themselves to be hindered in their upright course, and diverted from it. Assuming this as a fact, I propose to trace it to its sources; to expose the springs of an evil so hostile to the peace and salvation of the soul. These are not to be found either in deficiency of means, or in deficiency of motive. Not in deficiency of means. God demands nothing of his creatures which they are not capacitated to perform. They know him not who imagine him to be "a hard master, reaping where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strawed." They know him not who discern any, likeness between him and that tyrant of Egypt, who exacted more toil of an enslaved people, without removing or alleviating the difficulty which retarded their compliance with his will. The claims of the divine Majesty are at once just and merciful. They are always proportioned to the ability of his subjects, who receive from him strength equal to their day of trial and service. Much is required of him only to whom much is given; much asked of him only to whom much is committed." And if you can suppose a moral agent altogether powerless, you may be satisfied that, from him, nothing is expected. If, then, having run well the race of duty, your career be unhappily arrested, say not that it is arrested by deficiency of means. Neither may you ascribe it to deficiency of motive. Motives abound. Every thing that can confirm; every thing that can justify; every thing that can inspirit, quicken, and impel, is presented to the soul. What more can be desired for this purpose, than is contained in this noble scripture? "The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and religiously in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." All to whom the gospel is preached, and they to whom it is entrusted, are commanded, as far as they may find it practicable, to preach it to every creature; all are taught, not feebly to attempt the restriction of evil propensities, but resolutely, laboriously, manfully, and totally to resist, renounce, and deny the gratification of them; to habituate themselves carefully to self-respect, to justice towards their neighbour, and piety towards God. And as an inducement of ample weight and power, all are directed to anticipate with triumphant certainty the crown of their hopes and struggles in the glorious advent of the Redeemer, which shall be without sin unto eternal salvation. It is life and immortality that invite you to persevere. The very genius of the evangelical constitutions is, work, for God worketh in you; and if you improve the grace already received, more shall be imparted. That spirit shall descend upon you in seven-fold energy, whose province and whose delight it is to sanctify the depraved heart; purify the troubled conscience; succour the helpless; encourage the diffident; quicken the dull; and establish, strengthen, and settle the unsteady. Exceedingly great and precious are the promises, both of present favour, and everlasting glory and felicity, held out to allure mankind into patient continuance in well doing; to purify them from the corruption that is in the world. through lust; and to elevate them to the dignity of a participation of the divine nature. "Omnipotence hath given unto them all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called them to glory and virtue."* If, then, having run well the race of duty for a time, you suffer yourselves to be arrested in your bright career, charge this unfortunate issue upon any thing rather than deficiency either of motive or of means; of ability or of inducement. Be just to Heaven, and criminate yourselves. Accompany me into your own bosoms, and there recognize the sources of * 2. Peter, i. 3. 4. this evil; the veritable springs of this instability. Recognize them in that no more than superficial attention which is too commonly bestowed upon the subject of religious and moral duty; in that indecision of mind which is so apt to be occasioned by the collision of different and opposing views of things; in the incautious tampering with those incentives and provocatives to evil which the world and its ruler, aided by the corruptions of the heart, are so forward to offer; and in the neglect of the instituted means of grace, publick and private. Recognize them in that no more than superficial attention which is too commonly bestowed upon the subject of religious and moral duty. This is a radical defect. It may with eminent propriety be styled a fundamental error. Until it be corrected, men cannot be consistent, uniform, and persevering Christians. An insufficient ground-work can promise no stable or dura: ble superstructure. Hence it is, perhaps, more than from any other single cause, that the moral state of most persons is so variable and fluctuating. They do not reflect with adequate depth and seriousness upon the nature and extent of a religious life; or upon the reasons which support their obligations to pursue it; or upon the diligent and laborious exertion necessary in the prosecution of it.' FIRST. Men do not reflect with adequate depth and seriousness upon the nature and extent of a religious life. They seem to imagine that if they reform in certain particulars, they may freely indulge themselves in others. And even where they profess to reform themselves, they seem to be satisfied with very meagre and imperfect conceptions of the business of reformation. They know not, or remember not, or, at least, appear indisposed to admit, this apostolick truth. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all:"* the same insincerity of heart which leads him habitually to violate one of the divine James, ii, 10. commandments, being calculated to lead him into the violation of the rest. They do not bear in mind that no one worldly lust can be in reality denied where all are not denied; that no real transformation of life can be effected independently of a renewed spirit; and that where the spirit is renewed, there, not one, or two, or any limited number of vicious habits and practices, but all, are renounced. They do not bear in mind the intimate connection subsisting between the different branches of duty; or the imperfection of each, contemplated apart. For assuredly, although it is well to cultivate purity, temperance, continence, chastity, and moderation, yet to add to them the social virtues, is still better; while at the same time, the union of both these classes of excellence cannot but be extremely defective, and in a sense, vain and unprofitable, unless crowned, sanctified, refined, and exalted, by piety towards God. Without meditation on God's law, is it probable that men will uniformly obey it? without investigating the full bearing of his preceptive will in all its parts, is it probable that they will yield it a minute and unlimited compliance? Without clear ideas on moral points, shall we expect from them right conduct? Look not for steady virtue in him who thinks any less of repentance than that it is a total reformation in the habits of acting; not in particular and temporary instances, but in habits: who thinks that he has "sufficiently mortified a corrupt affection by now and then refraining from the gratification of it, though he may as often induge as deny it:" who thinks that he has acknowledged and discharged hisduty as far as necessity requires, by shewing an occasional regard to it." Look not for steady virtue in this man; for you look in vain. SECONDLY. Men do not reflect with adequate depth and seriousness upon the reasons which support their obligation to pursue a religious life. When they do what they ought to do, or leave undone what they ought not to do, it is more frequently the result of some peculiar and passing excite ment, than of a well-informed and well-directed understanding. If they are stretched upon a sick bed; if they endure some more than common hardness; if some favourite object eludes their grasp, or some untoward event thwarts their views; they are disquieted; they are intimidated; they are affected; they are melted. They become for a season disgusted with themselves-the world-and all things. They tell you, and for a little while it may seem to be so; that they abjure their sins as the procuring cause of their calamities. If they attend upon the ministrations of God's word, something either in the matter which they may hear, or in the mode in which it may be conveyed to them, strikes and effects them; and stirs them up to purposes of amendment. But in the midst of all these trials, these agitations, these workings of the passions, the affections, and the feelings; the genuine, the only solid and time-defying basis, on which to erect the steady purposes of piety and virtue, is unseen or disregarded by them. What I mean is, the essential demerit of moral evil; its intrinsically odious and deleterious nature; its perfect incompatibility, whilst unrepented of and unrenounced, with comfort, tranquillity, and hope, in this world, and with the joys of the Divine Presence in Heaven. What I mean, further, is, the essential beauty and worth of holiness; its intrinsically lovely and beneficial nature; its infallible tendency towards present peace, and future and everlasting glory. He who builds not his religion and his morals on this foundation, cannot be steadfast; cannot be unmoveable; cannot always abound in the work of the Lord, or in the performance of duty. Unless you hate sin with a perfect and unmixed hatred, a hatred growing out of the persuasion of its extreme deformity, loathsomeness, vileness, and malig nity, how can you, with fixed purpose, rise above its influence? It has been finely said, that Vice is a monster of such hideous mien |