the truth on those natural faculties which he has bestowed on us. The man who is continually exercising his faith in those truths which he knows, is daily becoming fitter to receive other truths: whilst the man whose affections are directed to wrong objects, is daily becoming less susceptible of impressions, from right objects, and is thus becoming more and more hardened in unbe lief. Let us suppose that an angel had been kept ignorant of the work of atonement until now, and that the Gospel were for the first time declared to him and to a hardened sinner together. Oh, what a difference would there be in their reception of it, and feelings from it! With what humble and grateful rapture would that holy being welcome and embrace this new and glorious manifestation of his Father's character! As he dwelt and fed upon it, he would sensibly row in love, and holiness, and happiness. He would feel no difficulty, no doubt on the subject; he would delight in God, with exceeding joy. And why would he be thus ready to receive it as soon as he heard it? Because his affections had already been exercised by, and formed upon, other manifestations of the Divine character; and though this last work excelled them in glory, yet it only carried into brighter display, principles which had already been adored and loved by the heavenly hosts. The same affections with which, from his creation, he had regarded God, and which had been strengthened by continual exercise, are addressed by the Gospel; they are only called into more intense action; they are already tuned to this new song, only their pitch is lower. But what reception does the sinner give it? Let each of our hearts answer, how often, how obstinately, we have rejected it. The angel was happy before; this new discovery only makes an addition to a happiness which was already great: but we, whose lawful inheritance was eternal misery, and whose only hope of having the darkness of hell exchanged for the light of heaven, lay in this Gospel, we hear it with carelessness and indifference, perhaps with scorn and indignation ;-and even if it has pleased God, of his abundant compassion, to force upon us some sense of its excellency, oh how indolent have we been in the enjoyment of it! how cold and forgetful in the expressions of our gratitude for it! And why does this happen? What is the explanation of this miserable and pitiable folly? Our affections bave been so habitually directed to objects different from and opposed to the character and will of God, that they scarcely feel the attraction of their proper objects when presented to them. There is, however, no other mode of recovery for a mind in that state, than the contemplation of these proper objects. If it feel its disease, it is prepared to receive the good tidings with joy, and to cry earnestly and importunately to Him, who can save, and will save, all who come to Him. The affections of the angel's mind have been so habituated to excitement from their proper objects-the character of God, and his works and ways, as interpreted by Himself,-that they would feel no movement from the presence of an improper object. His heart is so full of God, that it rejects every thing opposed to Him : Whilst the hardened sinner's heart is scarcely stirred at all by the presence of a proper object for the affections, and is so full of self and sin, that it requires the hand of Omnipotence to force upon it the objects of eternity. The human mind is indeed so far like a mirror, that impressions can only be made upon it by corresponding objects, and that no effort of ours, without the instrumentality of these objects, can make the impressions; but in this respect it differs from a mirror, that, by habit, it becomes increasingly susceptible of impressions from any class of objects. Observe the growth of avarice and ambition. Minds long habituated to receive impressions from the objects of these disordered affections, seem at last to yield themselves entirely to them, and to refuse all other excitement. The view of this law of our moral being, has something very striking and awful in it. Every thought, every wish, every action, is making us more accessible either to the invitations of heaven or the temptations of hell. The movements of our minds may be forgotten by us, but they have left traces behind them, which may affect our eternal destiny. They do not terminate in themselves-in their own rectitude, or their own sin; they have strengthened some principle, and weakened its opposite. Think whether that principle forms a part of the character of heaven or the character of hell. If it be a part of the character of heaven, an advance has been made in overcoming the enmity of the heart; and if it be a part of the character of hell, unbelief is more confirmed, because the mind is less open to impressions from the truth. The affections, when habitually misdirected, clothe the soul as with impenetrable armour against all assaults of the truth. It is this armour which Isaiah describes, when he predicts the rejection of Christ by the Jews; "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and convert and be healed," Isaiah vi. 10. This passage is quoted in the New Testament by St. John, who attributes the unbelief of the people to the state of mind here described, John xii. 39, 40. It appears, then, that the belief of any one moral or spiritual truth operating on the mind, prepares it for the readier reception of any other, because it exercises the same class of affections, and thus increases their susceptibility of impressions from a farther revelation. It was to be expected, therefore, that those Jews who had received the truth communicated through their own dispensation, would welcome the doctrine of Christ; and that those who did not believe in the spiritual sense of their own Scriptures, would reject the true Messiah when he appeared. Thus Simeon and Anna, and those to whom she spoke, and John the Baptist, and all who understood and believed in the spiritual nature of the Messiah's kingdom, believed in Jesus Christ-whilst those whose affections had been unexercised by the spiritual character of God, and occupied by worldly expectations, were prepared to reject him. Our Lord seems to refer to this distinction in the 10th chapter of John. Those whose affections had been rightly exercised by the truth already revealed, knew the voice of Christ whenever they heard it. They were his sheep. They were prepared to receive him, not merely by their belief in the prophecies relating to him, but by having the temper of their minds harmonized to the spirit of his doctrine. In the 16th verse of the chapter, he may either allude to those in the Gentile world, who had, by the teaching of the Spirit, received that truth which is revealed in the works and ways of God, and in the testimony of conscience, and had thus been prepared for greater light; or to those in general beyond the Jewish boundary, whose hearts should afterwards be opened to attend to the Gospel. In Acts xiii. 48, there appears to be a reference made to the distinction above mentioned. The translation does not give the meaning of the original. We surely are not to suppose that all the Gentiles in that place, who ever were to embrace the Gospel, did so at that time, and that their number was then summed and shut up. The spirit of the passage would require some such phrase as "bound towards," or "under orders for," or "prepared for" eternal life, substituted in place of "ordained." The meaning seems to be this: Those of the Gentiles who, by attending the Jewish synagogue, |