I convinced of my own ignorance, weakness, and unworthiness? Have I enquired into the health of my soul, the state of my temper and disposition, with half the solicitude with which I take care to feed, to cure, to adorn my body? If not, I may call myself a Christian, and join the congregation of Christians, but I am probably still a heathen, still unregenerate. I may be in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity. My heart may be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and as I value my happiness in this short state of existence, or my immortal soul, I must seek the divine Grace, to give me a feeling sense of my wants and wretchedness, and of God's power to illuminate and comfort me by his Holy Spirit.

But supposing that I am feelingly convinced of sin and misery, and sincerely wish to be delivered from it, do I seek deliverance by the Gospel means, that is, through Jesus Christ; or do I depend upon my own reason, a few moral acts and habits observed for the sake of decency, for my own health, wealth, and that reputation in the world which is necessary to the advancement of my interest? If so, my morality is worldly wisdom, and my religion has no claim to Christianity. I am unregenerate, unconverted, unrenewed, notwithstanding my baptism and my professions; and continuing as I do by choice a heathen, in the midst of the light of Christianity, which at the same time I solemny profess, I must finally perish, after an unsatisfactory life.

Is my Christianity a cold, philosophical assent to a few propositions in the Gospel, evident before the Gos pel was divulged, and such as I select from others of the same authority in the same book, which I do not so well approve? Then is my religion nominal only. I profess to believe, as others appear to do, what I never in my life fully considered. I am content to live without God in the WORLD, so long as my corn and my

wine increase, and I can say to my soul, "Soul, thou "hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry* For the sake of living at peace, and for the sake of credit, which is intimately connected with my interest, I conform to all outward ceremonies and all moral decencies; but my heart has not yet been truly turned to God. I know no other God than my own gain and pleasure; and as to heaven, this earth, so long as I secure to myself a large share of it and its good things, is my paradise. I say to myself, "It is good for me to be here; here will I "build my tabernacle; for it is a pleasant place, and I "have a delight therein. But what shall I say when "this world is receding from me, when my senses de“cay, and death evidently approaches? Then shall I "have no comfort, unless God should soften my heart "by the effusion of his Spirit. But lest my obduracy "should grow impenetrable by time, I will immediately "implore the divine favour, in co-operation with my ❝own endeavours, to restore my religious sensibility. "I will henceforth cultivate the love of God.",

But to love God only, is not enough. Do I love my FELLOW-CREATURE? or, as it is expressed in Scripture, 66 my neighbour?" The apostle says, "Beloved, let us "love one another, for love is of God, and every one "that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; he "that loveth not, knoweth not God, and therefore can"not be born of him, for God is lovet." How, then, is my heart affected towards my fellow-creatures? Are my friendships merely combinations for the sake of interest and pleasure? Is there any human being in the world whom I wish to be miserable, and would render so if I had him in my power? Have I no sympathetic feelings for men as men? If I cannot recollect acts of

* Luke xii. 20.

S

† 1 John, iv. 7, 8.

disinterested benevolence, I may rest assured that it is the same hardness of heart which renders me insensible to God, that has also made me a stranger to the social affections. I have need, therefore, to pray that God would thaw my heart by the sunshine of his grace. He who can turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, will cause me to feel, by his Spirit's influence, for those who share with me the evils incident to humanity.

By such questions as the above, and many such every man may propose to himself, the state of the heart may be ascertained much better than by signing articles or repeating a symbol.

God certainly made the heart of man tender. Jesus himself wept, and thus forever hallowed the briny fountain. Tears are appropriated to man, as one of the most honourable distinctions which separate him from the brute creation. When man has dried up the sacred source by acquired insensibility, he has degraded his nature, and must have recourse to God to make him a new creature, to regenerate and render him alive to the sentiments of divine love, and the soft touches of humane sympathy. God's Spirit can break the rock of flint asunder, and cause the waters to gush from it in abundance.

And can I venture to hope that he will do so, that he will melt my obduracy? Yes, certainly; for Jesus Christ has PROMISED the influence of his Spirit to renew the heart, and accomplish the great work of regeneration. Without this I cannot be happy. I may be rich, great, learned, but I cannot be happy. I am lost and undone without it; in a state more degraded and wretched than that of the lowest and obscurest human being, whose piety and humility may have drawn down upon his heart the holy emanation of divine love,

SECTION LV.

The Sum and Substance of Christian Philosophy the Renewal of the Heart by Divine Grace; or the softening it and rendering it susceptible of virtuous and benevolent impressions, by cultivating the two grand Princi ples-Piety to God, and Charity to Man.

WHAT is Christian wisdom or philosophy?

Let the apostle answer; it is to "put off the old man, "which is corrupt, and to put on the new man, which, "after God, is created in righteousness and true holi"ness." We must be born again, or it had been better for us that we had not been born at all. The wisdom from above is the true Christian philosophy; that wisdom which, we are told*,*" is first pure, then peaceable, "gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good "fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

Hardness of heart is incompatible with this wisdom which is full of mercy. The bosom must be softened by divine influence. Redeem the time, therefore, that ye have hitherto lost in a cold, lifeless, formal, decorous religion. Love God, love your neighbour, with the ardour of a sincere mind, and the amiable simplicity of infantine innocence. Seek Jesus Christ with the earnestness of one who is a Christian by choice, and not merely because he was born in a Christian country, or of Christian parents; not because the laws of the land have established that religion, and it is creditable to appear among its professors in places consecrated to public devotion. Be Christians on your pillows, in your daily employments, in the occupation of your merchan dize or agriculture, as well as in your church, and on

* James, iii. 17.

the day set apart for divine service. Let Christ, by the Holy Ghost, be formed in your hearts, restoring in you the image of God, in which you were created, but which was sadly sullied, or quite defaced, by the fall of the first Adam, and can be restored only by the mercy of the second.

If there were but a probability that these comfortable doctrines are true, a wise man would cherish them; but as they are abundantly confirmed by the written word, by the church, by the learned, by the experience and testimony of millions of pious men; who would not resolve to believe, and if any doubts should at any time arise, to say, "Lord, help thou my unbelief!"

Religion has been, and is, the delight of a great part of our fellow-creatures throughout Christendom. It may be ours, if we will duly apply our minds to it. Consider with what ardour of attachment many seek pictures, books, the works of art, the objects of taste and fancy. They learn to love them, by applying their minds to them. Half the application bestowed on things, which, at best, are but toys, if bestowed on religion, would make it your chief delight, the guardian of your youth, and the comfort of your age and affliction. You would no longer consider its duties and employments as heavy and dull You would feel, not only the offices of charity, but devo tion, sweet to your soul. The gracious words of gospel truth, of prayer, and thanksgiving, would," come o'er "thine ear," as the poet says,

like the sweet south,

"That breathes upon a bank of violets."

It is justly said, that in devotional offices, passion becomes reason, and transport, temper. Heaven must disdain the cold prayer, the lukewarm praise of insen. sibility and indifference. The incense must blaze on the altar, before the sweet odours can ascend to the skies. Cold devotion is indevout. Heartless thanks