the Word of God the
ground and warrant of her counsel; "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved."--"No man," says our blessed Saviour, "cometh
unto the Father but by me."--"I am the true Vine. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me."--"He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit; for without" (or severed from) "me ye can do
nothing,"--"By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should
boast: for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works."

Let us not be thought tedious, or be accused of running into needless
repetitions, in pressing this point with so much earnestness. It is in
fact a point which can never be too much insisted on. It is the cardinal
point on which the whole of Christianity turns; on which it is
peculiarly proper in this place to be perfectly distinct. There have
been some who have imagined that the wrath of God was to be deprecated,
or his favour conciliated, by austerities and penances, or even by forms
and ceremonies, and external observances. But all men of enlightened
understandings, who acknowledge the moral government of God, must also
acknowledge, that vice must offend and virtue delight him. In short they
must, more or less, assent to the Scripture declaration, "without
holiness no man shall see the Lord." But the grand distinction, which
subsists between the true Christian and all other Religionists, (the
class of persons in particular whom it is our object to address) is
concerning the _nature_ of this holiness, and the _way in which it is to
be obtained_. The views entertained by the latter, of the _nature_ of
holiness, are of all degrees of inadequateness; and they conceive it is
to be _obtained_ by their own natural unassisted efforts: or if they
admit some vague indistinct notion of the assistance of the Holy Spirit,
it is unquestionably obvious, on conversing with them, that this does
not constitute the _main practical_ ground of their dependence. _But the
nature of the holiness, to which the desires of the true Christian are
directed, is no other than the restoration of the image of God: and as
to the manner of acquiring it, disclaiming with indignation every idea
of attaining it by his own strength, all his hopes of possessing it rest
altogether on the divine assurances of the opera