Tit. iii. 8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly , that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
ONE of the principal ends of a Christian ministry- is, to stem the torrent of iniquity, and to mehorate the moral habits of mankind. If this be not attained, nothing is done to any good purpose. The mys- teries which may be opened might as well be con- cealed : the arguments which may be urged might as well be suppressed. No glory can be brought to God, no benefit be secured to man, but through a moral change wrought upon the hearts and lives of men. In this, all are agreed. Even the profane, who neither regard nor practise one moral duty, will acknowledge this.
But then a question arises ; ' How shall this end be obtained?' Upon this question there will be a great diversity of sentiment. The general answer would be, ' Preach upon good works ; inculcate the value and importance of them : trouble the people as little as possible about the doctrines and mysteries of religion ; and labour principally, if not exclusively, to establish good morality.' Unhappily for this land, this sentiment has in past times been too generally adopted. There may be some indeed (we trust they are very few), who run to a contrary extreme, and dwell upon doctrines to the utter exclusion of good works : but a very great part of the Christian world imagine, that the inculcating of Christian principles is of but little use in the production of morals : and hence it is that the peculiar doctrines of our religion have so small a share in our public ministrations. Many will even quote the words of our text as sanc- tioning this practice, and as enjoining ministers to dwell principally upon the subject of good works. But the text, properly understood, has a directly