SERMON X.

ACTS, xvi. 30.

WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED?

WHEN St. Paul was preaching the gospel at Philippi, he drew upon himself a prosecution from some of the chief men of that city by an act of charity, which happened to interfere with their gains. He was accused therefore to the magistrates on a false pretence, and thrown into prison. At midnight he, and his companion Silas, sang praises to God: and their heavenly strains being heard from a remote corner of a dark prison, (the inner-prison it is called,) attracted, we are told, the attention of the prisoners; on many of whose hardened hearts such rapturous devotion might probably have had some effect.

In the midst of this song of praise a violent earthquake shook the prison-whether it was a mere natural event, or it had some connection with the case of the apostles, we are not informed. The locks and bolts, however, of the prison gates flew open; and a free passage was left for escape. The jailer, alarmed, rushed into the prison and supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword, and would have killed himself. But Paul, seeing his frantic action, cried out, Do thyself no harm; we are all here. The jailer, struck with the composure of the apostle, in a moment of such alarm, and with the dignified manner in which he spoke, seems to have felt that instantaneous conviction which hardened sinners sometimes feel. He was stung at once with the recollection of his own guilty life, and conceiving St. Paul to be that preacher of righteousness, which he pretended to be, and which the miracle he had just wrought seemed to prove, fell down before him, crying out, What shall I do to be saved?

THIS is a question, my brethren, which concerns us all, as well as the jailer; and is in fact the most serious question that can be asked. A mortal man, who is conscious that he has a soul

soul within him, which must go on his death into a place of happiness or misery, cannot avoid, one should think, being very solicitous about the event. It is certainly a point, which deserves our first attention, whether we shall be happy or miserable to all eternity*. It is a question therefore, one should suppose, that would be constantly recurring to our minds; and never forgotten in the midst either of business or pleasure.

It is a

But in fact we find it far otherwise. question which seldom disturbs any of us; though the best, as well as the worst, have need of its frequent admonition.That the best amongst us, as well as the worst, have frequent occasion to ask ourselves this serious question, What shall we do to be saved? shall be the subject of the following discourse.

* There is no doctrine, at which well-meaning christians have cavilled more than at the eternity of future punishments. But surely that bold unauthorized manner, in which some of our divines have determined this point, in vindication, as they say, of divine justice, is somewhat presumptuous. They had better, I think, drop their conjectures, which can never be satisfactory, because they are unfounded; and leave this matter in the hands of a just God, who will, no doubt, in his own righteous way, equalize punishment and crime.

They who have least to answer for, know enough of themselves to make their salvation not a matter of perfect ease. The best of us, on looking into his own heart, must see enough to give him some apprehensions at meeting his righteous Judge, on the great day of accounts. Though his Judge is the God of mercy, yet his mercy, we know, is tempered with justice and how often we have laid ourselves open to that justice, none of us can be ignorant. Though we may not have been guilty of any great sins, yet our offences notwithstanding may be numberless. How languid are we often in our devotion to God!-how unthankful to him for his blessings!-how unmindful of his continual presence; not suffering that great check to have its proper influence on our lives!-how inattentive are we to the wonderful mercies of our redemption through Christ!-how cold and unproductive is our faith!-ho little do we trust God in our afflictions-or depend upon him as our supreme happiness!-how much more valuable do we esteem his temporal, than his spiritual blessings!-how attached are we to the world!-how backward when we read the scriptures, in applying their precepts and examples to ourselves!-how apt are we to be led away by

the

the vicious fashions of the world, contrary to our own sense of what is right!-how high an opinion have we often of ourselves!-how little do we feel of that great christian virtue, humi. lity!-how apt are we to take offence, and imbibe prejudices for trifles ;-what a variety of bad thoughts do we often encourage, which tend to envy, malice, pride, impurity, self-love, and vanity!-what wrongnesses do such thoughts produce in our actions, in our tempers, in our behaviour!-how little guarded are we often in our conversation, injuring the characters of others, and spreading scandal and defamation, without considering that golden admonition of scripture, not to do to others, what we should think it wrong to have done to ourselves!

Our example too may have been as little our care, as our conversation, and we may often, perhaps, by our unguarded actions, have led others further than we have gone ourselves.-In short, how often have we left undone those things which we ought to have done; and done those things which we ought not to have done!

I run over all these points of miscarriage, to which numberless others might be added, because in some of them the best of us offend.