below. Its previous habits and feelings would qualify it for living and acting in that higher sphere of existence, and make it feel itself perfectly at home amidst its splendours and its pleasures.

Secondly, The mortification of the corrupt principles and desires of our nature, is also requisite.

The habit or principle by which this is effected is one of the highest utility, and is productive of the happiest effects upon the character. Without it the supremacy of evil principles in the soul is undisputed and undisturbed, and their hold upon the heart constantly waxes stronger and stronger. This habit is necessary not only on account of the grosser and more violent passions of our nature, but also on account of the undue desire of earthly things, and the various corrupt affections which exert an influence upon the most virtuous of men. "The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” are naturally inherent in the human heart, and they constitute the body of death, which those who are under the influence of divine grace carry along with them, while they are in this imperfect state. These desires are not mere accidental qualities exhibited by some portion of the human race in particular circumstances; they are common to all the descendants of Adam; they are developed in every grade of society, and in every possible condition in which man can be placed. Such a hold have they, indeed, that they seem to be interwoven with the very texture of the

soul; and frequently, when they seem to be eradicated or their influence destroyed, they appear in other forms, and with an augmented vigour. All the functions of our moral nature are vitiated by them; and the soul, whose operations they are permitted to guide, without the control of a higher principle, is, by them, drawn down to endless perdition. Having their seat in the innermost recesses of the human mind, they are like so many insidious, malignant, and powerful enemies in the camp whose secret machinations are productive of irreparable mischief.

The varied objects of sense amongst which christians live and move afford abundant means of gratification to them; and these they continually pursue with untiring activity. From their very nature they would exist and effectually destroy the happiness of the beings in whom they resided, though there were no objects within their reach on which they could terminate. But when almost all the objects of sensation, with which we are daily and hourly coming in contact, are fitted to bring them into operation, the evil arising from their existence is greatly increased. How is it possible, indeed, that passions so strong and imperious as pride and covetousness and ambition, with all the train of fleshly appetites, can lie dormant in the bosom, when objects suited to their nature, possessed, too, of all the charms and fascinations in which the prince of this world can invest them, are perpetually passing before them in review and soliciting their attention? They are ever awake,

and their influence is ever felt. Not only are their demands put forth amid the amusements, the enjoyments, and the pursuits of life, and at seasons when the soul is not directly conversant with spiritual things; they are heard amid the solemnities of the sanctuary, and they pursue the most heavenly-minded saint to the retirement of the closet. In that hallowed place, where he endeavours to exclude external things from his mind, and to make as near an approach to God as possible, they perturb his soul; they mar his meditations, and prevent him from holding uninterrupted intercourse with the upper world. In no circumstances, and at no time, is any one exempt from such intrusions as these; although there, doubtless, are occasions when their influence is less felt than on others. They are still present. Tó presume, therefore, upon their dormancy or weakness is foolish in the extreme; for it frequently happens, when those who imagine themselves strong in the possession of higher principles presumptuously venture to place themselves in circumstances of temptation, that they are unable to resist the force of those depraved passions which they feel still to exist, and still to be unsubdued.

The nature of the evil principles which are, in scripture, denominated "the old man," remains unchanged, and there is reason to think that their strength is equally great after the soul is converted as it was before, and that it will continue so, till the soul is set free from the body. The change which

takes place in conversion consists in the introduction of antagonist principles which keep under restraint, although they neither destroy nor weaken, the old ones to which they are opposed. The strength of these antagonist principles is capable of being increased to an indefinite extent, and in proportion as they acquire vigour is their influence felt. The unholy affections of the mind are kept under control by them in the same way as a captive-tyrant is by the vigilance and superior power of the conquerors into whose hands he has fallen; but if the control is relaxed, they immediately exhibit their wonted vigour, and break forth as violently as before.

Such instances happen not only at the earlier stages of the christian life, but frequently after great advances have been made in the path of holiness. The progress, then, which is made in the work of sanctification does not consist in the weakening or the destroying of the carnal affections of our corrupt nature, it consists in strengthening the principles of holiness, and bringing them into more constant and lively operation. If it consisted in the former of these processes, a protracted earthly existence might witness their utter annihilation, and the attainment of absolute perfection on this side the grave. The time might come when it would cease to be a duty, because it would be unnecessary to watch against temptation; when the exhortation to mortify the deeds of the body would not only be useless but absurd, and when a complete relief would be experienced from the internal struggle

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of opposing principles. None of these things, however, have either been observed or experienced. the contrary, those who have sojourned longest in this imperfect state find that there is really, and to as great an extent, at the close of their lives as there was when they at first set their faces heavenward, "another law in their members warring against the law of their mind, and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin which is in their members." Holiness, then, if it flourish at all in the soul, must do so in the midst of many refrigeratory influences. The noxious weeds which strike amongst its roots and contaminate the soil in which it is planted cannot be eradicated; and before it can be completely free from their influence it must be removed to a more genial soil, and to an atmosphere better suited to its

nature.

Such being the case, it is evident that the principle of holiness possesses strength only in as far as it has the ascendancy over the evil propensities of our nature. Both cannot exert an equal degree of influence over the mind. Either the one or the other must have the supremacy. Now, since the strength of these evil propensities remains unimpaired to the last, the character can be perfected only by the invigorating of the principles of holiness. And one of the best means of increasing its vigour, is to maintain a constant warfare against those propensities whose influence it is designed to neutralize and

counteract.