fluence our conduct and make us truly better men. Let us live upon the great fundamentals of religion, and let not our attention to these be diverted by an intemperate zeal about lesser things. Let us not place our religion in disputable points and ineffectual opinions; but in those weightier matters of the Law and Gospel, which are of undoubted importance, and in which holy men, among all the different denominations of Christians, are better agreed than is commonly apprehended."

What, then, is religion? I answer in the Apostle's words; "It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." As it respects God, it is righteousness; in its relation to man; it is peace; and as it regards the state of happiness we enjoy in our souls, it is joy in the Holy Ghost.

What, then, are we to understand by the term righteousness? There are some who sufficiently discern that forms of worship, religious exercises, and speculative opinions, do not constitute the whole of religion, but are rather means to obtain a higher end, who yet fall themselves into an error similar to that which they reprove in others.

They also substitute a part for the whole: a part of the end proposed to be obtained for the whole of it. They admit a loose interpretation of the nature of righteousness, and easily satisfy themselves that they have attained all that is required of them. Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost mean little more, in their creed, than a freedom from gross acts of fraud, injustice and oppression, a general honesty of conduct in the business of life, a peaceable behaviour to our fellow-creatures, and the satisfaction arising from a good conscience.

Thus by setting before themselves a low standard, to which, by the help of a little partiality and some allowance for the infirmity of human nature, every man can accommodate himself, the purity, holiness, and

righteousness, which the Gospel enjoins, become almost empty names.

But true righteousness, as it is described in the Gospel, is of a higher and purer nature. It may be considered as consisting of these three things, indissolubly united; Christian motives, spiritual worship, and holy practice.

1. The righteousness which the Gospel enjoins is founded in Christian motives.-It is the motive which determines the value of an action; and the highest motives alone are sufficient to render our conduct truly Christian. The love of God-a fervent desire to fulfil his will, whether consistent with our own or opposed to it a deep value for the unsearchable riches of Christ, and a permanent wish to promote the glory of God-must be deeply fixed in the heart, must regulate our whole conduct, must influence us to self-denial, and animate us to exertion in his service. They who are described as righteous in our Saviour's representation of the last day, are not so denominated, merely because they fed the hungry and clothed the naked, but because they did these things for Christ's sake. We are exhorted, whatsoever we do, to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Husbands are to love their wives, as Christ also loved the Church; children are admonished to obey their parents in the Lord; servants are exhorted to be obedient to their masters as unto Christ, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." "Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit." The true Christian will feel the force of such expressions, as they describe the motives from which he really acts.

2. Spiritual worship is the natural fruit of Christian principles. A truly righteous man must be a devout

man: all his principles inculcate the necessity of serious prayer. The knowledge he obtains through the Gospel, of the corruption and weakness of human nature, will powerfully lead him to pray to God, from whom alone he expects strength and mercy. His hunger and thirst after righteousness will manifest themselves in earnest supplications for it to the Throne of Grace. A cold and formal worship may seem sufficient to him, who has a partial and contracted view of holiness, and who is not habitually governed by the love of Christ; but he whose heart is affected by true Christian principles, will never be content, but when he abounds in prayers and praises to his Redeemer. He does not pray because he esteems prayer a duty, but because the dispositions of his heart naturally find utterance in addresses to God. "Seven times," says the Psalmist, "do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments." He esteemed one day in the courts of God better than a thousand; for in his heart, as in that of St. Paul, the love of God was shed abroad by the Holy Spirit.

3. Holy practice is the necessary result of Christian principles and spiritual worship.-In proportion as the Christian abounds in knowledge and prayer, he receives power to live righteously, soberly, and godly in the world: the fear of God influences every action; it manifests itself in a conscientious discharge of the duties of our stations, in a watchfulness over our passions, in a sincere endeavour to become acquainted with the will of God, and to perform it in the best manner we are able. The principles of religion are distinguished from every other motive by this, that they influence the conduct in every period and cricumstance of life, without pause or intermission. In proportion as the general mass of our conduct is governed by these motives, in that proportion are we righteous persons. Although we should possess the purest principles, or should be carried out in the highest strain of devotion; yet whenever those principles and that devotion cease to influence and regulate our lives, we then want

that true righteousness in which the kingdom of God

consists.

But in the description, given by the Apostle, of real religion, he includes peace as well as righteousness. By considering this context we shall see that by this expression the Apostle probably intended in this place a spirit of peace towards our fellow creatures.

It is

It has of late been unhappily assumed by some, that love to man and love to God are distinct things, which have no immediate and necessary connexion. true that a degree of benevolence may exist without love to God or Christian principles: but it is equally true, that love to our fellow creatures, in its highest and purest state, can never be permanently seated in the heart, which is destitute of love to God; and that love to God cannot subsist without producing love to our fellow-creatures also: for the love of God is the love of goodness, justice, truth, mercy, and good-will, since these are the qualities which eminently reside in God, and by which we are acquainted with him. To love these qualities without possessing a measure of them is impossible. We can feel no real approbation of God's holiness, unless we are holy ourselves; nor of his goodness, unless we entertain sentiments of good will to those around us. The Scripture represents the view of God's perfections as having a transforming efficacy: "we behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory." The Apostle concludes it to be impossible to love God, unless we love our brother also: "if we love not our brother whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen?" And the love of man is the natural effect of the knowledge we obtain of God through the Gospel. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." The peace which my text mentions, is a part of the religion I have thus described as consisting of love to our fellow creatures, because it is evident that peace arising from any other motive was not intended by the Apostle; for a spirit of

peace then only becomes a Christian virtue when it is directed by Christian love. We may live in peace with our neighbours from timidity of temper, which fears resentment; or from selfishness, which inclines us to avoid risk and trouble;-we may give them no disturbance even in their evil actions, while at the same time we are perfectly indifferent to their welfare. But the peaceable meek disposition of a truly righteous person is of a different nature. It is a copy of the ineekness of Christ, bearing injuries without secretly indulging a spirit of resentment; pardoning trespasses, desiring the good even of enemies, "not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing;" and labouring to do good, though it may eventually be the means of contention: for as the Prince of peace forwarned his disciples, that he was not come to send peace upon earth, but a sword, so it will be found by his servants, that whoever is active in doing good, even with the purest motives, will frequently kindle the flame of strife and opposition. He who would live in perfect peace with the world, must allow men to live as they please, without reproof of their sin; but it is a part of that love, from which a Christian's peaceable disposition is derived, to endeavour to stem the torrent of vice, and in a prudent and proper manner to rebuke offenders.

Lastly, The Apostle concludes his description of real religion, by representing it as joy in the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is emphatically styled the Comforter; and it is his gracious offer to bless and reward the works of righteousness and peace by communicating to the soul tranquillity and holy joy. "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever."

Look at the real disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ; examine his principles, and survey his actions, and say whether it is possible that he should not enjoy real happiness. His principles pure, his motives noble, waging war with every evil passion-the great source