was first poured out. It was expressly declared by St. Peter on its first effusion, to be promised not only to them and their children, but to all who were afar off, even to as many as the Lord their God should call.' If then the same salvation be now offered as was offered at first, is it not obvious that it must be worked out in the same way? And as the same Gospel retains the same authority in all ages, so does it maintain the same universality among all ranks. Christianity has no by-laws, no particular exemptions, no individual immunities. That there is no appropriate way of attaining salvation for a prince or a philosopher, is probably one reason why greatness and wis. dom have so often rejected it. But if rank cannot plead its privileges, genius cannot claim its distinctions. That Christianity does not owe i's success to the arts of rhetoric or the sophistry of the schools, but that God intended by it to make foolish the wisdom of this world,' actually explains why the disputers of this world' have always been its enemies. It would have been unworthy of the infinite God to have imparted a partial religion. There is but one gate,' and that a 'strait' one; but one way,' and that a narrow' one; there is but one salvation and that a common one. The Gospel enjoins the same principles of love and obedience on all of every condition; offers the zame aids under the same exigencies; the same supports under all trials; the same pardon to all penitents; the same Saviour to all believers; the same rewards to all who endure to the end.' The temptations of one condition and the trials of another may call for the exercise of different qualities, for the performance of different duties, but the same personal holiness is enjoined on all. External acts of virtue may be promoted by some circumstances, and impeded by others, but the graces of inward piety are of universal force, are of eternal obligation. the objects of their worship, are only on a p with the inhabitants of Otaheite. It furnishes the most incontrovertible proof that the world by wisdom knew not God, that i' was at the very time, and in the very country in which knowledge and taste has attained their utmost perfection, when the porch and the academy had given laws to human intellect, that atheism first assumed a shape, and established itself into a school of philosophy. It was at the moment when the mental powers were carried to the highest pitch in Greece, that it was settled as an infallible truth in this philosophy, that the senses were the highest natural light of mankind. It was in the most enlightened age of Rome that this atheistical philosophy was transplanted thither, and that one of her most elegant poets adopted it, and rendered popular by the bewitching graces of his verse. It seems as if the most accomplished nations stood in the most pressing need of the light of Revelation; for it was not to the dark and stupid corners of the earth that the apostles had their earliest missions. One of St. Paul's first and noblest expositions of Christian truth was made before the most august deliberative assembly in the world, though, by the way, it does not ap pear that more than one member of the Arcopagus was converted. In Rome, some of the apostlo's earliest converts belonged to the imperial palace. It was to the metropolis of cultivated Italy, it was to the regions of Achaia,' to the opulent and luxurious city of Corinth, in preference to the barbarous countries of the unci. vilized world, that some of his first epistles were addressed. Even natural religion was little understood by those who professed it; it was full of obscurity till viewed by the clear light of the Gospel. Not only natural religion remained to be clearly comprehended, but reason itself remained to be carried to its highest pitch in the Countries where Revelation is professed. Natural Reli. gion could not see itself by its own light, Reason could not extricate itself from the labyrinth of error and ignorance in which false religion had involved the world. Grace has raised Nature. Revelation has given a lift to Reason, and taught her to despise the follies and corruptions which obscured her brightness. If nature is now deli. vered from darkness, it was the helping hand of Revelation which raised her from the rubbish which she lay buried. The universality of its requisitions is one of its most distinguishing characteristics. In the pagan world it seemed sufficient that a few exalted spirits, a few fine geniuses should soar to a vast superiority above the mass; but it was never expected that the mob of Rome or Athens, should aspire to any religious sentiments or feel ings in common with Socrates or Epictetus. I say religious sentiments, because in matters of taste the distinctions were less striking, for the mob of Athens were competent critics in the dramatic art, while they were sunk in the most stupid and degrading idolatry. As to those of a higher class, while no subject in science, arts or learning was too lofty or too abstruse for their acquisition, no object in nature was too low, no conception of a depraved imagination was too impure for their worship. While the civil and political wisdom of the Romans was carried to such perfection that their code of laws has still a place in the most enlightened countries, their deplorably gross superstitions, rank them in point of religion with the savages of Africa. It shows how little a way that reason, which ma. nifested itself with such unrivalled vigour in their poets, orators and historians, as to make them still models to ours, could go in what re- Allowing however that Plato and Antonius lated to religion, when these polished people, in | seemed to have been taught of heaven, yet the Christianity has not only given us right conceptions of God, of his holiness, of the way in which he will be worshipped; it has not only given us principles to promote our happiness here, and to insure it hereafter; but it has really taught us what a proud philosophy arrogates to itself, the right use of reason. It has given us those principles of examining and judging, by which we are enabled to determine on the ab. surdity of false religions. For to what else can it be ascribed,' says the sagacious bishop Sherlock, that in every nation that names the name of Christ, even reason and nature see and condemn the follies, to which others are still, for want of the same help, held in subjection?' object for which we contend is, that no provision was made for the vulgar. While a feint ray shone on the page of philosophy, the people