but constitute the very essence of saving faith. Indeed, where there are no good works, there can be no true faith. These good works can never give us a title to heaven, but they evidence our submission to God's commands, and are necessary to train us up to a meetness for partaking in its happiness. Now, this operative faith is all that is required of us in order to obtain salvation.

I would not be understood by this to mean, that salvation itself is a cheap and easy purchase. It is a purchase which the united efforts of men and angels could never have effected. But, blessed be God, the price is already paid by Jesus Christ, the surety and substitute of sinners, and the demands of infinite justice are fully satisfied. Christ hath suffered, the "just for the unjust, "that he might bring us unto God.""The Lord laid on him the iniquities "of us all."-" He bore our sins in his "own body on the tree." And hath Christ done and suffered so much to purchase salvation for us, and shall we not comply with the only condition on which it can be ours? Shall we not be

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at the trouble of looking unto him for this inestimable blessing? Hath he done so much for us, and shall we refuse to do so small a matter for ourselves ? What would they give who are now shut up in that place where the "worm dieth "not, and the fire is not quenched," to obtain a release from it even for a day? and shall we not look to Jesus to be released from it for ever? And, Oh! how do the saints in heaven rejoice, that ever the Saviour said to them, "Behold me, "behold me;" that ever they were induced to look to him, who hath bestowed on them such an exceeding and eternal weight of glory! What will we not undergo,—what will we not attempt, for the perishing treasures of this world? and shall we not be equally earnest in our endeavours to obtain grace to enable us to look to him who promises to enrich us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places?-As a farther encouragement to comply with the invitation contained in the text, let us consider

Lastly, The boundless extent of the invitation.

Here, as on the former particular, time will permit us only to make a very few general observations.

Moses was directed to tell the Israelites, when he set up the brazen serpent, that " every one who was bitten, when "he looked upon it, should live." No exceptions were made. All were invited to share the blessing. And all who sought a cure in the appointed way obtained it. No stage, no state of the disorder, made any difference." It came to

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pass, that if a serpent had bitten any

man, when he beheld the serpent of "brass he lived." And thus it is with the invitation in the text. It is addressed to persons of all descriptions,—of all characters and conditions; to the high, and to the low; to the rich, and to the poor; to the learned, and to the ignorant; to the young, and to the old: not only to the outwardly decent and virtuous, but to the very chief of sinners. None are excluded, but those who wilfully exclude themselves.

Unlike the Mosaic dispensation, which was confined to the land of Judea, and

continued only for a limited period, the

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blessings of the gospel shall be extend"ed to the most distant corners of the "habitable world; they shall extend" from "sea to sea, and from the river to "the ends of the earth." In ages that are passed, many have embraced the invitation; and generations yet unborn shall share in its blessings. The promises of God respecting the enlargement of the Redeemer's kingdom shall all be fulfilled in their season, and multitudes of all people, kindreds, and tongues, shall continue to be added to the Church while sun and moon endure, till at length "the knowledge of the Lord "shall fill the earth, as the waters cover "the sea;"" and men shall be blessed ❝ in him; all nations shall call him bless"ed." What a mighty encouragement is this to all of you, my brethren, instantly to comply with this gracious invitation! Let not the powerful feeling of your multiplied and highly aggravated sins deter you from looking unto Christ. This is the very character of the persons to whom his most tender and pathetic

invitations are addressed.

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"Come unto

me, all ye that labour and are heavy la"den, and I will give you rest."

Thus have I endeavoured to urge you to look to Jesus, because the object is most glorious; because it is the command of one whom we cannot, without the blackest ingratitude, disobey; because salvation is the inestimable prize; because the duty is in itself easy and delightful; and because the way is free and open to all.

What more, my friends, needs be added to enforce these powerful considerations? Though we were to expatiate ever so fully," in the enticing words of "man's wisdom;" yet it is the Spirit of God alone that can render them effectual.

Let me again remind you, that there is no way of coming to the Father but by Jesus Christ. What then must become of those who seek salvation in ways of their own devising? Consider what would have become of the wounded Israelites, had they refused to make use of the remedy provided for them! When bidden to look at the brazen serpent for