enter into the spirit of the Psalmist's supplication -"Hear my prayer, O Lord, for I am a stranger and a sojourner, as all my fathers were!"* And, when our career is closed, and we look back in self-examination on the journey we have passed, may we be able to exclaim with the same Psalmist, in humble and devout satisfaction,-— "Thy statutes, O Lord, have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage!"*

*Psalm xxxix. 12.

+ Psalm cxix. 54.

SERMON II.

THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH AND WORKS.

James ii. 17, 18.

Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works ; shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

MEN of partial discernment or sectarian views have frequently injured the cause of religion, by attempting, in a mistaken spirit of system, to multiply into endless divisions principles which, in themselves, are simple and uniform, and to divorce from each other doctrines which God had essentially conjoined in one. The right interpretation of scripture has been seriously impeded, in a variety of other instances, by these unnecessary subtleties; but there are few cases in which

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text.

they have led to such prevalent and popular misconceptions as on the subject referred to in the In ordinary affairs, indeed, it would be justly deemed a paradox to regard actions and principles of action as considerations entirely separate and distinct; to dissever, for instance, filial love from filial obedience, or to talk of a patriotic spirit which has never distinguished itself either in a disinterestedness of counsel, or a heroism of conduct. But Faith and Works, amongst many classes of undiscerning Christians, seem to have respectively their own peculiar and exclusive advocates, as if they were really unconnected and independent of each other. Some persons are to be found in almost every community who make the whole of their religion to consist in a certain blind and undistinguishing assurance, which they mistake for faith, and which leads them unnecessarily to disparage the value of human exertions, and to be utterly negligent of the external duties of life. Others, again, and this is by far the most numerous class, are content that all their hopes should rest on their character and conduct alone. When once convinced of, what they call, the integrity of their lives, they are satisfied that they can in no respect have greatly erred; while they are unconsciously in danger, not only of estimating that integrity

by a worldly instead of a heavenly standard, but also of entirely overlooking the motives from which it springs, and upon the character of which, even on the most common principles of reasoning, the value of all actions must depend.

never

From either of these extremes have sprung a variety of errors, partaking, in different degrees, of self-righteousness, indolence, and presumption. Detached and isolated passages of scripture have been wrested to meanings they were designed to bear, to support their respective partizans. Even discrepancies have been suspected to exist between authorities equally dictated by the Spirit of God, especially the Epistles of St. James and St. Paul. And we have most of us, perhaps, learned, by painful experience and observation, how seriously extravagancies of opinion like this can interfere with the exercise of christian charity, and obstruct the progress of gospel truth.

Now it may be safely at once denied that there is really any internal contradiction or want of consistency in the great scheme of providence for man's redemption. It is true, indeed, that God alone is the source of all goodness, and man is a fallen and degraded creature, without any strength or resources of his own. But it is a mistake, equally great in the spiritual as in the