I need not caution you, my dear brother, against this system. Avoiding it, you will preach the great doctrines of the atonement. You will know nothing among your people, but Christ Jesus and him crucified. This is a solid foundation of hope. It is something to relieve the awakened conscience, and to raise up the sinner when in the clear light of God's law he sees himself as he is, and is bowed down under a deep sense of his depravity and sinfulness. The contrary doctrine can never do this. It can but give a false peace, and thus delude and ruin the soul. Therefore, my brother, not only exhibit Christ as an atoning Savior, but the entire gospel with all its doctrines and duties in its relation to him. Press too the reception of these doctrines and a compliance with these duties; for these are the great ends of all preaching. Urge the necessity of this; the obligation, the reasonableness, the advantages, the safety, the peace and satisfaction it will afford here, and the endless blessings it will secure hereafter. Press these things in all their eternal weight and in their immediate obligation. Press them by all the motives God has given, and that, whether men will hear or forbear. As Christ your master was a witness to the truth, do you bear witness to the same; and thus you may be the means of salvation to many, and at least will deliver your own soul. Be diligent to do your arduous work; to do it in tenderness, and with your might. Be thou faithful unto death and Christ shall give you a crown of life.

II. I would address the church and congregation.

MEN AND BRETHREN,-You have heard the word of exhortation to your pastor. But remember if these duties rest on him there are correspondent ones on you. If he is bound to preach Christ crucified, and the great doctrines and duties of the cross, you are bound to hear, and believe and practice. If these things which have been set forth be the sum of the gospel, then you are to be deeply and ever attentive to them, and to receive them to the salvation of your souls. These doctrines and duties, you are to remember, are connected, and that you have no evidence of your reception of the former but in your performance of the latter. I know the opposite system is flattering to human nature. To think that sin is no great evil; that there is no need of so great an atonement; that God is merciful and ever ready to forgive, and that he will forgive on mere repentance; all this is very flattering to the carnal heart. And clearly connected with this are other sentiments quite as flattering; that God is not very strict, and we are not entirely depraved; that we are naturally well disposed and with proper attention and culture of ourselves we shall grow up to virtue; and even if we do not, that God is merciful and

never made man to be damned, and especially he never decreed any to be damned, and therefore that we all at last shall be saved. These doctrines are suited to flatter human vanity, and to puff up self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. But as you will find no such flattering idea in the gospel, so you are not to expect them from your pastor. We trust he is not disposed to swerve from the truth, but in all its fulness and power to commend it to every one's conscience in the sight of God. We have confidence in him that he will tell you the truth plainly and faithfully, and that in all its fulness he will unfold to you the great system of the gospel. It is a connected system. Every part of it is dependent on every other part, so that none of it can be spared or taken away without its all falling to the ground. Therefore receive every part, or you will be in danger of rejecting the whole. And in the bonds of that truth let me beseech you ever to cultivate union and peace and sincere brotherly affection. Do this for your own sake, and also for the sake of your pastor, for his usefulness and your own edification, for the honor of religion, and the glory of your Redeemer. And may you and he ever walk hand in hand in the truth, you rejoicing in his instructions, and he in your growth in grace and eminent holiness, till you both come to the measure of the stature of perfect men in Christ JeThen shall his ministry be joy to him and a rich blessing to you; and when you and he shall review it at the final day, you shall rejoice together in it forever.

sus.

SERMON XVIII.

HOLDING FAST OUR PROFESSION.*

HEBREWS 4: 14.-Seeing then we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

THE apostle, in the preceding part of this epistle, had spoken of the sonship and divine nature of Jesus Christ, and proved from the scriptures of the Old Testament that he is equal with the Father, and that divine worship is to be paid to him. He had spoken also of the incarnation of Christ, and had shown that acting in the flesh as our high priest, he had made atonement for our sins, not by offering the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own most precious blood. And having insisted on these things, he at length proceeds to make the proper application of them to the christian Hebrews to whom he was writing. "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house."

