Reflect for a moment upon its state, as produced by the fall, and you will readily perceive what its fate must have been long before now, without a corrective to prevent that fate. Then men became blinded in their understandings, depraved in their will, polluted in their affections, and disorderly in their lives. They were therefore fitted, by their degraded character, for every act of rebellion against God, and every provocation of his awful displeasure. Nothing could have prevented their everlasting punishment but the mercy of God himself. He having from all eternity foreseen the ruins of the fall, provided a remedy, through which these ruins might be again raised; and thus the mischiefs arising from sin, be retrieved. He entered into a covenant with his Son, by which he gave unto him a certain number, to be redeemed and eternally blessed by him. These are they who believe on his name, being constrained by his grace to honour him before men. They are a certain determinate number, gathered out of all nations, kindreds, and tongues.* Until they are collected in one, the world will be preserved; for out of the midst of the world they must be taken, and made heirs of life.

Thus they are the salt of the earth, in God's design of mercy. They are also, in the regard which God has to the work of his hands. He puts honour upon them in preserving them, and in making them the occasions of preserving others. Thus, we are assured, had there been ten righteous men in Sodom, God would have spared the city. In the same spirit it is said, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much; viz. to avert judgment, and to draw down the blessing of God. Indeed, the interest which real believers have with God, and the influence which they consequently possess in preventing evils and warding off judgments, can hardly be conceived, though it is deemed little by the multitude. On them, under God, the safety of a society or people depends, because on them the security of the world rests.

* John xvii. 2. compared with Rev. v. 9.

This view of their importance, is as true as it is honourable to them. And the reason for it is to be drawn only from the fact, that they belong to the family of God. They constitute the sheet-anchor of a nation-of the universe.

Secondly, The household of faith afford evidence to the world of the truth as it is in Jesus in all its parts. They constitute "the light of the world,"* being themselves enlightened by the Spirit of God, and witnesses for God to others. To them God has made known his will in all those matters which pertain to the present life, and that which is to come. He has given them his word, which relates to things temporal as well as spiritual; in which he teaches them their duty in all the relations of life, civil as well as religious, public as well as domestic. This word is intended, and calculated, to regulate the whole of human conduct, in every department of life. It was at first made known to Adam and Eve, in its substance, when they had sinned; and afterwards more fully explained to the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, for the benefit of the world.

All the useful information which we find among the heathen, on subjects pertaining to our duty and happiness, they derived from a divine revelation. In that revelation, the essential part, the centre, the sum, the root, is redemption from sin and its punishment by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Of this sacrifice, the sacrifices under the law, and previous to the giving of the law, were typical. The sacrifices of the heathen were corruptions of the institution of God. And yet, though corruptions, so far as they retained any trace of their great design, they operated to the instruction and benefit of men; for they testified of sin, and likewise of deliverance from sin, by sacrifice.

This doctrine of sacrifice, as necessary for the remission of sin, is calculated directly for the evolution of the faculties-for the formation of habits, and for the confirmation of a "hope which maketh not ashamed." It approves itself to our understanding, enlists the affections in its favour, and quiets the

conscience, that faithful witness for God in the soul. They, therefore, who embrace this truth, with all its connexions, are a light in the world. They show forth God's mercy, and man's duty, in reference to that mercy. They are living witnesses for God, testifying in their own case to the following truths, of vital importance to the hope of eternal life.

1. The corruption of human nature, in soul and body, affecting all the faculties, intellectual and moral, of the first, and the powers of the last, so as to require the regenerating and sanctifying influences of the Spirit, to enable a sinner to use them aright.

2. The necessity of a full justification of our persons, from the charges of the divine law, including an acquittal from the guilt of sin, and an adjudication to eternal life, upon principles which that law approves.

3. The only evidence of justification is sanctification; by which we mean, the renewal of the whole man after the image of God. It is a dying unto sin, and a living unto God, by the mortification of the former, and the quickening of our obedience to the latter.

