ination of good or bad, according as it capaci tates its possessor for happiness or misery, when in direct contact with the character of God. The obedience of the will and of the heart is required; and this implies in it a love for those holy principles on which the rule of duty is founded. A mere knowledge of duty, even when joined with a desire to fulfil it, can never inspire this love. We cannot love any thing, by simply endeavouring to love it: In order to this, we must see somewhat in it which naturally attracts our affections. Whatever this somewhat may be, it constitutes the doctrine which forms our characters on that particular subject. This law holds in all such operations of the mind; but most conspicuously does it hold where the natural bent of the inclination takes an opposite course,—as in the case of Christian duty. Duty must be presentIed to our minds, as associated with circumstances which will call forth our love,-as associated with the impulses of esteem, of gratitude and interest,-else we can never love it. These circumstances constitute the Christian doctrines; and the reasonableness of continually and closely urging them, is founded on that law of the human mind which has been alluded to. It is not easy to cast out pride and

self-conceit from the heart, nor to look upon the distresses of life with a cheerful acquiescence in that sovereign will which appoints them. It is not easy for a mind which has been much engrossed by its outward relations to the visible system with which it is connected, to receive and retain a practical impression, that there is, throughout the universe, one great spiritual and invisible dominion, to which all these lesser systems are subservient, and in which they are embraced; and that these are but schools and training seminaries in which immortal spirits are placed, that they may learn to know and to do the will of God. It is not a mere knowledge of duty which will enable us to resist the noxious impressions which are continually emanating from the objects of our senses, and from the relations of life-to disregard the pressing temptations of ambition or indolence, of avarice or sensuality -to expel those worldly anxieties which corrode the soul-and to run the way of God's commandments, through difficulties and dangers, through evil report and good report. These things require a more energetic principle than the knowledge, even when conjoined with the approbation of what is right.

The love of God must be rooted in the heart; and

this can only be accomplished by habitually viewing him in all the amiableness of his love and of his holiness. We must acquaint ourselves with God; for it is the knowledge of his high character alone which can humble the pride of mau, or throw light on the obscurities of his condition here, or call forth that sentiment of devoted love which will stamp the Divine image on his heart; and it is a conformity to that character alone which can make us freemen of the universe, and secure to us tranquillity and joy in every region of creation; because this conformity of character is the living principle of union which perwades and binds together the whole family of God, and capacitates the meanest of its members for partaking in the blessedness of their common Father.

It should be observed, that when conformity to the Divine character is mentioned as the result of a belief of the Christian doctrine, it is very far from being meant that the conformity will be perfect, or that the character will be free from failings, or even considerable faults: All that is meant is, that the principle which will produce a perfect conformity is there. Thus we may say, that a child has a conformity to his father's will, if he is strongly attached

to him, and is sincerely anxious to please him, although levity or passion may occasionally carry him off from his duty. This is only the budding-time of Christianity; eternity is the clime in which the flower blows. If it were

perfected here, there would be no occasion for death, this world would be heaven.

When we talk of love towards an invisible being, we evidently mean love to the principles of his character. Love to God, therefore, implies a knowledge of his character; and thus, if in our idea of God we exclude his holiness and justice and purity, and then give our affection to the remaining fragments of his character, we do not in fact love God, but a creature of our own imagination. It is a love of the whole which can alone produce a resemblance of the whole; and nothing short of this love can produce such a resemblance. If this world bounded our existence, there would be little occasion for these heavenly views; because the order of society can in general be tolerably preserved by human laws and the restraint of human opinion; and for the few years which we have to pass here, this is sufficient: But if we are placed here to become fitted for eternity, we ust know God and love him, in order that we may have pleasure in

his presence and in the manifestations of his will.

There is an important part of the subject still untouched, which is intimately connected with the principle of the preceding argument, and is most deserving of a full and minute consideration: I mean the harmony which subsists between the views of the Bible and that system of events which is moving on around us. On this point, however, I shall only make a very few general observations.

If we look on this world as a school in which the principles of the Bible are inculcated and exercised, we shall find that the whole apparatus is admirably fitted for the purpose. As adventures of danger are adapted to exercise and confirm the principle of intrepidity, so the varied events of life are adapted to exercise and confirm the principles of the Christian character. The history of the world, and our own experience of it, present to us as it were a scene of shifting sand, without a single point on which we may reasonably rest the full weight of our hopes with perfect confidence. The gospel presents to us, on the other hand, the unchangeable character of God, and invites us to rest there. The object of our hope becomes the mould of our characters; and hap