man appeared, not by words of righteousness which they had done, but according to his mercy he saved them by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Behold, then, what manner of love the Father hath be stowed on them that they should be called the sons of God! Now surely it behoves them who are beloved, to love God in return: surely they will love him, because he first loved them; and if we love him, we shall keep his commandments; for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. It becomes, also, those who are beloved to conform themselves to the image of the God who loves them. We are to be followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. And if the love of God be a powerful motive to every part of Christian practice, there is yet something more appropriate in the Apostle urging from it the particular graces which we have been considering; those tender and meek and forgiving dispositions which are the very impress of God, the mark of his mercy, the fruit and evidence of the compassion we have experienced ourselves, the peculiar duty of such unworthy, frail, sinful, and yet, by divine pity, distinguished and beloved objects of forbearance and grace. Surely if any temper should characterize those who owe every thing to God's love,

and who are still indebted to it daily, it must be some faint imitation of that love in their conduct towards others.

This the Apostle lastly enforces by the consideration of the FORGIVING MERCY OF CHRIST, Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, The example of Christ has the force of an argument to persuade, and of a rule to direct. Has Christ freely and graciously forgiven us-forgiven us so many trespasses-forgiven us at a price so inestimable as his own blood-forgiven us with such overflowing affection; and shall we not forgive the comparatively trifling offences of our fellowcreatures? Did he endure the contradiction of sinners, did he bear reproach, did he suffer ignominy, did he agonize in the garden of Gethsemane, and expire on the cross, and all from mere mercy, all in our stead; for our redemption, our pardon, our admission to the divine favour, our rescue, our salvation; and shall we not be compassionate to the wretched, meek to the froward, and forgiving to the injurious?

If we pretend the greatness of the crime committed against us, the difficulty of banishing its recollection from our mind, and the loss of something of our character and intereet in society, if we neglect to revenge it—which are among the excuses men commonly frame when they indulge unhallowed passions-what are all

these vain reasonings, when we consider the rule of the Apostle, EVEN AS Christ forgave you, so also do ye? What injuries can be great, compared with those which we have done to God? What obstacles to forgiveness so threatening, as the obstacles which seemed to prevent our being pardoned? What sacrifice to be named with the awful and incomprehensible death of the Son of God, when he was once offered to bear the sins of many? And yet what forgiveness so gracious, so spontaneous, so rich, so entire, so permanent, so directly flowing from the heart, so pure from all remaining wrath, so imbued and filled with infinite love and compassion, as that act of remission, by which Christ hath forgiven us? He who does not then put on all those lovely graces which begin in sympathy for the miserable, and end in forgiveness to the guilty, has never felt aright in his heart the benefit of Christ pardoning his sin, and has no proof that he possesses this inestimable. blessing.

And, indeed, to pass to a brief application of the whole subject, we cannot but learn from what has been said,

I. HOW FAR MEN IN GENERAL ARE FROM BEING TRUE CHRISTIANS.

For if real religion include the feeling of Christian motives and the performing of Chris

tian duties, then how few comparatively, even in a Christian country, can, by any rule of charity, be considered as servants of God! How few have ever assumed a distinct Christian profession; I mean, a profession, not merely of Christianity, but of those things in which Christianity consists! How few have risen with Christ, how few have set their affections on things above, how few are dead to the world, how few have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man; how few are sensible, or even profess to be sensible, of the unspeakable love which God bears to his children, and of the infinite mercy of Christ in pardoning sin! Or if there were any doubt of the general deficiency of nominal and external Christians as to these and other points of inward piety, what doubt could remain, if we look to their spirit and conduct? By their fruits ye shall know them. What then are the tempers and behaviour of the generality of men? Are they meek, and compassionate, and lowly, and forgiving, or are they not too obviously fierce, and selfish, and obstinate; resentful of the smallest injury, disdainful of submission, proud of superiority, and contemptuous towards others? What mean the family feuds which disgrace our households, what the heart-burnings, what the unnatural divisions and separations, what the interminable quarrels, what

the party-spirit, evil-speakings, and slanders, which prevail among men?

O, let us at least learn from the subject before us, what Christianity is, and what it must effect in us before we can be Christians. Let us begin with seeking the pardon of our sins. This is to be the motive of obedience, and must therefore precede it. Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, are the beginning of all religion. This will lay the axe to the root of the tree. By repentance the sinner breaks off from transgression; by faith he receives the gift of righteousness, and obtains the benefit of remission. The merits of Jesus Christ being imputed to his account, he is accepted as righteous before God. He who thus receives forgiveness from the hands of his compassionate Saviour, will assuredly begin to love his neighbour as himself. Thus holiness and pardon will be inseparable. The regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, which he has already experienced in its incipient operation, will make him more and more a new creature. He will put off the old man with his deeds, he will put on the new man, and be gradually adorned with all the softer virtues of compassion, meekness, and forgiveness towards those around him. This is Christianity. This is the principle and the practice of religion. This therefore let us seek, imploring of God

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