opinion or conduct of those around you. This is the course which you are, on the whole, pursuing; this is the track in which you are striving to go; if there is any point where you are particularly liable to fail, your attention is directed to that point, and you are there particularly on your guard. If any of your consciences can answer that this is upon the whole your state, we may truly say, Blessed are you, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. You could not possess this frame of mind, you could not show these evidences of grace, unless you had indeed received Jesus as your Saviour, and he had received you, and taken you under his heavenly protection. "For as many as receive him, to them gives he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." He strengthens them; he teaches them; he "guides them into all truth; he makes his abode with them."+ In all their temptations, he defends them; in their sorrows, he does not leave them comfortless " he daily supports their spiritual life, for they " dwell in him, and he in them." This is no visionary picture, no shadow of the imagination; it is embodied in the substance of active piety; it is realised every day; it is realised in the conversion of sinners, "when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right," serving the Lord who has paid the penalty of his sins; it is realised in the life of faith, which millions of our * John, i. 12. + Id. xvi. 13. xiv. 23. fellow-creatures have led in this sinful world, opposing, through the grace given them, the corruption of their nature; "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body, that it may be made like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself."* Imaginary, did I say? God forbid that we should so doubt or disparage the power of the everlasting Gospel! No if there are any here who think little of this effect of grace, because they have not experienced it in themselves, let them " taste and see how gracious the Lord is;" let them "come unto him," and apply to him for "remission of sins that are past;" and then prove to themselves and others, that faithful is He who has promised, and that in him is treasured up both the will to pardon, and the power to sanctify. Yes if there are any here to whom the character which has been described is strange; who have no sense of their natural corruption, and their actual sinfulness, requiring that" Christ should suffer for their sins, the just for the unjust † ;" any in whose hearts pity and forgiveness have no place; any who think that meekness would render them too low in the eyes of the world; that God would not have implanted passions in our breast, if they might not be indulged; any who have no desire after righteousness, and understand nothing of religion but its outward forms; * Phil. iii. 21. +1 Pet. iii. 18. in a word, if there are any whom no blessing will reach, if only the poor in spirit, and the meek, and the merciful, and the pure in heart, and the spiritually minded, are blessed; O, let them consider in time; repent ere it is too late; "seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near !" For, indeed, my brethren, if there are any of you in this case, 66 you are yet in your sins *;" you have not made good the vows to which you were bound in baptism; the covenant is void, and, as far as you are concerned, "Christ is dead in vain."+ But remember, in him is life, eternal life, and in him only. "He that hath the Son hath life; and whoever hath not the Son, hath not life ; whosoever believeth not the Son is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." § -- Let not another night close upon you while you remain in this unsettled, unprepared, unrenewed condition. Look well to the foundations of your faith, and be not content until it is firmly built on Christ, the "rock of ages." 1 Cor. xv. 17. 1 John, v. 12. ↑ Gal. ii. 21. THE CHRISTIAN'S DEPENDENCE UPON HIS REDEEMER. JOHN, XV. 4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. Ir is scarcely possible to contemplate the Christian character as described in the Gospel, and held up to our imitation, without acknowledging an excellence truly divine. This may justly be attributed to that religion, which, if it were universally obeyed, would extinguish all the vices which disturb human society and disgrace human nature, would subdue pride, violence, selfishness, and sensuality, and introduce in their stead humility, charity, temperance, mutual forbearance; would repress all that eager desire after temporal advantages which excites evil passions through the collision of interests; and would unite all men in one pursuit"- the only pursuit in which all could unite, and yet assist instead of counteracting each other-that of studying to do the will of God for the sake of everlasting happiness. Were men to presume so far as to invent a test by which the divine origin of a religion should be tried, I can imagine none more unexceptionable than its tendency to overcome what is acknowledged to be evil in human nature, and to raise in an immeasurable degree the standard of happiness. I can imagine no eulogy more complete than this: that if all men lived up to the spirit of the Gospel, few sources of misery would remain in the world, and even that remainder would receive the utmost alleviation. The only objection which has ever been urged against the true Christian character, derives whatever force it has from the disobedience of mankind. It has been said, that the meekness, the patience under injuries, which it prescribes, is incompatible with our condition on earth, and would expose the man who should strictly comply with its demands to indignities and wrongs without remedy. But if this were true, which it is not to any material extent, as experience proves, even under the present circumstances of Christianity, it would afford no argument against a religion which requires abstinence from injuries no less positively than patience under them. Would it improve the condition of mankind, if resistance were permitted where patience is now enjoined? Or would it be consistent with the Divine Author of the religion to annul one of his laws because another was broken? Let a human legislator sometimes condescend, if necessary, to the refractory subjects with which he has to deal. But it is not, surely, for God to yield to the passions which rebel against his will, but to ordain where |