for the reception of divine truth.

My spirit, saith God, when he was about to punish the guilty world by the deluge-my spirit shall not always strive with man. There seem to be a period and degree of wickedness that draw a boundary to the operations of Heavenly grace, a proficiency, of sin, which, by the laws of God, is inaccessible to repentance, and to which, therefore, pardon cannot reach. There is one offence, we know, that will not be forgiven either in time or eternity. Whatever this be, it has reference to manifest revelation from Heaven. It is called the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and is apparently imputed to those, who ascribed the miracles of our Saviour to the agency of Beelzebub. Whether this particular sin can, or cannot be committed by an unbeliever of the present day; it should awaken the consideration of all those, who reject, or revile and blaspheme the Gospel; who leave nothing in their power untried, to prevent the means of grace and salvation universally offered, and to resist the Spirit of God in drawing men to eternal life; who not only are going to destruction themselves, but doing all they can to carry others with them.

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Hence,

Simplicity and probity of mind proper qualifications

Hence, my brethren, you may understand the miserable case of those, whose affections are absorbed in sin, who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

Let me now direct your attention to a very different object, to him who is of an humble, honest, and sincere mind, in whom the vanities and vices and pleasures of a wicked world have not subdued the love of truth appertaining even to our fallen nature. Such a mind contemplating itself is conscious that it derived its existence from a being eternal in duration, and infinite in wisdom, the maker and preserver of all things, upon whom it depends for all its consolations and delights. It, therefore, naturally desires to obey the will of this infinitely great and wise being. For, nothing can be more reasonable and necessary than such obedience, nothing more worthy to employ the faculties, nothing more powerful to impress the heart, if it be not pre-engaged by something in opposition to his will. Yes, my brethren, I repeat; the mind that is open to the genuine conceptions and feelings of its nature

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is affected with fear and reverence towards its divine author, which beget an earnest desire to perform all his will. As the knowledge of his will is necessary to obedience, such a mind will covet and seek this knowledge above all things. It, therefore, gladly hears, and diligently learns the revelation, which the Almighty has made of himself. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and, whosoever seeketh her, shall have no great travail; for he shall find her sitting at his doors.

He, who loves virtue, because he knows it to be suitable to his existence, and the essential constituent of his happiness; who has no corrupt prejudices to serve, no headstrong or guilty passions to gratify, no irregular desires that he would not suppress, or reduce to order; naturally loves the author of his being, who gave him the reason, by which his will and affections are thus determined. To this man the study of religion is pleasant, and its practice is happiness. To him it can disclose no unwelcome truths; no appalling terrors; no painful privations of abstinence or self-de

Simplicity and probity of mind proper qualifications

nial; no laborious or arduous duties, that he would not desire, and endeavour to discharge. Seeing, although yet obscurely, perhaps, the obligations of his being, and the will of its almighty author, he is anxious to obey and fulfil them. Finding that he has not in himself powers adequate to this work, he seeks them, where only they are to be found, in the favour of Him, who gave all that he possesses, and can give all that he wants. With joy and gratitude, therefore, he accepts the gift of revelation, where he learns all the divine pro-> mises, with the certain means of inheriting them; pardon to his sins, compassion and healing to his infirmities, succour and strength to his fainting endeavours. There he finds not only the most ample stores of Heavenly learning, but the way likewise of applying it to the most blessed advantage. His mind tempered, improved, and fortified in the gradual experience of a godly life is then enabled to understand all the sublimest truths of his religion. For, he that keepeth the law of God, getteth the understanding thereof. He findeth it a law, converting the soul, more to

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be desired than gold, and much fine gold; so that he keeps it unto the end.

The sum of what has been said is this. Man is by nature prone to wickedness. He is continually tempted to error and misery. But God has given him power to discern the truth, to chuse and possess what is proper for him, what is essential to his present peace and everlasting happiness, It is seen in the general course of human conduct, that the mind becomes attached to the things, to which its preference is once determined. In time and practice this attachment is so strengthened that it can hardly be overcome. What the

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natural man prefers and loves, that he desires. to be approved, and prevalent, to the ends of his own enjoyment; what he rejects and dislikes, that he would have decried and reprobated: consequently any doctrine forbidding his confirmed habits, or customary pleasures, and threatening future misery for a continued indulgence of them, he is prone to revile, and seeks to disprove.

Such is the character and disposition of the degenerated

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