4. The medium through which both justification and sanctification are procured, is the death and obedience of God's own Son, as a propitiation for our sins, which is called, the righteousness of Christ.

5. The means, by which sinful men become interested in the propitiatory sacrifice of Chirst are believing on his name and repenting of their sins.

These doctrines not only lie at the foundation of individual, or personal happiness: a belief of them, and their influence on the heart, is necessary for social and political well-being. The salvation of sinners, and the order, as well as prosperity of societies, equally depend upon the redemption that there is in Christ. Men need his light, as much for the discharge of their duties in the political, as well as the ecclesiastical community. Civil government is his ordinance, as well as baptism, and the Lord's supper. The magistrate is his minister for good, and therefore must be just; ruling in the fear of God

To this truth the house of God are bound to bear testimony to the world. And also, to another, that the Scriptures give light upon every subject, which suits the intelligent nature of men; which gratifies their thirst for knowledge, as well as is calculated to promote their eternal happiness. And that light which they give, the house, or church of God, are bound to show forth, for a confirmation of the truth, and a testimony to the world.

The followers of Christ ought not to be babes, unskilful in the word of righteousness, but advanced to perfection. They ought to be intimately acquainted with " the Scriptures, which are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Thus they will fulfil their duty as lights shining in the midst of the world; and do good in their day and generation, by the diffusion of knowledge in the circles to which they belong, and in which they have influence. Thirdly, The household of faith constitutes the centre, to which all God's providences do point. As he has gathered them from out of the world for his own glory, so he makes all the movements of his government tend to the illustration of this glory.

The history of nations has a direct, or indirect, relation to the company of believers. Thus the Assyrian, the Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman empires, each in its place and day, promoted the purposes of God towards his people. And could we take a view of the nations which have been since their existence, and which now are, we would see all their revolutions regulated by infinite wisdom, in such a manner as to produce ultimate effects upon the Church. As the cross of Christ is the creative agent in forming this Church, and by its virtue constantly applied by the Holy Spirit, the means of her continuance, we may, with propriety, consider the following eloquent quotation as appropriate in this connexion. "The cross of Christ is an object of such incomparable brightness, that it spreads a glory round it to all the nations of the earth, all the corners of the universe, all the generations of time, and all the ages of eternity. The greatest actions or events that ever happened on earth, filled with

their splendour and influence but a moment of time, and a point of space: the splendour of this great object fills immensity and eternity. If we take a right view of its glory, we will see it contemplated with attention, spreading influence, and attracting looks, for times past, present, and to come; heaven, earth, and hell; angels, saints, and devils. We will see it to be the object of both the deepest admiration of the creatures, and the perfect approbation of the infinite Creator; we will see the best part of mankind, the church of God, for four thousand years looking forward to it before it happened; new generations yet unborn, rising up to admire and honour it, in continual successions, till time shall be no more; innumerable multitudes of angels and saints looking back to it with holy transport, to the remotest ages of eternity."*

To disregard God, or his providence towards the world, but especially towards the Church in ordinary matters, is condemnable in private life; much more so in public life; most of all in those works which profess to give us authentic facts, and reasonings from those facts, in reference to nations. How lamentably deficient in this respect are our best historians! "When they descant," says an eminently pious writer, " upon the rise and fall of empires, with all their professed sagacity, in tracing the connexion between causes and effects, they are totally unacquainted with the great master-wheel which manages the whole movement; that is, the Lord's design in favour of his Church and Kingdom. To this every event is subordinate; to this, every interfering interest must stoop." The same writer, in another place, says, and we quote his words with entire approbation, "I have lately read Robertson's History of Charles V. which, like other histories, I consider a comment upon those passages of Scripture which teach us the depravity of man, the deceitfulness of the heart, the ruinous effects of sin, and the powerful, though secret rule of Divine Providence, moving, directing, and controlling the designs and actions of men, with an unerring hand, to the accomplishment of his own purposes, both of mercy and judgment. Without the clue * M'Laurin on Glorying in the Cross of Christ.

+ Newton's Works, Vol. I. p. 467. Lond. edit.