lent to holiness of life: a most unnecessary and irrational proceeding, as, in fact, there cannot be a moral feeling (properly so called) which is not the genuine fruit of the Spirit of God; nor a moral action, which is not the positive command of His word. Besides which, Christianity gives to the heart a spiritual influence, so much more excellent and efficacious, as to cause it voluntarily to produce from its regenerated faculties all those actions which philosophy has so long sought for, and sought in vain, to ascribe to its moral principles; enjoining as a part, and only as a part of its observance, every public and private duty, charity, and virtue of life. ness. But it will require an effect upon the affections of the heart, thus to produce a life of holiMorals cannot act upon the affections, but the action of faith lies upon them. To faith, therefore, we are to look for the action of that divine and mysterious power, by which alone our conduct in life can be influenced to goodness. As a first step to this consideration, I will attempt to show the relation which man holds with the Deity. That relation is entirely religious, as the revelation of the Deity is the only source by which we can be informed of it. But is it vo luntary or absolute? In vain shall we look abroad for any answer to this question; and, unless we take the teaching of God upon it, "we grope at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness." We are assured that God "made us, and not we ourselves *;" and "that He giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; for in Him we live and move and have our being; for we are also His offspring." + Thou," says the Psalmist, addressing God as the Creator of all things living, "Thou hidest thy face; they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath; they die, and return to the dust." Thus the "net" of the Lord is spread upon us, and we are taken §; and, unless we acknowledge the God of revelation as our Creator and Preserver, we can find no other; and unless we are in the hands of His providence we know not " whence we came or whither we go." But the "sure word of prophecy" hath fully revealed the mystery of our creation; the nature of our dependence upon the Creator; the object of our sojourn in this precarious state, and the destiny which awaits us after we are "sown in corruption:" "whereunto ye will do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your heart." || *Psalm c. 2. † Acts xvii. 25. 27, 28. § Job xix. 6. 2 Pet. i. 19. - a Being thus the creatures of God, and dependent upon His will in both life and death, if He exact of us a service, we can have no appeal from His claim to our obedience, nor escape from the power with which He enforces His will. That will is declared in the scriptures, and there also He exacts of us a service, spiritual service. He demands of us, our "heart *;" that we love Him †, and keep His commandments. And if we fail in rendering to Him the duty and obedience, which He thus has › power to require from the natural obligation of our birth, He denounces a punishment upon us, from which we have no power to escape: He is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. From this authority there is no escape, no appeal; it becomes, therefore, not less our interest than it is our duty, to inform ourselves of the nature of that claim. It is made known unto us through the Gospel. The nature of this claim, when only superficially regarded, seems to be paradoxical. The claim itself is generally acknowledged, but the manner of paying is too frequently either misunderstood, or entirely disregarded. And why? There is a spiritual disability. The man *Prov. xxiii. 26. Deut. vi. 5. + Ib. x. 28. of the world, το φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, asks with some warmth, "Cannot I obey ?" The answer is qualified, "You cannot of your own natural (moral) power obey God." Why then," he continues," demand of me a service which He knows I cannot perform?" We answer to his reason, and not to his feelings; Although you have not the power from nature, it is offered to you. God has provided the necessary aid to enable you to obey Him, and you, as a responsible agent, are required to use it." To convince men that they have need of this help, is the chief difficulty of our teaching. "They that are whole need not a physician." The heart is unwilling to admit that it cannot give itself to God; it will not see its own spiritual disease; and, like those unfortunate beings who mistake the aberrations of the mind for its stability, adduces its own folly as a mark of its superior wisdom. Christ is foolishness to the Greeks! We tell of the blindness, and corruption, and depravity of the heart, and its pride is offended, and it flatters itself into peace, by a thousand imaginations of its own power and independence. It boasts of its goodness, generosity, and virtue; repeats the tales it has learned of disinterested friendship, of self-devotion, of heroism, and of patriotic deeds; and asks if such actions proceed from its darkness and pollution? And when the conviction of error is forced upon it, either excuses itself by some sophistry, or boasts that it had the power to evade the action, had the will been exercised. The error of this boast, and it is, indeed, a dangerous error, lies in misapprehending the words, darkness, corruption, depravity, and pollution. Common usage, when applying these words to the heart, has limited their signification to its moral capabilities; a habit totally destructive of a right apprehension, and arising out of that confusion of thought of which I before complained. Could we confine the meaning of a word, when applied to a religious subject, to a religious sense, by whatever term we expressed the effect of original sin, we should convey to our hearers this meaning;-that such effect consisted not of our estimation of moral character, but of a consequent inability to love and obey our God. In arguing on this subject, I will attempt to confine myself to the term, natural corruption, meaning thereby, that in consequence of the spiritual defect of the heart, entailed upon our whole race, through the disobedience of our first parents, man, by his natural power, can neither know, nor understand, nor perform the will of God, and is, therefore, necessarily disobedient. Not that in all cases he is wilfully disobedient, but that there is a certain defect in his apprehension of spiritual |