ousness." Whatsoever he professeth with his mouth, unless his heart be possessed with a firm belief and full persuasion of the great truths revealed in the Gospel, he hath not that faith to which righteousness and salvation are there promised. But he who really believeth in his heart all that is there revealed concerning the only-begotten Son of God, and the promises which are made in Him; such a one cannot but live with a constant dependence and trust on Him, not only for his salvation in general, but for every thing which is there required, as necessary to his obtaining of it; for grace to repent and turn to God, so as to love, and fear, and serve Him faithfully in this world, as well as for pardon, and peace, and glory in the next. And whosoever thus "believeth in Christ," hath His infallible Word for it, that "he shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God grant therefore that all here present may thus believe in Christ: we should then as certainly live together in Heaven, as we are now met together in this place: but for that purpose, we must take more pains about it than men commonly do. I know that "faith is the gift of God." And Eph. 2. 8. that He is ready to give it to all, in the use of the means which He hath ordained for it but for that end we must use them heartily, devoutly and constantly, never leaving till we have attained it. Saying our prayers a little now and then, and coming to Church when you have nothing else to do, will never do the business: but if you desire in good earnest to believe in Christ, so as to be saved by Him, ye must in good earnest exercise yourselves continually, in meditating upon the infallible grounds you have to believe all that is revealed in God's Word; in hearkening diligently to it, when it is repeated or expounded; in praying earnestly to God to help your unbelief, and to increase your faith; and in receiving the Holy Sacrament, that was ordained on purpose to exercise and confirm your faith in Christ. This is the way to believe in the only-begotten Son indeed; and if ye do that, I speak in His Name, ye "shall not perish, but have everlasting life." In His Name therefore, and for His sake, as well as your own, I advise and beseech you all to do so; set yourselves earnestly upon the the use of the means of grace, that by the grace of God

[Heb. 9. 14.]

SERM. co-operating with them, you may live for the future with a XIV. firm belief in Christ your Saviour. Ye will then find by your own experience the truth of all that ye have now heard; for He will then "purge your consciences from dead works, to [Tit. 2. 14.] serve the living God." "He will purify you to Himself, a peculiar people zealous of good works." He will absolve you from all your sins, and justify you before His Father. He will protect you from all evil, and give you whatsoever is good for you. Above all, He will prepare a place in Heaven for you; that when you go out of this wicked world, you may live with Him, who liveth with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for ever.

SERMON XV.

THE MERITS OF CHRIST'S PASSION.

ST. JOHN i. 29.

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sin of the World!

THIS, before Easter, as it anciently was, so it may be still very properly called, "The Great Week," because in it we commemorate the great mystery in our religion, the death of Christ, the death which the Son of God suffered for our sins; which is so great, so exceeding great a mystery, that were we but truly sensible of it, how should we be amazed and confounded at it? How should we abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes, that ever we should be the cause that the Son of God should die? That the Son of God should die! Methinks the very naming of it is enough to strike us dead, or at least to overwhelm us with so much grief and sorrow, as to wish we had never lived.

But alas! how far are we from that! We can think and talk of Christ's dying for our sins, and yet live in them: we can hear of His being accused and condemned, and yet not condemn, nor so much as accuse ourselves for them: we can read over the whole history of our Saviour's Passion with dry eyes, and be no more troubled at it, than as if we had been no way concerned in it. Which certainly can be imputed to nothing else but to the want of a due sense either of the Person that suffered for our sins, or else of the sins for which He suffered. For did we clearly apprehend, and firmly believe these things, it would be impossible for us not to be affected with them more than with any thing, more than with all things in the world besides. For what

SERM.

XV.

are the sufferings of all the creatures in the world, in comparison of His that made them? But that He that made us should not only suffer, but that He should suffer for us, and for our sins against Himself, is so great a wonder, that nothing can pretend to come into competition with it, except it be that we, after all, should not be affected with it.

Wherefore, that we may not in this respect be the greatest prodigies in nature, it will be necessary sometimes to contemplate upon what our Blessed Saviour underwent for us. And it may not be amiss if we do it now: now that we have so fit an opportunity for it, this being the time which the Church hath always set apart for that purpose, and this is the day which is appointed for public humiliation and prayer over the whole kingdom: for nothing can conduce more to the humbling us thoroughly for our sins, and to the confirming our faith in God, for His granting the blessings we pray for, than duly to consider what His only-begotten Son hath suffered, and what He hath thereby merited for us.

Let us therefore gather up all our scattered thoughts from all things else, and fix them awhile upon the cross of Christ; and then see whether we can forbear to sympathize with Him; and whether it be possible to keep our passions from moving according to their respective capacities, in some degree suitably to those He suffered for us. And how happy should I think myself, if I could contribute any thing towards so good a work! if I could so represent Christ's sufferings for our sins, that we may all, this day, be truly humbled for them, and for the future both forsake and abhor them!

But this is an happiness which I have little ground to expect; for the subject is so sublime and great, that I can neither fully conceive what I ought to express, nor express what I myself conceive of it. I cannot so much as begin to think of the Son of God, His dying for my sins, but I am presently in amaze, my head turns round, my whole soul is seized with horror and confusion at it. But when I think of venting these my confused thoughts to others, I am still at a greater loss for words wherewith to do it; insomuch that I should not offer at any thing towards it, but that I hope you are all so disposed as to be ready to receive and im

prove every little hint and intimation that I shall give you of it, from these words of St. John the Baptist, who seeing Jesus coming towards him, cried out, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!"

In which remarkable saying of the Baptist, every word hath its weight and emphasis; and therefore I shall first run through them all, by the way of paraphrase, but very briefly, lest I should be prevented in what, by God's assistance, I principally design.

Dialog. c.

259. c. Ed.

First, saith He, " Behold," see here the person I told you of, the Lamb without spot and blemish, the perfect emblem of innocence and patience; "the Lamb slain from the [Rev.13.8.] foundation of the world;" the Lamb typified by that which you sacrifice every morning and evening, and especially by the Paschal Lamb, which was roasted in such a posture (as Justin Martyr and others observe) that it exactly repre- [Justin. sented a person hanging upon a cross. Yea, "Behold the Mart. in Lamb of God," a Lamb not of an earthly, but Divine ex- Tryphone,p. traction, the Lamb of God's own choosing and appointment; Colon. the Lamb of God's own eternal generation, the only- 1686.] begotten of the Father; the Lamb offered up by God Himself, unto Himself. And so, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away sin;" not that expiates or covers it, but takes it quite away; not that hath or will take it away, but, as St. Chrysostom observes, that doth take it away con- [Chrys. tinually; and that taketh away not only some particular in S. Joan. sins, but sin in general, sin as sin and so, whatsoever there cap. 1.] is in sin, that either offends God, or can hurt us; the strength as well as the guilt of sin, our inclinations to it, as well as our obligations to punishment for it: and that taketh away the sin not only of some particular persons, but the sin of the world; the sin not only of Abraham's, but Adam's posterity; the sin of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews; for He is a "Propitiation for our sins, and not for 1 John 2. 2. ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." Thus whensoever we see Christ, either with the eye of sense or faith, we may cry out with the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!"

The words being thus explained, it is easy to observe, that they have a peculiar reference to our Saviour's Passion,

Homil. 17.