How unsubstantial, as the basis of any hope of favour and of final acceptance with God!

3. The third substitute for religion, of which we shall take notice, is the observance of the rites or ceremonies of religion.

We do not mean to be understood as denouncing, or even disapproving religious ceremonies. We are far from wishing to banish these externals of piety. We know too well the infirmi ties of our nature to suppose, that even so spiritual a religion as Christianity can exist in the world, and be cherished by those who most need it, and be spread among those who are now ignorant of its influence and its hopes, without something visible to attract attention, awaken the dormant powers, command a seriousness of manner, and inspire a religious awe suited to the religious services to which they are usually attached. Let these rites be such as Christians chose to adopt, in conformity to their own understanding of the instructions of their Lord, and such as, according to the measure of wisdom severally imparted to them, they may find calculated for their enjoyment and improvement; always remembering, however, how lamentably propense the world has ever been to mistake the shadow for the substance, and to rest satisfied with the forms of religion, to the neglect of its duties and its spirit.

How continually did this propensity discover itself among the Jews, even in the purest ages of their temple-worship! In the time of our Lord, how entirely had it overcome the more rational instructions of the old prophets of Israel, and perverted the judgment of the most sage and influential doctors of the law! The beautiful proportions of Religion, as she was moulded and animated by the Divinity, and set forth by those in whom his spirit had dwelt in ancient days, were buried under the voluminous drapery of the Jewish ritual; and her lifeless form received a blind homage long after the glowing spirit had left it.

'Wherefore' says the intrepid Samuel to his warlike king, returning from the slaughter of a whole people wherefore didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?" And Saul said unto Samuel, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites: but the people took of the spoil, sheep, and oxen, and the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed'—for what?—to sacrifice unto Jehovah, thy God in Gilgal.' 'And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt of ferings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat

of rams.* In perfect harmony with this were the instructions of the bards of Israel in succeeding ages. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? saith the Lord. When ye make many prayers I will not hear.'-why?' your hands are full of blood.'† 'To what purpose cometh there incense to me from Sheba, and the sweet-cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.'‡ Not that sacrifices were in themselves wrong. Under certain regulations and conditions they were required. A refusal to offer them, under those regulations, would have been punished. But these sacrifices were required, not as an ultimate duty, but as an inducement to obedience still higher and more purely moral. They could never, and they will never, be accepted as a substitute for moral virtue.

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In this particular the new covenant is in exact accordance with the old. The Prophet of Nazareth' confirms the doctrine of the venerable array of the prophets who had gone before him. 'Go ye and learn what this meaneth-I will have mercy and not sacrifice.'s Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,―judgment, mercy, and faith.' Not that these ritual minute were criminal; but they were merely ritual, and unimportant, when compared with moral obedience--with the doing of righteousness: for, these things ought ye to have done, yet not to have left the other undone.'||

Of what avail did Jesus give those, who had worked iniquity to understand that it would be to them, when they should stand at last and knock at the door of light and joy, that they could then say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence? It would avail them as much as the same plea will avail those, of the present day, who rest their hope of future salvation upon that rite, or upon any other, or upon all the rest, of the externals of religion.

In our day the sacrifices of bullocks and rams are not substituted for real righteousness. But are there not other sacrifices that are?-the sacrifice of time, assigned by the Giver of our time for the practical duties of life,-time, given up by day, which is claimed by duty for business, and time, given up by night, which is required by nature for repose:-time given up, not so much to the subduing and controlling of the animal passions, as to the excitement of them; and rather to producing a fervid state of the moral feelings, than to giving those feelings a

direction to the sober offices of domestic life, and to maintaining social order, and cultivating the sympathies of our nature and the charities of our religion, and directing them towards the wants, the woes, and the frailties of mankind? And if time, and health, and charity are thus sacrificed,-though it be done in religious meetings, and with all the formalities of religion,when that sacrifice is not distinctly claimed by the Lord our God, what ground have we to suppose that they will be more acceptable to him than were the sheep and oxen of Saul, which were themselves the proofs of his disobedience?

4. There is another thing, upon which men have depended for the character and the rewards of the righteous, rather than upon the doing of righteousness, which is nearly related to that of which we have just spoken. It is the diligent attending upon religious instruction.

