pends entirely on putting the mind wholly under the influence of the illu. minating intellect and holy emotions of Jehovah. He is our life. In him holy emotions glow, pure, intense, unmixed. And when his glories beam upon the soul, and the elevating and invigorating power of his holiness is felt, then sinful emotions subside and die, and the soul is filled with all the fulness of God. But let him retire, and sin revives again, and we die. On this point I speak to those who have experienced in their own hearts the influence of holy communion with God. I may fail to describe the state of mind with metaphysical exactness. But do you not know, by your own experience, that the thing itself is a reality? The Bible also speaks on the subject with the utmost fulness. What else is meant by "dwelling in God, and God dwelling in us?" or by the promise, "ye shall know that ye are in me, and I in you?" or by the promise, "I will love him and manifest myself unto him?"

But if communion with God is a reality, to increase it throughout the church is the foundation of all efforts to elevate the standard of holiness. It is by the life of God alone that the church can be made fully alive. The first great object then should be to remove all that prevents communion with God, to elevate our views and enlarge our desires on this subject, and to bring the church of every denomination fully under the power of his own infinitely pure and almighty mind. Then, and then alone, may we hope that the church will truly begin to live. Then, and then only will she be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Intimately connected with this, and originating from it, is

2. Faith. By this I mean such firm belief and clear and habitual views of divine and eternal things, as shall correct all false estimates of the worth of earthly joys, or the evils of earthly sufferings, and give to motives, derived from things unseen and eternal, their full power upon the mind, as vivid and present realities. Man is made to shrink from present suffering and pain, and to desire present enjoyment. But he is also made to regard the future; and to gain a greater future good, or to avoid a greater future evil, he can cheerfully, if satisfied that it is necessary, sacrifice present pleasure or encounter present pain. And as the magnitude of the motive, and the firmness of his persuasion increase, so does his readiness to make sacrifices or endure sufferings. Hence, if the motives are infinite and the persuasion complete, finite pleasure or pain loses all its power to affect the soul. And such are the motives presented by the word of God: they are great beyond expression, and beyond imagination. The joy set before us is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and the evil to be shunned is the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. When such considerations gain the ascendency, the world loses its power. Its joys and its sorrows are estimated not in theory merely, but in practice, as less than nothing, and vanity. And under the influence of such a faith, the feeblest mortal can encounter and overcome all the terrors of earth and hell. And why should it not be so? It is a conflict between infinite and finite for mastery over the mind; and if they contend on equal grounds, must not the infinite of necessity prevail? And it is faith which puts the infinite on equal grounds with the finite. It clothes the motives of eternity with the vividness and reality of objects of sense, and thus exposes the mind to their full power. This has been in all ages the great source of Christian energy and self-denial. Under its influence missionaries and martyrs, prophets and apostles, have cheerfully passed their lives in toils and sufferings, and died in triumph, by the sword, or at the stake, in excruciating torments. And should the primitive energy of this principle once more be restored to the church, no obstacles could resist her power.

Let it not, however, be supposed that such faith can originate from the independent and unaided reflection of the human mind. It is the gift of God, and is the result of intimate and habitual communion with him. To his mind, the realities of eternity have an absolute certainty, and he fully appreciates and feels their worth. Hence, as we have communion with him,

he transfers his own views, and his own certainty, and his own emotions, to our minds. Eternity rises before us in all its grandeur and glory. The joys of heaven and the woes of hell become real, and the mind surrenders itself to the full and overpowering impression of the scene.

Such are the habits of faith needed in the present age. Such as imply a power to enter into the emotions of God, and walk daily in the light of heaven, and to mould the character, views, and habits, in accordance with the feelings and public sentiment of that blessed world. The natural result of such a state of mind would be,

