bruise his head: and both our Saviour and St. John, called the Scribes and the Pharisees, Matt. xxiii. 33. “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers."

St. Paul, speaking of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the flock of Jesus Christ, makes men

tion of it as constituting their difference from 1 Cor. 12. the natural man: he says "We have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God." The spirit of the world, then, and the Holy Spirit of God, are the two powers alone which influence mankind from the beginning of the world; and are in direct opposition to each other, in the final purposes of the Almighty.

John xv. 18.

Hence, our Saviour informed his disciples, that as they were of his nature in the Holy Spirit, they had a warfare to endure with the spirit of malignity, and would be persecuted by the seed of it: but, had their nature been of the spirit of the world, they would not be persecuted by it.

If the" spirit of the "world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If

ye were of the spirit of the world, the spirit of the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the spirit of the world, and I have chosen you out of the spirit of the world, therefore the spirit of the world hateth you."

St. Paul's words explain the same, and that those to whom the promises were made, were born of the spirit of God; "Now we, brethren, Gal. iv. 28 as Isaac was, are the children of promise: but as then, he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now."

Now the object of our Saviour, in calling St. Paul to the ministry, was," delivering thee from Acts xxvi. 17. the people, and from the gentiles, to whom I now send thee; to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." And after he had received the grace of the Holy Spirit of God, he declares "if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this 2 Cor. iv. 3. world hath blinded the minds of them that

1 Cor. ii. 12. believe not." And explains, And explains, "Now we have

2 Pet. ii. 12.

Jude 10.

received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God: which things also we speak, not in the words which men's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

And St. Peter, speaking of the natural man, says, "They are as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption."

The Epistle of Jude also accords with it. "But these (the unregenerate) speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves."

We, therefore, find the Scriptures accord, in

explaining the nature of the two characters of mankind, as we see them in the world: namely, man in his degenerate or malignant state, from the fall of Adam; and man in his regenerate state, by the Holy Spirit of God, through our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. That it is by the souls of the former being of the base nature of the passions, they cannot comprehend the Scriptures: whilst the latter do comprehend them, by their souls being of the Holy Spirit of God, that discerns the truth of its own knowledge.

Now to discern these two characters of mankind, our Saviour said to his disciples, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." In our ordinary judgment of mankind, however, we only look at those actions, to know them, which mediately or immediately affect the order of civil society; but, in the actions here referred to, we are taught to discern the difference of spirits, that we may not be led astray by a doctrine, inconsistent with the light of the new testament: or, in the words of St. Paul, comparing spiritual things

with spiritual," which alone influence the human frame.

We know, from experience, that the passions are ever present with all of us; and not only in ourselves, but are likewise perceived in the animal creation; and the revelations already given, answer the question in our introduction. May we not be allowed to suppose the malignant passions to proceed from one power, as they are equally perceived in man and brutes, acting by the same laws, in proportion to their influence over them?

The Scriptures throughout do answer this question, but St. John directly. "We know 1 John v. 19. that we are of God, and that the whole world lieth in" the spirit of "wickedness." And to put us on our guard against that "wicked one," he says, "Try the spirits whether they are 1 John iv. 1. of God," and adds, "hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God." 1 John iv. 6. "Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."