that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." It should be distinctly understood that all these feelings of which I have spoken, and indeed any class or degree of mere feelings may exist in the sensibility; and further that these or any other feelings may in their turns control the will, and produce of course a corresponding outward life, and yet the heart be and remain all the while in a selfish state, or in a state of total depravity. Indeed it is perfectly common to see the impenitent sinner manifest much disgust and opposition to sin in himself and in others, yet this is not principle in him; it is only the effect of present feeling. The next day, or perhaps hour, he will repeat his sin, or do that which when beheld in others enkindled his indignation.

14. Both saints and sinners approve of and often delight in justice. It is common to see in courts of justice and on various occasions impenitent sinners manifest great complacency in the administration of justice and the greatest indignation at and aborrence of injustice. So strong is this feeling sometimes that it can not be restrained, but will burst forth like a smothered volcano and carry desolation before it. It is this natural love of justice and abhorrence of injustice common alike to saints and sinners, to which popular tumults and bloodshed are often to be ascribed. This, to be sure, is not virtue, but selfishness. It is the will giving itself up to the gratification of a constitutional impulse. But such feelings and such conduct are often supposed to be virtuous. should always be borne in mind that the love of justice and the sense of delight in it, and the feeling of opposition to injustice is not only not peculiar to good men, but that such feelings are no evidence whatever of a regenerate heart. Thousands of instances might be adduced as proofs and illustrations of this position. But such manifestations are too common to need to be cited to remind any one of their existence.

It

15. The same remarks may be made in regard to truth. Both saints and sinners have a constitutional respect for, approbation of, and delight in truth. Whoever knew a sinner to approve of the character of a liar? What sinner will not resent it to be accused or even suspected of lying? All men spontaneously manifest their respect for, complacency in, and approbation of truth. This is constitutional; so that even the greatest liars do not and can not love lying for its own sake. They lie to gratify, not a love for falsehood on its own account, but to obtain some object which they desire more strongly than they hate falsehood. Sinners,

in spite of themselves venerate, respect and fear a man of truth. They just as necessarily despise a liar. If they are liars they despise themselves for it just as drunkards and debauchees despise themselves for indulging their filthy lusts, and yet continue in them.

16. Both saints and sinners not only approve of and delight in good men, when, as I have said, wicked men are not annoyed by them, but they agree in reprobating, disapproving and abhorring wicked men and devils. Whoever heard of any other sentiment and feeling expressed either by good or bad men, than of abhorrence and indignation toward the devil? Nobody ever approved or can approve of his character; sinners can no more approve of it than holy angels can. If he could approve of and delight in his own character hell would cease to be hell and evil would become his good. But no moral agent can by any possibility know wickedness and approve it. No man, saint or sinner, can entertain any other sentiment and feeling toward the devil or wicked men than those of disapprobation, distrust, disrespect, and often of loathing and abhorrence. The intellectual sentiment will be uniform. Disapprobation, distrust, condemnation will always necessarily possess the minds of all who know wicked men and devils. And often, as occasions arise wherein their characters are clearly revealed, and under circumstances favorable to such a result, the deepest feelings of disgust, of loathing, of indignation and abhorrence of their wickedness, will manifest themselves alike among saints and sinners.

17. Saints and sinners may be equally honorable and fair in business transactions so far as the outward act is concerned. To be sure they have different reasons for their conduct, but outwardly it may be the same. This leads to the remark, 18. That selfishness in the sinner and benevolence in the saint may and often do produce, in many respects, the same results or manifestations. For example: benevolence in the saint and selfishness in the sinner may beget the same class of desires, to wit, as we have seen, desire for their own sanctification, and for that of others, to be useful and have others so, desires for the conversion of sinners, and many such like desires.

19. This leads to the remark that when the desires of an impenitent person for these objects become strong enough to influence the will, he may take the same outward course substantially that the saint takes in obedience to his intelligence. That is, the sinner is constrained by his feelings to do what

the saint does from principle or from obedience to the law of his intelligence. In this however, although the outward manifestations be the same for the time being, yet the sinner is entirely selfish and the saint benevolent. The saint is controlled by principle and the sinner by impulse. In this case time is needed to distinguish between them. The sinner not having the root of the matter in him, will return to his former course of life in proportion as his convictions of the truth and importance of religion subside, and his former feelings return; while the saint will evince his heavenly birth by manifesting his sympathy with God and the strength of principle that has taken possession of his heart. That is, he will manifest that his intelligence, and not his feelings, controls his will.

