THE late venerable Rector of Aston Sandford was indeed blessed and a blessing. Though never eminently popular as a preacher, he was yet extensively useful. Many who have been honoured as the instruments of enlarged usefulness, derived from his discourses those sacred truths which they have proclaimed in various parts of the world; while the numbers who appear to have been savingly converted under his own ministrations were far greater than could have been anticipated from the slender congregations to whom he usually officiated. Yet his grand usefulness no doubt arose from the divine blessing on those writings which he was enabled to produce. His Commentary is still, and we doubt not will long continue a standard work, extensively circulated, carefully read, and affording a copious supply of sound principles and holy precepts for the assistance of unnumbered ministers in every part of the world, where the English tongue is known. The value and the usefulness of such a work is beyond calculation;-" by it, he being dead, yet speaketh;" and in the hands of our heavenly Father, is still an honoured instrument in turning many to righteous

ness.

But Mr. Scott was not merely a blessing to the church and the world, he was blessed and a blessing in his own family. Several of his children died in their infancy, and were thus translated to the paradise of God; all who survived, embraced and adorned their father's principles. Three sons, each engaging in the work of the ministry, and devoting themselves

with all the powers of their minds to the duties of their sacred office, have each in their several spheres walked with God, promoted his glory, and entered into the rest which remaineth for the people of God; each might at a dying hour "Be say, ye followers of me, as I am of Christ ;" and may well stimulate us to be imitators of " those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

These remarks have arisen in our mind while contemplating the volume before us. The three sons

of Mr. Scott laboured in distant places, were each highly valued in their own circles, were each removed at what must be regarded as an early age, and their executors or surviving relatives and friends have selected from the MSS. of each a volume of Posthumous Sermons, two of which have already been widely circulated, and the third which is now before us, is every way deserving of, and will exceedingly repay a careful perusal.

The Rev. Thomas Scott, the second of the commentator's sons was perhaps less generally known than either of his brothers. He married early, and settled at the retired Hamlet of Gawcot, and engaged in the arduous and laborous task of instructing pupils. He was therefore, comparatively speaking little known as a preacher, though his talents were of a high order.

He combined all the elements of a first rate preacher. His person, voice, and manner were interesting and commanding. His discourses were copious, judicious, evangelical and highly practical; many of them abound in original and striking thoughts; and though

written in so plain a style, as to be intelligible to poor labourers and lacemakers, they were never low, grovelling, or vulgar. We therefore exceedingly rejoiced when we heard a volume of his discourses was in the press, and we earnestly recommend it to the attention of the public, and especially to the diligent study of young ministers and students preparing for the work of the ministry. They cannot adopt a more admirable model for their own discourses than that which is here exhibited.

The present volume contains Twenty-one Sermons, to which is prefixed a brief Memoir of the Author, by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Samuel King, the substance of which appeared in the Christian Observer, shortly after Mr. Scott's decease. Mr. King observes in his preface, that Mr. Scott very seldom wrote out at length the application of his discourses; having explained and illustrated his topic, he usually preferred an extemporary application, especially adapted to the character and circumstance of his congregation, This we conceive will be found a very useful way of preaching, combining at once the accuracy of a written discourse, and the vividness of an extemporary address. Mr. Scott found great pleasure in writing, and carried on a very extensive and instructive correspondence, while he has left behind him a very considerable number of Sermons.

In perusing the volume before us, we have felt at no small loss to select from the numerous passages which presented themselves to our notice, such extracts as might afford a fair specimen of our author's style. How far indeed we have succeeded, must be left to the decision of those by whom the whole volume is perused. The following passages, however, appear to us especially deserving of attention.

The fifth Sermon in the present volume, is on the Happiness of the Heavenly State, from Psalm xvi. 11. "In thy presence is fulness of joy. After a suitable introduction, Mr. S. proceeds to observe, that the joys of heaven are holy, they are satisfying, they are eternal. The second observation is thus enlarged upon.

II. THE PLEASURES OF HEA

VEN ARE SATISFYING. "In thy presence there is FULNESS OF JOY."