There are those with whom going to church regularly and reverently on Sunday; seizing every opportunity that presents itself, or that can be found, out of the usual course, to hear preaching, praying, and exhortations; and zealously engaging in the support of prayer-meetings, lectures, and conferences, makes up nearly the aggregate of righteousness; and who suppose that, in walking this round, they describe the circle of religious duties. These-like those silly women, whom the Apostle describes to Timothy, as being led captive by those who have the form of godliness but deny its power-are forever learning, yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth'-the knowledge of this great truth, that it is not enough merely to know our duties, but that we must also do them. Those who form such opinions of the righteousness that shall save them, are like scholars who spend their years in learning a science which they never expect, and never intend, to apply to the purposes of practical life; or like one who thinks he shall become an expert artisan by only hearing lectures upon the mysteries of his art. We know that a man will never become a mechanic by listening to discourses upon the lever, the wedge, and the screw. He may learn the names of these powers, and may see what has been, and what may be done by them. He may learn the uses to which particular tools are to be applied: but, till he takes them into his own hand, and spends many a day and many a night with them, he will hardly save himself from hunger and nakedness by the use of them.

Those who are thus forever learning, must long since have learned, that we have high authority for saying not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall

be justified.*

And let all such remember that it was a venerable servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, 'Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.'t

5. Another thing upon which Christians have fallen as a substitute for the laborious doing of righteousness is, the holding of correct speculative opinions, in regard to the doctrines of religion.

The investigation of truth is, indeed, among the noblest and most honourable employments of the human mind. It is a delightful although it is often a laborious employment. And Truth, when pursued and seized by her ardent lover, is unquestionably fair, and is to be cherished and venerated by all who hope to mingle with the great and good. But she is to be thus cherished and venerated, not, principally, upon her own account, but because of her high and holy ministrations. She is excellent and valuable chiefly as the handmaid of Goodness. She holds out her torch to guide the doubtful and timid steps of Virtue, in the darkness of her earthly way. She encourages her sinking heart by directing her eye to the glories of her heavenly home. She is the fair, the lovely attendant of Virtue, but she must not be mistaken for Virtue herself: for, Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.'

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Why, then, should the theological world be wrought up into angry controversy, upon a speculative point, which let it be settled as it may, does not necessarily conduce, in any degree, to the practical righteousness of the combatants on either side? When the disciples of the Prince of Peace agree as to the practical duties which Truth recommends, as heard and understood by them all, is it of so great consequence as to justify the sacrifice of peace and good fellowship among them, that they should determine precisely the spot upon which she stands when she speaks in the name of the Most High?

The most correct apprehension of the doctrines of the gospel may be found in the head, when, at the same time, there is literally nothing of the spirit of the gospel in the heart, and when the hands are equally strangers to the works of righteousness which the gospel requires as the condition of eternal life. Those doctrines have, indeed, their importance. Their value and influence, where any thing can exert an influence, are incalculable. They are highly propitious to the production of pure desires, and of chastened and enduring affection. They are propitious

*Rom. ii. 13. New Series-- Vol. V.

† James i. 22.

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1 Cor. xiii. 2.

to the formation of good resolutions and good habits. So is the sun, and so is the rain propitious and even indispensable to the growth of fruits, for the nourishment and refreshment of the body. But as the sun may shine, and the rains may fall upon lands that lie barren forever, so all the holy and blessed infuences of truth may be exerted upon a heart so little alive to the loveliness of truth and goodness, as to be awakened by them to none of the glorious efforts of righteousness.

6. The last of the substitutes for practical, personal righteousness, of which we shall at present take notice, is one upon which the vanity of men, under the assumed name of humility, first, and very early, induced them to fall. We mean external privileges in regard to religion, and especially the privilege of being related to some one of distinguished piety and faith, in having been descended from him, or taught by him.

So long ago as the-appearance and preaching of John the Baptist, the doctrine had become popular among the Jews, and was especially inculcated by the Pharisees, that they were entitied to a place in the kingdom of heaven, in consideration of the great privilege they enjoyed as the children of Abraham. They maintained that all, who were of the circumcision, were beloved of God, who, when he made his covenant with Abraham, assured him with an oath, that no one, who bore the seal of that covenant, should ever descend into hell;-that the faith and righteousness of Abraham would be imputed to all his posterity;-and that they would be saved, even to the exclusion of all the rest of mankind, through the merits of the patriarchs, and particularly of Abraham, whatever might be their own moral conduct. Some carried this doctrine of substitution so far as to say not only that God would not, but that he could not shut them out of the Messiah's kingdom, provided they had a knowledge of God, although they continued in infidelity and disobedience.*

This substitute for personal righteousness, though it showed rather an unkind aspect to such as were not thus privileged, was particularly flattering to those who had the good fortune to be descended from Abraham. It consulted their ease, and was especially accommodating to their exclusiveness as a nation, and to their passions as individuals. And besides, as we have already suggested, it savoured of modesty in those who were conscious of having done no good themselves, to renounce all hopes of acceptance upon the ground of their own righteousness, and to rely upon that of their great progenitor.

This popular error the Baptist meets and exposes when he

To these several points of Rabbinical doctrine, see Whitby, Wetstein, Rosenmüller, and Kuinoel, in Matt. iii. 9,