which was once an unruly member, full of deadly poison," now tells the wonders of redeeming grace; those eyes, that were once evil and "full of adultery," are now turned to heaven with pious adoration, or gushing with tears of penitence for sin; those ears, which before could listen to nothing but what was sinful and depraved, are now opened to attend to the things of the kingdom; the hands are lifted up to God in prayer; the lips praise the name of Jesus. That heart, which was once "a cage full of unclean birds," is now a temple for God to dwell in, through the eternal Spirit. When the power of the gospel is experienced in the heart, the obstinate become mild; the self-willed, submissive; the careless, thoughtful; and the dissolute, holy. It is not enough that the gospel enlightens the judgment, and elevates the affections, but it must do more; it must transform both soul and body into the image of Christ, and thus affect the temper and the conduct; and that it does this, may be proved, from the design of God, and the testimony of example. Learn that the gospel produces a holy effect upon the disposition and deportment of mankind,

1. From the design of God.

Jehovah determined to accomplish, by the inspiration and diffusion of the gospel, "what the law could not do, in that it was weak." He chose it to be the grand means of turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan to God. He ordained it to be the sword of his Spirit, that should slay our corruptions; the rod of his strength, that should rule in our hearts; and the noblest display of his power in raising us to a high elevation of mental and moral excellence. He resolved in his eternal mind, that his

word should heal the nations of the deadly plague of sin, and clothe the people in the garments of purity. Then, surely, the purposes of the Lord must stand, and he will do all his pleasure, because he wisely determined that it should be so ; therefore his gospel powerfully influences the temper and conduct. This may be also seen,

2. By the 'testimony of example.

Let those who have received the gospel in the love of it, be viewed by us as a long cloud of witnesses to its truth and Divine effects; for into what heart has it darted its influence that has not, from being obdurate and hard, become tender and susceptible? Who is there that firmly believes the gospel testimony, that does not adopt a different line of conduct from that which is pursued by the children of disobedience? Through the power of the gospel, those who were cruel and profane, as Manasseh, like him begin to seek the Lord their God, and repent with full purpose of heart. Those who were as extortionate as Zaccheus, when the salvation of the gospel comes to their ears and their hearts, like him feel a spirit of pure benevolence to the world, and love to Him, who caused his grace to abound much more than sin. Those who persecuted the saints, like Saul of Tarsus, when the light of the gospel shines into their souls, throw down their weapons of hostility to Christ and his chosen, and determine to war a good warfare, under the protection of the Captain of salvation. When all other attempts at reforming the character have failed, the gospel has gloriously succeeded. It has taught the liar to become sincere; the intemperate to become sober; the proud to become humble; the wanton to become chaste; and the self-righteous to submit to

the obedience of faith. Yea, am I not addressing some who glory in the thought, that they are trophies of its power, and who stand in the church of Christ as monuments of its grace: though ye were sometimes foolish and disobedient, the time past of your life has sufficed you, wherein to have wrought the will of the gentiles; and you now desire to serve God in all holiness and righteousness. What, though I might, after I had mentioned some of the slaves of sin, say, "And such were some of you;" yet I rejoice that I am able to add, "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 ;" and therefore you display the influence of the gospel, in your temper and conduct. But I shail detain you no longer in attempting to prove what must, to those who know the purity of the gospel, appear a self-evident proposition; but shall now,

II. Trace the gospel in the mode of its operation, or show how it is that it produces so happy an effect; and admire the wise adaptation of the means to the accomplishment of the end.

The gospel, then, influences the conduct, as it strikes a death-blow at our evil propensities, as it implants new principles in the soul, as it presents us with a perfect pattern of all that is excellent, as it proposes the noblest motives to purity of heart and life, and as by the enjoyment of its consolations it gives us strength to obey its precepts.

1. The gospel is every way calculated to influence the conduct, because it strikes a death-blow at our evil propensities. When we believe the record that God hath given us of his Son, our corruptions begin to weaken; and the man of sin dies daily. The gospel nails our abominable re

bellion to the cross of Jesus, and takes away the enmity of the heart; this being done, that which before opposed the will of God is removed, and we desire to run in the way of his commandments, since he has enlarged our hearts. Well has the immortal Cowper said

"Let this hint suffice:

The cross once seen, is death to every vice;
Else He that hung there, suffer'd all his pain,
Bled, groan'd, and agonized, and died, in vain."

The gospel controls the power and dominion of sin within us; it subdues the enmity of the heart; and therefore bends us to obey the laws of Heaven.

2. When we receive the gospel in the love of it, new principles are implanted in the soul. For it imparts to us a taste for holiness; a perception of its beauty; an ardent desire to cultivate Christian purity in the thoughts we indulge, the words we speak, and the actions we perform. As soon as the gospel has come to us, as it is indeed and in truth, the word of God, and not of man, we begin to love the Divine law; we discover a tendency to holiness, an increase in grace, yea, an earnest aspiration after being perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect. By the gospel, the seeds of Divine grace are sown in the naturally barren soil of the human heart, which, under the blessing of Heaven, spring up, and present us with those fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.

3. The gospel influences the conduct as it proposes the noblest motives to purity of heart and life. It gives us to feel that the love of Christ constrains us. This is indeed a spring of action, an incentive to obedience, with the force of which the unregenerate are totally unacquainted, yet the

power of which is mighty beyond conception; for whenever the soul of an individual is touched with the love of Christ, he readily yields him implicit and constant obedience. The gospel secures a pleasing change in our spirit and temper immediately, as it makes us glow with affection to its glorious subject, its adorable Author. This justifies us in saying,—

"Talk they of morals 10 thou bleeding Love!
Thou Teacher of true morals to mankind;
The grand morality is love of thee."

The gospel teaches us to aim to please God, as well as to show to the world that we are travellers to a heavenly city, within whose gates nothing that defileth, or is defiled, can ever enter.

4. The gospel presents us with a perfect pattern of all that is excellent. It sets before us Jesus the Son of God, whose immaculate purity heaven and earth can attest. In him, indeed, all the rays of moral excellence meet as in one point; and we not only view in him the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, but we behold human nature adorned and dignified, by a lively combination of all the virtues of which it is capable. And after the gospel has exhibited to us the holy Jesus, it says to us, "Let the same mind be in you, which was also in him." Yea, by its heavenly power, it assimilates us to his image; it changes us into his likeness; it forms us upon a Divine model; for we all with open face beholding, in the glass of the gospel, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." O blessed influence of the glorious gospel!