formed for immortality. And how many thousands are there in the world who live like Esau. Health and strength of body make them so naturally, if the soul and spirit are not kept in proportionate vigour they have one part of their nature in a very sound state, while the other two are weak and sickly; the appetites, therefore, of the sound part are keen, and its enjoyments lively; it in short is alive, while the soul and the spirit are almost dead: and, therefore, the man lives what may be called a bodily or an animal life; and if, like the brutes, he were made up of nothing but body, he would be in the perfection of his nature; but as a man with a soul, and much more as a Christian with a spirit, he is in the lowest state of degradation; neither fit for the life that is to come, nor yet for the life of a reasonable being, even in this present world.

This then is the secret of the faults of a most large class of our fellow-creatures; from the gross vices of gluttony and drunkenness, and lust, to the unthinking and unprincipled life of those who think of nothing but bodily exercises and animal enjoyments, and extending downwards to the mere idleness of our boyhood. The mischief is, that the body has outrun the soul and the spirit; or that, in other

words, the man is living according to the flesh. To keep down the body, therefore, and bring it into subjection, was the object of the fastings and various kinds of bodily mortification, which good men in old times so often practised. And certainly with regard to gluttony and drunkenness and lust, direct abstinence, and the lowering the body by strict self-denial, may be in some cases the most effectual remedies. But generally speaking, what is wanted is not to lower or weaken the body, but to raise and strengthen the soul and spirit; that the body may be ready and able to do their work, which it cannot do unless it be itself sound and vigorThe soul is that part which is most commonly strengthened, by the growth and cultivation of the powers of the understanding, and by the various objects which attract the mind, as we come forth into actual life. The great prizes which the world has to offer, wealth, and fame, and power, nay even the pleasures of society, and the ability to marry, and thus to obtain the sweets of domestic happiness, cannot commonly be gained without industry, which implies at the very least the existence of some thought and steadiness of character, of the .exercise of more than the mere faculties of the

ous.

body. And the general tendency of civilized

society is to call forth our minds into action rather than our bodies; so that as we advance in life, the soul naturally takes the lead. In persons of very powerful understandings, this happens as a matter of course in them the mind is healthy and vigorous, and wherever that is the case, its pleasures are preferred to those of the body, however strong may be our relish for those also. Thus great writers, great statesmen, great generals, great men of science, devote themselves with pleasure to their several employments; they discharge the graver business of life, and enjoy its honours and rewards; and though if they retain their health and strength, they can enjoy keenly the pleasures and exercises of the body, yet they look upon them as very inferior to those of the mind, and regard with contempt those persons who place their chief notion of happiness in mere animal and bodily enjoyments.

Here then we have a class of persons which includes the most famous names in the history of the world, and a large portion of the ablest and most respected members of society. Here we have the powers of the mind carefully cultivated and devoted to useful purposes; great works often accomplished for the good of mankind, and the fabric of human society at once

strengthened and ornamented.

This is the

life assuredly of a reasonable creature; of one widely separated from the beasts; of one, looking only to this visible world, noble and admirable. And here, without the Gospel, our progress must stop; here is the life of body and soul, in health and vigour but a few years must destroy the strength of both, and if death be long delayed, both will be so much weakened by natural decay, that it is plain that they have gone through their appointed course; and that "that which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away."

But the Gospel which has brought life and immortality to light, has also pointed out to us that part of our nature by which we can be fitted for it, that is our spirit, our spiritual hopes and our feelings of love or charity. Now it as much destroys our Christian perfection, if the soul be preferred to the spirit, as it does our reasonable perfection, if the body be preferred to the soul. And, as they are few in comparison with whom the soul is more than the body, so are they still fewer with whom the spirit is more than the soul. Under favourable circumstances in civilized society, the progress of life indeed, with little effort on our part, sets the soul above the body; but without very

great efforts and great prayers, and the aid of Him by whom our spirits were made, it is not possible to set the spirit above the soul. It is not natural to transplant to earth the character which prevails in Heaven; earthly excellence may be expected here as a natural fruit; but spiritual or heavenly excellence is the gift of God in a higher sense: and to be enabled to receive it, we must, in the language of Christ, be born again. And, therefore, it is not to be looked for by the mere course of years and steadying of the character: it will not come naturally at any period of life, for it is not natural, but something above our first nature, to which we may be raised through God's grace, if we follow his guidance; but at which we never should arrive of ourselves. The excellence of our spirits is to feel and hope as a spiritual and immortal creature; as the child of God by every tie of creation, of redemption, and of that gracious indwelling in our hearts by which he draws us to the knowledge and love of himself; as standing with an immortal life open before us, to be passed in communion with God, and the spirits of those who have been renewed after God's image. As we cultivate then the faculties of a child's mind or soul, when we teach him his common lessons, and