3. Supreme devotedness to God and to his cause. And in this respect also, the standard of holiness in the present age needs to be greatly raised. By the preceding states of mind, the great objects of choice are brought before us, presented in their true light, and contrasted with all else. In this, is implied the decision of the soul to employ all its energies for God, and in his cause. A decision first made when the sinner ceases to rebel, and submits to his Savior, but ever after destined to gain strength, till his whole soul is absorbed in the service of God. For such an increase there is an adequate foundation in the true value of things, and in the relations of a Christian to his Savior. The worth of his cause is infinite, and the obligations of a redeemed soul beyond all utterance or conception; and when, in the light of eternity, and under the full influence of divine love, these things are fully seen, what can longer divide the choice of the soul, or prevent a full consecration of all its powers and faculties to God? Such is the appropriate and natural result of a true view of things, and when it takes place, all our wishes and interests will be entirely identified with those of God, so that we shall have no plans, no purposes, no ends of our own. And such will be our love to him, that the promotion of his glory and the advancement of his cause will become entirely essential to our happiness. This is an important point-it is the great point to be urged in the present age. That Christians should no longer cherish a mere general determination to serve God on the whole, resulting in feebleness of heart, low degrees of liberality, and irregular and inefficient action, but give themselves and all they have away wholly to the Lord, and so identify all their interests with those of God, that nothing can render them happy but the progress of his cause. It is on this criterion that we ought strenuously and earnestly to insist, for it is a decisive test as it regards our degree of devotedness to God. Are you in such a state of mind that you can be happy while God is dishonored and his cause declining on earth? Can you sleep at ease and enjoy the pleasures of life, whilst your fellow-men are sinking to wo eternal? Does wealth increase, or honors multiply, or worldly prosperity attend you, and do such things fill you with joy and satisfy all the cravings of your soul? Is there in you no aching void which such things can never fill? Where then is your love of God, and entire devotedness to his cause? He is still dishonored, and his cause languishes on earth; but you can be happy! Where, I ask again, is your supreme love to God, and devotedness to his cause? No: we shall never love God as we ought, until his glory and the progress of his cause, are entirely and abso. lutely essential to our happiness, so that we can enjoy nothing on earth whilst these are neglected-so that ease and influence, and riches and honor, shall lose all their power to charm, so long as the main desire of the soul remains unsatisfied. This is a practical test; all can see its force: and all ought to be made to feel its power. It ought to be made the standard-and the only standard-of the degree of our devotedness to God. It ought to be held up before every eye, and urged on every heart. It ought to be made to blaze on every conscience with all the energy of the Spirit of God. It ought to meet every eye as if written in letters of fire on the heavens above, and re. sound in every ear as if spoken from on high by the voice of the Almighty. In short, the church must be constantly tried by this test till it feels its full power, and is in truth, entirely, supremely, and universally devoted to God.

4. Moral sensibility to the evils of sin, is another point in which the standard of holiness needs to be greatly elevated.

A high degree of moral repulsion from sin is always a striking characteristic of a holy mind. Among the holy in heaven, we shall find not only right purposes and holy emotions, but the highest loathing of sin. Indeed, this is an essential characteristic of a holy mind, and no mind that has it not, can be in a healthy moral state. Sin is truly odious, loathsome, and repulsive. No natural pollution can for a moment be compared to it in this respect. And if our minds were in a proper moral state, we should shrink from it in all its forms, with loathing and horror unutterable. It is in this respect that the evil consequences of the fall are peculiarly manifest. In this respect it is, that men are dead in trespasses and sins. They have not ceased to be free agents, but all holy sensibility to the evil of sin is gone. They see that they are guilty of sin, but do not feel its moral pollution, and they have no spiritual energy to loathe and to renounce it. This is produced by the Spirit of God. The energy of his holy mind removes the torpor and apathy of our own, and gives to us some of his own moral sensibility to the evil of sin, and energy to renounce it. And it is only as this state of mind increases, that we can make any progress in eradicating the corrupt passions and propensities of our nature. But of this work a vast amount must be done, before we can make any progress toward eminent holiness: for in the attainment of such holiness, is implied, not only the formation of right principles, feelings, and purposes, but also the extinction of wrong ones, previously existing. We are commanded not only to put on the new man, but to put off the old man not only to walk after the Spirit, but to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof: and in the latter work lies no small part of the duty of a Christian. It is not enough that the main purpose of the soul be changed, and that a Christian be on the whole, for God and not against him, and that he organize his life on this general hypothesis. All this may be done, and yet unfathomable depths of wickedness remain unexplored, and unutterable energies of sin remain within, unsubdued. A change of heart

