gins to think of his condition, such questions as the following will often cross his mind: Was there ever such a case as mine before? Are there any people in the world who have been what I am, and who are now in the way to eternal life? If there be, who are they? where are they? But if, while he is thinking what he must do to be saved, he neither sees nor hears any thing among you which renders it probable that such was ever your concern ;-if, as soon as a sermon is ended, he sees merely an exchange of civilities, and on leaving the place observes that all the congregation immediately fall into conversation about worldly things; what can he think? Either that there is nothing in religion, or if there be, that he must seek elsewhere for it. The voice of a Christian church to those who attend upon their ministry should be that of Moses to Hobab: We are journeying to the place of which the Lord hath said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. It is of great consequence to the well-being of a church, that there be persons in particular in it who are accessible to characters of this description, and who would take a pleasure in introducing themselves to them. Barnabas, who, by a tender and affectionate spirit, was peculiarly fitted for this employment, was acquainted with Saul, while the other disciples were afraid of him. It was he that introduced him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Affection, however, is, not the only qualification for this work it requires that you be skilful in the word of righteousness; else you will administer false consolation, and may be instrumental in destroying, instead of saving souls. Not that it requires any extraordinary talents to give advice in such cases: the danger arises principally from inattention and erroneous views of the gospel. If, brethren, you would assist us in this delightful work, allow us to caution you against one prevailing error, and to recommend one important rule. The error to which we allude is, TAKING IT FOR GRANTED THAT THE PARTY HAS NO DOUBTS AS TO THE GOSPEL WAY OF SALVATION, AND NO UNWILLINGNESS TO BE SAVED BY IT, PROVIDED GOD WERE BUT WILLING ΤΟ SAVE HIM. Such are probably his thoughts of himself; and the only question with him is, whether he have an interest in Christ and spiritual blessings. Hence he is employed in searching for something in his religious experience which may amount to an evidence of his conversion ; and in talking with you he expects you to assist him in the search. But do not take this account of things as being the true one: it is founded in self deception. If he understood and believed the gospel way of salvation, he would know that God was willing to save any sinner who is willing to be saved by it. A willingness to relinquish every false confidence, every claim of preference before the most ungodly character, and every ground of hope save that which God has laid in the gospel, is all that is wanting. If he have this, there is nothing in heaven or in earth in the way of his salvation. In conversing with such a character we should impress this truth upon him, assuring him that if he be straitened, it is not in God, but in his own bowels; that the doubts which he entertains of the willingness of God, especially on account of his sinfulness and unworthiness, are no other than him to hope for a happy issue in God's due time. But this is not pointing the sinner directly to Christ. On the contrary, it is furnishing him with a resting-place short of him, and giving him to imagine that duties performed while in unbelief are pleasing to God. the workings of a self-righteous || pent and believe, encouraging opposition to the gospel, (as they imply an opinion that if he were less sinful and more worthy, God might be induced to save him) and that if he be not saved, it will be owing to his thus continuing to stumble at the stumbling-stone. Instead of allowing that he believes the gospel, and is willing to be saved in the gospel way, while yet his very moans betray the contrary; we should labour to persuade him that he does not yet understand the deceit of his own heart; that if he were willing to come to Christ for life, there is no doubt of his being accepted; in short, that whenever he is brought to be of this mind, he will not only ask after the good way, but walk in it, and will assuredly find rest unto his soul. If you point the awakened sinner directly to the Saviour, after the manner of the New Testament, you will not be employed in assisting him to analyze the distresses of his mind, and administering consolation to him from the hope that they may contain some of the ingredients of true conversion, or at least the signs that he will be converted. Neither will you consider distress as ascertaining a happy issue, any otherwise than as it leads to Christ. If the question were, Do I believe in Jesus for salvation? Then, indeed, you must inquire what effects have been produced. But it is very different where the inquiry The rule we recommend is this: POINT THEM DIRECTLY TO THE SAVIOUR. It may be thought that no Christian can misunderstand or misapply this important direction, which is every where taught in the New Testament.is, What shall we do; or what Yet if you steer not clear of the above error, you will be unable to keep to it. So long as you admit the obstruction to believing in Christ to consist in something distinct from disaffection to the gospel way of salvation, it will be next to impossible for you to exhort a sinner to it in the language of the New Testament. For how can you exhort a man to that which you think he desires with all his heart to comply with, but cannot? You must feel that such exhortations would be