red, and not a yoke which he is obliged unwillingly to sustain.

The native predilections and habits of the fallen mind are mortified and conquered by a new and efficacious principle of Christian holiness. The natural tenants of the heart begin to give place to a more celestial train of visitants. Man is thus put into a state which would greatly resemble his aboriginal perfection, were it not for the melancholy fact, that sin still survives, and by its constant struggles for preeminence counteracts the free expansion of that heavenly principle which has been implanted. This contest terminates only with that last sigh which wafts the soul to the presence of its Maker; so that upon Christian principles, perfection upon earth is obviously unattainable. Still the tendencies and appetencies of the renewed mind are towards that exalted point; and, though weak in himself, the Christian is enabled by the divine assistance to gain such victories over sin, even in the present world, as are a pledge of that triumphant moment when he shall be made " more than conqueror, through him that loved him."

The sanctification which the apostle was to inculcate was evidently a progressive principle. The Christian's life cannot be stationary: we are going forward or going back we are attaining new acquirements, or we are forgetting what we already know. It is as true as it is awful, that "because men have no changes, they forget God;" so that to increase in feeling our sinfulness and lamenting it, to grow deeply in penitence, and contrition, and humility, is surely a far more favorable indication, than constantly to maintain that we experience no alternation of feeling, no fluctuations of hope or confidence. The man who is really acquainted with the sanctifying influences of the Divine Spirit, though he will earnestly deprecate the idea of elf-righteousness and self-dependence, will not remain ninterested or inactive; but will endeavor, with

prayer, and diligence, and increasing dependence upon God, to "press forward towards the mark for the prize of his high calling," not from a presumptuous feeling of human merit or human strength, but from the scriptural assurance, that "He who hath begun the good work will perform it in him unto the day of Jesus Christ."

To delineate fully the nature and extent of Christian holiness is impossible. He only who created the human soul in its original perfection knows the limits of that divine principle with which he re-animates it, and the heavenly nature of that moral change which he has appointed to render it again meet for its eternal destination. Judging merely by ordinary facts, and contemplating the Christian in his daily struggles with the innumerable impediments that oppose his "growth in grace," we must often form a very inadequate estimate of the purity and power of the newly-implanted principle in his heart;—yet, even when thus viewed, and forgetting for a moment the ideal perfection of a principle which we have no opportunity of observing, except under the powerfully counteracting force of a corrupt and sinful nature, we may be often justly surprised at its almost miraculous effects. One such a character, for example, as that of Saint Paul, well studied, and duly contrasted with the highest exaltation of merely human virtue, will present an idea of the practical effects of the gospel in enlightening, sanctifying, and ennobling the human mind, far beyond the greatest conceptions that uninspired reason could suggest or even understand.

Such then is the outline, and but the outline, of that holy religion which as Christians we profess, in distinction to the mere dictates of the unassisted understanding. If then our admitted system be in reality so valuable and complete, how unwise, as well as how wicked, must be the conduct of those, who, amidst all their professions, are at heart depending more upon

the generalities of natural religion than upon the essential peculiarities of the divinely revealed dispensation ! The disciples of a Plato, an Aristotle, a Socrates, a Confucius, or a Mahommed, are not ashamed to avow the tenets and imitate the conduct of their acknowledged masters; yet what is more common than for professed Christians virtually to deny their own admitted system, and even while they extol the character of Christ, to shrink from any thing that is exclusively Christian? Those who would perhaps have been zealous devotees of a mere human philosopher, are careless and indifferent respecting Him, the divinity and importance of whose mission they still profess to believe.

But if Christianity be true, it is surely unspeakably important if it be admitted as our creed, surely it ought to influence and regulate our conduct. Either the commission which was given to the apostle was utterly superfluous, or the scheme of a large portion of professed Christians is essentially defective. We, indeed, acknowledge our belief in the evangelical dispensation; but has that belief had its appropriate effect upon our hearts? Have our eyes been opened to perceive the leading truths of revelation; especially our individual demerits, and our consequent guilt, as well as our inability to save ourselves by the best deeds which, since the fall of man, we are able to perform ? Had the desire to obtain forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, become the predominant feeling of our heart? Has such a radical change of character taken place in us as is intimated in the expression of being turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God? Is the future reward promised by Christianity among them that are sanctified rendered congenial to our feelings, and become an object of our desire, by an incipient course of holiness already commenced in us by the sacred Spirit, and which we hope to see matured

to perfection in the future world? Has sin, not only under its more offensive character of vice, but in its most specious and alluring forms, become so disgusting to us, in consequence of the renovation of our nature, that we earnestly desire to be freed, not only from its consequence, but also from its dominion, and to return, by the grace of God, as far as possible to that primeval but long-lost purity of soul in which man was originally created? If effects analogous to these have not taken place in our hearts, and been exhibited in our lives, our religion has hitherto been merely a formal and unmeaning recognition, instead of a due belief and a practical experience. If, however, Christianity be such as has been attempted to be described, it deserves, on every account, the highest attention of the understanding, and the most devout affections of the heart. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?"

ESSAY

ON THE

INFLUENCE OF A MORAL LIFE ON OUR JUDGMENT IN MATTERS OF FAITH.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.—John, vii. 17.

IN tracing the origin and progress of religion in the human soul, it is impossible to reduce it to a series of precise and invariable operations, and to allot to each of our faculties and powers its definite share in the general process. It seems indeed to be the ordinary course of the Holy Spirit, in his agency on the heart and mind of man, first to illuminate and convince -then to convert-then to sanctify; or, in other words, first to lead men to a perception of their natural condition, and of the character of the gospel; to teach them their sinfulness and spiritual inability, and to pour into their hearts the grace of contrition and penitence; then to guide them as conscious transgressors to the great Sacrifice of Calvary, to repose by faith in the death and merits of the Saviour alone for pardon and acceptance with God; and then to bestow upon them that peace which accompanies a true and lively faith-to sanctify them by his gracious influences and to render them fruitful in every good word and work, as becometh those, who, being bought with