a feeble analogy to that through which an intelligent mind and a susceptible heart must pass, if now, for the first time, the doctrines of the gospel poured their light upon it; and it had now to make the transition from views which rested wholly upon the earth, and hopes which never passed beyond it, to the conceptions of God, the sentiment of his paternal providence, of the connexion of this world with another, of the immortal destination of the human soul, and the prospect of interminable and uninterrupted advancement in divine knowledge and moral goodness as unfolded in this blessed book, which is now shedding its heavenly light into so many dark places of the earth, and bearing its divine consolations into so many broken and trembling hearts.

To Christians, what a sublime morality is presented; what noble services are enjoined; what a course of duty, usefulness, self-sacrifice, active beneficence, moral progress and elevation is prescribed. But who fulfils it? who comes up to this high standard? who is indeed a consistent Christian? This I cannot say. Many who wear that honored name are at an almost infinite distance from it. But because men have never reached this height, is it to be inferred that they never will reach it? because they have not attained, should they not aspire to it? Let us pray God, my friends, to enable us to become what the gospel requires.

No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. To the Christian altar let none bring a divided sacrifice. No man need aspire to excellence, who does not give his soul to the object of his pursuit. No man need presume to be a Christian, in the true and lofty sense of that appellation,

who does not frame his resolves and come to his object in the spirit of entire self-devotion.

If we think to make the profession conditionally; if we are inclined to perform some duties, but claim a dispensation from others; if we think we can practise upon the rules of the gospel at one time and safely omit them at other times; if we are prepared to make some sacrifices yet reluct at others, which are equally matter of duty; if we think, with respect to some gratifications inconsistent with the rules of the gospel, that we will allow them for the present, but at a future time we will forego them; yes! after the appetite has been worn out by indulgence or wearied with satiety; if farther, when we resolve that we will be Christians, we are still looking back with a longing interest to objects that are incompatible with our duty, and disposed to embrace the first opportunity of returning to them, though we vainly imagine it shall be only for once and only for a moment, and we flatter ourselves that we are determined immediately to come back to our duty, we have not that spirit of self-devotion, which they must have who would be what the gospel demands.

It is the want of a spirit of self-devotion, a serious, hearty, entire resolution of piety, which is the principal cause of the inconsistency, the imperfect and equivocal virtue and goodness, which marks the character of many christians and presents an effectual bar to all distinguished moral improvement. They set out with the best intentions; they desire, they resolve, they pray that they may be christians. But when some arduous duty is imposed on them, when some difficult sacrifice is demanded of them, when they are called upon to relinquish some darling pursuit, or to resign some beloved object, because it interferes with their Christian

duty or improvement; when especially they find that they can never reach the bright goal, that is before. them; do what they will, there is more to be done; gain what they will, more is to be sought; advance as high as they will, other heights are to be attempted; then their courage and virtue fail them; they content themselves with inferior attainments; and remain that sort of mixed, frail, imperfect character, which is far from the claims of the gospel.

The first step in the road of Christian duty is a deliberate resolution of virtue. It should be our unqualified purpose to avoid what we believe the gospel forbids; to perform what that enjoins; to be what that requires. Our Christian duty is to be our first object, and every thing is to be made to bend to that. Under every trial, in every emergency, we are to resort to the teachings and example of Jesus, to learn what he requires, and what he himself was; and this to resolve that we will do and be according to the extent of our imperfect power. This is the spirit of self-devotion, with which now as much as in the beginning, they who would be Christians are required to devote themselves to the gospel. The requisition is wholly reasonable. The greatest good that earth or heaven contains is proffered to us. Why should not the conditions conform to its importance? May our hearts, Christians, respond entirely to this requisition. In the nearest relations of life are we ever satisfied with a divided, a partial, a wavering, a conditional attachment? Why then in the most sacred of all relations should we admit it? This self-devotion will render our duty easy, and the trials, which God imposes on us, light. Imperfect and frail beings, we shall remain at a humble distance from that perfection which the gospel presents to our aims. But

resting on this foundation, the best influences of religion will be recognised in our hearts and lives; and we shall be animated with the consciousness of sincerity and the delightful conviction of an ever-advancing improvement.

Happy, thrice happy, is the Christian, whose character is thus in accordance with his principles and obligations; and who, in the entire conformity of his whole life to the great principle that while the end of his being is happiness, happiness must be founded upon and flow entirely from moral goodness, manifests the highest wisdom; and exhibits a beautiful and perfect consistency with the dictates of his own nature, the invariable lessons of experience, the emphatical teachings of conscience, and the whole end and aim of divine revelation.

SERMON XIII.

DISCOURAGEMENTS IN DOING GOOD.

LUKE vi. 35.

Do GOOD, AND LEND, HOPING FOR NOTHING AGAIN; AND YOUR REWARD SHALL BE GREAT, AND YE SHALL BE THE CHILDREN OF THE HIGHEST: FOR HE IS KIND UNTO THE UNTHANKFUL

AND THE EVIL.

BENEFICENCE is one of the first duties of religion. Christianity is altogether adapted to render men kind and useful to each other. One of the great questions, which will be put to us at the day of trial, will be what good have we done; what hungry have we fed, what naked have we clothed, what distressed have we visited; and above all the duty is urged upon us by the example of Jesus, who went about doing good.

But under the best circumstances the duty has many

discouragements. It is not always easy. It costs time, labor, study, and care. It is never finished. When you have done all you can there is more that may be effected. It is one of the great ends of human existence. Benevolence, sympathy, all the kind affections, which belong to our nature; our mutual wants