deep-seated and yet favourite diseases of the heart, should not arm against itself all those moral evils which it threatens to destroy.

A man finds no difficulty in giving his acquiescence to any proposition which does not carry along with it an obligation on him to something which he dislikes. The great bulk of the population in this country, for instance, acquiesce in the Copernican system of astronomy, although they may possess little or no knowledge of the mathematical or physical truths on which this system is reared. But let us make the supposition for a moment, that an acquiescence in this theory somehow or other involved in it a moral obligation on every believer of it to walk round the world, we cannot doubt but that the party of Ptolemy, or some other less imperious philosopher, would, in these circumstances, very soon carry almost every voice.

The religion of Jesus Christ involves in it a great variety of obligations; and it was indeed principally for the purpose of elucidating and enforcing these obligations, that God was pleased to make it known to mankind. And many of these obligations are so distasteful to the natural selfishness or indolence of our hearts, that we feel unwilling to embrace a

conviction which involves in it so complete a derangement of our plans and a thwarting of our habitual inclinations. Were the beautiful lineaments of the Christian character to be portrayed in a theory which should disclaim all interference with the consciences and duties of the world, it would infallibly attract much intellectual and sentimental admiration : And were the high and holy character of God, and its universally-pervading influence, to be painted in glowing colours,-and were that unbounded liberty to be described, in which those spirits that are perfectly conformed to His will, must expatiate through all the vastness of creation and eternity,-were all this to be couched in the terms of a lofty imagination, without any, appeal to the conscience, and without attempting to bring in this splendid vision to haunt our hours of carelessness or of crime,-who can doubt that taste and fancy and eloquence would pour in their converted disciples within the engaging circle of such a religion? And yet we find, that taste, and fancy, and eloquence, and high intellect, and fine sentiment, often reject Christianity: And the reason seems to be, because it is not a science merely, but a practical art, in which every part of knowledge is connected with a corres

ponding duty. It does not present to us a beautiful picture merely,-it commands us to copy it; it does not merely hold forth to us the image of perfect virtue,-it declares to us also our own guilt, and denounces our condemnation; it does not merely exhibit to us the sublime idea of a spiritual and universal sovereign, -it also calls upon us, by this very exhibition, under the most awful sanctions of hope and fear, to humble ourselves before Him, and to look to Him as the rightful proprietor of our thoughts and words and actions. There is something in all this very harassing and unpleasing to our nature; and the fact that it is so, may account for the real rejection that it generally meets with even amongst its nominal friends, and may also operate as a warning against ascribing too much weight to that contempt or aversion which it sometimes receives from those whose talents, when directed to other objects, we have been accustomed to follow with our admiration and gratitude. The proud man does not like to give up the triumph of superiority; the vain man does not like to give up the real or fancied applause of the circle in which he moves; the careless or worldly or sensual man does not like to have himself continually watched and scrutinized by

a witness who never sleeps, and who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Now, as great talents are often to be found in men of such characters, we need not wonder that they employ these talents in defending the foundation on which their chief enjoyment is built, rather than in pursuit of a truth which, they are conscious, would level the whole fabric with the ground. Men do not look very diligently for that which they would be sorry to find.

It is difficult to persuade a careless profligate to live a life of temperate and useful exertion; because it is difficult to obtain from him a candid hearing on the subject. He thinks exclusively of the gratifications which he is called upon to renounce, and never allows his mind to rest calmly on the motives which would induce him to do so. Whilst he apprehends fully and distinctly the pleasures connected with his own habits, he has a very vague idea of the evils resulting from them, or of the advantages of an opposite course. If the latter apprehension were as vivid as the former, the man's character would change. And there are arguments, and those of a mere worldly nature, which have often produced this effect. All that is necessary to accomplish it, is a candid

case.

attention on his part to the whole truth of the There is in his mind, indeed, a natural opposition to the argument; but there is also in the argument a natural destructiveness of his faults; and if it be vividly apprehended and retained, it will gain the victory and cast out its enemy. The argument, then, must, in the first place, be a sufficient one in itself; that is to say, it must show, that, in reason, the advantage gained by complying with it exceeds the advantage of rejecting it. And, in the second place, this sufficient argument must be distinctly and fully apprehended. The best argument in the world is of no use, unless it be properly understood, and the motives which it holds forth be vividly apprehended. То а mind that does not distinctly comprehend the subject, a good argument will appear bad, and a bad one may appear good. We account, in this way, for the different success which the same argument meets with when it is addressed to a number of individuals. Some are moved by it-others are not; that is to say, some fully apprehend it-others do not. And this may arise either from their misunderstanding the terms of the argument, or from their unwillingness to admit a principle which interferes with their own inclinations.