A person who believes in the righteousness of Christ, may truly say, "Lord, what love have I unto thy law!" The law is necessary as a rule, and amiable as a free service, and performable in the power of faith; but as exacting strict obedience under the penalty of death, it is a heavy load on the conscience; and, in that sense, it is abolished to make way for a better dispensation.

A virtue wrought out of the stock of our own ideas, in our own strength, that is merely human or pagan, is without foundation, has no reality, and can contribute nothing to our happiness. What, for instance, is the greatest affability and condescension, without a root of true humility; forbearance of the outward act, without inward purity; patience without thankfulness; beneficence without love; and especially, what is zeal for religion, or exactness in a form, if it does not spring from a heart devoted to God, and relinquishing all for communion with him? But I am sensible, and know with the utmost certainty, that I can no more give these qualities to myself, in their inward deep ground, than I could make a world.

Christ's cross, truly believed, will have two seemingly different effects-it will put me on being as good as ever I can, and make me sensible that I am altogether vile.

There can be no true religion without love, no love of man without love of God, nor love of God without the knowledge and love of Christ.

All virtue which does not spring from the cross of Christ, is defective in some respect or other; and most horribly in overrating itself.

It is the duty of every Christian to aim at perfection, and to be going on to it; but he is a very illinformed Christian, if not a downright unbeliever, who depends on it for salvation.

Faith goes before salvation, and works follow it; not to be made the ground of our justification, but

as the necessary concommitants and proper fruits of faith; and whenever obedience puts itself in the place of faith, St. Paul's words may fitly be applied to it, "Know that thou bearest not the root, but the root thee." Why then are works to be the great subject of inquiry at the day of judgment? Because they are the visible effects of faith, and only good as springing from a root of faith, so that the want of them proves of course the want of faith.

The life of faith can only spring from faith, as trees and plants do from their proper seeds. The generality know better what their work is, than where to begin it.

If I have faith in Christ, I shall love him; if I love him, I shall keep his commandments: if I do not keep his commandments, I do not love him; if I do not love him, I do not believe in him.

A believer does not do good works to be saved by them, but in love to others, from a root of faith, and because he is saved. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Love of Christ for what he is, as made known unto us by what he has done and suffered for us, is first; and keeping the commandments is not for salvation, but because we are saved by him. Whatever we do on this ground is well-pleasing to God, and will have its reward; but it is abomination in his sight, if we would obtrude it on him as perfect in itself, and as a full satisfaction to the demands of his law.

It would be a great abuse of the doctrine of salvation by faith, and a state of dangerous security, to say, If it pleases God to advance me to a higher, or the highest degree of holiness, I should have great cause of thankfulness, and it would be the very joy of my heart; but nevertheless I can do without it, as being safe in Christ: whereas, there is no safety without an entire submission to the will of God.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

THE great mistake of life, and the cause of all the wickedness and misery in the world, is looking for happiness here, and especially in externals, where it never will be found. If we were in a state of diligent preparation and patient waiting for it in another life, we should have nothing to scramble or quarrel for, nor ever be disappointed; we should be freed at once from all vain anxiety; bear crosses, help one another in love, rejoice in hope, and welcome death.

"The things which God hath prepared for them that love him," are according to the revelation of his nature and will in Jesus Christ. In this belief, study to know him more and more, and make him your treasure and portion, and long for the everlasting enjoyment of him.

In heaven we shall have a perfect knowledge of sin, far beyond any thing we conceive of it, in conjunction with the greatness of our deliverance; and the glory of redeeming mercy will be the eternal ground of our love and admiration. On earth it is the great exercise of faith, and one of the hardest things in the world, to see sin and Christ at the same time, or to be penetrated with a lively sense of our desert, and of our absolute freedom from condemnation. But the more we know of both, the nearer approach we shall make to the state of heaven; and we are our own

greatest enemies, if, together with the fullest comprehension of sin and the deepest humiliation for it, we do not look unto Jesus, and see it taken away by the Lamb of God.

He is the greatest saint on earth, who feels his poverty most in the want of perfect holiness, and longs with the greatest earnestness for the time when he shall be put in full possession of it.

Before you do any thing pleasing to the flesh, be sure that you have God's leave; and whatever he commands, though ever so unpleasant to the flesh, be sure to do it. Make a grievance of nothing

but sin.

Christ will accept nothing at my hands till I give him my heart; and when I do, I shall not give him mites, though one will be well taken.

Nothing can be happiness to us but what we think so; and yet thinking any thing to be happiness does not make it so. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance to us to be well-informed in the matter.

Repent and believe; believe and love; love and obey; obey in love, and be as happy as you can be in this world.

Temptations are not sins, but means of perfection or causes of strengthening the will; and they are thrown in our way, that we may resist them in the fear of God, conquer in his help, and increase our reward.

If I prefer any thing in my heart to God and his will, my whole state and being, every thought, word, and work is sinful.

God's coming and presence in the soul, is best understood by the power of it in the change it works in us.

It is a day lost indeed, in which I lose ground in the way to heaven.

When my will is united to God's I shall always have what I want. What hinders me from being thus religious and happy?

I have had but little thought or purpose of employing the talents which God has given me solely to his glory. Whenever I do this with a single eye to please him, I need not be concerned what they are, one or ten, and shall be indifferent about the esteem of the world.

What has God for me to do to-day? I am not to live to myself. So I should have thought all my life, and every day of my life? doing my work faithfully, praising God for appointing it, and desiring no other happiness.

He who is Christ's free-man, is made such by Christian faith and obedience: he is heaven-taught, Spiritled, has a single desire to know and please God better, is aiming at perfection, and grieving for nothing so much as the want of it.

A Christian is strong in resolution, fervent in his desire of holiness, and makes the most violent efforts to attain it; but at the same time he knows that it is absolutely out of his own power; and, therefore depends on God for support, and keeps close to him in prayer for constant supplies of light, grace, and comfort.

If God says, Thou shalt not; a child of God says at once, I will not, in spite of strength of inclination, or violence of temptation. If God says, Thou shalt; he says, in spite of custom, difficulty, or danger, I will. This is freedom, this is happiness, this is life and power from God, of which we may be as sure as that we did not make ourselves.

Enjoy the day in the day, without stretching your thoughts to some future time, and live to-day so as to enjoy to-morrow; but do not deceive yourselves with hopes of much enjoyment from any day.

God's design is to bring us happily to himself in another world, and he will leave no means unessayed for this purpose. If we have the same end in view, and look up to him, as carrying it on steadily for us, we may be happy both here and hereafter; if we have