Are

And are you offering God a "living sacrifice?” you actively engaged in doing his will? There is always enough to be done. In addition to the work of personal salvation, the poor are to be relieved; the sick and those in prison are to be visited, and the fatherless and widows in their afflictions; the ignorant are to be instructed, the careless warned, the penitent pointed to Christ, and believers encouraged and built up. But at the present time there appears to be a special call for Christian effort. With reference to our own country, we may truly say, 66 a great door, and effectual, is opened," for the spread of evangelical religion; but it is also true that "there are many adversaries." Political excitement, inordinate love of distinction, and thirst for wealth, are serious obstacles to the extension of true piety. Catholicism is beginning to exert a mighty influence in opposition to the faith once delivered to the saints. Infidelity, having stolen "the livery of heaven to serve the devil in," is creeping, like "a wolf in sheep's clothing," among the folds, seeking to devour.

But the call for Christian effort comes up from other lands. There is a movement favorable to the introduction of Christianity among the nations; silent it may be, but extensive. The increasing facilities in traveling and commercial intercourse are bringing distant nations into almost immediate contact; the light of science is extending; the heathen, by millions, are renouncing idolatry, and, unless speedily instructed in the truth as it is in Jesus, will settle down into a blind infidelity, or be beguiled into a false faith and corrupt worship by emissaries of the Roman Church. What, however, is being done to meet these calls? Much, compared with former efforts, and enough to show that it is a work especially owned and blessed of God; but little compared with what should be. What might not the church accomplish, by the blessing of Heaven, were all her resources consecrated to the work of filling the earth with the knowledge of God? And what an enterprise! How should every Christian's heart beat with a high and holy purpose to aid in carrying it forward; and, yet, how many appear to feel little or no interest in the subject! The Macedonian cry, as it comes up from all parts of the earth, is waxing louder and louder; but,

alas! upon how many ears does it fall almost as deaf as the leaden ear of death! Have the lovers of Jesus forgotten his last command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel to every creature?" If not, why are so few heard saying, "Here am I; send me ;" or, Here is my property, use it for the spread of the gospel? It is for the want of the spirit of entire and active consecration to God. This spirit must become more general in the church before the world is converted. But, brethren, I would hope better things of you, though I thus speak. And yet I would say to all, examine yourselves; consider the extent of God's claims and of your obligations. See if you are meeting them fully. And should you, upon careful examination, find that you are offering God but a partial sacrifice, I beseech you, by his great mercy toward you, bring all this very hour and lay it at the Saviour's feet. Freely have you received-freely give.

One thought more, and I close. Many of you have long been praying for the blessing of a clean heart, or perfect love. But as yet your prayers have not been fully answered. You are still crying, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" You wonder, perhaps, why the desire of your heart is not granted you. May you not have failed in presenting your offering? Have you not brought the halt, or maimed, to the altar, or kept back some part of what belongs to the Lord? Have you not yielded at some point to the claims of self? True, the blessing of sanctification, as well as of justification, is received by faith alone. But faith always supposes repentance, and true repentance implies consecration. May not the weakness of your faith be attributed, in part at least, to the imperfection of your repentance? Bring, then, a whole offering unto the Lord, and prove him herewith, and see "if he will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar," and look for the fire of God's love to descend and consume it, making an end of self-will, and "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

And now unto Him whose we are, and whom we serve, be praise for ever, Amen.

SERMON IX.

Christian Perfection.

BY REV. NOAH LEVINGS, D. D.,

FINANCIAL SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."-Matt. v, 48.

THESE, my brethren, are the words of Jesus Christ, in his justly celebrated Sermon on the Mount. His previous discourses and miracles, together with the sanctity of his personal character, had so interested the public mind, that multitudes from all parts flocked around him to hear the words of eternal life. Seeing these multitudes as sheep without a shepherd, and feeling his bowels of compassion melt in love toward them, he ascended a mountain-the better to be seen and heard by them all-and there delivered the sermon comprised in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of this Gospel. The words of the text form the conclusion of what he had said in the fifth chapter, and contain the practical improvement of the first part of this incomparable sermon. Viewed in this light, the solemn command contained in the text stands intimately connected with every part of the preceding discourse; and clearly shows that perfection in the Christian character was the grand end of all these divine communications. The pattern of this perfection, showed us in the mount, was the divine character itself. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." God is the inexhaustible fountain of all desirable goodness and adorable perfections. To be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect, is indeed impossible as to quality or extent, but not as to imitation. As God is perfect in all the qualities of his nature, and in all his adorable attributes; so we, as the subjects of redeeming and saving mercy, may be so renewed in righteousness and true holiness," as to bear a striking resemblance to him in moral and spiritual perfection. As far as we can discover, it would have been inconsistent for God to have required anything short of this.

66

Accordingly he says, "Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." To which we may add the language of the text"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." These claims of God are holy, just, and good.

But to have required this state of perfection of the posterity of Adam, while they bore no active part in producing the fallen condition of the race, without making provision for their restoration to the lost favor and image of God— though it might have been just, as the law is unchangeable -yet it would have been unavailing in our behalf; for, by the fall, we not only lost all disposition, but also all power, to do that which is pleasing and acceptable to God. This was our state by the fall. "But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."

If we consider fallen man abstractly from the great atonement, and from all the provisions of the gospel; or under this great economy, but in an unreconciled state, we may well say, that "there is no man that liveth and sinneth not;" "that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;" or, "if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." But in view of this great provision-the all-atoning sacrifice-we are informed that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." It is in view of this great provision of the gospel that we are commanded to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Notwithstanding the Scriptures everywhere abound with this important doctrine, yet very diverse are the views of Christians as to the nature and attainableness of entire sanctification in the present life. But inasmuch as "without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" and as holiness of heart and life stands intimately connected with the glory of God, our present peace and usefulness, as well as with our eternal state, should we not be well satisfied as to the

nature and truth of this important doctrine? And above all, should we not be well assured of a personal interest in this great salvation? Let us, then, consider

I. THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE PERFECTION REQUIRED OF US IN THE WORD OF GOD, AND OFFER SOME PROOFS OF THE TRUTH OF THE DOCTRINE. And II. POINT OUT THE WAY BY WHICH THIS GREAT BLESSING MAY BE OBTAINED.

I. Its nature, extent, &c.

The term perfect signifies "finished; complete; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; complete in moral excellences." But the term, in the evangelical sense, is used to express that matured state of personal holiness which God requires of us, and which the gospel promises to us. This state, in the Scriptures, is denominated the being "sanctified thoughout, spirit, soul, and body;" and being "preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; "the being "perfected in love;" the being "perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect." But we are not to understand by this the perfection of Adam in paradise. That degree of perfection enjoyed and exercised by man prior to the introduction of sin to our world, cannot be attained by any of his fallen posterity in the present life.

But if our moral natures may be so 66 renewed after the image of Him that created us," as to be "sanctified throughout, spirit, soul, and body, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," why, it may be demanded, may we not expect to be made as perfect in all respects in this life as Adam was in paradise? We answer, for the following reasons:-The fall entailed upon the posterity of Adam certain disabilities, which it does not please God to remove when we are renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Some of these disabilities are mental; as ignorance, weakness, and error of judgment. These, in many respects, and in relation to many things, are not entirely removed in the present life, even in the most holy persons. Others of these disabilities are physical: such as weakness, disease, decay, and death of the body. These dreadful evidences of the original curse remain, and have been exemplified in the painful experience of the most holy men who have ever lived upon the earth.