^ Rom. X. 4. Isai. xlv. 24. Jer. xxiii. G.
submission to the golden rule, and make the practice of that to be an indispensable test of men's regard for their testimony. Let this then sink down into our ears; let it be remembered, that the very Scriptures, which inculcate most forcibly the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ, inculcate also a most exalted morality. The Gospel never did, nor ever will, bring any person to salvation in the way of sin ; it is in the way of holi- ness only, and of a very exalted degree of holiness too, that any man can attain the salvation of the Gospel. Not that holiness will save him ; it is the blood and righteousness of Christ that saves him : nevertheless it is an universal and unalterable truth, that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord." May God write that truth on the hearts of such as disregard good works, (if any such there be,) and especially on the hearts of all who set themselves against the doctrines of salvation through unfounded prejudices against them, as being of a licentious tendency !]
2. The effect and benefit of true religion — [This is not to be looked for in the professions, but in the practices of men ; yet not in the practice of some easy duties, such as those of generosity and kindness, but in an universal and habitual attention to the rule before us. Where Christian principles have their full operation on the mind, there this rule will be established in the heart, and be exhibited in the life. Take the conduct of the early converts to Christianity ; and there you will see the precise change of which we are speaking: and their situations being peculiar, they carried the principle to the extent of selling all their possessions for the support of their poorer brethren. A still more wonderful instance we see in the Apostle Paul, who, from the time of his conversion to Christianity, was willing to do or suffer any thing whereby he might facilitate the progress of the Gospel in the world. Know- ing the advantages which, as a Christian, he enjoyed, he was willing even to lay down his own life, if by so doing he might bring others to a participation of them. The same change is still accomplished in the world ; only it is less visible ; the cir- cumstances of the Church not calling for such a manifest display of it, and the measure of divine grace now enjoyed by the saints being, it is to be feared, more scanty than at that period. But can any one see the effects of religion, even as it is now exhibited, and not confess its excellence ? Wherever it pre- vails, it establishes both in the heart and life this amiable prin- ciple : it brings men to do as they would be done unto. Suppose for a moment that one single man, the present disturber of the universe^, were impressed aright by the Gospel of Christ, and brought under the influence of this principle, how many thou- sands and even millions of the human race would have reason
' This referred to Buonaparte, in 1810.