20. Saints and sinners may both love and hate the same things, but for different and opposite reasons. For example: They may both love the Bible; the saint benevolently and the sinner selfishly; that is, the saint loves the Bible for benevolent, and the sinner for selfish reasons. They may love Christians for opposite reasons, the saint for their likeness to Christ, the sinner because he considers them the favorites of heaven, as his particular friends, or because he in some way hopes to be benefitted by them, or from a mere constitutional complacency in goodness. Now observe: the Christian may have the same constitutional feelings as the sinner, and besides these, he may have reasons for his love and conduct peculiar to the saint. The saint and sinner may, for different and opposite reasons, be interested in, and deeply affected with the character of God, with the truth, the sanctuary, and in all the duties of religion, and all the means of grace. They may alike, but for different reasons, hate infidelity, error, sin, sinners, selfishness. A selfish sinner may deeply abhor selfishness in others, and even in himself, and still persevere in it.

21. Again: Selfishness in the sinner and benevolence in the saint may lead them to form similar resolutions and purposes; for example: to serve God-to avoid all sin-to do all duty-to do right-to be useful-to persevere in well-doing to live for eternity-to set a good example-to pay the strictest regard to the Sabbath and to all the institutions of religion-to do all that in them lies to support religious insti

tutions.

22. Saints and sinners may agree in their views of doctrine and of measures, may be equally zealous in the cause of God and religion; may be equally enlightened; may experience

delight in prayer, and in religious meetings, and in religious exercises generally.

23. Both may be greatly changed in feeling and in life. 24. They may both give all their goods to feed the poor, or to sup ort the gospel and send it to the heathen.

25. They may both go as missionaries to the heathen, but for entirely different reasons.

26. They may have equal convictions of sin, and their sensibilities may be similarly affected by these convictions.

27. They may both have great sorrow for sin, and great loathing of self on account of it.

28. They may have equal feelings of gratitude to God. 29. They may both appear to manifest all the graces of true saints.

30. They may both be very confident of their good estate. 31. They may both have new hopes and new fears, new joys and new sorrows, new friends and new enemies, new habits of life.

32. They may both be comforted by the promises and awed by the threatenings.

33. They may both appear to have answers to prayer.

34. They may both appear and really suppose themselves to renounce the world. They may really both renounce this world, the saint for the glory of God, the sinner that he may win heaven.

35. They may both practice many forms of self-denial. The christian really denies himself and the sinner may appear to by denying certain forms of self-seeking for the securing of a selfish interest in another direction.

36. They may both have the faith of miracles: "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing."-I Cor. 13: 2.

37. They may both suffer martyrdom for entirely opposite reasons. "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."-1 Cor. 13: 3.

38. They may be confident of their good estate, and may both die in triumph and carry their hope to the bar of God. "Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are: de

part from me all ye workers of iniquity."-Luke 13: 26, 27.

REMARKS.

1. For want of these and such like discriminations many have stumbled. Hypocrites have held on to a false hope and lived upon mere constitutional desires, and spasmodic turns of giving up the will, during seasons of special excitement, to the control of these desires and feelings. These spasms they call their waking up. But no sooner does their excitement subside than selfishness again assumes it wonted forms. It is truly wonderful and appalling to see to what an extent this is true. Because in seasons of special excitement they feel deeply and are conscious of feeling, as they say, and acting and of being entirely sincere in following their impulses, they have the fullest confidence in their good estate. They say they can not doubt their conversion. They felt so and so and gave themselves up to their feelings, and gave much time and money to promote the cause of Christ. Now this is a deep delusion and one of the most common in Christendom or at least one of the most common that is to be found among what are called revival christians. This class of deluded souls do not see that they are in such cases, governed by their feelings, and that if their feelings were changed, their conduct would be of course; that as soon as the excitement subsides they will go back to their former ways as a thing of course. When the present state of feeling that now controls them has given place to their former feelings, they will of course appear as they used to do. This is in few words the history of thousands of professors of religion.

2. This has greatly stumbled the openly impenitent. Not knowing how to account for what they often witn ss of this kind among professors of religion, they are led to doubt whether there is any such thing as true religion.

Again: Many sinners have been deceived just in the way I have pointed out, and have afterwards discovered that they had been deluded, but could not understand how. They have come to the conclusion that every body is deluded, and that all professors are as much deceived as they are. leads them to reject and despise all religion.

This

3. A want of discrimination between what is constitutional and what belongs to a regenerate state of mind has stumbled many. Impenitent sinners finding themselves to have what they call certain good desires and feelings, have either come to the conclusion that they were born again or that the unre