death, and under a righteous curse an eternal salvation be not sent and preached-and all things necessary to your attainment of it provided; whether God has not given his only begotten Son to die for you; and whether what he has done for you be not ten thousand fold more than he requires you to do-not for his benefit, (I beseech you to consider,) but for your own.

I say, a man of common understanding and common honesty can have nothing else to do but to compare these two things together-what God has done for sinners, with what he requires from sinners-in order to be convinced, that if God demands our hearts and our best affections, he has a right to them, and has done so much (if I may so speak) to earn them, that to deny them to Him, to keep them back from Him, whilst we profess to believe the Gospel, is either to convict ourselves of gross falsehood in making profession of that faith, or of the basest unthankfulness in not acting in accordance with it, or of both.

I shall not, therefore, argue this matter farther, only I will conclude with two brief admonitions: the one for the information of your judgment, the other for the direction of your practice.

You all call yourselves Christians; my only concern with respect to any of you is, that you should be Christians. So, with reference to what

has been said, I will tell you, in few words, what is the difference between a Christian so called, or calling himself, and a Christian indeed.

He who is a Christian but in name, is always thinking how much liberty he may take in what is sinful, or at best doubtful, and yet not lose his soul; and how little in duty and in self-denial he may yield to God, and yet not be disowned by him. The Christian, in deed is always grieving and reproaching himself that he does so little, and is no better; always praying that he may do more-always anxious to please God well in all things, as always believing that he can never do enough to testify his love to the dear Lord that bought him, and hath washed him from his sins in his own blood, that he may make him a king and priest for ever unto God.

And now, if to this true Christian state ye would attain, what follows is for your direction.

Inasmuch as there is but one real obstacle to your presenting "yourselves, your souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice" unto the Lord; namely, the corruption and wickedness of your natural hearts; believe the promise-"This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their

mind, and write them in their hearts;" and plead the promise perseveringly in prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus, for whose sake it has been made to you; saying with David, "Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right spirit within us." "Cast us not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from us." †

* Heb. viii. 10.

† See Psalm xli. 10, 11.

172

SERMON IX.

THE MIND WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS.

(Preached on Quinquagesima Sunday.)

ISAIAH xlii. 3.

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench."

Ir is scarcely necessary to inform you that the prophet is speaking, in these words, of Jesus Christ. The whole passage is quoted in the twelfth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, and applied to him. And the declaration of the text is verified in the whole history of his life on earth.

I. I shall first explain the doctrine which the words contain. And then,

II. Point out some practical uses which may be made of it.

The prophet's

I. And first the doctrine. meaning is to instruct and comfort sinners, by showing them what manner of person their Saviour was to be. This is set forth in figurative language, by two different similitudes, both

expressive of his great mercy and kindness, but giving different exemplifications of it.

1. First, He is one who " shall not break the bruised reed."

2. Secondly, He is one who shall "not quench the smoking flax."

1. And first, "a bruised reed shall he not break."

A reed is a poor weak thing at best, little capable of self-support, much less of resisting violence, but easily shaken by every wind.-A bruised reed is a weak thing made weaker still-one, therefore, which now cannot lift up its head at all. The image is beautifully descriptive of the condition of a sinner in a state of humiliation, "cast down," though "not" yet "destroyed." Of such a one it is declared, that the Lord Jesus Christ will not "break" him :—that is, he will not despise him, as beneath his care-will not aggravate his distress by scorning him, or deal unkindly with him in any way but will rather, for so this form of speech implies, take quite the contrary course-will lift him up in due time and heal him; and by imparting to him grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, make him, as it were, an erect and thriving plant. This is declared, in equivalent expressions, in many passages of ancient prophecy. "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord