than the natural consequences of temporary excitement. This is freely granted. But you do not condemn a whole orchard, because some of the trees were not successfully grafted; nor all virtuous men, because some, under the profession of virtue, are mere pretenders. It is sufficient that thousands and thousands of these effects have been of the most radical and permanently beneficial character. Were they of human production, something of a corresponding kind would have appeared from other sources; by other hands than those of Christians; in other countries and ages than those enlightened by the Bible. Inasmuch as this has never occurred, we are fully warranted in concluding that it could not; consequently, that these effects are above the reach of human power. Το whom then shall we go but unto thee, O Lord! who hast committed this treasure of the gospel to earthen vessels, to feeble men, to dispense it; "that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." That we cannot comprehend in what manner the power of God operates in the hearts of men, to work such wonderful revolutions in their characters, is no valid objection to the matter of fact. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth." The phenomena of the winds are incomprehensible, and yet believed. "So is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Now, I think we may be content to pass from the position with which we began that the moral transformations which the gospel, in all ages, has notoriously wrought, and, by un- questionable proofs, exhibited to the world, in the characters of those who have become its genuine disciples, cannot be accounted for, but on the supposition of a divine power accom panying its operations.

II. We proceed to speak of the fruits of christianity, as displayed in the lives of its genuine disciples, in contrast with those which notoriously characterize the lives of its opposers. The virtues of true Christians have been the same in all ages of christianity. It was "with well doing" that, in the days

of St. Paul, they were accustomed to silence their enemies. Having become free from sin, they became servants of righteousness, and had their fruit unto holiness. "Such were some of you," saith St. Paul to Christians of that famous brothel of all Greece, the city of Corinth; "Such were some of you (partakers in all vice); but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God." The apostles could appeal to whole communities, for evidence of their blameless character. "Ye are witnesses and God also, how holily, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you." Even by the testimony of the ancient and deadly enemies of the gospel, the lives of Christians had no parallel among any other people. The early defenders of the faith publicly challenged a scrutiny of their virtue. It was their remarkable steadfastness in resisting the allurements of vice, and their heroic patience, under all the tortures employed to break their attachment to holiness, that often excited the bitterest hatred of their enemies. Compare the purity, benevolence, and humility of the apostles, with those of any philosophers of antiquity, or any leaders in modern infidelity. Pliny, the Roman governor, in the first century, having investigated extensively, and even by torture, the moral character of the Christians, who filled the province over which he presided, declares, in his cele brated letter to Trajan, that he could discover nothing more against them than that "they were accustomed, on a stated day, to meet before daylight, and to repeat among themselves a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath not to commit any wickedness; but, on the contrary, to abstain from thefts, robberies, and adulteries; also not to violate their promise, or deny a pledge; after which it was their custom to separate, and to meet again at a promiscuous, harmless meal." Gibbon fully sustains this testimony. By his description alone, the primitive Christians were lights of unequalled excellence in the midst of heathen darkness and depravity. What Christians were in primitive ages, they still

remain, exactly in proportion as you have reason to believe their hearts to be engaged in their faith. To say in this country that any one is a true Christian, is at once to give a certificate that he is worthy of all confidence, and more than usually virtuous: we could not desire a more complete proof of public opinion as to the personal fruits of the gospel. The bare fact that there are hypocritical professors of the christian character; that bad men will put themselves to the self denial of endeavouring to act and seem like Christians, for the purpose of gaining confidence in their integrity, is a strong prooi of the public estimation in which christian virtue is held, and of the genuine gold of which the character of a real disciple of Christ is composed. Men never counterfeit a spurious currency. Copper coin is too cheap to tempt a forgery. We never hear of the wicked putting on the mask of infidelity. to secure a character for honesty, soberness, chastity, faithfulness, and benevolence. If christian virtue were not in high repute, and much more current in society than any other, hypocrites would take care to choose a mask that would sit more pleasantly upon their vicious propensities; they would select a cloak that would less confine, and smother their sinful habits. It is notorious among us that no sooner do we hear of an individual that he has become a communicant in the church, than the presumption is that he is not only sober, honest, and of pure morality; but that he has adopted principles of a very elevated virtue and purity, and is more than ordinarily benevolent. Whence this, but from the general experience of what communicants are? What is it that makes a breach of truth and honesty, or an act of cruelty, or a violation of justice, or a departure from chastity or temperance, in a person professing to be a genuine Christian, so immediately and generally a matter of particular notice and surprise among all classes? Is it not because such occurrences are singular, and little expected? But they excite no surprise, and but little attention, when attached to those who

reject christianity; because among such people they are neither singular nor unexpected.

Why is it that parents so universally prefer to have genuine Christians intrusted with the education of their children? that when places of trust and temptation are to be filled; when men have property to invest, or agents to engage, in a business requiring special inflexibility of uprightness, they feel it to be at once a heavy weight in the scale of a candidate, that he is a sincere and devoted Christian ?* Who are the benevolent, disinterested, self-denied labourers in all good works? Where do the poor, and hungry, and outcast, apply for assistance with the most confidence of finding a sympathizing heart and a ready hand? Go around to all the noble institutions of charity; to the asylums for orphans, for widows, for the blind, for the deaf and dumb, for juvenile criminals; to the schools of gratuitous instruction. Take a list of those who give money, and time, and toil, for their support. What would become of them, were it not for the Christians associated in all their concerns? Who are they that tread the loathsome alleys, and dive into the wretched habitations

* The lecturer was once particularly struck with the evidence of this. He was connected with the military academy at West Point. Two offices of great importance to the discipline of the corps of cadets were to be filled from its own ranks. The order of the academy had suffered materially for want of officers in those places who would not swerve from duty out of deference to the public opinion, the persuasions or threatenings of their fellows. Two cadets were selected, who had recently become professors of religion. They were assailed with all manner of influence to induce them to relax in favour of certain indulgences to which a portion of the corps had been accustomed at the hands of their predecessors. I need not say they mildly, but firmly held to their duty. One day, as they were leading out the companies to which they were attached, for evening parade, I said to an officer of the institution who had been chiefly instrumental in their selection: "Why have you chosen these cadets for such places? One of them, indeed, has a fine soldierly appearance; but the other is just the contrary, and has nothing of the soldier about him." Why (said he), the truth is, we required those who would do their duty without regard to the wishes and expectations of others or to the custom that has been prevalent in the corps; and we knew they would be firm." I never heard of this confidence being disappointed.

of vice and poverty, in crowded cities, in cold winter, hunting up the wretched subjects of disease and pollution, for the purpose of relieving and reclaiming them? Who put themselves to the painful work of begging for the poor, and after bearing all the extreme unpleasantness of such a task, finish their labour in the careful distribution of their hard earned alms, asking no recompense but that of doing good? From Christians in general, turn your attention to their leaders.

Is it not well known that when a minister of the gospel can be commended for nothing more than a moral life and unblemished honesty, it is considered a positive condemnation? To give him the highest praise that a Deist can pretend to, and then to say no more, is to leave his character under a taint. It is expected that he will be more than moral, and honest, and friendly. You look that he shall be holy; eminently pure; full of active benevolence, going about doing good. Prove that he is destitute of these distinguished virtues, and public opinion will adjudge him unworthy of his name and profession. That all ministers are not exemplary and devotedly holy men, only proves that the sacred office, like all others, is liable to be intruded on by the unworthy. Every body knows that such cases, instead of being favoured by the influence of christianity, are directly opposed to it. But subtract from the number of the ministers of the gospel, every one on whom the least suspicion of a want of virtue ever rested; leave none, but those who at any moment can obtain, from all that know them, the praise of being the excellent of the earth; and what a host will remain of men whose lives are conspicuous examples of inflexible integrity and of exalted principles of purity and holiness; whose daily strength is laid out in efforts to benefit their fellow-creatures; and around whom, at the bare mention of a charge implicating their characters, will be collected the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, with those who have been lifted up out of ignorance, or reclaimed from profligacy,