is but the first blow which the old man receives, and though in its ultimate results it is a mortal wound, he is yet far from dead. The work of entirely crucifying and eradicating all remains of sin, is yet to be performed. And it is an arduous work. No one who has not fully and deeply engaged in it, can tell the efforts and conflicts it requires. All men are inclined with unutterable strength of feeling to the indulgence of self-complacency in some form. But to come to the point of utter self-renunciation, self-loathing, and self-abhorrence, is diametrically opposed to all the strongest feelings of the soul. To do it is to die a moral death; and the proud heart recoils with agony from the point. It desires leave, at least, to glory in its humility; but to renounce all merit, to be fully sensible of one's utter vileness, guilt, and degradation, to believe, to own, acknowledge, and deeply feel it, and to be habitually humble and broken hearted, is the most arduous and difficult at tainment of a Christian. But arduous and difficult as it is, it may be carried to an extent far beyond our highest conceptions, if we constantly aim at the standard of entire perfection: and no one should aim at any thing lower. No one should aim at any thing less than an entire and radical crucifixion of the old man, in all his members and parts, and to put on entire and in full proportion the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make no provision for the flesh to serve the lusts thereof.

But how can this be done without an exquisite moral sensibility to the evil of all sin? To see our sins, and acknowledge that they are sins, is one thing; but to have moral energy to loathe, abhor, and renounce them, is quite another. But all victory over sin depends entirely on this. The whole process is one of self-loathing and abhorrence of sin, and determined, agonizing efforts to subdue it. And why should it not be? How can a soul so polluted and degraded as that of man, so full of apathy and moral death, be restored to holiness and life, in any other way?

It ought then to be a leading object of the present age, to produce a more exquisite moral sensibility to the evils of all sin. No sin should be deemed trivial or venial. All should be abhorred. There should be the feelings of heaven on this subject. The evils of moral pollution should be felt, and mourned over as they would be in heaven, before the throne of God, where every robe is pure and spotless. And if the church will commune with God as she ought, she can gain this also. His feelings are pure and unmixed, and can impart a healthy energy to our own. He can teach us to loathe all our sins, even as he does, to crucify them with unsparing severity, and to long after perfect purity with the intensity of his own desires.

SERMON CXCI.

THE points insisted on in the preceding remarks are fundamental, and would imply all other graces: but of the traits of Christian character which flow from them, some are so particularly important in the present age of the world, that they deserve a separate and prominent notice. Among these may be mentioned,

5. Deep and unaffected humility

No sin is in its nature more plausible and energetic than pride. It is pe culiarly an intellectual sin, and not gross and vulgar, and it often assumes the fairest and most specious forms. It is also, when indulged, attended by a peculiar kind of pleasurable sensation, which, though in its results most pernicious, is at the same time most exhilarating and seductive. It is, in fact, a peculiar species of mental intoxication, and gives rise to habits of sinful indulgence, which grow stronger by repetition, and when fully formed are next to unconquerable. And against no form of sin is there needed an energy of holy abhorrence more intense, than against this. It has ever been the ruling sin of the world, and to it as a nation, we are peculiarly exposed; and of all sins, its evils have been least realized. It has been indeed condemned in theory. But no public sentiment in any age or country has ever felt towards it, as it ought. The apathy of the human mind on this subject would be truly surprising, were it not for the fact that the sin is so universal, and so much a master sin, and so rarely subdued. There is not, and never has been on earth, humility enough to create a delicate and energetic public sentiment as to the evil of this sin. Yet of all forms of sin, God abhors none so entirely and so intensely. It is to him an object of perfect abomination, and utter abhorrence; and in his church he loathes nothing so much. Nor are these feelings of God ill-founded. Though not a gross and vulgar sin, yet viewed in its results, it is the most pernicious of all sins, it is the great centre of rebellion against God on earth, the primal source of errors, heresies, and contentions in the church, and the most impregnable stronghold of the devil in the heart of man. Hence is it that so often, in descriptions of the agency of God in subduing the world to himself, he is exhibited as pouring out the vials of his wrath in a peculiar manner on the proud, and as threatening that when the day comes that shall burn like an oven, the proud especially shall be consumed as stubble.

