Christ ? Docs it never strike you, that whilst you are enter- taining such proud thoughts as these, you arc thrusting the Lord Jesus Christ from his office, and virtually declaring, that, whatever he may be to others, he shall be no Saviour to you? "Why will ye thus presume to set aside the very ends for which He came into the world? Why, when he has actually girded himself with the towel, and presented himself before you, will you say with Peter, " Thou shalt never wash my feet!" Know you not, that " unless he wash you, you have no part with him"1 !" Be assured, he never came to make you your own saviours, but to offer you a free and full salvation. And if you will conceit yourselves to be " rich and increased in goods, and in need of nothing, when you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," nothing re- remains for vou but to reap the bitter fruits of your pride and folly" — ]
3. Ye who, whilst ye profess to believe in Christ, are walking unworthy of your holy profession —
[1 call on vou also to consider this subject. You profess that the Lord Jesus Christ has borne your sins, and that you therefore expect that no condemnation shall come upon you. But do you think that he will be satisfied with performing half his office ? Do you suppose that he will take away your sins as far as relates to their guilt, and leave them unmortified as it respects their power ? This he never will do : and he declares to you that he never will. Only hear how strongly St. John speaks on this subject in the words following my text: " Whosoever abideth in Christ, (as you profess to do,) sinneth not : whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness, (as you profess to do,) is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil0." What now will ye say, who are still under the dominion of pride, envy, malice, wrath, and whose conduct in your families, instead of exhibiting the image of the Lord Jesus, and con- straining all to admire the excellence of vital godliness, causes religion to stink in their nostrils ? What will ye say who have lewd hearts and licentious tongues? or ye who are covetous and worldly-minded, and who are in such bad repute for truth and honesty, that men would rather deal with a worldly cha- racter than with you ? Ye may boast as ye will about the freeness and fulness of the Gospel salvation ; but ye shall never taste of it, unless ye " put off the old man with his
m John xhi. 4, 8.
n Rev. hi. 16, 17. See also Rom. ix. 31, 32. and x. 3.
o ver. G— 8.