wonderful dispensation of mercy from beginning to end, is designed to make us burning, as well as shining lights. Being no longer encumbered by Jewish rites and ceremonies, and distinguished, moreover, by larger communications of the Holy Spirit, and by a greater freedom of access to the throne of mercy,-we should be ambitious, under so sublime and spiritual a dispensation, of rising to correspondent heights of piety, and of exhibiting a temper of mind, worthy of His divine mission, who came down among us, for the purpose of simplifying the means, and of developing more fully the great end of religion,-and of glorifying his heavenly Father, by the diffusion of universal peace and good will. And with this view, we should earnestly implore the aids of the holy Spirit, that He may seal the truth upon our minds with that sacred and inimitable signature of heaven, which is accompanied with an internal strength, with a 'hope full of immortality,' and with that 'peace of God, which passeth all understanding!' This is the way to rise above this atmosphere of sense and sin,-to ascend, upon the wings of love, to a more pure and celestial element, and to enjoy a prelibation, at least, of that perfect bliss, which awaits us in a better life.

I need scarcely observe, that this exalted state of piety can only be maintained by an

pointment, connected; and of these various duties, a deligent and serious perusal of the Scriptures, stands among the most prominent, and conducive to our edification. For in the Bible,' observes the author just quoted, 'we uniformly find the doctrines, even those that are generally considered most abstruse, pressed upon us as demonstrations or evidences of some important moral feature of the divine mind, and as motives tending to produce in us some corresponding disposition in relation to God and man.' Forming thus the connecting link between the character of the Creator and the creature, they possess a majesty, which it is impossible to despise, and exhibit a form of consistency and truth, which it is difficult to disbelieve. Such is Christianity in the Bible; but in Creeds and Articles it is otherwise. These tests and summaries originated from the introduction of doctrinal errors and metaphysical speculations into religion; and, in consequence of this, they are not so much intended to be the repositories of truth, as barriers against the encroachment of erroneous opinions. The doctrines contained in them therefore, are not stated with any reference to their

great object in the Bible,-the regeneration of the human heart by the knowledge of the divine character. They appear as detached propositions, indicating no moral cause, and pointing to no moral effect. They do not look to God, on the one hand, as their source: nor to man, on the other, as the object of their moral agency. They appear like links severed from the chain to which they belonged; and thus they lose all that evidence, which arises from their consistency, and all that dignity, which is connected with their high design.' These important, though, perhaps, too unqualified remarks, (while they consist with the expediency of public creeds, which do not profess to explain the recondite mysteries of Christianity, but only to guard them by clear and negative statements,) should strongly impress our minds with a sense of the moral injury we sustain, by deriving our religious sentiments from any human or fallible authority, and of the paramount obligation of seriously studying the word of God,-as the water of life always flows with more purity from the sacred fountain itself, than from secondary sources. There the truth is displayed, not in scholastic or polemic forms, tending to make us mere Gladiators in the great science of Theology, but in the practical manner

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already alluded to,-and with a sublime simplicity also worthy of the majesty of God, and analogous to that rich and promiscuous variety which prevails in the works of creation, and which serves, by this very inartificial diversity and grandeur, to attract the attention of man, and to administer more effectually to his complicated wants and trials. When the Christian so reads the inspired volume of Scripture, as to mark, learn, and inwardly digest it; and it dwells, at length, in him, like a well of water springing up unto everlasting life; he will no longer slumber over an orthodox faith, but will exhibit its divine character in a sanctity of temper, and purity of conduct, highly ornamental to his profession. It appears from the uniform experience and confessions of good men, that they can do nothing effectually in the progress, any more than in the commencement, of the divine life,-by the springs and ingenuities of their own degenerate nature; and under a humiliating conviction of this Scriptural truth, relative to their moral inability, they put on that spiritual armour, which is provided for them; and through the instrumentality of the word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit,' are enabled, not only to withstand, but to rise superior to all the difficulties and dangers of their present warfare.

Is the Christian weak and ready to faint? He is encouraged in the Scriptures to look to his exalted Saviour and be strengthened. 'His grace is sufficient for him,'-and He has promised not to break the bruised reed, nor to quench the smoking flax.'-Has he been tempted to deviate from the line of duty? Let him return, like the Prodigal Son, humbly confessing his sins, and he shall be abundantly pardoned. Has he been induced, by unworthy motives, to deny his Lord, and to be ashamed of his cross? Let him think of his unparalleled sufferings and dying love, and, like Peter, weep bitterly; such sorrow shall be turned into joy. -Is he weighed down under a gloomy and painful sense of accumulated sins, and does his subtle and malicious Adversary, who before tempted, now accuse and condemn him? Let him recall to mind the gracious and comprehensive promise of his Saviour, 'Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' There is no distress, of whatever kind or degree, to which the voice of mercy is not responsive.-Do the rough winds of this world violently assail him, and damp his Christian ardor?-Does his love begin to wax cold? Let him silently and devoutly think of Him who bore the contradiction of sinners,' their base ingratitude, and monstrous rebellion,