can supply,)" add to your faith virtue."* We see then, how utterly inefficacious even a true faith is in producing good works unless it be preserved in a vigorous state by careful meditation, and duly exercised in the ways of holiness by a positive and energetic application of the will. A true faith will be either a dead or a living faith, according to the attention we pay it, and the sincerity and earnestness, with which we follow its directions.

If our

We think then, on the whole, that the ministers of our Church have abundant reasons, on which to defend themselves, when they preach with somewhat less frequency, and rather in different language from their evangelical brethren, the doctrine of Justification by Faith; since that doctrine, when understood in one of its principal senses, is well known and generally believed; and, when apprehended in the other of them, is perfectly erroneous, and therefore highly dangerous. opponents themselves believe it in this latter sense, we certainly cannot blame them for stating it in a way, which would naturally lead to such a conclusion: we on the contrary, as we otherwise believe, so also do we otherwise speak; and, supported, as we conceive, by the unanimous and concurrent authority of Scripture, we cease not to exhort our hearers that they "receive not the grace of God in vain," and to warn them that, though faith in Christ be the channel, through which "the benefits of his precious blood-shedding" are conveyed into our souls, yet that something more is required to attain the promises than the mere act of heartily believing them; that our faith may be perfectly true, and at the same time perfectly unprofitable; and that it never will justify us at the dreadful day of account, unless, besides believing the record, which God hath given of his Son, we also make it the business of our lives to perform the work, which God hath given us to do.

* II Pet. i. 5.

SERMON V.

On Final Perseverance.

PREACHED on SUNDAY, APRIL 28.

I CORINTHIANS 10. xii.

Let him, that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

This

ONE of the most extraordinary doctrines, which has ever been deduced from Christianity, and the most completely subversive of its spirit and object, is that, which is commonly distinguished by the name of Personal Election, of which Personal Reprobation is a necessary consequence. opinion, where it prevails, produces mischief in two different directions; they, who suppose themselves the miserable victims of future reprobation, and only created as vessels of wrath, that the glory of God may be manifested in their final destruction, if they ever think of the horrid prospect that is before them, will be probably driven to desperation; or, if at such a time they can be calm enough to reason on their forlorn state, they may fairly derive from it this conclusion, that, since salvation is in their case absolutely impossible, and the joys of heaven can never be their's, they may as well make the most they can of their carthly existence, and freely indulge in the pleasures of sin: they, on the other hand, who imagine themselves the favoured subjects of the absolute decrees of

God, may draw a similar practical inference, and by rather a shorter method; for, if they read correctly the charter, which secures their salvation at all events, they cannot but perceive that in its fundamental articles it contains an act of plenary indulgence, vastly more extensive than any, which ever issued from that storehouse of superfluous.merit, which once formed so considerable a part of the patrimony of St. Peter; for it comprehends sins of every description and magnitude, however long and pertinaciously adhered to: why then should persons, so highly privileged, be anxious about their conduct in this life, when they know they cannot hinder their salvation in the next; that, if they fall, they must rise again ; that, if they sin, it cannot be unto death; and that, though they pass through the world immersed in "the gall of bitterness," they shall leave it triumphant spirits at the last. There was a time when our country felt, in all their force, the practical effects of these monstrous notions, a single instance of which, appearing on the face of our national annals, may suffice to exemplify their genuine tendency. When the regicide and usurper Cromwell, was approaching his end," he began," says an elegant historian, "to cast his eye towards that future existence, whose idea had once been intimately present to him. He asked one of his preachers, if the doctrine were true that the elect could never fall, or suffer a final reprobation. "Nothing more certain," replied the preacher. "Then I am safe," said the protector, "for I am sure that once I was in a state of grace. Such times, we trust, are gone for ever, but the religious opinions, which peculiarly distinguished them, are by no means eradicated. We are far, however, from desiring to represent that of Personal Election, when taken in its full latitude, as a characteristic doctrine of that portion of our brethren, whose sentiments on other points we have lately been discussing; some of them indeed, are known to hold it, but the generality, we have no doubt, dis

* Hume's History of England-Commonwealth, chap. 2.

claim it. There is, notwithstanding, a certain modification of this opinion, which, we fear, attaches itself closely to their discriminating principles, we mean that subdivision of the doctrine, which is known under the denomination of Final Perseverance, and which differs from its parent stock in the following respect-that whereas, on the system of personal election, the final destiny of every man is determined pre-, viously to his existence, that of final perseverance only undertakes to ensure it under certain conditions, and after a certain period; the doctrine of final perseverance asserts that, when a man has once attained to a state of primary justification, it must end in final justification, or salvation; this doctrine, therefore, coincides with that of personal election from a certain point, and thus, from the point where it does commence, it necessarily leads to the self-same consequences.

Let us next see on what grounds this opinion may, as we think, with some probability be ascribed to our opponents. We shall argue nothing from the general style of their writings. on subjects intimately connected with this, and the impression which it is apt to leave on the mind; we allow this source of evidence is too indefinite to furnish any solid proof, which must be derived, if derived at all, from their acknowledged tenets on other points.

We have formerly examined those tenets, as they regard the qualifications necessary for salvation, and the result of our enquiry appeared to prove that, on their scheme, true faith, or correct belief, was the only thing indispensible in the business. Now allowing this, as long as a man retains such a faith, he will necessarily be in the way of salvation, and we really do not see how, having once acquired it, he can ever lose it; for the evidence, which originally extracted his assent, (and we all admit on sufficient authority,) that evidence remains the same, and must therefore at all times, when duly considered, be productive of the same conviction; not to mention that, for the mere preservation of belief, it will not be necessary to re-consider the grounds of it at all, unless any doubts should arise in the mind. And if it be said that assent

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