Does he love the truth with a right-hearted love? Does he gird himself for the Master's sake to wash the feet of His disciples, and perform with alacrity the duty of every day, as well as mix with the elders in the gate and at the synagogue? These are questions which it behoves him to answer to every man that asketh him, not in the lip, but in the life. He may talk largely about his possession of faith; I cannot disprove his assertions. I have no discernment of spirit, I cannot pierce into the secrets of his inner and spiritual history; but the field of outward manifestation is a field that is common to both of us. There, and there only, can I judge him. I have a right to expect, that if he has any faith, it will exhibit itself in comely and congenial illustration; and I have a right to pronounce, so far as mortals may awfully pronounce upon each other, that if the fruit is lacking, there is something wrong about the root of the tree, and that if he says he loves Jesus, but does not according to the things which Jesus says, he is a liar, and his faith is vain. Brethren,

guard always against setting God at vari ance with Himself. The gospel is the complement, but it is never the antagonist of the law; and a faith which would make void the law, or despise its ancient and eternal morals, is a faith which must always be powerless and vain,

Constant Obedience.

Our obedience must be constant. We must not exalt ourselves now and then into a hallowed frame, and then subside into indifference-our life a perpetual alternation between the chill and the fever; nor must we run eagerly in the way of God's commandments for a while, and then stop and pant like a breathless racer. We must obey, not in some moods of mind, not at some periods of our history, but through all change and through the long round of rolling years. Our life must be a holocaust, offered with all its activities and with all its powers upon the altar of the Lord. Brethren, here is your duty and mine. This is practical Christianity, the pervasion of the whole

F

of the being with holiness: not to live upon a Sabbath-day in the cloud-land of a sentimental heaven, but all the days of the week to bring the glory of a real heaven down; not to run away from the fellowship and bustle of the world, as if our cowardly faith could not stand a battle, but to go in and out among them, and be angels in their houses, and let them feel the quiet influence of those who have been exalted into a higher privilege and have breathed a purer air. We are to ennoble the ordinary things of life; we are to make trade a beautiful thing, and business a beautiful thing, and commerce a beautiful thing, because it is touched, and hued, and toned, and fringed with the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Brethren, shew me where these Christians live. Oh! they are here, and there, and yonder, nestling in the heart of almost every denomination, talking little about themselves, not always prominent in the executive, not always followed by the world's applauding thunder, and not partial to storms withal; but often in the sick-chamber, earnest in the prayer-meeting, and present wherever there is a good deed to

be done, and with a ready hand always to help it on; doing God's work in God's way, and content to wait until He smile upon them, and to be anxious only for His approval in the day when He shall number up His jewels.

Are we of the number, brethren? Let us ask ourselves. Our presence here identifies us in some sort with Christ's people. Have we bound His laws to our neck? Have we written them upon the tablet of our hearts? Oh! are there not some of whom, if the Saviour were to pay a visit to-day, His language would not be that of unqualified approval? Would He not startle some of us by the warning sound-"I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love?" Would not some of us be compelled to listen to the rebuke, sharper than stab of knife, or roar of thunder-"Ye call me Lord, Lord, but ye do not the things which I say?" If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”