healed. To all then, not to this man nor to that man, not to the openly vicious merely, and profaned and abandoned, but to all; to those who flatter themselves with the highest conceit of their superior virtue, and who think themselves least deserving of the gross and vulgar title of sinners; to all indiscriminately, Pharisees and Publicans alike, the Gospel says, "repent ye, for except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Oh! listen to that warning voice; flee from the threatened wrath; accept the offered mercy; away with the pride that will not condescend to ask forgiveness; and humble yourselves as penitent sinners before the throne of God, "not trusting in your own righteousness, but in his manifold and great mercies," vouchsafed to you and to all mankind, solely for the sake, and through the merits of his blessed Son, and our only Saviour Jesus Christ.

SERMON XIII.

SELF EXAMINATION.

2 CORINTHIANS, XIII. 5.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.

THESE words, which St. Paul addressed to the Corinthian church, with a particular view to certain circumstances which related immediately to their own case at that time, I shall understand and apply in their more general sense. The object of my discourse will be to persuade you to examine yourselves earnestly, for the purpose of discovering whether you are really living under the influence of the Christian faith; and I shall endeavour to help you to some proofs, whereby this most important question may be determined.

I say, "most important question," for surely so you must acknowledge it to be; because it is nothing less than enquiring whether you are sincere Christians; this is what is meant by the expression of "being in the faith;" it is not whether you understand the faith, whether you profess the faith, whether you contend for the faith, whether you believe every article of the faith; all these notions come far short of that which is intended by the Apostle's words, "whether ye be in the faith." The expression bears a similar signification to that of "being in Christ," which does not mean only that one professes the religion of Christ, or is outwardly and nominally His disciple; many, of whom this is true enough, are nevertheless not "in Christ;" for St. Paul says, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ;" and that unhappily is more than can be said of numbers of those who call him "Lord, Lord." So also "to be in the Spirit," does not mean only to believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit, but to be always under His guidance; for, it is said, ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you;" " and if the Spirit of Him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His

66

Spirit that dwelleth in you;" consequently, to be "in the Spirit," is to be under His abiding, and active, and sanctifying influence. By the same rule therefore, "to be in the faith," is to have faith, or a lively and fruitful principle within us, to be governed by it in the whole temper of our minds, and the whole conduct of our lives; in short, to be Christians, which you know is a very different thing from merely calling ourselves Christians.

I repeat therefore, that nothing can be more important to you than this question, "whether ye be in the faith.” It is enquiring into the actual state of your souls, how your hearts are affected towards God and religion, whether you are in the way of salvation, what hope you have of heaven hereafter. If any man thinks such an examination as this a trifling matter, he is indifferent about that which concerns him more than any thing in the world besides; and he has the whole work of religion to begin; for an interest in his spiritual welfare, must be the very first step. If any man is, through fear of the result, reluctant to enter upon such an examination, he is most unwise, for if his condition be bad, the sooner he is acquainted with it, the better; he will die in his sins, if he lives in ignorance of himself. If any man deliberately endeavours to

deceive himself in such an examination, he is his own greatest enemy; he goes hand in hand with the Devil, who also wishes that he should be deceived, and desires nothing more than that he should be persuaded of his safety, when his situation is full of danger.

Yet alas! I know I am setting you upon a work most unpleasant to sinful man, and which few of you will willingly undertake. There is hardly any thing that men in general more diligently avoid, than the knowledge of themselves; many are afraid to look into their own hearts, lest they should find there something too bad to contemplate; others shrink from the trouble, for it requires thought and reflection; others, considering it a very easy and simple matter, just look upon the surface of them, and go no deeper, thus leaving their hidden secrets unexplored; very few indeed endeavour to sift them out that they may know the worst of them, and form a true judgment of themselves, and yet, although the heart is so deceitful, that scarcely the most honest enquirer with all his pains can attain to a correct knowledge of his own, and although these honest enquirers are so rarely to be met with, yet every man thinks that he is sufficiently, if not fully, acquainted with it; every man except the true Christian, who, the