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the course of this world, Eph. ii. 2, awakes to consciousness in a world entirely new. The former things are done away, 2 Cor. v. 17. Notions, cherished in the days of his ignorance as the very axioms of knowledge, vanish like the dreams of the night, or the mists of the morning. Things of which, at the best, he had but a faint and dubious impression, stand forth as facts, substantial, undeniable facts,—in which he has a personal, an inalienable, an incalculable interest. No longer does he think it problematical whether God has spoken to man, for he has heard his voice. No longer does he regard it as a matter of doubtful disputation whether the Gospel is divine, for he has found it the power of God to the salvation of the soul.

So with the doctrines of revelation. Instead of being regarded as matters of abstract science, belonging of necessity to the schools of theology, but containing nothing to interest the multitude, the verities of faith and holiness, beautiful and resplendent with the light of heaven, appear as "a rainbow round about the throne," a token of divine complacency on which the very angels delight to gaze.

There was once an intelligent sceptic, who

hearing that some devoted Christians were meeting together, to offer special prayer for the influences of the Holy Spirit, resolved to go, in order, as he expressed it, to see what these foolish people were about, and to ascertain, if possible, the idea which they attached to such a service. He went; and, while he was listening to their supplications, wakened up as if from a long and dreary dream. Then, for the first time in his life, did he apprehend the plan of human redemption. The very doctrine which he had long regarded as the offspring of the wildest enthusiasm, in one instant, approved itself to his understanding, his conscience, and his heart. Forthwith, he himself became a man of prayer; and throughout his subsequent course, he regarded that memorable season as the hour of his conversion.

It has been a subject of learned disputation, whether the faith which saves the soul, is the exercise of the understanding, or of the affections, or of both. Admitting, however, that the understanding puts forth the act in question, the affections must supply the test of its reality. For, such are the facts of redemption, that to believe them, "in deed and in truth," is to believe them with the heart, Rom. x. 10.

Such are they, in their very nature, that they cannot receive full credence without a corresponding homage of the affections. If I believe that Jesus died for me, love him in return I must. And if, with a semblance of such faith, I am destitute of the love which it necessarily awakens, by that circumstance I prove that my faith is vain, and that I am yet in my sins.

From the moment of his regeneration, the affections of the convert are willingly and gratefully enlisted on the side of truth and holiness. The Saviour of sinners forthwith receives the welcome of a heart where the warmest sympathies, of country and of kindred, are thenceforth held as nothing in comparison with his surpassing claims. To do the will of God is now understood to be the highest attainment of man; and to promote the glory of His name, who loved us and gave himself for us, is felt to be an employment worthy of eternity.

At such a crisis, no parleying is held with selfishness, or worldly interest, or temptation. The claims of religion are paramount, and constitute a source of happiness, a well-spring of life to the soul, of which immortal blessedness is but the fitting consummation.

Entire conformity to the image of God, now becomes the exclusive object of ambition; and, in order to its attainment, the crucifixion of the flesh, with the affections and lusts, Gal. v. 24, is accounted not only easy but delightful. Hence, the triumphant declaration-"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," chap. ii. 20. To the soul which is strengthened with might, according to his glorious power, self-denial wears a new appearance, and assumes another name; for the regenerate man delights himself in God, and the cross becomes his glory and his boast, chap. vi. 14.

No exception can be taken to this statement from the circumstance that the most eminent saints have disavowed all claim to excellence, and have even accounted themselves the chief of sinners. The very confession of having not attained, neither having become already perfect, may stand associated with a forgetfulness of things behind, and a pressing forward to the things which are before, Phil. iii. 12, 13. Thus will deep humility, not only comport with real excellence, but become its inseparable accompaniment.

In the case of the Christian, dissatisfaction,

as to present attainments, arises not from the circumstance that the very objects of his pursuit, like the pleasures of the world, are in themselves unsatisfactory, (so that, when they are realized, they ill repay the strife and toil by which they were obtained,) but that, the greater his happiness, the greater becomes his capacity for bliss. He lives above the world, and breathes the atmosphere of heaven; but, the higher he ascends, the more he regrets that he dwells so far below. He has left, beneath his feet, the mists of the valley and the clouds in their courses; peradventure, he has even gained a region where those mists and clouds seldom shut out the sunshine; but he beholds, beyond him and above him, heights over heights, and these he longs and intends to scale. And while he regards his present footing but as the table-land where he may recruit himself a little for nobler enterprise, he knows that, should he reach the highest point of all, he will but stand on the utmost boundary of an earthly planet, while worlds upon worlds will revolve beyond him, in the boundlessness of space and the plenitude of celestial glory.

Perhaps, some may charge this statement with exaggeration. Appeal we then "to the

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