same time has taught him to look with a vague horror to futurity, applies to that fountain which was opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness, and he has peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. The joy of the Gospel, though it may be at first sought and embraced in gratification of natural instinct, contains in it the principles of the Christian character. At first it may appear mere deliverance from misery, and in this view it attracts the miserable; but as the means by which this deliverance was effected are seen, its moral power develops itself, and that Spirit whose unfelt influence led them here for comfort, opens the eyes of their understandings to discern the truth, and prepares their affections to receive it in the love of it.

Joy precedes love. We must take delight in an object before we can love it. We must take delight in God's gifts before we can know them to be benefits, or feel grateful for them. We must take delight in his character before we can love Him. When we perceive that the safety and happiness of our souls for ever rest upon the character of God as manifested in the cross of Christ, we must take delight in that manifestation, and in the character so manifested; and thus we learn to love them. When we see the faithfulness and justice of God, formerly so alarming to our guilty consciences, now not merely smiling on us, but actually becoming the foundation of assured hope through the satisfaction of the Saviour's blood, we must delight in them, and this delight will teach us love. This love

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and this delight will grow more and more disinterested. The glory of God will be contemplated with a rapture unmixed with selfish thoughts. Thy loving kindness is better than life," says David, in the generous spirit of a child of God. Thy gifts are good and worthy of thyself, but still that love which bestowed them is far dearer to my heart than they-without that love even thy gifts would appear poor to me. The love of God produces likeness to God, and thus the joy of the Lord is the strength of his people.

It will be observed, that what I have already said on this subject, applies equally to those who were eye-witnesses of the events of the Saviour's life, and to those who have since heard or read the report of them. I am not speaking of the evidence on which the Gospel is believed, but on belief itself. We are too much accustomed, in a loose way, to oppose faith and sight to each other, without considering what it is which is seen, and what it is which is believed. Our eyes cannot see a meaning, nor a moral principle, although they may see the action in which it is embodied. The disciples and companions of Christ when upon earth, were called upon to exercise faith, just as we are in the present time --and the same causes which hindered their faith, hinder ours. Their faith was exercised in receiving the interpretation of the events and actions which they witnessed. That interpretation consisted in the delineation of the moral government and character of God, and his judgment on the character of man. This was evidently addressed to their moral feelings; and

the accuracy of the impression on their minds, and consequently of their belief, depended entirely on the state of these feelings. If they had no such feelings at all, they could not believe at all. And in proportion to the strength and soundness of these moral feelings, would be the correctness of their understanding and their faith on the subject. We are very apt to think that one man is as much in a condition to believe any moral history as another ;—but if there be any difference in the strength or habitual bent of their moral feelings, there must be a proportional difference in the impression which the history will make on them, and of course in their belief. What can hinder a man of ordinary understanding from believing in a generous action, supposing that there is sufficient evidence of the fact! If the man has never felt a generous emotion in his own mind, he does not know what generosity is, and therefore cannot believe in it. If he has had some generous feelings, but has left them uncultivated and unexercised, the impression of genérosity on his mind will be weak and imperfect, and so also will be his belief of it. If a man has never suffered from an accusing conscience, nor perceived any deformity in sin, he cannot understand nor believe the statements which the Bible gives of the corruption of the human heart. Our moral faculties must then be in right and healthful exercise, in order that we may have a correct belief of moral truths. Jesus saw in the vain-glorious feelings of the Jews, a bar to their belief of his doctrines; "How can ye believe,"

says he, "who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which cometh from God only?" John v. 44. How often, in our intercourse with the world, do we hear it said, "that such a man cannot estimate the character of such another, that he cannot comprehend his feelings?" And it is so. There is great diversity in human characters and capacities. There is a fervour in the feelings of some, which colder spirits cannot conceive, and therefore cannot believe. Oh! what then shall we say of the highest impression which man can have of the character of God? What heart can conceive the fervour of that love wherewith he so loved the world, as to give for it His only-begotten Son? What notions of sin, or of justice, have we, that can enable us to receive an adequate impression of the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ, in order that the pardon of man might be reconciled with the honour of God? No created mind can receive a full impression of the Divine character, the highest archangel cannot look on the cross of Christ, as God looks on it,-how much less can man, who is a worm! Perfect faith in a history of high moral excellence, supposes moral faculties in a high state of power and exercise; for no faculties except in that state are capable of receiving such an impression.

What then? Is faith the result of character, instead of being the cause and the former of character? It is both. The objects of faith do not create faculties in the mind, which had no previous existence there; but they call into ac

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tion, and direct and strengthen those which they find there. The greatest variety of colours presented to a blind man cannot give him sight: but if they are presented to a man who sees, they will exercise his sight, and give him a power of discriminating their varieties, which is inconceivable to those who have not been trained to it. So also an estimable object presented to a mind destitute of moral feelings, cannot create esteem or love; but if the faculty be there, though in a weak and languid state from want of exercise, its proper object will in some measure excite and call it forth, and by exercise strengthen it. This is the only way of correcting and strengthening our faculties, either intellectual or moral. If they have been allowed to lie dormant, their exciting causes must be presented to them-if they have been active, but directed to wrong objects, they must be brought in contact with their proper and legitimate objects. The impression made by these objects, may be at first very weak and imperfect, and such of necessity will also be the belief of them; but by exercise, the faculties will gain their proper bent, and will increase in strength, and the faith which is attached to their impressions will keep pace with them. How can a feeling which has a wrong direction be turned into its proper channel, except by having a proper exciting object presented to it? We cannot alter the course of a feeling, without presenting to it some other object more attractive. The superior attraction of this object may not at first be felt, but it will produce some effect, it will act at least as a disturbing force, it will