that he was! His "flesh had no rest," he was 66 troubled on every side, without were fightings, within were fears." He even "repented," that he had "made them sorry with a letter," for it was "in his heart to live and die with them," well knowing that a Christian church, with all its disorders, is a more desirable abode than a "blaspheming" synagogue, or a magnificent temple filled with "craftsmen" trading in the glory of the great goddess Diana. In this condition Titus found him, and informed him, that the Corinthians had been extremely unhappy that they had given him occasion to censuré their conduct; but that they had been convinced of the justice and friendship of the reproof, and entertained the most fervent love for their kind reprover. This filled our apostle with great satisfaction: he wrote a second Epistle, and gave a most beautiful description of the fruits of godly sorrow. "What a carefulness it wrought in you; yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge: in all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." All truths made up of justice and mercy, the rights of the law and the grace of the Gospel, because they are mixed in themselves, will necessarily produce various emotions in us. Some will be painful, some will be pleasant; but all together will constitute that body of Christian virtues called the new man, which consists of "kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forgiveness, charity," and "which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

On these principles our apostle affirms in the text "faith worketh," and, as the immediate work before the Galatians, to which the apostle exhorted them, was a work of love, it was highly proper to affirm, “faith worketh by love." Let us finish by observing, that there is a close connexion between the Christian religion and faith, faith and love, love and good works; and let us apply this observation to the case of the church at Galatia, and in that to our own.

There is a close connexion between the Christian religion and faith; that is to say, Christianity is fitted to

obtain belief, and does actually produce it, as an instrument in the hand of the great "master of assemblies," whose "words are wise, acceptable words, even words of truth," and therefore "as goads," and "as nails fastened in a sure place." Take the whole of our holy religion together, and it deserves to be called as it is, simply love. Often, very often, the whole is called love. What is God as he is described in this religion? "God is love." On what principle did he act when he designed the Christian religion? "God loved the world." What is Jesus Christ? "The gift of God, the unspeakable gift of God." What is the whole part of Jesus Christ in this religion, his doctrine, his death, his Spirit, his precepts? It is a "love that passeth knowledge." How doth the Gospel of Christ work upon the minds and hearts of men? It draws them with "cords of a man, with bands of love." It resembles the love of a parent to a little child, "teaching him to go, taking him by his arms," though he "knows not" the soft hand that supports him. What is the short history of revealed religion in the heart and life of man? The author

tells us, 66 I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." What we affirm is, that this religion of unutterable love is very credible, more than likely to be true. Is it incredible that God should love? What can be more worthy of belief than this? Is it improbable that he should love man, the creature in the world made in his own image, when his tender mercies are over all his works? Let us reason on the subject of Divine love as the Psalmist reasoned on that of Divine knowledge: "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know ?" In like manner we ask, he that formed the hearts of those good parents, Jacob and David, will he "forget to be gracious?" He that put irresistible eloquence into the tears of an outcast babe in a flag basket, so that a stranger" had compassion on him, and" disinterestedly "said, Go call a nurse, his name shall be Moses, I drew him out of the water;" will he who compels us by our own feelings to be kind, “in anger shut up his own tender

mercies?"

Hear how the God of the whole earth condescends to answer our questions: "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Such speculations as these were all to be collected from the world of nature before Christ came, but if to these we add what the Scripture calls the "acts," the " mighty acts" of the Lord, how many blind eyes he hath opened, how many hard hearts he hath softened, how many crimes he hath forgiven, how many disconsolate and wretched people he hath made happy by the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, we shall conclude, that "the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy, great, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness unsearchable." No, great God! we are not infidels. We will not offend thy goodness by denying light at noonday. Behold, the tears that trickle down the cheeks of this assembly, say, "He brought me up" also "out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings, and put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would speak of them they are more than can be numbered. Whom have I in heaven but thee; and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee !"

Thus "wisdom hath builded her house, furnished her table," and "sent forth her maidens crying, Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the way of understanding; I will speak of excellent things, my mouth shall speak truth, all plain to him that understandeth, and right to him that findeth knowledge." But wherein lies the

excellency of wisdom, and what gives it advantage over folly? It hath advantages in every respect: but one of the chief is, that it necessarily produces happiness by means of holiness, so that you may safely conclude, as religion is fitted to produce faith, so faith is fitted to

produce love, and love good works; for this is an end worthy of the means, and does honour to God the first cause. Is it conceivable that when such a religion as this gets into the mind, it should skulk like a reptile, and lurk beneath the shade of some poisonous weed, the fruit of the curse? Doth it not rather enter like a judge into a court to "sit chief," and dwell there like a "king in an army?" Who shall answer these questions? Let those who have best understood religion, and exercised most faith on the truths of it. See, what 66 a great cloud of witnesses compasseth you about, Christians! Read at your leisure the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, and observe the men and women, "of whom the world was not worthy, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions;" who "had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, of bonds and imprisonment;" who "wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented;" and who preferred all these before the "pleasures of sin," and esteemed even "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world." Faith and obedience then are inseparable, and as these men cheerfully obeyed their orders, because they believed the facts, which made their obedience necessary; so Christians obey the orders in the New Testament given them, because they believe the facts, which the New Testament reports for true. It would be easy to show you that faith in the Christian religion is closely connnected with love, and necessarily produces it: but this I think not needful now, for who doth not know that belief of such a God as Christianity describes, compels believers to love God and adore him? And who doth not know that if a man say, "I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" The apostle doth not mean by "brother" one of our own party, nor a believer of any other party: but one of our own class of creatures, a brother, man. In my opinion there is no danger of heresy or sin in saying, If I love God, I shall love my brother Christian, my brother Jew, my brother

negro.

"Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?" What if Judah hath" profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he ought to have loved;" what if the miserable heathens have "married the daughter of a strange god," and "for this cause are given up unto vile affections;" is it for us to deal in thunder and lightning, to "deck ourselves with majesty, and cast abroad the rage of our wrath?" Let us know our religion better, and let us always remember, that"in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."

This notion of religion was highly proper to answer the end for which our apostle wrote it. You read in the fifteenth of Acts, that some Jews, who had become Christians, but had not well understood either their own religion or that of Jesus Christ, endeavoured rather to reform the Jewish religion than to abolish it wholly in favour of Christianity. They approved of the pious principles of Christians; but they were for retaining them under the forms of Jewish ceremonies. These men were a great trouble to the churches, so great that our apostle wished, for the good of society, they had been "cut off." They began by pressing the necessity of circumcision; but this was only to pave the way for all the other ceremonies of Moses, for the "weak and beggarly elements of days, and months, and times, and years." This Epistle was written directly against this class of men, who had been at Galatia, and had “bewitched the foolish Galatians." Good, simple souls, they had been heathens, and had received the Gospel in transports, so that "if it had been possible, they would have plucked out their own eyes, and have given them" to their teacher. Such converts are very apt to be prejudiced in favour of any thing that has the appearance of piety, for they are not aware of the spirit and tendency of such alterations. Our apostle destroys the four great arguments used by these Jewish teachers. The first is an argument of authority: Peter, and James, and the whole church at Jerusalem were cir