mistaken for belief. The deep and varied experience of many, upon which, even were it according to the Scriptures, they lay an undue stress, proceeds not from their knowledge of the truth, but from their ignorance of it. It is the dimness, and not the clearness of their notions, which so powerfully affects their minds. In their experience there is indeed much that is excellent, but the mistake consists in supposing that all of it is excellent, and in not bringing it continually to the test of Scripture, and comparing it with what was experienced by holy men of old. In experimental religion the Bible is our only sure rule, and the examples there recorded our only safe models. Following in the foot-prints of the apostles and prophets, we shall never wander from the way, nor have occasion to retrace our steps, but every advance we make will be along the highway to the heavenly city.

VII. It is by the teaching of the Holy Spirit that we alone are convinced of the infinite purity of the divine law, and of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Those who have been trusting to their own works, and seeking for salvation by the deeds of the law, when convinced of the sin adhering to all their efforts, and when looking to the Saviour, who alone can fulfil the law in its infinite extent, have naturally and justly a great abhorrence of legality,-but this abhorrence should rest on Scriptural grounds. It is the excellence, and not the defects, of the

law, and our own fallen nature, which render it impossible for us to be saved by legal works. The law in itself is good-infinitely good. A legal spirit consists not in thinking too high of the law, but too low of it, and in supposing that it can be fulfilled by fallen and corrupted natures; but the Antinomian attributes his own deficiencies to the divine law, and thinks he manifests his absence of a legal spirit most, when he depreciates that transcript of the will of God. He thinks that Christ came to destroy the law, whereas Christ came to fulfil it. The law of God is eternal, because it is the expression of his eternal will. Plain and simple as this truth is, it is misunderstood by many, who place the Gospel in opposition to the law, not seeing that the opposition lies only between faith and works, between working for our own salvation, and believing in a work already finished.

The number of decided Antinomians who make an open profession of their doctrine may be but few, but the spirit of Antinomianism is not confined to such narrow limits. It is much easier to convince men of the danger of sin than of the guilt of sin, and there is a vague way of preaching the Gospel, which tends to encourage that imperfect view of it which considers Christ as a Saviour rather from the penalty of sin than from its power. The Gospel consists of two parts, repentance towards God, as well as faith in the Lord Jesus. To believe

in Christ as a Saviour, we must understand in some degree in what salvation consists. We must be taught by the Holy Spirit, and discern by that teaching the infinite purity of the divine character and the divine law. In that view consists repentance, or the change of the mind in the awakened sinner, when he sees that he has forsaken the fountain of living waters, in order to hew out cisterns to himself that can hold no water, and when he perceives that his pursuit of happiness, without taking God into his account, is but a treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath. Convinced now of his own folly and guilt, and seeing but one way of escape from the terrors of divine justice, he ceases from his own works, that he may trust in the one finished work, and in the everlasting righteousness of the divine Saviour. Thus, conviction both of the guilt and danger of sin is the first step of salvation, and the first operation of the divine Spirit. Where there is only a conviction of the danger of sin, we need not be surprised that the apparent conversion is but slight and temporary, and, when the momentary alarm has subsided, that we behold the sinner, again careless and secure, confidently erecting his frail edifice upon the sand, and dreaming that he is building for eternity.

VIII. As a vague representation of the divine character and the divine law gives rise to Antino

mianism, so a confused view of the Gospel gives rise to many unscriptural errors respecting the entrance of the way of life. The Gospel, as it comes pure from the mouth of God, is most remarkable for its divine simplicity. Its whole tenor consists in the command "believe and live." And if it be asked, what is it that we must believe? the answer is short and plain. Believe that "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This, however, is too simple a salvation for the taste of men; they are always tempted either to add to it or to refine upon it. The Gospel is infinitely free. But it is not free enough in the opinion of some, and it is too free in the opinion of others. The last seek to guard and fence the divine declarations lest they should mislead the unwary, and, instead of the simple trust and belief in the Gospel, give us subtle distinctions and varieties of faith, that savour more of the ingenuity of casuistry than of the truth of Scripture. The first, who refine upon the simplicity of the Gospel, informs us, that it is a mistake to think that we can be saved by believing the Gospel. No, we can only be saved by the Gospel believed. Such are the follies into which men run who proclaim themselves the only true disciples of the Saviour, who think they are the people, and that wisdom shall die with them, and who yet look with

more abhorrence on a blood pudding than on the Sabellian heresy, and consider the desecration of the Lord's day a noble confession of Christian faith and freedom, and a testimony to the truth worthy of the primitive martyrs. Others maintain that we are all pardoned; but that if we do not believe in this universal pardon, for which there is no other evidence than two or three mistranslations of Scripture, we shall be eternally punished as well as everlastingly pardoned. The individuals who hold these and other pernicious doctrines, were more likely, a few years ago, to be extensively useful than almost any other individuals. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall; and let all who have the interests of religion and humanity at heart, be earnest in their prayers, that all Christians, and that young converts especially, may be preserved from the many errors which so easily beset them, and that the divine Spirit may bring back again into the truth the individuals above alluded to, that they may be delivered from the snare into which they have fallen, and then few will be better able to refute, and none will be more eager to deplore, their own hurtful heresies, than themselves.

IX. Unscriptural views of Christ's kingdom are very natural to the mind of man, and have, therefore, in all ages, been very common. The empire of the Saviour is an anomaly in the world; it is

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