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death, in their room, been exalted to the right hand of power; that they have contemplated him as a beseeching, suffering, bleeding, dying Saviour, before they have been called to behold him as a just and omnipotent Judge; that in him the uncreated glories of Divinity are blended with the loveliest attributes of perfected humanity; that even in the midst of the throne, he appears as the Lamb that had been slain, bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh; and that when he shall appear to judge the world, they shall, according to his promise, 66 see him as he is," and be

made like unto him in his glory.

Since Christ is the appointed Judge of the world, what reason there is for the wicked to be afraid! Already he is invested with authority and power sufficient to crush all his enemies; and often has he visited them with signal destruction. Tremble, then, before him, all ye who disregard his law, all ye persecutors of his people, all ye neglecters and despisers of his salvation; and, ere he ascend the throne of judgment, ere the decree be gone forth, let each fall prostrate at the footstool of his mercy, and implore that forgiveness which was never sought in vain. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Accept of Him now as thy Saviour, and thou shalt find favour of Him in that day.

Shall the world, then, be judged in righteousness, by Christ Jesus, "What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness!" Shall we then be tried and judged? and ought we not now to examine and try ourselves, to scrutinize every motive by which we are actuated, to view all things in relation to this great, this final event? yea, to consider ourselves always as on the very brink of eternity, as in the immediate vicinity of the judgment-seat, as ready to be summoned every moment to our great audit, and to have our eternal destiny awarded us, either in the world of perdition, among the enemies of God and holiness, or in his presence, where there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand, where there are unfading pleasures for evermore?

Ought not such awful, such pleasing prospects, to animate and cheer us in the paths of obedience and duty, to warn and fortify us in the hour of temptation and trial, to be our safeguard against the seductions of sinful pleasure, and our joy and consolation amidst the reproaches and persecutions of a present world? Yet a little while, and the trials of the Christian shall for ever cease. He shall lift up his head

with joy, for he that endureth unto the end shall be saved." He hath confessed the Saviour upon the earth, and him will the Saviour confess and acknowledge, when he cometh in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. Is not this a privilege worth contending for? Is not this an object worthy of our highest and holiest efforts? Is not this a glory which throws all earthly distinctions into the shade? What are crowns and kingdoms when compared to this? Yet this honour, these privileges, shall be given to all his saints.

And ought not the solemn thought, that all mankind, whether Christians or heathens, whether lovers or despisers of the Saviour, shall be judged by him on that day, to animate us with an ardent desire to promote the best, the everlasting interest of our fellow-men? Let none of us say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" but let us ever remember, that if we be Christians in deed and in truth, we are not our own, but "bought with a price," that "none liveth to himself," and that if the weakest and most unworthy among us, neglect to improve the opportunities which God is affording, for promoting the salvation of mankind, the blood of our brother, even his soul, will then be required at our hand.

Let all, therefore, who live and act under the belief of a judgment to come, be aroused to a vigorous activity in the great work of God's glory and man's salvation. The poorest, the most obscure Christian, has a talent, a trust committed to him, and can do something in forwarding the work of the Lord, the work of the Lord against the mighty; and however weak the agent, and however small the effort, if it be made in faith, and in obedience to the Divine command, according to the means and opportunities afforded, it shall not be forgotten or despised. A mite cast into the treasury of heaven, a cup of cold water given to a disciple, or a word spoken in season to those that are weary, shall not fail to obtain a gracious, a glorious reward, in the day when "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."

THE ENGLISH MONTHLY TRACT SOCIETY,
27, RED LION SQUARE.

J.&W.Rider, Printers, Bartholomew Close, London,

HUMAN MERIT.

AS A

GROUND OF SALVATION.

AMONG professing Christians there is too often found a total perversion of the true ground of salvation as derived from the Word of God. Some phrases and expressions perhaps they may employ, borrowed from Scripture, or a catechism early committed to memory, which seem to indicate an acquaintance with scriptural principles; but these, on further conversation, are too frequently discovered in their mouths, words without any distinct and intelligent meaning. If they speak of their faith, it is at least on their works they restnot as an evidence of their faith, which is the scriptural view of the subject, but as the means of their acceptance with God, as the labour by which they expect to earn a right to the happiness of heaven. A belief that they can obtain heaven by their own deservings, is deeply seated in their hearts, and to Christ crucified they look not as their substitute and propitiatory sacrifice, but as a mitigator of the sternness of the moral law, who, they vainly imagine, has diminished its obligations and its penalties, and thus brought a saving obedience to its acquirements, within reach of the fallen offspring of Adam. On this false doctrine they build all their hopes of salvation; and in what mazes of deception are they bewildered by this one fatal error !

When the unscriptural principle is once admitted that the law of God has, by virtue of the cross, been accommodated to human frailty, what an inlet is made to the loosest morality and the most presumptuous expectations! Of the extent of obedience necessary to salvation, each individual is thus left to judge from the view he entertains of his own ability to obey; and that ability again he estimates according to his actual performance; so that the standard of duty,

RELIANCE ON HUMAN MERIT FOR SALVATION.

3

instead of being held up in its native height, as that to which we ought constantly to aspire, without ever being able fully to reach, is brought down to the measure of every man's character; and the law of God, so exceeding broad and so absolutely perfect, is contracted and frittered away, till the most careless and worldly can compass its whole length and breadth in their daily rounds.

On being called to visit the sick-bed of a person of this description, he has been generally found self-satisfied, and at ease as to his spiritual condition, regardless though he might be of God and duty in his whole character and conduct, presenting thus the awful and pitiable spectacle of a man tottering blindfold and unconscious on the brink of a yawning gulf, ready to devour him. When his condition as a sinner has been set before him, although he might own the truth of the general statement, he seems scarcely sensible of its practical application to himself, and if pressed as to particular sins, was sure to discover the unsoundness of his spiritual views, either by evading the subject altogether, or by palliating his transgressions with some qualifications and abatements; or what was, perhaps, a more hopeless symptom still, by laying his delinquency to the charge of human frailty, and thus soothing his conscience with the persuasion that he was not worse than others. "Yes, sir," he would perhaps reply, "I confess myself a great sinner-we are all miserable sinners; but I trust in the Saviour of sinners, for my conscience does not charge me with any great and grievous transgressions; I have not been a thief, or a liar, or a drunkard, or a blasphemer; the sin of perjury, or of adultery, or of murder, does not lie on my soul; neither does my conscience accuse me of having been an undutiful son, or an unkind husband or father. I have regularly attended the worship of God, and have sometimes prayed to him in private; I have even occasionally read the Bible in my family, especially on the evenings of the Sabbath. I trust, therefore, that all is well with me, for I have a merciful God to deal with, who has sent his own Son to save sinners, such as I am."

The exposure which is thus made of the utter want of all Christian knowledge, and spiritual experience, at the time when both are most required, is deeply afflicting; and were it not that a Christian minister must never despair-that even till the very striking of the twelfth hour he must hope, he might be induced to leave the wretched and deluded sufferer to his blinded judgment and seared conscience.

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