tantalizing and insulting him. You may, indeed, conceive of him as ignorant, and as such, labour to instruct him; but your feelings will not suffer you to exhort him to any thing in which he is involuntary. Hence, you will content yourselves with directing him to wait at the pool of ordinances, and it may be to pray for grace to enable him to re shall I do to be saved? The murderers of Christ were distressed; but Peter did not attempt to comfort them by alleging that this was a hopeful sign of their conversion, or by any way directing their attention to what was within them. On the contrary, he exhibited the Saviour, and exhorted them to repent and be baptized in his name. The same may be said of the Philippian jailer. He was in great distress; yet no comfort was administered to him from this quarter, nor any other, except the salvation of Christ. Him Paul and Silas exhibited, and in him directly exhorted him to believe. The promise of rest is not made to the weary and heavy laden, but to those who come to Christ under their burdens. Once more: If you keep to this rule, though you will labour to make the sinner sensible of his sin, (as till this is the case he will || never come to the Saviour;) yet you will be far from holding up this his sensibility as affording any warrant, qualification, or title to believe in him, which he did not possess before. The gospel itself is the warrant, and not any thing in the state of the mind; though till the mind is made sensible of the evil of sin, it will never comply with the gospel. us. have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage. This was insinuating to Pharaoh that he and his fathers before him were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth-that their portion was not in this world, but in another You are acquainted with many who do not attend the preaching of the word. If by inviting them to go with you, an individual only should be caught, as we say, in the gospel net, you would save a soul from death. Such examples have frequently occurred. It is an established law in the divine administration, that men, both in good and evil, should in a very great degree draw and be drawn by each other. that the life of man, though it extended to a hundred and thirty years, was but a few days-and that those few days were mixed Fourthly: There is in all con- with evil all which, if the king gregations and neighbourhoods a reflected on it, would teach him considerable number of people who to set light by the earthly glory are living in their sins, and in a with which he was loaded, and to state of unconcernedness about sal-seek a crown which fadeth not vation.-Our work in respect of away. them is, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, to declare unto them their true char acter, to exhibit the Saviour as the only refuge, and to warn them to flee to him from the wrath to come. In this also there are various ways in which you may greatly assist If, as heads of families, you were to inquire of your children and servants what they have heard and noticed on the Lord's day, you would often find occasion to second the impressions made by our labours. It is also of great consequence to be endued with that wisdom from above, which dictates a word in season to men, in our ordinary concerns with them. Far be it from us to recommend the fulsome practice of some professors, who are so full of what they call religion, as to introduce it on all occasions, and that in a most offensive manner. Yet there is a way of dropping a hint to a good purpose. It is admirable to observe the easy and inoffensive manner in which a patriarch introduced some of the most important truths to a heathen prince, merely in answer to the question, How old art thou? The days of the years of my pilgrimage (said he) are a hundred and thirty: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and OCTOBER, 1825. The ordinary way in which the knowledge of God is spread in the world is, by every man saying to his neighbour and to his brother, Know the Lord. It is a character of gospel times, that Many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Add to this, by visiting your neighbours under affliction, you would be furnished with many an opportunity of conversing with them to advantage. Men's consciences are commonly awake at such seasons, whatever they have been at others. Finally Enable us to use strong language when recommending the gospel by its holy and happy 38 A LIVING AND A DEAD FAITH. Thou sayest I am rich, and increase d with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, || and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. THESE words were spoken concerning the church in Laodicea. Her moral state is depicted in the preceding verse. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. This verse mentions one of the circumstances by which this state was ascertained. She was perfectly insensible to her danger. Thou sayest I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need effects.-Unbelievers constantly object to the doctrine of grace as licentious; and if they can refer to your unworthy conduct, they will be confirmed, and we shall find it impossible to vindicate the truth of God without disowning such conduct, and it may be you on account of it: but if we can appeal to the upright, the temperate, the peaceable, the benevolent, the holy lives, of those among whom we labour, it will be of more weight than a volume of reasonings, and have a greater influence on the consciences of men. A congregation, composed of kind and generous masters, diligent and faithful servants, affectionate husbands, obedient wives, tender parents, dutiful children, and loy-of nothing. In other words, the al subjects, will be to a minister what children of the youth are said to be to a parent: As arrows in the hand of a mighty man. