The minister looked to his catalogue, Away, says he, I do not find one word of the sin of unbelief in all your catalogue. It is the peculiar work of the Spirit of God to convince us of our unbelief that we have got no faith. Says Jesus Christ, "I will send the Comforter; and when he is come, he will reprove the world" of the sin of unbelief; "of sin," of sin," says Christ, "because they believe not on me."

Now, my dear friends, did God ever show you that you had no faith? Were you ever made to bewail a hard heart of unbelief? Was it ever the language of your heart, Lord, give me faith; Lord, enable me to lay hold on thee; Lord, enable me to call thee my Lord and my God? Did Jesus Christ ever convince you in this manner? Did he ever convince you of your inability to close with Christ, and make you to cry out to God to give you faith? If not, do not speak peace to your heart. May the Lord awaken you and give you true, solid peace before you go hence and be no more!

Once more, then: before you can speak peace to your heart, you must not only be convinced of your actual and original sin, the sins of your own righteousness, the sin of unbelief, but you must be enabled to lay hold upon the perfect righteousness, the all-sufficient righteousness, of the Lord Jesus Christ; you must lay hold by faith on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and then you shall have peace. Come," says Jesus, unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

This speaks encouragement to all that are weary and heavy laden; but the promise of rest is made to them only upon their coming and believing, and taking him to be their God and their all. Before we can ever have peace with God we must be justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ,

we must be enabled to apply Christ to our hearts, we must have Christ brought home to our souls, so as his righteousness may be made our righteousness, so as his merits may be imputed to our souls. My dear friends, were you ever married to Jesus Christ? Did Jesus Christ ever give himself to you? Did you ever close with Christ by a lively faith, so as to feel Christ in your hearts, so as to hear him speaking peace to your souls? Did peace ever flow in upon your hearts like a river? Did you ever feel that peace that Christ spoke to his disciples? I pray God he may come and speak peace to you. These things you must experience.

I am now talking of the invisible realities of another world, of inward religion, of the work of God upon a poor sinner's heart. I am now talking of a matter of great importance, my dear hearers; you are all concerned in it, your souls are concerned in it, your eternal salvation is concerned in it. You may be all at peace, but perhaps the devil has lulled you asleep into a carnal lethargy and security, and will endeavor to keep you there till he get you to hell, and there you will be awakened; but it will be dreadful to be awakened and find yourselves so fearfully mistaken, when the great gulf is fixed, when you will be calling to all eternity for a drop of water to cool your tongue and shall not obtain it.

MAYHEW

J

ONATHAN MAYHEW, an American clergyman, distinguished alike for his eloquence and his intense individuality, was born on the island of Martha's Vineyard, October 8, 1720. He was educated at Harvard College, and after studying theology was ordained pastor of the West Church in Boston, continuing in that office until his death in Boston, July 9, 1766. He was noted for his boldness in both theological and political matters, being the first New England minister to adopt Unitarian views, and perhaps the earliest among the colonists to proclaim the principles which bore fruit later in the Declaration of Independence. During his ministerial career no American divine surpassed him in intellectual brilliancy, and very few in earnestness and fervor. He became the leader of the New England political and religious radicals and wielded a tremendous influence over colonial thought at a very momentous period. His two most famous sermons are the " Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission," and "The Snare Broken," which refers to the repeal of the Stamp Act. Besides many sermons issued singly from the press two collections of his discourses appeared in Mayhew's lifetime: "Seven Sermons (1749); "Christian Sobriety" (1763).

DISCOURSE ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF CHARLES I

A

DELIVERED JANUARY 30, 1750

SPIRIT of domination is always to be guarded

against, both in church and state, even in times of apparent security. Civil tyranny is usually small in the beginning, like the drop in a bucket; till at length like a mighty torrent or the raging waves of the sea, it bears down all before it and deluges whole countries and empires. Thus it is, also, as to ecclesiastical tyranny the most cruel, intolerant, and impious of any. From small beginnings it exalts itself above all which is called God and that is worshipped. People have no security against being unmercifully priest-ridden but by keeping all

imperious bishops, and other clergymen who love to lord it over God's heritage, from getting their foot into the stirrups at all. For, let them be once fairly mounted, and their beasts, the laity, may flounce and prance about to no purpose; and they will at length be so jaded and hacked by these reverend jockeys that they will not even have spirit enough to complain that their backs are galled, or, like Balaam's ass, to rebuke the madness of the prophet.

Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality along with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes. It damps their spirits. It suppresses arts. It extinguishes every spark of noble ardor and generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it. There is nothing great or good where its influence reaches. It therefore becomes every lover of truth and of human kind, every true lover of God and of the Christian religion, to bear a part in opposing this hateful monster. And it was a desire to contribute a mite towards carrying on a defensive war against the common enemy that produced this discourse. . . .

That unlimited obedience of any sort cannot be urged merely from the indefinite expressions in which obedience is enjoined in Scripture appears from hence: that expressions of the same nature frequently occur in Scripture on which all confess that no such absolute and unlimited sense ought to be put. For example, "love not the world, nor the things of the world;" "lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth; ""take no thought for the morrow." These precepts are expressed in absolute and unlimited terms; but it is generally allowed that they are to be understood with certain restrictions and limitations- some degree of love of the world and the things of it being reasonable and proper.

Nor, indeed, do the "right reverend fathers in God" and

other dignified prelates of the Episcopal church seem to be altogether averse to admitting restrictions in the latter case, however warm they may be against restrictions and limitations, in case of absolute submission to authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical, in which their personal interest is involved.

The Christian precepts of forbearance and submission under private injuries are enjoined in more peremptory and absolute terms than any used which require submission to oppression and injustice in civil rulers. Any one may be defied to produce such strong expressions in favor of passive and tame submission to unjust and tyrannical rulers as are used by Christ to enforce submission to private wrongs. Yet few understand those expressions in a strict and literal sense. And the reason why they do not is because common sense shows they were not intended to be so understood. .

Suppose it were allowed that the clergy were a useful order of men, and that they ought to be esteemed highly, in love, for their works' sake, and to be decently supported by those whom they serve: the laborer being worthy of his reward. Suppose, further, that a number of reverend and right reverend drones, who worked not, who preached perhaps only once or twice a year, and then not the gospel of Christ, but the divine right of tithes the dignity of their office as ambassadors of Christ- the equity of sinecures and a plurality of benefices - the excellency of the devotions in the prayer-book or some favorite point of church tyranny and anti-Christian usurpation: suppose such men as these, spending their time in effeminacy, luxury, and idleness, should, merely by the merit of ordination and consecration, and a peculiar, odd habit, claim great respect and reverence from those whom they call beasts of the laity, and demand thou