which we may safely and securely build our house, and place our hopes; and that this rock is Jesus Christ. He is the foundation which God hath laid in Zion; a sure stone, a tried foundation, on which whosoever builds shall never be put to confusion. The text reminds you that there is no foundation like a rock; and Christ is called a rock, because He is a foundation so sure and strong.

Do you ask in what particular his qualifications for this office consists? What is the circumstance which makes Him so sure and strong a foundation? I will tell you. It is His glorious person of God and man in one Christ. This is the "great mystery of Godliness; God manifest in the flesh." This mystery, the wonderful union of the two natures, divine and human, in one person, lies at the bottom of Christianity, and gives to the undertaking of Christ complete stability. It is this which makes Him a perfect Saviour, and his salvation perfect. It was through this mysterious union that the sacrifice, which He made for us on the cross, was an all-sufficient atonement, acceptable with God, and available for taking away the sin of the world. It is through this mysterious union therefore, that our iniquities are pardoned, our peace with God effected, our title to Heaven secured, and the promise of the Holy Spirit confirmed to us. Here then

is our foundation. Here is our rock, Christ crucified; and that Christ, the Son of the living God. On such a Saviour we may rely with confidence: we may build our hopes of Heaven without fear; for He can never fail us. His work is perfect; His power is infinite; His love is everlasting; His truth is unchangeable; and all his promises are yea, and amen, for evermore.

S. I would remind you, that on this Rock, thus provided for us, we must build, if we hope to save our souls, and escape everlasting destruction. My Brethren, on this subject I wish to be very plain, and to tell you the truth in love. You have a house to build, and there is a Rock provided on which you may build it; and if you do not build it on this Rock, and on this Rock only, your house will never stand, nor render you any service. And I wish to state this truth the more plainly, and to enforce it the more strongly, because I am aware how prone you naturally are to build on some other foundation in preference to this, or to join some other foundation with it. these schemes will answer. every other foundation but and to build your house half on the Rock, and half on the sand, will be of no more use to you, than if you put it all on the sand.

But neither of
Remember that
Christ is sand;

It will as certainly be undermined, and fail you in the time of need. You must build wholly and entirely on the Rock. You must place your dependance solely on Jesus Christ. You have no goodness, no merit, no strength, of your own. All must come from Christ. He did not die that your imperfect works might be accepted as your righteousness. This is a common way of speaking. He did not atone for your sins in part, that you might compensate, or compromise, for the other part of them. No. He himself is your Righteousness, and by the one Sacrifice of Himself has offered a full and complete atonement for sin. He does not offer you the Holy Spirit to assist and strengthen your naturally holy resolutions, and spiritual desires. For naturally you have no holy resolutions, no spiritual desires. It is His Spirit which alone can create and put these things into your heart. In this respect also Christ is the only Foundation: the only Foundation for holiness, as well as for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. - Do Do you need forgiveness? You know that you need it. Do you need holiness? Yes: you need this also. O, then seek these things, where only they are to be found! Seek them in Christ, Build upon Him for Forgiveness of Sin, for Holiness, and for every part of your Salvation.

4. Let me put you in remembrance, how you are to build on Christ: what building on Him means. It is not merely to call yourself a Christian, and to call Him Lord. It is to be yourself what a Christian should be, and to serve and love Him as your Lord. It is not merely to say you have faith in him; but to have it. It is not merely to profess submission and obedience to Him; but really to obey Him, and comply with His Holy Will.

This again is a point on which you are liable to be mistaken, and to impose upon yourselves a point, therefore, on which I would again express my desire of being distinct and plain. To build on Christ is to be a real Christian; as I said in the beginning of this discourse, a practical Christian. And do you understand and consider what a real, practical Christian is? You may be a Christian by name, a baptized Christian, a professing Christian, a Christian, who comes to Church, hears the Word of Christ, seems to himself to approve what he hears, and has no doubt of his being in the straight road to Heaven. You may be all this; a Christian of this kind: and yet not a real, practical Christian. For such a Christian is something more than all this. He is one, who has really felt in his own soul his need of Christ as a Saviour from Sin, has in his heart per

sonally fled to Him for Salvation, and now daily relies upon Him to free him from guilt, and to keep him from sinning. He is one, who while he has no other hope of pardon and peace, no other title to Heaven, but the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, is at the same time living to Christ, through the strength and power daily sought by prayer, and daily given to Him by the Spirit. And what does this living to Christ comprehend and imply? To live to Christ is to die to sin, to die to the flesh, to die to the world. It is so to live under the influence of the Spirit, as to deny ourselves, to take up our Cross, and to mortify the deeds of the body. It is so to live, as to shew in our lives that we are sincerely and truly the Disciples of Christ; that we are not ashamed of Him and His Cross, and dare to confess Him before men.

The real Christian, my Brethren, is not a perfect, sinless character; nor does he pretend to be one. He too sensibly knows his own imperfections. But he is in the sight of God a sincere and upright character. God, who seeth the heart, sees him to be in earnest in his profession of faith in Christ," an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile." He is one, who in his heart desires to please and serve the Lord Jesus Christ: whose conscience is tender, whose spirit is humble, whose disposition is teachable and tractable.