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such a life as I trust my Creator will be pleased to reward." It is true, he may add "through Jesus Christ our Lord," or some similar expression, implying a knowledge of the great Sacrifice for sin; but he will often do this in such a way as evidently to indicate that notwithstanding his nominal trust in the Redeemer, he is, in fact, substantially reposing upon his own deeds for acceptance with his Omniscient Judge. Another man places his equally false and presumptuous security upon a dead inoperative faith-a faith which, far from humbling him in true penitence, far from depressing his self-confidence, far from leading to holiness and consistency of life (for such are the fruits of really justifying faith), exalts him in his own esteem, teaching him to despise others, and to build up himself in a rash dependence upon promises, which were intended only for the penitent believer, and have no application to a case like his.

5. Not such is the death of him who dies in faith.- He does not die in ignorance; for he fully understands his danger by nature, and is acquainted with the Scripture denunciations of punishment against sin. He does not die in carelessness; for he is most anxious to escape the approaching wrath, and the salvation of his soul has become the great object of his concern.

He does not die in obduracy; for he is humble and contrite, and trembles at God's word. Neither does he die in false security; for though he should use the strong language of Job, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in my flesh I shall see God," or triumphantly exclaim with the Apostle, "I am ready to be offered," yet this confidence would be a persuasion very different from the presumptuous hope which we have just considered. But he dies in faith: while he sees his danger, he appreciates the remedy; while he renounces himself, he trusts in his Redeemer; while he feels and confesses that he has destroyed his own soul, he remembers, with gratitude and joy, that in God is his help. It is this union of penitential tenderness of conscience on the one hand, and a scriptural knowledge of the nature of God on the other, with a faith, which, though neither palliating his sins, nor building presumptuously on any supposed merits of his own, nor bending the commands of God to suit the infirmities of man, still trusts on the great Sacrifice for pardon and acceptance, that constitutes the safety and the peculiarity of the Christian's dying hour. To die like him in faith, is to die with our spiritual senses fully alive to suitable impressions, yet to be able, in some humble measure at least, to appropriate from those impressions such ones as not merely melt the soul in self-abasing con

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trition, but raise it in peaceful confidence to the Rock of its salvation, In short, to" die in faith" is to die depending upon God for the accomplishment of his own promises, as was especially the case with those persons respecting whom St. Paul was speaking in the words of the text. "They had not received the promises," remarks the Apostle: "but having seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them and embraced them." In a similar state of mind the Christian lays hold of those hopes which are set before him in the Gospel. He has nothing human to plead for salvation; but he depends upon the promise of God, sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and ratified by the solemn oath of the Holy Trinity. Such is his faith. In life, it purified his soul, it worked by love, it overcame the world, it was the fruitful root of whatever was amiable and of good report in his conduct;-in death, it represses his fears, it animates his hopes, it elevates his eye to the glories of eternity, and brings down already a foretaste of them in the present world. Depart when, or where, or how he may, departing in faith he departs in peace and safety. His Heavenly Parent watches over his dying pillow, and angels wait around to convoy him to his eternal home. Arrived at that blissful world, he shall not enter it a solitary stranger; he shall meet his predecessors in the same path;

he shall rejoin his fellow-worshippers; he shall sit down for ever at the marriage-supper of the Lamb, with many with whom he sat down to the communion of the body and blood of Christ upon earth; he shall meet also those sinless beings, who, having kept their first estate, now dwell in unchangeable felicity, in the light of their Creator's presence, and are deeply interested in the welfare and salvation of apostate man;-yea, he shall behold face to face God the Father of all, and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and that ever-blessed Spirit, who once enlightened, and consoled, and sanctified him upon earth. Such is the lot of those who die in faith: they open their eyes in never-ending felicity, beyond the reach of all that might shake their confidence or endanger their safety: they are for ever with Him, whom having not seen they loved, in whom, though in the present world they saw him not, yet BELIEVING they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

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SERMON XV.

THE ORIGIN, SINFULNESS, AND PUNISHMENT OF

FALSEHOOD.

ACTS V. 3, 4.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

INSINCERITY, in its various forms, is one of the most common sins which are current in the world; but it is one which is highly offensive to God, as well as deeply injurious to society. It is true, that there is much of what is called honour to be found among men, and that gross falsehood is almost every where held up to censure and abhorrence; for this is felt by all to be necessary for the general welfare. Men could not live in society, nor could the ordinary business of life be carried on, if some respect

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