was pleased to dart a ray of light into my soul, and show me I must be a new creature, or be damned for evermore. Being, therefore, so long deceived myself, I speak with more sympathy to you who are resting on a round of duties and model of performances. And now, my friends, if your hearts were to be searched, and you were to speak your minds, I appeal to your own hearts whether you are not thinking within yourselves, though you may have so much charity as to think I mean well, yet I verily believe many of you think I have carried matters a little too far; and why is this but because I come close to some of your cases? The pride of your hearts does not care to admit of conviction, therefore you would fain retort on the preacher, and say he is wrong, whereas it is your hearts that are wrong all the while.

Others, again, perhaps may be saying, "Well, if a man may go thus far and not be a Christian, as I am sure he may, and a great deal further, you will be apt to cry out, 'Who, then, can be saved?'" And O that I could hear you asking this question in earnest! for, my friends, I am obliged, wherever I go, to endeavor to plow up people's fallow ground, to bring them off from their duties, and making a Christ of them. There are so many shadows in religion, that if you do not take care you will grasp at the shadow, and lose the substance. The Devil has so ordered the affairs of the Church now, and our hearts are so desperately deceitful, that if we do not take a deal of care we shall come short of true religion-of the true kingdom of God in the soul. The great question then is, "Whether any of you are convinced of what has been said?" Does power come with the word? When I was reading a book entitled "The Life of God in the Soul of Man," and reading that a man may read, pray, and go to church, and be constant in the duties of the Sabbath, and yet not be a Christian, I wondered what the man would be at; I was ready to throw it from me, till at last he told me that religion was an union of the soul with God-the image of God wrought upon the heart, or Christ Jesus formed in us. Then God was pleased with these words to cast a ray of light into my soul; with the light there came a power, and from that very moment I knew I must be a new creature. This, perhaps, inay be your case, my dear hearers. Perchance many of you may be loving, good-natured people, and attend the duties of religion, but take care, for Christ's sake, that do not rest on these things.

you

I think I can not sum up what has been said better than to give you the character of the Apostle Paul. Are you a Christian, do you *This must have been Scougal's well-known work.

think, because you are of this or that sect?-Paul was a Jew and a Pharisee. Are you a Christian because you are baptized, and enjoy Christian privileges?—Then Paul was circumcized. Are you a Christian because you do nobody hurt, and are sincere?-Paul was blameless before his conversion, and was not a Gallio in religion, as many of us are; he was so zealous for God, that he persecuted the Church of Christ. But yet when God was pleased to reveal His Son in him, when God was pleased to strike him to the ground, and let him see what heart-religion was, then Paul dropped his false confidence immediately; those things which he counted gain, which he depended on before, he now counted loss, that he might win Christ, and be found in Him; not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by faith in Christ Jesus. It is time, my dear friends, to proceed to

3dly. The next thing proposed, namely, To show you what the kingdom of God, or true religion, positively is. I have told you what it is not; I shall now proceed to show you what it is. It is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." But before I proceed to this, I must make a little digression. Perhaps curiosity has brought many here who have neither regard to God nor man. A man may be a member of the purest church, a man may be bap tized, do nobody harm, do a great deal of good, attend on all the ordinances of Christianity, and yet at the same time may be a child of the devil. If a man may go thus far, and yet at the same time miss salvation, what will become of you who do not keep up a form of religion, who scarcely know the time when you have been at church and attending sermons, unless curiosity brought you to hear a particular stranger? What will become of you who, instead of believing the Gospel and reading the Bible, set up your corrupt relig. ion in opposition to divine revelation? What will become of you, who count it your pleasure to riot in the day time, to spend time in rioting and wantonness; who are sitting in the scorner's chair, and joining with your hellish companions, who love to dress the children of God in bear-skins? What will become of you who live in acts of uncleanness, drunkenness, adultery, Sabbath-breaking? Surely, without repentance, you will be lost-your damnation slumbereth not. God may bear with you long, but He will not forbear always. The time will come when He will ease Himself of His adversaries, and then you will be undone for evermore, unless you come to Him as poor, lost sinners.

But I now go on to show you what true religion positively is; "it is righteousness," it is "peace," it is "joy in the Holy Ghost." And

First, The kingdom of God is "righteousness." By righteousness we are here to understand the complete, perfect, and all-sufficient righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, as including both His active and His passive obedience. My dear friends, we have no righteousness of our own; our best righteousness, take them altogether, are but so many filthy rags; we can only be accepted for the sake of the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. This righteousness must be imputed and made over to us, and applied to our hearts; and till we get this righteousness brought home to our souls, we are in a state of death and damnation-the wrath of God abideth on us.

Before I go further, I would endeavor to apply this. Give me leave to put this question to your hearts. You call yourselves Christians, and would count me uncharitable to call it in question; but I exhort you to let conscience speak out, do not bribe it any longer. Did you ever see yourselves as damned sinners? Did conviction ever fasten upon your hearts? And after you had been made to see your want of Christ, and made to hunger and thirst after righteousness, did you lay hold on Christ by. faith? Did you ever close with Christ? Was Christ's righteousness ever put upon your naked souls? Was ever a feeling application of His righteousness made to your hearts? Was it, or was it not? If not, you are in a damnable state-you are out of Christ; for the Apostle says here, "The kingdom of God is righteousness;" that is, the righteousness of Christ applied and brought home to the heart.

