rich or poor; does conscience seem to call to you? Does the sure approach of death-the certainty of a judgment to come-the awful prospect of shortly passing into the unknown region of spirits, into the eternal world, and into the presence of your God;-do these vast interests seem to rise, in all their immeasurable importance, before your view? Have these suggestions broken in upon the darkness of your minds, like beams of light from some brighter world; and caused you to see, whether willing or unwilling, the madness of sin, the reality and glory of the life to be revealed? Moments like these, if rightly used, are of more value, than the treasures of the whole earth. Such a moment may be the crisis of your everlasting destiny and now may be the accepted time-now the day of your salvation.

Let, then, the language of your heart and conscience be, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Attend to that voice; for it is thy life. It is the voice of him, who says to you, in all the height and depth of its spiritual meaning, "I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have no other gods before

me."

761

SERMON XII.

LEVITICUS, XIX. 2.

"YE SHALL BE HOLY: FOR I THE LORD YOUR GOD AM HOLY."

IT was the noble sentiment of a heathen, that the highest summit of religion, is to imitate that being whom we worship. This is a truth, unchangeable as God himself; and as extensive as the wide range of intellectual being. This principle, however perverted, may be traced, in the most degraded corruptions of religion. And though, as the Psalmist informs us, the gods of the heathen were but idols, yet between the worshippers, and the object of their worship, the correspondence and resemblance were still apparent. "They that make them, are like unto them; and so are all such as put their trust in them."

In the same manner, it may be affirmed, in every instance, and without exception, that every man, in his tastes and character, resembles the god he worships. For whatever a man mainly cleaves to, and loves; whatever is his first object, is, in spite of names and professions, his god. If he lives in pleasure; pleasure is his god. If he lives in the spirit of the world; the world is his god. If

he lives in sin; sin is his god. Such men are idolaters of the worst kind; inasmuch as to bow down to impurity and vice, is a still deeper des basement of the human nature, than to fall down before the stock of a tree, or a carved image. But, however this may be, men are, by an immutable law, like the god they worship: and, consequently, he alone who bears upon his soul, the impress of the Divine nature, is, in reality, a worshipper of the living and true God.

If, then, religion consists in copying from the great original; of what infinite importance is it, that we form right notions of God; that we study well the blessed characters and attributes of his' revealed nature! Of one of these, only, my text speaks. While all the surrounding nations were adoring their own vain imaginations, under the titles of lords many, and gods many; "the Lord spake unto Moses, saying; Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy." I feel this great importance. For I am deeply impressed with the conviction, that the holiness of God is that peculiar attribute of his high nature, the knowledge of which has power to convert the soul, and quicken it into spiritual life. Or rather, shall say, it is the secret of the Lord, which is with them that fear him: for, in proportion as God is

I

subject to be one of

apprehended as a holy God, the mind is enlightened from above; and enabled to pierce the clouds, which separate between our natural corruption, and the invisible world.

Certain it is, that men can go far in religion, and still not reach that point, which weans their hearts from earthly things. They can come near the kingdom of God, and stand at its very threshold, without entering into it. You see them, at every moment, coming to the birth; and, yet, there is not strength to bring forth. You see them just passing the line of demarcation; but still, they do not pass it. Year after year, they continue almost, but not altogether Christians. I have often asked myself, why is this? What is it, that prevents persons, who seem anxious to do all that is right, from at once ascending the hill of the Lord? What is it, when the whole burnt-offering is ready, which keeps the celestial fire from descending upon the altar? The solution of the While God's other

matter, I believe, is this. attributes are known to the class of minds or persons I have alluded to, his holiness is veiled from their eyes.

The simplest meaning of the word holy, is separate, distinct, or kept apart from common uses. Holiness, in the creature, denotes peculiar dedication; a consecration from all other services

to that of God alone. Thus God's people are called saints, or holy ones; his solemn day is called the holy Sabbath; the divine record of his will is called the holy Bible; his sacraments, his ministers, his ordinances, his house of prayer, and all his dedicated things, are called holy-that is hallowed, sacred, distinct from all that is profane or common. When this term is applied to God himself, it follows that it must be taken in some peculiar and transcendent sense. God's holiness is his brightest essence, his inaccessible light, his incommunicable glory. It is that by which the Deity is high uplifted, above all that is not God. It is the immeasurable distance of the Creator from the creature. It is, above all, God's infinite separation from sin.

The Old Testament often exhibits the Divine Majesty, in these awful characters. Draw not nigh hither," said God to Moses: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest, is holy ground." In still more dazzling brightness, and still severer colouring, does this holiness appear, when Sinai, the mount of God's presence, "burned with fire, unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness." With no less solemnity and terror, is God exhibited, in the tenth chapter of the book of Leviticus, when there went out fire from the