will be extended on earth; and "there shall be joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."

SERMON XXIX.

ON COMING TO THE LIGHT.

JOHN iii. 20, 21.

For every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

THE principles by which men are actuated, vary, in many cases, according to circumstances. In some individuals, there is a steadiness and a consistency, pervading the whole of their conduct;-in others, there is a double-mindedness, betrayed in their actions, though they themselves may wish to disguise it from the world, and may imagine that they do disguise it-in others there is a mysterious secresy, and a shrinking from enquiry, which, at best, are but suspicious circumstances, and are felt as such by the very persons who, either from a fancied delicacy, or from a consciousness of wrong, resort to them.

Men flatter themselves, that what is not actually seen or investigated, cannot be known; and, therefore, they study a concealment of manner, as a shelter for their ignorance, or for their purposes of deception. Such is frequently the case with those who pretend to a character or a distinction, to the reality of which they are consciously unequal; and this arises from vanity, or from an overweening estimate of themselves. It is, however, more frequently the case with those who act from sinister motives, and are fearful of being discovered. Of this class of persons it is, that our Saviour speaks, in the former of the two verses in the text." Every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

It was at the interview with Nicodemus, that this sentiment was expressed. Our blessed Lord had, according to the custom of his countrymen, gone up to Jerusalem, at the festival of the passover. The miracles which he then performed (though St. John does not tell us what those miracles were) induced many persons to believe in him. Nicodemus, therefore, who was in high authority at Jerusalem, and was desirous of obtaining information from our Saviour himself, went to him "by night," and said,

Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." Our Lord, in answer to this candid declaration, asserted that his mission was from heaven; that a purification by bap

tism, by the aid of the Divine Spirit, constituted the new birth, without which no man could see the kingdom of God; that he, as the Son of God, was sent into the world, not to condemn it, but to save it; that faith in him was the necessary qualification for his disciples; and that "the condemnation," as it affected unbelievers, was, "that light was come into the world, and that men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

An immoral and unprincipled course of life has the natural consequence of darkening the mind, and of excluding those rays of truth which would otherwise shine upon it; in the same manner that the free and fertilizing air is shut out from plants, which are surrounded and choked by a mass of weeds. When the will of man is perverted by sin, the understanding is perverted also ;-and conscience itself acts but imperfectly, because, in proportion as it is undermined, it becomes powerless; and undermined it will be, when the faculties of reason and of choice have taken a false direction. It is impossible to form a right judgment of things, when our hearts and affections are prejudiced; and our thoughts will not easily incline to what is good, when they are familiarized and devoted to what is evil. The Prophet represents, in very strong language, the difficulty of this, when he compares it with "the leopard's changing its spots, and the Ethiopian his skin." We all know that it is an arduous task to contend against the force of habit. It grows upon us gradu

ally and imperceptibly; but when it is once formed, it becomes as a second nature,-and to divest ourselves of it, we must do violence to our dispositions, and forego all the principles which have had the greatest influence on us. We may imagine it easy to alter our system of conduct, and may, at times, flatter ourselves with the resolution of doing it; but in most instances the imagination is deceitful, and the resolution fails, when we attempt to put in practice what we before had only contemplated.

But the great mischief of evil habits is, that they indispose us for any reformation at all. They induce a moral cowardice; and make us afraid of ourselves. We shun the light of truth; because we are unwilling to throw a distinct and dazzling colour upon the deformity of which we are conscious. Its detection, therefore, even to our own minds, is painful; and we prefer a quiet and torpid state of sin, to the vigilance and the exertion which must attend the efforts of amendment. It is partly from the want of consideration, and partly from the want of energy, that men plunge into habits of sin. A little reflection, at first, and a little self-command, would be sufficient to check them in their career; but this pernicious quality always attaches to vice, that it enslaves us, and leads us headlong. We could resist it at any time, if we would form a right determination; but then we have to rouse ourselves from its lethargy, and to shake off its chains, neither of which we are inclined to do, unless some great and forcible occasion impels us.