It follows, "peace." "The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace." By peace I do not understand that false peace, or rather carnal security, into which so many are fallen. There are thousands who speak peace to themselves when there is no peace. Thousands have got a peace of the devil's making; the strong man armed has got possession of their hearts, and therefore their goods are all in peace. But the peace here spoken of is a peace that follows after a great deal of soul trouble; it is like that calm which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the wind; "Peace, be still; and immediately there was a great calm;" it is like that peace which Christ spoke to His disciples, when He came and said, "Peace be unto you"-" My peace I leave with you." It is a peace of God's making, it is a peace of God's giving, it is a peace that the world can not give, it is a peace that can be felt, it is a peace that passeth human understanding-it is a peace that results from a sense of having Christ's righteousness brought home to the soul. For a poor soul before this is full of trouble; Christ makes application of His righteousness to his heart; and then the poor creature, being justified by faith, hath

peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. My dear friends, I am now talking of heart-religion, of an inward work of God, an inward kingdom in your hearts, which you must have, or you shall never sit with Jesus Christ in His kingdom. The most of you may have peace, but for Christ's sake examine upon what this peace is founded-see if Christ be brought home to your souls, if you have had a feeling application of the merits of Christ brought home to your souls. Is God at peace with you? Did Jesus Christ ever say, "Peace be to you"--"Be of good cheer"-"Go thy way, thy sins are forgiven thee"-"My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you?" Did God ever bring a comfortable promise with power to your soul? And after you have been praying, and fearing you would be damned, did you ever feel peace flow in like a river upon your soul? so that you could say, Now I know that God is my friend, now I know that Jesus is my Saviour, now I can call Him "My Lord, and my God;" now I know that Christ hath not only died for others, but I know that Jesus hath died for me in particular. O my dear friends, it is impossible to tell you the comfort of this peace, and I am astonished (only man's heart is desperately wicked) how you can have peace one moment and yet not know that God is at peace with you. How can you go to bed this night without this peace? It is a blessed thing to know when sin is forgiven; would you not be glad if an angel were to come and tell you so this night?

But there is something more-there is "joy in the Holy Ghost." I have often thought that if the Apostle Paul were to come and preach now he would be reckoned one of the greatest enthusiasts on earth. He talked of the Holy Ghost, of feeling the Holy Ghost; and so we must all feel it, all experience it, all receive it, or we can never see a holy God with comfort. We are not to receive the Holy Ghost so as to enable us to work miracles; for, "Many will say in that day, We have cast out devils in Thy name, and in Thy name done many wonderful works." But we must receive the Holy Ghost to sanctify our nature, to purify our hearts, and make us meet for heaven. Unless we are born again, and have the Holy Ghost in our hearts, if we were in heaven we could take no pleasure there. The Apostle not only supposes we must have the Holy Ghost, but he supposes, as a necessary ingredient to make up the kingdom of God in a believer's heart, that he must have "joy in the Holy Ghost." There are a great many, I believe, who think religion is a poor melancholy thing, and they are afraid to be Christians. But, my dear friends, there is no true joy till you can joy in God and Christ. I know wicked men and men of pleasure will

have a little laughter; but what is it, but like the crackling of a few thorns under a pot? it makes a blaze, and soon goes out. I know what it is to take pleasure in sin; but I always found the smart that followed was ten thousand times more hurtful than any gratification I could receive. But they who joy in God have a joy that strangers intermeddle not with-it is a joy that no man can take from them; it amounts to a full assurance of faith that the soul is reconciled to God through Christ, that Jesus dwells in the heart; and when the soul reflects on itself, it magnifies the Lord, and rejoices in God its Saviour. Thus we are told that "Zaccheus received Christ joyfully," that "the eunuch went on his way rejoicing," and that "the jailer rejoiced in God with all his house." O, my friends, what joy have they that know their sins are forgiven them! What a blessed thing is it for a man to look forward and see an endless eternity of happiness before him, knowing that every thing shall work together for his good!-it is joy unspeakable and full of glory. O may God make you all partakers of it!

Here, then, we will put the kingdom of God together. It is "righteousness," it is "peace," it is "joy in the Holy Ghost." When this is placed in the heart, God there reigns, God there dwells and walks-the creature is a son or daughter of the Almighty. But, my friends, how few are there here who have been made partakers of this kingdom! Perhaps the kingdom of the devil, instead of the kingdom of God, is in most of our hearts. This has been a place much favored of God; may I hope some of you can go along with me and say "Blessed be God we have got righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost?" Have you so? Then you are kings, though beggars; you are happy above all men in the world—you have got heaven in your hearts; and when the crust of your bodies drops, your souls will meet with God, your souls will enter into the world of peace, and you shall be happy with God for evermore. I hope there is none of you who will fear death; fie for shame, if ye do! What! afraid to go to Jesus, to your Lord? You may cry out, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" You may go on your way rejoicing, knowing that God is you: friend; die when you will, angels will carry you safe to heaven.

But, O, how many are here in this church-yard, who will be laid in some grave ere long, who are entire strangers to this work of God upon their souls! My dear friends, I think this is an awful sight. Here are many thousands of souls, that must shortly appear with me, a poor creature, in the general assembly of all mankind before God in judgment. God Almighty knows whether some of