Matt. xxvi. 72. You know not the man! And who, then, did you say, had the words of eternal life? You know not the man! And whom have you followed, and whom did you declare to be the Son of the living God? Notwithstanding this flagrant crime; notwithstanding this denial, the scandal of all ages, and an eternal monument of human weakness; in spite of this crime, the salvation of St. Peter was sure; St. Peter was the object of the promise, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, Luke xxii. 31, 32. And Blessed art though, Simon Barjona, was not only true, but infallible. The very nature of his fall proves it. Certain struggles, which precede the commission of sin; a certain infelicity, that is felt during the commission of it; above all, certain horrors which follow, an inward voice that cries, Miserable wretch what hast thou done? A certain hell, if I may venture so to express myself, a certain hell, the flames of which divine love alone can kindle; characterize the falls, of which I speak.

This articles is for you, poor sinners! who are so hard to be persuaded of the mercy of God towards you; who imagine, the Deity sits on a tribunal of vengeance, surrounded with thunder and lightning, ready to strike your guilty heads. Such a faith as St. Peter's never fails. When, by examining your own hearts and the histories of your own lives, you discover the characters, which we have described, you may assure yourselves, that all the powers of hell united against your salvation can never prevent it. Cursed be the man, who abuseth this doctrine! Cursed be the man, who poisoneth this part of christian divinity! Cursed be the man, who reasoneth in this execrable manner! St. Peter committed an atrocious crime, in an unguarded moment, when reason, troubled by a revolution of the senses, had lost the power of reflection: I therefore risque nothing by committing sin coolly and deliberately. St. Peter disguised his christianity for a moment, when the danger of losing his life made him lose sight of the reasons, that induce people to confess their christianity: then I may disguise mine for thirty or forty years together, and teach my family to act the same hypocritical part; then I may live thirty or forty years, without a church, without sacraments, without public worship; when I have an opportunity, I may loudly exclaim, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God; and when that confession would injure my interest, or haVOL. II.

N

zard

zard my fortune, or my life, I hold myself always in readi ness to cry as loudly, I know not the man. I may abjure that religion, which Jesus Christ preached, which my fathers sealed with their blood, and for which a cloud of witnesses, Heb. xii. 1. my contemporaries, and my brethren, went, some into banishment, others into dungeons, some to the gallies, and others to the stake. Cursed be the man, who reasoneth in this execrable manner. Ah! how shall I bless, whom God hath not blessed.

I repeat it again, such a faith as St. Peter's never fails, and the very nature of the falls of such a believer proves the sincerity, and the excellence of his faith. We would not wish to have him banished entirely from his soul that fear, which the scriptures praise, and to which they attribute grand effects. A christian, an established christian I mean, ought to live in perpetual vigilance, he ought always to have these passages in his mind, Be not high-minded, but fear. Hold that fast, which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, shall he live? All his righteousness, that he hath done, shall not be mentioned, in his sin he shall die, Rom. xii. 20. Rev. iii. 11. and Ezek. xviii. 24. From these scriptures, such a christian, as I have described, will not infer consequences against the certainty of his salvation: but consequences directly contrary; and there is a degree of perfection, which enables a christian soldier, even in spite of some momentary repulses in wars to sing this triumphant song, Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? In all things, I am more than conqueror, through him that loved ne! Thanks be unto God, who always causeth me to triumph in Christ! Rom. viii. 35, 37. and 2 Cor. ii. 14.

O! how amiable, my brethren, is christianity! How proportional to the wants of men! O! how delightful to recollect its comfortable doctrines, in those sad moments, in which sin appears, after we have fallen into it, in all its blackness and horror! How delightful to recollect its comfortable doctrines in those 'distressing periods, in which a guilty conscience driveth us to the verge of hell, holdeth us on the brink of the precipice, and obligeth us to hear those terrifying exclamations, which arise from the bottom of the abyss; The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, whoremongers, and all liars, shall have their part in the take, which burneth with fire and brimstone! Rev. xxi. 8. How happy then to be able to say, I have sinned indeed!

I have repeatedly committed the crimes, which plunge men into the lake, that burneth with fire and brimstone! I have repeatedly been fearful, and unclean! perhaps I may be so again! Perhaps I may forget all the resolutions I have made to devote myself for ever to God! Perhaps I may violate my solemn oaths to my sovereign Lord! Perhaps I may again deny my Redeemer! Perhaps, should I be again tried with the sight of scaffolds and stakes, I might again say, I know not the man! But yet, I know I love him! Nothing, I am sure, will ever be able to eradicate my love to him! I know, if I love him, it is because he first loved me, 1 John iv. 19 and I know, that he, having loved his own, who are in the world, loved them unto the end, John xiii. 1.

O my God! What would become of us without a religion, that preached such comfortable truths to us! Let us devote ourselves for ever to this religion, my brethren. The more it strengthens us against the horrors, which sin inspires, the more let us endeavour to surmount them by resisting sin. May you be adorned with these holy dispositions, my brethren! May you be admitted to the eternal pleasures, which they procure, and may each of you be able to apply to himself the declaration of Jesus Christ to St. Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, who is in heaven. God grant you these blessings! To him be honour and glory

for ever.

Amen,

SERMON

SERMON V.

THE LITTLE success of CHRIST'S MINISTRY.

ROMANS X. 21.

All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

THE object, that St. Paul presents to our view in the text, makes very different impressions on the mind, according to the different sides on which it is viewed. If we consider it in itself, it is a prodigy, a prodigy which confounds reason, and shakes faith. Yes, when we read the history of Christ's ministry; when the truth of the narrations of the evangelists is proved beyond a doubt; when we transport ourselves back to the primitive ages of the church, and see, with our own eyes, the virtues, and the miracles, of Jesus Christ; we cannot believe, that the holy Spirit puts the words of the text into the mouth of the Saviour of the world: All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. It should seem, if Jesus Christ had displayed so many virtues, and operated so many miracles, there could not have been one infidel; not one Jew, who could have refused to embrace christianity, nor one libertine, who could have refused to have become a good man: one would think, all the synagogue must have fallen at the foot of Jesus Christ, and have desired an admission into his church.

But when, after we have considered the unsuccessfulness of Christ's ministry in itself, we consider it in relation to the ordinary conduct of mankind, we find nothing striking, nothing astonishing, nothing contrary to the common course

of