Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/203

Rh "God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We may clothe ourselves in the garment of self-righteousness, we may felicitate ourselves on the ground of our own goodness, and be esteemed by a short-sighted world as the best of citizens, but this will be found at last to be a poor preparation for an exit from time to eternity. With no other preparation than our own righteousness, we shall be like the man, spoken of in the Gospel, who built his house upon the sand, "When the rains descended and the Hood came and beat upon his house, it fell and great was the fall."

Nothing can be more absurd than the idea of man attempting to recommend himself to the favor of God by his own fancied goodness. He has often violated the law of God which denounces death upon the transgressor; yet, he attempts