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enforcement of the moral law as derogatory to the freeness and liberty of the Gospel.

The promises are to them like the manna for sweetness; whilst the precepts resemble the bitter waters of Marah. By this perverted view of the Gospel of grace, which makes provision for the holiness, as well as the acceptance of the believer, they endeavour to disunite what God has inseparably joined together.

Advancing in their career of bold inquiry and daring investigation; leaving the precincts of the written word, and soaring into the interminable region of wild conjecture; they fall at length, giddy with their flight, into the fatal reveries of fanatical delusion, sceptical indifference, Socinian heresy, or deistical profaneness.

Such wandering stars leaving their proper orbit, afford an awful warning to the church of Christ; and happy is he who learns wisdom from their end; and thereby resists the first risings of pride and unhallowed speculation.

Some indeed are restored by that sovereign grace which they have abused; whilst others are left to the misery of their own delusions, according to St Jude, who denominates them "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."

In the midst of surrounding darkness and abounding iniquity; in the midst of distracting opinions and guilty fears:

Where must we look for saving help?

To whom for refuge fly?

Who dare presume to plead our cause,
Before the throne on high?

'Tis Jesus pleads his people's cause,
Before the eternal throne;
Presents the merit of his blood,

And claims them for his own.

Oh! for a lively, vig'rous faith,
To feel this blessing mine;
Make me, O Lord, of saving grace
A monument divine.

On thee, a helpless worm I fall,
On thee alone depend;
I'll trust thy grace-'tis infinite,
And knows nor bound, nor end.

Father! behold me in thy Son;
O send thy Spirit down,
To fit me for eternal joys,
And seal me for thy own.

XXII. THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN.

In this day of outward profession, it is most needful frequently to reflect how far a person may go in the way of religion, and yet prove nothing at the last, but an almost Christian. This will prove to us the importance of self-examination; since nothing is genuine, that will not stand the test of Scripture, that only touchstone of real godliness.

A person may have a clear knowledge of the Gospel way of salvation; be able to declare the truths of Christianity with interest and edification; have much fluency in prayer; be punctual in his attendance on the means of grace; engage actively in religious and benevolent institutions; maintain family worship; join the society of pious characters; abstain from worldly amusements, and all outward immoralities and yet, with all these shining appendages, be only an almost Christian.

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This, to many may appear uncharitable, and lead them to exclaim with the disciples, "Who then can be saved?”

The fact is; all these important gifts and talents be possessed, and these active exertions may be made, upon the principles of our fallen nature.

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A man may have a taste for Scriptural studies, and a fondness for biblical criticism; he may have a natural fluency of discourse; his connexions may be such as imperceptibly lead him to join the friends of religion in their activities; and by degrees influ-. ence him to establish family worship, to separate himself from worldly amusements and worldly associates, and yet, there may be a total destitution of evangelical principles. Faith working by love, may be a stranger to his heart.

The Gospel declares, that "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ;" that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The work of grace being altogether internal, its operations must be felt and experienced in the heart. This work consists in a deep humiliation on account of sin, both original and actual, whether of omission or commission; in a deep sense and feeling of spiritual helplessness and wretchedness; in a hearty reception of Jesus Christ, as revealed and offered in the Gospel to perishing sinners; in a supreme love of Him who died to save the vilest who come unto him in a childlike obedience to his will and commands, however self-denying.

If these things be wanting, all else is nothing but dross in the sight of God. All short of this divine work in the soul, is only almost Christianity.

It is painful to the friends of Jesus to behold many droop and wither, who have given promising hopes of future excellence; and almost confirmed the expectations of pious friends concerning their religious sincerity.

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These hopeful professors walk well for a season, out at length they begin to draw back, by slow degrees it may be at the first; but, increasing in their speed, as they advance in the path of declension, they finally plunge into the world, and thus verify the true proverb, "the dog is turned to his vomit again; and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire." With uneasy consciences, they endeavour to justify their return by slandering the lives of professors, and speaking evil of those things, with which they were never savingly acquainted. Such persons, if they die in their apostasy, give every reason to believe, that they never knew the grace of God in truth; that they never received the truth in the love of it. Hence the apostle John speaking of such characters, plainly says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they might be manifest, that they were not all of us."

We may equally presume, that they never tasted the inward blessedness of true religion, even peace with God and joy in the Holy Ghost, arising from a believing, self-appropriating view of the atonement of Jesus.

When, therefore, their new mode of thinking and acting subsided; when prosperity gilded their path, or persecution covered it with thorns; not having root in themselves, and being destitute of saving faith, they became weary of a service, in which their whole soul was never engaged. They cast off a yoke, to them galling and grievous, and ran back again with delight into the secretly-beloved pastures of the world. "Demas hath forsaken me," said the sorrowing apostle, "having loved this present evil world."

Where is the congregation of professing Chris

tians, which does not from time to time afford melancholy proofs of this hollowness of character, this emptiness of profession, this influence of the world, to the grief of its faithful pastor, and the pious part of his flock? Such awful characters may be considered as spies, "feigning themselves to be just men," whom Satan sends into the camp of the true Israel of God, in order to discover the failings and infirmities of real Christians. These, they traitorously expose to the derision of an ungodly world, hoping thereby to bring discredit upon the Gospel of Christ, and keep men more quietly in their sins. God can indeed overrule all for good, but woe unto them by whom these offences come.

It is, then, both awakening and alarming to reflect how far a person may go in outward profession, and yet be a dissembler with God; an almost Christian "a castaway."

If the new creature in Christ Jesus can be so counterfeited, as to deceive for a time the children of God, whose judgment is always guided by that charity which hopeth all things; how ought I to examine into the principles, motives, and springs of my own actions, lest, after having made a profession before men, I should be rejected as "reprobate silver" in that day, when "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is!" O what need there is for sifting ourselves!

Blessed Lord, make me an humble, sincere disciple. Let me not covet after gifts so much as graces; and after divine gifts, only that I may be useful to others, and glorify thee. I may live in the bustle of religious institutions, whilst devoid of religious affections. I may be able to advocate the cause of Christ, whilst destitute of a saving interest in his blood. I may mingle in the companies of the pious, and yet be an utter stranger to their spirit and experience.

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