In the case before us the question was, "Who is God -Jehovah or Baal?" It was agreed, before the decision was made, that the true God, should be followed, the false deserted. Would to God the same determination were made in all our minds! If religion be real, pleasant and profitable, we will embrace it, let the consequence be what it may. The trial was made. Baal's votaries sought him in vain-" there was no voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded." But when the prophet of Jehovah cried

"Let it be known this day that thou art God, and that I am thy servant ;" then the fire of the Lord descended, dried up the water, and consumed the sacrifice. The people were convinced, worshipped God, and destroyed his enemies. So let it be with us; if it can be made to appear that our religion is of God, then let us be truly religious, and destroy whatever impediment opposes its power and perfection.

ness.

But you will say, what do you mean by religion? The question is good. I will answer it. I mean by religion, not a system of opinions, nor a set of ceremonies; but a humbling conviction of our ruined state by sin; the appli cation of the soul to Christ, as an all-sufficient Saviour; and a sincere endeavour to oppose sin and live unto höliThis is real religion. The religion of the Gospel. The religion which the Holy Spirit teacheth, and which the disciple of Jesus learneth. It is for the mind to be enlightened, so as to discover the holy character of God; to see our own deformity in the glass of his holy law; to be humbled in the dust as penitent sinners: and then heartily to embrace the salvation proclaimed by the Gospel; to receive Jesus as our teacher, our righteousness, and our Lord, and to give up ourselves, without reserve, to be his for ever.

This religion is a glorious reality. It is scriptural; it is rational; it is experimental; it is practical. It answers the true ends of religion; it makes us holy and happy. It renews the heart; it reforms the manners; and it secures eternal bliss.

This is the religion, which, for substance, has been the choice and the practice of all the wise and good men who eyer lived, from the days of Abel until now.

VOL. II.

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This is the

religion we affirm to be every way pleasant and advantageous; for it includes the sublime delight of a good conscience; a conscience delivered from guilt by the atoning blood of Christ; the inexpressible pleasure of communion with God in his ordinances, public and private; the privilege of society with the excellent of the earth; preservation from a thousand mischiefs and miseries to which the irreligious are liable; it affords a solid ground of consolation in the unavoidable evils of life; and it sustains the soul amidst the awful circumstances of death, with a lively hope full of immortality.

These, and many more, are the present advantages of true godliness: but who can describe those which are to come? Who can tell what are the joys at God's right hand-what it is to be with Christ, and behold his glorywhat it is to enter into the joy of the Lord; to see him as he is; to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; to spend eternal ages in the beatific presence of God and the Lamb?

These then are the blessings of that holy religion which demands our whole hearts. And do we still hesitate-still halt between two opinions? Surely this hesitation is quite unreasonable, and unlike any thing in our ordinary conduct. Does the sick man hesitate whether to accept of health, if it be in his power? Does the poor man hesitate when relief, when wealth is offered to him? Does the dutiful youth require a moment to determine whether or not he should love his father or his mother? Do we stop to inquire whether health and life ought to be preserved? If not, why halt between two opinions in the greater concern of eternal life and salvation? If we halt, it is a proof that we are not convinced of its necessity or its advantage. But have we not sufficiently proved that such is the reality, pleasure and advantage of the religion of Christ, that it deserves and demands our whole hearts? Now, then, let the matter be brought to a final issue! Now let the awful decision be made.

Witness ye angels! ye benevolent spirits, who frequent our religious assemblies, and sometimes carry the glad tidings of a sinner's conversion to heaven, witness the decision which shall now be made!

vided heart.

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"Choose then, this day," this moment," whom you will serve. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord; choose ye this day whom ye will serve." Only remember, "ye cannot serve two masters." God will not accept of diDoes your heart say " "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord." Then be it so. From this happy moment, let it be a settled point, religion, serious religion, vital religion, shall be my first great business, and every thing that opposes it shall give place. So say, and so do, my brethren, and you are made for ever. then add, as Joshua in a similar case, "Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, we are witnesses." May God confirm your resolution, and by his almighty grace ever enable you to act conformably to it!

Shall I

SERMON LXI.

SIN DETHRONED.

