nor the divine conduct will ever change. From his own nature, God is the enemy of all his enemies. He desires and designs to destroy every sinner, who does not become his friend. They therefore who are the enemies of God, must repent, or perish. Even if God should not threaten destruction to the wicked, nor inflict any punishment upon his enemies, every sinner would be unhappy. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." It is not merely from the requirements, and the threatenings, and the determinations of God, but it is also from the very nature and relations of moral agents, that the repentance of sinners is necessary to their salvation. And when sinners do truly repent, they hate sin for its exceeding sinfulness. They loathe and abhor themselves for their iniquities. Turning from every sin, they turn unto God with all their hearts. They love his holy character with supreme and ardent affection. They love the divine law. It appears holy, just and good. They see the beauty and glory of divine justice in condemning and punishing transgressors. They are pleased with the wisdom, rectitude, benevolence and sovereignty of the divine decrees. They are delighted with the conduct of God in creating, preserving and governing the universe. The decisions of the final judgment, and the retributions of eternity, fill their hearts with divine joy, and their mouths with songs

of praise. The holy and sovereign agency of God, which extends to every creature, every action, every volition and every event, is most pleasing, comforting, supporting and rejoicing to holy penitents. While they are pleased with the holy and powerful sovereignty of Jehovah, in view of their own moral deformity and defilement, they are displeased with themselves. The true penitent says unto God, "Behold, I am vile, what can I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. I have heard of thee, by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Such are the views and feelings of every sinner, who exercises repentance towards God. And without this repentance no sinner can be saved. Even the elect, as well as the reprobate, except they repent, must perish.

2. That the elect may be saved, they must exercise faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners naturally hate the Lord Jesus Christ as much as they hate the Father. And they hate the gospel as much as they hate the law. But unless they love Jesus Christ and the gospel of his grace, they cannot be saved. The holy re-. pentance of the elect is not the ground of their salvation from the eternal punishment which is threatened in the law to every sinner. Nor is their future obedience any atonement for their past transgressions. Nor is the eternity and the magnitude of the punishment, which the law threatens to sinners, a sufficient reason for re-.

leasing transgressors from the pains of eternal death. Nor does the benevolence and loving kindness of God afford a foundation to hope for the forgiveness and salvation of sinners. "For the wages of sin is death." Every sinner deserves and will for ever deserve the damnation of hell. In punishing sinners, with the pains of hell for ever, God is holy, just and good. Unless, then, an atonement had been made for sin, every one of the human race must for ever have suffered the holy wrath of Almighty God. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is Emmanuel, God manifest in the flesh, is the only foundation on which God can ever meet and forgive the sinner, and admit him into his presence and favor. "Other foundation can no man lay, than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare his righteousness that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." As the atonement for sin, which has been made through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the only foundation of forgiveness; so faith in his blood is the only condition of salvation. The believing sinner

is saved, not for the merit of his faith, but because by faith he receives the Lord Jesus Christ and relies upon his blood, which cleanses from all sin, for acceptance with God. The sinner, who exercises faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, perceives that he is the true God and eternal life. He perceives that by his death on the cross, he has made an atonement for sin, so that God is most glorious in saving sinners through Jesus Christ. Beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the hearts of the elect are drawn to the Saviour, and are united to his holy and blessed name through that faith, which worketh by love, purifieth the heart and overcometh the world. In coming unto God through Jesus Christ the believing sinner submits himself, with all his interests, unto the holy, sovereign and gracious disposal of his Creator. He renounces every selfish interest, and engages to love, to obey and to glorify God in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. And by faith in the truth and grace of God in the blessed gospel, believers live to the praise and glory of their divine Redeemer. 66 Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." The elect by faith in Jesus Christ obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.But the final and supreme Judge has declared that he who believeth not, shall be damned.

It is therefore certain that the elect cannot be saved, unless they exercise faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as repentance towards God.

3. That the elect may be saved they must become perfectly holy.

From his own rational and moral existence, and from his relations to his Creator and to his fellow creatures, every man is bound to love God with all his heart and soul, with all his mind and strength, and his fellow creatures as himself. God enforces the law of nature by the whole weight of his supreme authority, and by threatening endless wrath to every sinner. By the structure of the universe every thing is summoned and engaged to oppose, distress and destroy unholy creatures. While he is unholy, the sinner's own conscience is armed against his peace. It is therefore impossible to devise a way, in which sinners can become happy, without becoming holy. And certainly the glorious gospel of the blessed God can never afford the least allowance to what God hates with all his heart and soul, with all his mind and "strength. Though God in the gospel offers to forgive and to save the greatest sinners, yet in the gospel he also manifests, in the greatest degree, his hatred of sin, and his displeasure against sinners. Yet many, who profess to believe and to love the gospel, suppose they are not bound to obey the divine law. But the apostle, although he says, "we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of