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This too, my brethren, is what we have little or no conception of. In the world men have their joys, but there is no fullness of joy, no complete satisfaction in them. It is very rare to hear a person say that matter afforded me all the satisfaction I looked for from it; I was better pleased than I expected.' This language is uncommon, the general complaint is, I have been disappointed; I Someexpected much, but found little. times the fault is in the thing, or in the person on whom we depended for satisfaction, but more commonly in ourselves. I have often been struck with marking the countenances of those who are flocking to some place where amusement and pleasure is expected; and then comparing them with the same persons on their return. When going, life and animation and cheerful expectancy are expressed in their looks, but how changed on their return, almost every face seems to denote disappointment, weariness, dissatisfaction. The difference is much the same as that which exists between the cheerful countenance of youth, and the dull and weary expression of age. And what does all this mean? Why all this anxious inquiry "who will show us any good?" Why this perpetual call for something new-for some fresh pleasure-some new amusement? It is that " man has forsaken the fountain: " it is that our cisterns are all broken; it is that we are seeking the living among the dead;" it is that we are putting the creature in the place of the Creator.

Yes, my friends, this is the source of all your disappointments. The world and the things of it would answer every purpose they were intended to answer; but you look to them for what they cannot afford. You put them in the wrong place, and therefore you have so much to complain of. Would you but return to God the fountain of living water: would you but attend to his word, and hearken to his advice, you would not be unhappy as you are. The Christian has joys which satisfy as well as sanctify the mind to a certain extent. He is not, it is true, fully satisfied

with the degree of his enjoyment, but he wishes for no change in the nature and source of it. He knows he is come to the spring of living water, though he sometimes feels as though the well were deep and he had nothing to draw with; but he does not therefore return to his broken cisterns; he waits-he prays-he uses all the means of grace, and at length he draws with joy from the wells of salvation. But in heaven this living water of life flows in a broad and open stream, where it may be enjoyed to full satisfaction without labour and without fear of exhausting its mighty current. "In thy presence is fulness of joy." There the blissful spirit of the redeemed sinner shall have unmingled happiness shed upon him without measure from his God and Saviour. There, not one want shall ever be felt-not one desire that shall not be perfectly satisfied. Oh what a change from a world where everything is hollow and deceitful-where every gratification carries with it disappointment, and every flower has a thorn; for a world where all is solid and substantial joy-where there is no fear of exhaustion--no dread of change; where every power shall find full employmentevery passion its corresponding gratifica. tion-every faculty an object on which it can fix with full delight, and yet never be satiated, never be wearied with enjoyment.

But this, brethren, is above our thoughts! it is so unlike anything we have ever experienced that we cannot realize it.

The discourse is thus closed.

We have thus, my brethren, taken a slight glance at those glorious prospects which the word of God presents to our notice. The view I have led you to, is, I know, very confined; and I have thrown but little light upon it, yet we have seen enough to lead us to make one inquiry that is most interesting and important to us all. Since such are the prospects which open to us beyond the grave, how is it that we feel such repugnance, such chilling horror at the thought of death? Since we know there is no real happiness in this world, while in "His presence there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore," how is it that we are not ready to hail the sharpest pangs of death, that break our way to God?' This inquiry brings with it many painful reflections. It is not because these holy, satisfying, and enduring pleasures are out of our reach. No, they are the joy set before us; they form the conqueror's crown held out to us; they are the joy of the Lord, into which the faithful servant shall enter. It is not because "we have sinned and come short of glory of God." Such indeed is our case, but the gospel brings us a remedy for this our misery.

Christ has made an atonement for us, and through his blood we may rise from the ruins of the fall; as our Redeemer, he has purchased for us the inheritance we had forfeited, and is now ready to restore it to us; all is offered freely without money and without price. To what then is it owing that we can look forward with so little comfort? Why

So low our hopes of joys above, so few affections there?

alas! my brethren, is it not because our consciences reveal a painful truth to us. We know that these treasures are laid up in heaven, but we do not know that they are laid up for us. We know that the faithful servant shall enter into the joy of his Lord, but he must be a faithful servant, and alas! we dare not presume to take that title to ourselves. Our hearts misgive us while we make the attempt. Our activity and zeal in the service of God are so small that we can hardly hope that they will be accepted at all by him who demands our whole heart-our whole soul; our faith is at so low an ebb-it does so little in overcoming the worldso little in purifying our hearts-it works so little by love, that our hope must necessarily be very low also, and low as it is we must fear that even the portion we have, may be presumptuous. Hence it is that we feel so little encouraged by meditating on such a passage as that now before us; this is the reason why the fear of death is so little overcome; why we have so little appearance of happiness to comfort us in the prospect of departing hence.