Romans vi. 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

THE general power and prevalence of sin in the world He who knows how displeasing sin is to a holy God, and how destructive to the souls of men, cannot but lament the awful dominion it retains, even in a Christian country, where the will of God is revealed, where the consequences of sin are exposed, and where a sufficient remedy against it is presented.

This remedy, however rejected by many, is most thankfully received by a true Christian, who esteems a deliverance from the power of sin no less than a freedom from the guilt of it. If his first inquiry be, "What shall I do to be saved?" his next is, "Who shall deliver me from this body of sin?" Blessed be God, the Gospel furnishes us with a satisfactory answer to both these inquiries. The Redeemer of men (6 came by water and blood; not by

water only, but by water and blood"-the water and the blood which flowed from his wounded side was an admirable emblem of the double design of his death, which was both to justify and to sanctify-to discharge from guilt, and to cleanse from pollution-to purge our consciences from dead works, and to deliver us from the dominion, as well as from the danger of sin. Sin shall not condemn the believer, because Christ hath died; sin shall not govern the believer, because he is under grace.

This comfortable declaration of the apostle Paul is here introduced, in consequence of a supposed objection to the glorious doctrines and privileges asserted in the former chapters of this epistle, particularly in the conclusion of the fifth chapter- Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”—as the exceeding sinfulness of sin is manifested by the law, so the super-abounding grace of God in the pardon of sin is made gloriously conspicuous by the Gospel. To this illustrious truth, some pharisaical or some licentious person may object, and connect with it this base inference" Let us continue in the practice of sin, that this famous grace may abound so much the more in pardoning us." But does the holy apostle allow this inference to be just? No: his heart rises with indignation at the thought of such an abuse of divine grace; and he shews that believers in Christ were by their profession, and their baptism, dead to sin, and engaged to imitate their Saviour in a holy obedience; to which he adds the encouraging declaration in the text-"Sin shall not have dominion over you,"—over you believers; and for this reason-"ye are not under the law, but under grace."

To a sincere disciple of Christ, freedom from the power of sin is a most desirable blessing; his desires, his prayers, his endeavours, are continually directed to this point: whatever, therefore, may assist him in the attainment of this great object will be truly welcome. This text, then, which shows the means appointed of God for the purpose of delivering us from sin, demands our most careful attention. May the Holy Spirit assist and succeed our meditations, while we consider,

I. The evil which we are encouraged to resist, and II. The means afforded for our encouragement in resisting it.

I. The evil which, as Christians, we are encouraged to resist is the dominion of sin. In this chapter, St. Paul represents sin as a master, and men as his servants-sin as a lord, and men as his vassals-sin as a king, and men as his subjects. He considers sin as a mighty usurper, a tyrant, exercising absolute dominion over the sinner; taking the sinner's heart for his throne, and the members of his body for his slaves. "Ye were," saith he, "the servants of sin, for his servants ye are to whom ye obey; your members were instruments of unrighteousness to sin; sin reigned in your mortal bodies, so that ye obeyed the lusts thereof; sin abounded; sin reigned unto death." By these strong expressions he justly represents the uncontrolled power of sin over the naturai man; who refuses submission to the easy yoke of God's authority, and tamely submits to the vile and destructive drudgery of the tyrant of hell.

By a successful stratagem, sin obtained the supremacy over our first father: and his posterity, while they remain in their natural state, have never been able to break the yoke. Sin has reigned, and death has reigned, from that time to the present. No monarchy can pretend to an antiquity equal with this: nor has any monarchy been so extensive as this. Whatever have been the variations of climate, colour, or customs, sin has been uniform in maintaining its empire. Go into all nations; and whether you call them Pagan, or Mahometan, or Jewish; whether barbarous or civilized: whether catholic or protestant. you must call them all sinners. In our own country, civilized as it is, enlightened as it is, full of churches and bibles as it is, sin reigns; sin has the dominion over Britons, the few excepted, whom the Son of God hath made "free indeed." This awful representation of the matter is justified by the apostle John, who says-" We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness," or, "is in subjection to the wicked one." This dreadful dominion of sin is promoted by various means.

1. By ignorance of God's will. In some countries, this is almost total; in ours it is partial, and in a great measure wilful. If we do not know our master's will, it is because we do not wish to know it; it is because we do not "like