Hence, if we would sympathize with God, there must be a mighty revolution in the church on this subject, and all pride and ambition, and unholy love of power, must become an object of utter loathing and abhorrence. The least degree must neither be tolerated nor indulged. There must be an energy that shall break down, and consume, and utterly eradicate this sin, and make the church what she ought to be, poor in spirit, and meek and lowly in heart. The energy of feeling on this subject ought to be such as no prosperity, and no temptations to pride shall be able to overcome. ought to produce in the church not an occasional period of self-abasement before God, easily forgotten and laid aside in the hour of trial, but a habit

It

of mind, deep, fixed, and permanent, a trait of character inwrought into the very texture of the soul, even as it will be in heaven. In this respect especially, should the old man be utterly slain, and his heart's-blood poured out on the altar of God. God requires nothing less; he will be satisfied with nothing less; for the least remnant of pride he abhors from his very soul. In some, this state of mind has already existed in an eminent degree. But never in enough to form a public sentiment on the subject. But it must: it ought to exist in all the church, and become her all-pervading character.

6. Those mild and gentle graces of the Christian character which are exhibited in enduring, kindly and benevolently, injurious and unjust treatment, either from professing Christians, or from the world. Of this kind are meekness, patience, long-suffering, forgiveness, and love of enemies.

Of these Christian virtues it need not be remarked that they are the peculiar results of Christianity. It is the glory of Christianity that it can produce them, and that it will, where it exerts its full power, and no system besides.

The reason is obvious. No other system brings the soul in immediate contact (so to speak) with the true God, so as to impress his most characteristic and peculiar traits upon the soul.

The most peculiar traits of God's character, and those in which his highest glory resides, he himself being judge, are his mercy, his grace, his patience, his forgiving love: and it is also his glory that these exist in no small or limited degree, but beyond all conception of the finite intellect of man. These traits are no part of a selfish or sinful mind. To them it makes no approaches. Their nature it does not comprehend. It is not until born of God that the human heart first learns truly to forgive. And as it communes with God, it drinks in more and more of this spirit.

But the work is a great one, to become truly and thoroughly forgiving. Not merely to abstain from overt expressions of ill will towards one who has injured us, but, at once, and as the natural dictate of the soul, to return good for evil, and to exercise towards him ardent and quenchless love.

Yet, God requires and expects in us nothing less than this. That on this point our whole nature shall be changed, and we shall become forgiving even as he is; so that it shall not daily cost us a painful effort to struggle against resentful feelings, but the affections of our soul shall flow easily, habitually, and strongly in the channel of love. So that it shall be impossible to provoke us, or take us by surprise; so strong shall be the habitual tendencies of our souls towards forgiveness and love.

That the gospel has power to produce this state of mind, there is no doubt; that it was designed to do it is plain; for to no other trait of character is more prominence given as the great peculiarity of a Christian spirit; and on the want of no other grace does God so decidedly frown. He makes a forgiving spirit an essential condition of our own forgiveness, and teaches us to pray that we may be forgiven only as we forgive.

But on this subject, at the present day, public sentiment is exceedingly feeble, compared with the emotions of God. The indulgence, to a certain extent, of an irritated and unforgiving temper, is not deemed a great sin, so that like drunkenness, it can not be endured and must be checked. It is expected, as a matter of course, that Christians will now and then get angry, especially in circumstances of peculiar trial, and it is regarded as a matter of surprise and peculiar gratitude to God, if they do not. And the amount of unchristian feeling exhibited in some of the great movements and discus sions of the day, is alike humiliating and surprising.

On this whole subject there should be a great and radical change. Public sensibility, as it regards the guilt of unchristian feelings, should be raised. The views and feelings of God respecting it, should be more regarded, and his solemn prohibitions of it sink deep into the soul. The formation of such a character as has been described, should be regarded as a prominent fundamental duty of the age. So far from being deemed a hopeless attainment,