And shall we be contented to let things remain so? Shall we willingly pass on' toward the awful hour of dissolution, without any thing to cheer us? Shall we be satisfied to go down to the grave without knowing whether we are about to enter upon everlasting joy or endless woe? No, my brethren! let us arouse ourselves from this state of stupid insensibility. There are cordials provided for us in this melancholy vale. There are supports to be had under all our troubles. The valley of the shadow of death may be made light about us. Death may be made gain. We may rise to a state in which we may be. always confident. We may fix our minds, on the joys above, with an assurance that they are all our own. But it will not be attained by dull inactivity, or by stiff formality in religious duties. It must be by careful keeping of the heart-by steady watchfulness against sin-by constant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ-by abounding in love-by "holding fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.

The ninth Sermon is on that difficult subject, Divine and Human

Agency in the work of Salvation, from Phil. ii. 12, 13.

The text presents three subjects for our consideration.

I. THE DUTY which it enforces.

II. THE DISCOURAGEMENTS to the performance of this duty.

III. THE ENCOURAGEMENTs to persevere. In enlarging on the first head, Mr. Scott remarks

The word of God assures us that there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'-all, all of us, the whole human race, have so sinned as to forfeit heaven, and entail upon ourselves the inheritance of everlasting woe.

My dear

Hence then arises our need of salvation and a Saviour; of one who can deliver us from the dreadful danger to which our sins have justly exposed us. friends, let me beg every one of you to consider me as if speaking to you individually. In many particulars I am aware you differ much from each other; but here is a point, and that the most important one imaginable, in which you are all alike. You are all sinners, all condemned, all in danger of eternal misery, and therefore you all need salvation; and unless you seek so as to find it, you will die in your sins and perish for ever.

Here you must allow me to use great plainness of speech. You must not be offended if I utter the full conviction of my heart, and say, that there is not one person in this congregation-no, nor in all the world, who is not so great a sinner, that he will assuredly perish, if he do not seek and find salvation. This then should be the first and grand business of every man's life; this is that wisdom of which Solomon speaks, "Get wisdom, get understanding. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding." The wisdom of the world passeth away, but this endureth for ever, and "giveth life," eternal life, to him that hath it." Let us then give our hearts to this one thing, to obtain the knowledge of salvation; to know what we as sinners "must do to be saved."

But, my brethren, when we have recourse to our Bibles, to learn how we may be saved, we may perhaps be struck with a seeming contradiction between the manner in which the text speaks upon the subject and the tenor of other passages, We are continually taught, that it is to Christ alone that we are to look, and that he alone can save us; that our salvation is all" of grace through faith;" that "it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast; while here we are commanded to "work out our own salvation." There seems therefore to be com plete contradiction; but I trust we shall see that it is only in appearance and not in reality that St. Paul thus contradicts himself.

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In the first place, the language of Scripture is too plain to be mistaken, that the only meritorious cause of salvation is what the Lord Jesus did, and suffered, when he came into the world to save sin. ners. "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." his sufferings and death, he made a full, perfect, and sufficient atonement and satisfaction for our sins; by his perfect obedience he hath brought in everlasting

By

righteousness." And since "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," thus to suffer and die for us; and since nothing that we had done or could do, could deserve such a gift as this: the blessings that flow to us through him are all of grace, of free undeserved mercy; and therefore leave man nothing whatever to boast of. And since these blessings, thus bestowed upon us through Christ, are given only to those who believe in, trust upon, and apply to Christ as the Saviour, it is said that we are saved by faith, or by believing on the Son of God.

