of Ordinances into the morality of the heart. They would not relinquish their fond idea of merit in the painful, the never-ceasing observance of rites and ceremonies, till they could believe that He, whom those rites and ceremonies were ordained to foreshew, was really come upon the earth; that their Paschal Lamb was slain, their last sacrifice offered, and their Deliverer raised from the dead, not to acquire for them earthly dominion, but to prepare a kingdom in the heavens. Of the heathens too it is to be recollected, that in many brilliant instances the gentiles who had not the law, did by nature the things contained in the law, and were thus a law unto themselves, and shewed the work of the law written in their hearts *. But their morality was incomplete; it was divine indeed in its origin, but it was not acknowledged to be founded in the divine will: it was attributed to human reason, and so partook of human frailty. St. Paul had not therefore so much to teach them the rudiments of moral duty, as to Romans ii. 14. establish establish their morality upon higher princi ples; upon principles which they could not be brought to admit without faith in the Christian Lawgiver. He had to supersede their sensual idolatry by the pure and spiritual religion of the Holy Jesus; to transfer their worship, from Gods debased by human passions, to that High Being, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look upon iniquity. He had not so much to teach the wicked the turpitude of moral evil, as to warn them of the punishment due to sins, which required no less an atonement than the death of the Son of God. The virtue of the best men in the heathen world was a proud self-sufficient virtue. These men and their admiring followers St. Paul had to undeceive: to apprize them of the unheeded imperfections of their fairest actions, to lead them to the cross of Christ, to teach them there to suppli cate in all humility for forgiveness; for that forgiveneness which his atonement could alone procure for them. To the Jews, who re Habakkuk i. 13. quired a sign, and to the Greeks, who sought after wisdom, he was appointed to preach Christ crucified: a doctrine calculated to destroy the wisdom of the wise, to bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent; to the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness*. Faith, therefore, was the necessary preliminary to the Christian code of ethics; and till this was established, all other preaching had been vain. But does he encourage those, whom he addressed, to rest in faith alone? Does he consider faith as the sum and substance of religion? By no means. In his defence before Agrippa, he states it as the very essence of his commission, to shew unto both Jews and Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance † ; and he directed Titus to reprove those who were inclined to trust to faith alone for final salvation. Strong is his injunction on this point, but not altogether so strong in the translation as in the original. This is a faithful saying, and these 1 Cor. i. 19, 22, 23. +Acts xxvi. 20. things things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men*, I need scarcely remind this learned audience, that the words used by St. Paul, in this passage, are the most energetic that the Greek language could supply him with †, and might have been rendered, with little liberty of paraphrase, "This is a memorable saying, worthy of all men to be believed, and these things I will that you maintain with firmness against every gainsayer, that they who have believed in God, be careful to shew their faith by setting themselves forward as patterns of good works. These things are the things which are good and profitable unto men, Heathen philosophy has fatigued and bewildered itself in a fruitless search after the chief good. These things, good works springing out of a right faith, are the things which are good, and profitable unto men." It is obvious too, though the circumstance is frequently. *Titus iii. 8. + Note F: p. 123, overlooked, that St. Paul follows the same course in his addresses to all the other churches which he had planted. In every one of his o epistles he inculcates moral duties, and how ever long he dwells on faith, he seems to dwell upon it no longer than may be necessary to lay this only sure foundation for the practical pres cepts of Christianity. Indeed, so diffuse has he been in this particular, that from his writings alone might be drawn a comprehens sive system of practical morality. We preach then to the Reason of our hearers, and we enforce the necessity of Moral duties, în conformity with the general scope of Holy Writ; in conformity with both the ins junction and the example of the Apostle of the Gentiles, whom our accusers refer to as the model upon which they form themselves, and the guide whom we have abandoned; and in conformity with the practice of our Saviour himself, who in this, as in all other instances, has left us the example, in order that we should follow his steps. We shall readily be excused, I trust, if we do not embarrass the minds of the unlearned *། |