fed, and nourished, and supported, unto eternal salvation, after they were become members of the Church. By the latter, then, must be understood those precepts of holy living, which our blessed Lord gave for the instruction of those who should believe on Him. Such as these: "Love one another, as I have loved you."-" Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” "Love your enemies."-" Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart."-" Be ye perfect, as your Father which is in heaven, is perfect;"—and the like: precepts so pure, so holy, so excellent, that all, both Christians and heathen, have admired them; and yet, so contrary to flesh and blood, so contrary to the natural corruption of our hearts, so foreign to all angry and contentious spirits, that too many who have admired them in theory, have shrunk from them in practice, and have refused to bow their necks and hearts to this yoke. When we consider the nature of these and the like precepts, we see the reason of the Apostle in combating the pride and conceits of those to whom he wrote; and how utterly such dispositions must prevent men from understanding, embracing, and practising, such exalted and godlike principles. St. James calls the word of instruction, conveying these precepts, "the engrafted word," meaning that, in order to its being of use or profit to any man, it must be engrafted in his heart; there received, and meditated upon, that it may be

practised. If this word of instruction be engrafted into the heart of a man, so as to bring forth fruits of holiness and righteousness, and the new life, St. James says, "it is able to save your souls;" that is, the faithful endeavour to fulfil the will of God will preserve and continue men in that state of salvation, into which they were admitted by the ministration of Baptism. For we were admitted into God's family by Baptism, not to do our own will, but the will of Him who thus called and adopted us to be His children. We were cleansed by His Holy Spirit in that Fountain, that we might be "a peculiar people" unto Him, "zealous of good works" and so long as we walk as His children and chosen people should do, so long we continue in that state of justification and acceptableness with Him, through Jesus Christ, unto which we were then, by His free mercy, admitted.

Let us, brethren, give heed to the Apostle's advice; in meekness let us receive the words of instruction which our blessed Lord has caused to be written; and which He sends His servants to teach. That they may ever be had in remembrance, let us do our diligence that by God's grace these instructions may be engrafted in our hearts, and bring forth fruit of righteousness unto God. Let us, remembering that our calling and adoption was of God's free grace and mercy, walk in meek and

1 Tit. ii. 14.

humble dependence upon Him, like children walking by the aid of a parent's hand, and fearful to lose our hold lest our tottering steps should fail beneath us. And let the sense of our entire dependence upon Him, first for His adoption, and, ever since, for that sustaining grace whereby alone we can be preserved from sin; let, I say, the sense of this teach us meekness and charity towards all men; a compassion for their infirmities; and a bearing with them, as knowing how constantly we ourselves are exposed to sin; and how frequently, whether intentionally or unintentionally, we stand in need of the forbearance and compassion of others. In this meek and humble spirit towards God and towards man, let us strive to practise the duties and virtues of our Christian calling, earnestly desiring that the righteousness of God may be fulfilled in us, while we walk not after the flesh, that is, not according to the corrupt desires of our own hearts, but after the Spirit, that is, according to the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit of God.

To whom, in the Unity of the Father and of the Son, be ascribed all praise, adoration, and thanksgiving, now and for evermore.

SERMON XIX.

THE PRACTICE OF HOLINESS.

JAMES i. 22-27.

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

THE evil against which St. James, in these words, designed to caution those to whom he wrote, and against which, to this day, he cautions us who hear his words, is that mixture of hypocrisy and selfdeceit, wherewith many persons injure themselves,

and impose upon others; by mistaking the outward expressions and indications of religion, for religion itself; mistaking, that is, a shadow for a substance, and rashly assuming that where there are leaves, there must necessarily be fruit.

In the verses before the text St. James had been endeavouring to debase the pride of self-righteousness and of empty conceit, arising from the possession of the high spiritual privileges, which are the birthright of Christians; I mean the right to which they gain the earnest, and the title, at their baptismal or Christian birth; by reminding men that the good and perfect spiritual gift which they enjoyed was not of their own, but had been received from the Father of Lights: and he had urged upon them, as the consequence of this consideration, that they should walk in humility towards God, and in meekness and charity towards others; avoiding those defilements of their own spirit which arise from angry, envious, contentious, and spiteful imaginations towards others: and that they should, on the other hand, give diligence to nourish the gift of grace bestowed upon them in baptism, by meekly receiving the word of instruction which Christ had commissioned His ministers to preach to those who embraced His religion; and which, if duly engrafted in the heart, is able to save the soul, that is, to continue it in that state of grace and acceptableness before God, through Christ, into which it was admitted by the laver of regeneration in Baptism.