Thus it is made most plain, that our salvation is not effected by works of righteousness that we have done," but only

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by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." But while we humbly acknowledge that all our doings are nothing worth, still there is clearly a work which man has to do; a work which must be done earnestly and perseveringly, or he will not obtain that salvation which he needs. This is what St. Paul refers into the text when he says "work out your own salvation ;"—if the whole were to be wrought by our own power and might, and we were to depend on ourselves for salvation, stronger words could scarcely be used. Nor are they only to be found in this place, many other passages of Scripture speak in the same manner, Strive to enter in at the strait

gate." And our Lord strikingly puts the two together, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give you.' This everduring nourishment of the soul is the gift, the free gift of God, and therefore it is all of grace; yet we are commanded to labour for it, as a poor man labours and eats his bread, as the reward of his honest industry.

To a man then, earnestly inquiring what he must do to be saved, the direction is, that he must believe on the Son of God, who will grant salvation to him without money and without price; while at the same time, he receives commands, some of which lay upon him duties of a very difficult nature, requiring much exertion and much self-denial.

The prophet Isaiah says to him who is asking after deliverance, " Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." This is a declaration of God's infinite mercy, and readiness to grant salvation to the perishing sinner; but still there is a work for the sinner to perform; sin must be given up, neglected duties must be fulfilled; and this must be set about at once. Not one step is taken in the way to heaven, till the sinner is willing to give up his sins, or in other words is converted, and manifests a change of feeling and of character.

Again, we read that repentance is necessary to salvation; there is not a word in scripture which gives any hope of heaven to the sinner till he repents and mourns over his sins. The proclamation of mercy is " repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." Here then is a work to be done, absolutely necessary, and till the command is obeyed, and the work is begun, the impenitent sinner remains still in the broad road that leadeth to destruction. And, once more, the call of the gospel, is to believe in the Son of God.

"Believe

in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And when our Lord was discoursing with the Jews, and they asked him what they must do that they might work the works of God, he replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Here then, is a command to be obeyed, and a work to be done before a man can be said to have come to the Saviour.

Thus we see that there is a scriptural sense in which faith, repentance, conversion, and a holy and renewed life, are all a part of that great work which we have to do in securing for ourselves that salvation, which is nevertheless all of God's free mercy and grace.

But no sooner does a convinced sinner attempt to perform this necessary work, than he feels himself baffled. Something is required of him which it seems utterly impossible that he should ever achieve. Are sins to be broken off? are new duties to be performed? He immediately finds that the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, are too strong for him, and he is hurried away into those very sins which he wished to renounce, When he fain would weep over his transgressions, it seems as if his heart was become harder and more unfeeling than ever. When he would believe in the Saviour and renounce every hope but that which springs from faith in him, he cannot bring his proud spirit humbly to accept the offers of mercy-he cannot lay hold on the hope set before him.

Hence then result new duties, new exertions to be made in working out our salvation. God knows our weakness-he knows the power of temptation-he is acquainted with the evil of our hearts: and in his boundless mercy he has appointed means whereby these difficulties are to be overcome. He has given us his holy word, and he bids us to study it, and apply it to our own state-to bring home its exhortations, its commands, its threatenings, its promises to ourselves, in order to stir us up to more diligence in the pursuit of salvation. He has given us the public ordinances of religion that we should attend on them and walk in them blamelessly, and so find our strength renewed. He has set before us the throne of grace and bids us come boldly thither "that we may find mercy, and grace to help in time of need." Now, brethren, if we are working out our own salvation, these means, which the infinite goodness of God has provided for us, will be diligently and constantly made use of by us; while at the same time we shall come out from the world and be separate from it, lest its alluring snares should draw us away from the great object, of escaping the wrath to come.

Thus in the command to work out our own salvation, we see that all which constitutes a religious life, in the most enlarged meaning of the word, is required of

us,

In a world like this, we cannot thus serve God, without much labour and watchfulness; we shall have a daily struggle to maintain, while our treacherous hearts will be always giving way, and deceiving us. Hence the language used by our Lord," Strive to enter in at the strait gate. "Labour for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life." And hence St. Paul, when speaking of himself and his brethren, says, "Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him." And hence the peculiar expression of the text, "Work out