Here mentioning Christ and Moses together, he takes notice of the superiority of the former to the latter; the one being faithful only as a servant, while the other is so in the superior character of a son. Therefore Christ, being thus superior to Moses, he is the more worthy to be received, and to be believed and relied on in the great ministry which he is carrying on between God and man. And on this consideration, he exhorts them to hearken to his voice, and not to harden their hearts against Christ, as their fathers had against Moses. Those ancient Israelites had the promise of entering into and enjoying the land of Canaan, but they failed of obtaining it through unbelief. They professed indeed to believe, and to rely on the Lord Jehovah who had brought them out of Egypt; and in the fullest terms they declared that all that the Lord had said they would observe and do. But when it came to the test, it appeared that they were far from being sincere in this their profession, and that they were not

* Preached in 1771.

steadfast to it. For when they heard of the strength of the Canaanites; that their cities were walled up to heaven, and that giants dwelt in the land, their confidence in God was gone. They feared to go forward as he had commanded, and chose for themselves a leader to go back into Egypt. Therefore, for their unbelief and distrust of the power and faithfulness and goodness of God, he was wroth with them, and sware in his wrath that they should not enter into the land of rest which he promised to Abraham and his seed. And the consequence was that they perished in the wilderness.

From this sad instance of the effects of unbelief, Paul takes occasion to warn the christian Hebrews against this ruinous sin. They, like the ancient Israelites, had professed to believe in Christ as their great high priest. And fearing lest some of them, after the example of their fathers, might apostatize from their profession, the apostle most earnestly exhorts them in several passages, and especially in our text, to hold fast that profession, and to be steadfast in it. For though they had hitherto witnessed a good confession, yet so well did he know the heart of man to be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, that he is jealous over them with a holy jealousy, lest all his labors with them should finally prove in vain, and they should fall after the same example of unbelief.

Having thus briefly considered the connection of the text with the preceding part of the epistle, I come now to a more particular consideration of the text itself. Its exhortation is to the Hebrews, urging them to continue in their christian profession, and to live and act accordingly. This is the end to which they are exhorted. And the motive mentioned to encourage them to it, is, that Christ, who is their atoning high priest, has ascended to heaven, there to plead the virtue and merit of his atonement, and to make intercession for them. This seems to be the force and spirit of the text. It may be more briefly expressed int he following proposition: That since Christ, in the character of our high priest, has ascended into glory, this affords abundant encouragement to us to continue steadfast in our christian profession. In speaking on this proposition, I would show 1. That all the followers of Christ are bound to make a profession of their christian faith; and 2. That the consideration of Christ's priesthood and ascension to glory, affords abundant encouragement to them to continue steadfast in that profession.

I. Iam to show that all the followers of Christ are bound to make an open and explicit profession of their christian faith. The apostle is here writing to the Hebrews of his day, who

supposed themselves to be the followers of Christ. What he says, therefore, is to be understood as applicable to the same class in every age of the world; so that the teaching of the text applies to us, as well as to those to whom it was originally addressed. From it I would here show two things; first that all the followers of Christ are bound to make some profession, which in general may be called their christian profession; and second what kind of a profession this ought to be.

1. All the followers of Christ are bound to make some profession, which may in general be called their christian profession. This is plainly taught in the scriptures. For,

(1) A profession or confession is expressly spoken of in scripture, as the duty of all the disciples of Christ. Promises are made to those who make it in an acceptable manner, and, on the other hand, threatenings are denounced against those who neglect it. "Whosoever therefore," says Christ, "shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." Here is an express promise of the future favor and friendship of Christ, made to those who in an acceptable manner confess him before men. And, on the other hand, there is an express threatening that he will disown and reject hereafter, those who do not thus confess him in this world. But could these things be so, if it were not the duty of the disciples of Christ, as such, to make at least some kind of profession? No; it is impossible. A parallel text is that in Rom. 10: 9, 10, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Here I need not repeat the observation made on the text just quoted. But one thing I would observe, and that is, that the apostle here expressly speaks of "confessing with the mouth." The language implies that it is an instituted duty that the disciples of Christ, as such, do make an open, explicit, verbal profession of some kind or other. From both these passages it is plain that some kind of profession is to be made by every disciple of Christ, as such, and that openly, "before men,' and verbally, "with the mouth."

(2) The scriptures often speak in such a manner as plainly to show that all the followers of Christ, in the days of the apostles, did make a profession of some kind or other. And if this was the practice of the disciples in those days, who in all they did in the worship of God, acted under the inspection and direction of