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. These, brethren, are some of the principal ways in which we affectionately solicit your assistance in promoting the interest of Christ. In doing this, we virtually pledge ourselves to be ready on all occasions to engage in it. We feel the weight of this implication. Let each have the other's prayers, that we may both be assisted from above, without which all the assistance we can render each other will be unavailing. Should this address fall into the hands of one who is yet in his sins, let him consider that the object of it is his salvation; let him reflect on the case of a man whom many are endeavouring to save, but he himself with hardened unconcern is pressing forward to destruction; and finally, should he bethink himself, and desire to escape the wrath to come, let him beware of false refuges, and flee to Jesus, the hope set before him in the gospel. [Fuller's Works. Laodiceans had really no doubts of their acceptance with God. They believed themselves advancing in the christian life, whilst they were gone very far backward, and were imminently exposed to rebuke and chastisement. The sentiment of these words may be still further expanded. It teaches us, that it is very possible to be well satisfied with our christian character, when there is the least ground for such satisfaction. It is possible to suppose our mountain to stand strong, when we are most likely to be moved. And the Bible, in other places, by precept and example, teaches us, that we may mistake a state of carnal security, for firm and undeviating progress towards heaven. Thus Peter said shortly before his fall, Though all men should deny thee, yet will not deny thee. The next we hear of him, is his denial, with an oath, of any knowledge of Christ. But the Bible also informs us of a very different state of mind which also produces confidence. It tells of the full assurance of faith. Thus said Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth. said the Apostle Paul, I know in whom I have believed. If ye do Thus seems as though a veil were cast over the perfections of God. He cannot bring them into view in their brightness, vividness, and solemnity. His mind wanders over them all without being attracted by either. The chain seems to have been broken which once seemed to bind him so indissolubly to God. His views of the plan of salvation are equally indistinct. He sees none of its glories. He is destitute of any af Christ. There is no specific view of him as prophet, priest, or king. The doctrine of the influences of the Holy Spirit seems a mere speculation-of which, the only effect is, to allow of his continuance in carelessness. And, alas! the most solemn subjects of religion seem to him only as so many words to which he does not attach any very definite ideas. these things, said the Apostle Peter, ye shall never be moved. This is evidently an attainment in religion, after which, it is the duty of all of us to aspire. It is a well grounded conviction that we have passed from death unto life, and are becoming meet to be partakers with the saints in light. In this, then, these two states of feeling, to which we have alluded, agree. Both of them are attended with the belief, that our state is secure. The Laodiceans,fecting views of the character of who were neither cold nor hot, supposed that they had need of nothing; that is, that they abounded in spiritual riches-and the Apostle Paul, in the full assurance of faith, said, I know in whom I have believed. Here then we see a groundless security and a good hope through grace leading to the same conclusion. And hence they are not uncommonly mistaken for each other. The lukewarm christian, because he does not feel alarmed, supposes that no cause for alarm exists. The believer, in the full assurance of faith, sees the danger, but he is not alarmed, because he has rea-him in all his holiness, and piercson to believe that he has fled to ing into the secrets of his heart the refuge which is presented in with an eye of omniscience. So the gospel. deeply does he feel this, that he loves to dwell upon the character of God. His mind naturally turns to the subject when unoccupied, and when occupied, there is a holy solemnity which the con The case, however, is very different with him who is really in the enjoyment of religion. The character of God presents itself to him in the aspect of a solemn reality. He feels that God is about It may be well, therefore, to mention a few of the circumstances by which these two states of mind may be distinguished. May the Holy Spirit so guide us in our endeavours, that we may ascer-sciousness of a present Divinity tain our true condition, and thus be saved from the awful consequences of self deception. I. There is a great difference between the view which is taken of the character and law of God by a lukewarm professor, and that which is taken by one who enjoys the full assurance of faith. There is a great difference in the distinctness with which it is presented to the mind of persons in their different moral states. To the lukewarm professor, it sheds around him. In every thing which belongs to the Divine character, there is something to which his soul clings as necessary to his happiness. In the plan of salvation, he finds every provision necessary for his eternal welfare, and he delights to meditate on its provisions. In the work of the Holy Spirit, he beholds the only foundation for his hope of perseverance. And all these things are presented to him with the aspect of present realities. In a |