sort of subjection that it may always give way at once to your duty to God, and may be ready to take its right place as a thing sanctified by thankfulness, and enjoyed as your Heavenly Father's gift.

And so likewise if there be any duty that is hard to you, let this be your endeavour, to set your will strongly to the performance of it, and herein unite yourself with your Lord's Sacrifice of Himself. Thus may each one of us find a way, or rather, thus is the course marked out for each one of us to follow, at however humble a distance, in the steps of our blessed Lord, when we go by the way He has opened for us to present ourselves to the Father. And to this we are bound by the new law He has given us, the law of love, as taught in His own example. To this we are bound because we are not our own, but bought with the price of His blood. To this we are bound, yea rather drawn, by His being lifted up from the earth for our sakes.

Brethren, look upon Him once more, in His sacrifice before you turn to think of Him in glory or in rest, and learn the sacrifice of a pure conscience and an obedient will.

1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.

Now to Him Who has redeemed us and washed us in His own blood, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all glory, honour, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for

evermore.

1

SERMON XII.

S. James i. 25.

"Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and oontinueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer,

but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

We are apt to consider that we live in an enlightened age, and that we know all necessary principles of truth, so which is said is new to us.

that nothing

And so, for instance, the truth stated by S. James, that those who are hearers of the word, and not doers, deceive their own selves," seems to us a principle that we know already. And we think that the ages are gone by in which men made much of Theology as a science, and of the outward observances of religion, and neglected practical Christianity. Now, we think, we know that knowledge is valuable chiefly for practical purposes, and the schoolman that speculates without piety, and the ritualist that labours at ceremonies, while he is not himself proof against temptations, have their due place assigned to

» S. James i. 22.

them. Practical Christianity is now known to be the true thing, and a man is to be measured by his real life and heart, and not by the subtilty of his wit, or the ceremonies he performs in his robes.

Be it so! I will not stop now to enquire how far we act up to this view of things, and devote ourselves to a real and solid practice of Christian duties; how far we, that say a man should not be a hypocrite, act up to the professions we make, and the character we assume for ourselves, and expect on the part of others, of honesty, disinterestedness, and purity. It is a plain thing, and every one knows it, and can apply it to himself if he will but take pains, and make up his mind to act upon the truth; but I fear our boasted enlightenment, and reasonable religion, is but too apt to end in a mere outward decency for ourselves, and a few harsh judgments of othersv

But we will not dwell on this oft-told tale. It will be better to take a step somewhat forwarder on the road to Christian perfection, in the hope that even some that are but too far behind may be stirred up to look to the things that are before. And as it is but fair and charitable to believe that all and each of those who are here assembled

have, at least, some kind of will and purpose to live the life and die the death of Christians; and as it is quite plain that we must all know that it is not enough to know how to be Christians, without really being so in practice; let us farther consider how much there may be in knowing that law of liberty under which we live.

No doubt, actual practice is one of the best things for improving our knowledge, and therefore S. James has very much insisted upon it. There are several reasons for this. One is, that we all know something more than we practice, and if it is very much more—I mean, if we are not really trying to do all we know we cannot help thinking that the want, in our case, is not that of more knowledge, and so we do not seek for more. We do not seek for the knowledge, because we do not value it for that purpose which gives it a value above all praise, namely, in order to win the blessing of obedience. When each step in our advance in the knowledge of God's will is made sure by a corresponding step in practice, we keep hold, as it were, of our Father's hand, and rejoice to see ourselves standing with His present aid, nearer to the goal of all our hopes, and ready to find our