is this to be effected? Are my powers and means become more adequate to the task; or is the task itself become easier, than formerly? Far from it! On the contrary, the further I advance in years, the deeper am I plunged in the cares and concerns and connections of the world. Never had I less ground to rely upon myself;—never more reason to hope for lenity in my All-seeing Judge; never more need to wish that help were at hand. What hope, then, remains for me? Thanks to my heavenly Father, there is still a hope of unbounded lenity: a source of sure and unfailing help is still open to me. The All-merciful Redeemer laid down his life for me and all mankind, that our repeated failures, our ineffectual struggles, our dangerous delays of amendment, might not be fatal to our souls. The holy Spirit also, that abiding Comforter, whom He has sent, is still ready, and more than willing, to strengthen our weakness, and sanctify our thoughts. Shall I not, then, instantly and eagerly throw myself upon the mercy of my God? Shall not the sense, thus forced upon me, of ray extreme need, induce me daily and hourly to pray for the aid of that holy Spirit? I stand, per

haps, at this moment, upon the brink of eternity. Let me no longer delay to seize that blessing, which a few days or hours may remove for ever beyond my reach: and, whenever, through divine grace, I may begin to feel, that I have gained some footing on the ground of faith, and love, and obedience, let me, to my grateful acknowledgments, add my redoubled prayers, that I may no more fall from it.'

Is it, my Christian brethren, to one or another of us, that thoughts and reflections like these are natural and suitable? No! You must be conscious, that they belong equally to us all. All are defaulters: all have "come short of the glory of God." May it, then, be the good pleasure of our heavenly Father, by the ministry of his holy Spirit, and through the intercession of his ever-blessed Son Jesus Christ, so to dispose our hearts and minds, that these meditations may lead to the improvement of our remaining days in this life, and to our comfort and happiness to all eternity.

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SERMON VII.

MORALITY ESSENTIAL TO RELIGION.

Galat. v. 16.

Walk in the Spirit; and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

That human conduct is actuated by two opposite and conflicting principles, was by no means a new doctrine, first brought into the world by the Christian scheme of religion. We find it acknowledged, not only by the inspired writers of the Old Testament, but by the wisest heathens: and, in fact, every man, who diligently and honestly turns his thoughts into his own breast, must be conscious of a perpetual strife between the impulse of passion and the sense of duty.

The moral precepts, therefore, of all rational systems, have been founded entirely upon this supposition. They have uniformly taught, that the mind of man is endued with a certain power, adapted (and, consequently, designed) to support the right against the wrong source of action ;—to keep the appetites and passions under control; and to provide, that the sense of duty may be the ruling principle of life.

But, though this doctrine was not first introduced by the Divine Founder of our holy religion, or by his Apostles, it was by them insisted upon with peculiar force, and, in some respects, placed in a new point of view. What the heathen moralists called 'reason,' 'conscience,' or ' the natural sense of right and wrong;' what Solomon calls 'wisdom,' and David, 'a right heart;' our Saviour Christ and his followers have termed The Spirit; in opposition to all sensual and corrupt propensities, which they denominate The Flesh.

The word spirit, thus applied, is evidently figurative, and denotes that which is breathed or inspired into the mind of man from above, for his benefit and guidance. The source of this in-spiration is God himself—He, who originally breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life: then, indeed, of natural and limited; but, now, of spiritual and eternal life. In this character, and