tinctness, and are employed with greater or less energy, according to the will of their proprietor. It is their action, however, which gives to any one the sense of his own existence. Destroy them, and you annihilate the being in whom they dwelt. Put them to rest, and you reduce him to a state of insensibility. Call them into vigorous exercise, and you render more intense his consciousness of life. Some of these faculties lie dormant for years, and are seldom fully developed. Among the most degraded of the savage tribes, the elements of an intellectual being are scarcely perceptible; there man is little more than a creature of sense. Yet human nature is the same in the cannibal as in the European scholar. The difference between them arises from difference in attention to their own powers.

At the commencement of the spiritual life, the soul is awakened to a perception of its spiritual capacities. It finds itself the possessor of moral powers, to the existence of which it had either been insensible, or the character of which it had so mistaken, that the discovery of their true nature is equivalent to their immediate bestowal. A man perceives a use of his understanding, which almost presents it to his notice as a new faculty. He detects, among the principles of his constitution, religious affections, that had been so concealed, or so inactive, that he was a stranger to their existence in his soul. He finds, in his will, a capacity of submission to the will of his Creator, with which he has not before been acquainted. He can love truth and goodness, for their own sake. He can separate himself from the things of earth, and place himself in the midst of spiritual images, which possess a re

ality, as strong as those which belong to the objects of the senses. He exercises a faith, which once seemed to him, if indeed he thought upon it, as a delusion, an impossibility. He possesses a wisdom, a skill, an energy, that he knew not were his. He is, in fine, amazed at the new revelation of his own nature. I am sensible that I have not used language with philosophical accuracy. It is not important, nor even possible, in this connexion, to observe exactness of speech. I simply wish to present before your minds the truth, that the man who becomes thoroughly religious, a sincere and perfect Christian, after having led an immoral life, or after having maintained a merely verbal Christianity, is brought to a knowledge of capacities and powers within himself, to which he was before as much a stranger, as if they did not belong to him. His consciousness of a spiritual and immortal nature, introduces him to a more vivid sense of existence, than is felt by the infant, when born into this world. A modern poet, in speaking of the feelings produced by a residence among scenes of natural beauty and classic association, declares that his 'soul was drenched with a new life. We understand this expression, and, except, perhaps, on the ground of good taste, we should acknowledge its propriety. Why, then, should it seem to us either extravagant or singular, that such an awakening to a new consciousress, as I have described, should be called a new birth?

2. Again, the change which ensues on the passage of a soul from wickedness, or spiritual indifference, to a just reception of the truth of Christianity, may be considered the entrance upon a new life; because it

acter.

presents to the individual many new relations, in which he lives; some of them new only inasmuch as they are now for the first time perceived by him, but others created by the change which takes place in his charWhen an infant is born, to be a partaker of the animal life, it enters upon various important relations to its parents and its other friends, to the outward world, and to the interests of time. These gradually unfold themselves to his knowledge, and he feels himself to be surrounded by obligations, embraced by sympathies, involved in dependence, so that he can secure his own good only by regarding the circumstances which encompass him. He soon learns that he must live with, for, and upon others, and that a great part of the business and science of life consists in ascertaining and obeying the claims of these manifold relations. Suppose that, for years, he should be occupied in this way, seldom, if ever, lifting his thoughts above the horizon of this world; and that then he should be led to contemplate himself as a creature and subject of God, absolutely, and at every moment dependent upon him, and accountable to him; yet more,—as a child of God, in whom he may behold his best friend, his heavenly Father; let him perceive the relation which Jesus Christ establishes between himself and his faithful disciples, the intimacy, sympathy, union, by which they are bound to him; let him regard himself as the heir of an endless life of improvement and glory; let the interests of eternity come under his survey as his interests; let him understand his relations to the universe, from its Author to the meanest thing which he may

use as an instrument of his own perfection; let him open his mind, his heart, his soul, to religious truths ;and will he not have experienced a far more sensible change, than the infant, when it first opens its eyes upon this life? Not only does all within him, but all around him seem 'new. Without doing the least violence to language, he may be said to be born again.

3. Yet once more, this expression may be adopted with propriety, because such a revolution is effected in the principles, tastes, feelings, habits in one word, in the character of the man, that he may be styled a new creature, and thence the process through which he has passed, be termed a new birth. The justice of this remark will be apparent from a sketch of the character which the subject of this regeneration acquires. What are its elements? What are his principles, and habits? Rectitude; he is a righteous man ; one who holds fast his integrity, under all circumstances of trial or temptation; who always acts conscientiously, and would sooner lose his life than wilfully offend the representative of God's authority within him; who always does what he believes to be right, at any risk and any cost. Disinterestedness; he is a man of charity, sincere, consistent, expansive, active charity; who prefers the comfort of others to his own ease; who embraces all men within the circle of his love; who is superior to the factitious distinctions of society; who has sacrificed his selfishness on the altar of Christian benevolence. Purity; he is one who keeps himself unspotted by the evil that is in the world, and though his business or his charity may force him into contact with pollution, yet receives no stain upon his soul; who denies his appe

tites, and watches over himself with a fearful, yet not an unquiet jealousy. Devotion; he is a pious man, who loves God supremely, and enjoys frequent communion with him, always regarding his presence, fearing his displeasure, seeking his favor, obeying his commands, submitting, with filial confidence, to his will; one who has not less religion in the closet than he shows to the world, and not less religion in the world, because he cultivates it in the closet. Humility; he is a modest man, who sees his errors, and thinks not of himself more highly than he ought to think; one who has laid his pride and ambition at the feet of his Master, and taken up, in their stead, the cross of a meek and lowly spirit. Diligence; he is an industrious man, who estimates time too justly to waste a moment, and desires perfection too earnestly to pursue it with a sluggard's pace. But I must pause in the enumeration of his virtues, for I might go on in the recital, till every excellence that adds strength or beauty to character, were portrayed. Enough has been said, to show the true Christian; a man of faith, of prayer, of self denial, of love, of active and increasing goodness. Contrast this character with that of many who bear the name of Christian,-with many? with most, I fear; and you must acknowledge the difference to be sufficient to justify us in speaking of the change, by which one is brought from a sinful, worldly, and careless life into a resemblance to Jesus Christ, as an entrance upon a new life.

The three circumstances to which we have attended,—the consciousness of possessing dormant capacities, the awakening to a sense of new relations, and the ac