were involved in darkness which might be felt. The million were left to live without knowledge, and to die without hope. For what knowledge or what hope would be acquired from the preposterous, though amusing, and in many respects elegant mythology, which they might pick up in their poets, the belief of which seem. ed to be confined to the populace. But there was no common principle of hope or fear, of faith or practice; no motive of consolation, no bond of charity, no communion of everlasting interest, no reversionary equality between the wise and the ignorant, the master and the slave, the Greek and the barbarian. A religion was wanted which should be of general application. Christianity happily accommodated itself to the common exigencies. It furnished an adequate supply to the universal want. Instead of perpetual but unexpiating sacrifices to appease imaginary deities, Gods, such as guilt makes welcome, it presents 'one oblation once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.' It presents one consistent scheme of morals growing out of one uniform system of doctrines; one perfect rule of practice, depending on one principle of faith; it offers grace to direct the one and to assist the other. It encircles the whole sphere of duty with the broad and golden zone of coalescing charity, stamped with the inscription a new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another.' Christianity instead of destroying the distinctions of rank, or breaking in on the regulations of society, by this universal precept, furnishes new fences to its order, additional security to its repose, and fresh strength to its subordinations. Were this command, so inevitably productive of that peculiarly Christian injunction of doing to others as we would they should do unto us,' uniformly observed, the whole frame of society would be cemented and consolidated into one indissoluble bond of universal brotherhood. This divinely enacted law is the seminal principle of justice, charity, patience, forbearance, in short, of all social virtue. That it does not produce these excellent effects, is not owing to any fect in the principle, but in our corrupt nature, which so reluctantly, so imperfectly obeys it. If it were conscientiously adopted, and substantially acted upon, received in its very spirit, and obeyed from the ground of the heart, human laws might be abrogated, courts of justice abolished, and treaties of morality burnt; war would be no longer an art, nor military tactics a science. We should suffer long and be kind, und so far from seeking that which is another's,' we should not even seek our own.' · But let not the soldier or the lawyer be alarmed. Their craft is in no danger. The world loes not intend to act upon the divine principle which would injure their professions; and till this only revolution which good men desire acually takes place, our fortunes vill not be sc | cure without the exertions of the one, nor ou lives without the protection of the other. All the virtues have their appropriate place and rank in Scripture. They are introduced as. individually, beautifully, and as reciprocally con. nected, like the graces in the mythologic dance. But perhaps no Christian grace ever sat to the hand of a more consummate master than Charity. Her incomparable painter, St. Paul, has drawn her at full length in all her fair proportions. Every attitude is full of grace, every lineament of beauty. The whole delineation is per fect and entire, wanting nothing. Who can look at this finished piece without blushing at his own want of likeness to it? Yet if this conscious dissimilitude induce a cordial desire of resemblance, the humiliation will be salutary. Perhaps a more frequent contempla tion of this exquisite figure, accompanied with earnest endeavours for a growing resemblance, would gradually lead us, not barely to admire the portrait, but would at length assimilate us to the divine original. CHAP. X. Christian Holiness. CHRISTIANITY then, as we have attempted to show in the preceding chapter, exhibits no dif ferent standards of goodness applicable to dif ferent stations or characters. No one can be allowed to rest in a low degree, and plead his exemption for aiming no higher. No one can be secure in any state of piety below that state which would not have been enjoined on all, had not all been entitled to the means of attaining it Those who keep their pattern in their eye, though they may fail of the highest attainments, will not be satisfied with such as are low. The striking inferiority will excite compunction; compunction will stimulate them to press on, which those never do, who losing sight of their standard, are satisfied with the height they have reached He is not likely to be the object of God's fa vour, who takes his determined stand on the very lowest step in the scale of perfection; who does not even aspire above it; whose aim seems to be, not so much to please God as to escape punishment. Many however will doubtless be accepted, though their progress has been small. their difficulties may have been great, their na tural capacity weak, their temptation strong, and their instruction defective. เ Revelation has not only furnished injunctions but motives to holiness; not only motives, but examples and authorities. Be ye therefore perfect' (according to your measure and degree, i as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' And what says the Oid Testament? It accords with the New-Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.' This was the injunction of God himself, not given exclusively to Moses, to the leader and legislator, or to a few distinguished officers, or to a selection of eminent men, but to an im mense body of people even to the whole assem Died host of Israel, to men of all ranks, profes-, mit it himself. He may forgive sin on his owr sions, capacities, and characters, to the minister conditions, but there are no conditions on which of religion, and to the uninstructed, to enlightened rulers, and to feeble women. 'God,' says an excellent writer,* had antecedently given to his people particular laws, suited to their several exigencies and various conditions; but the com. mand to be holy was a general (might he not have said a universal) law.' "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?' This s perhaps the sublimest apostrophe of the praise (rendered more striking by its interrogatory form,) which the Scriptures have recorded. It makes a part of the first song of gratulation which is to be found in the treasury of sacred poetry. Tho epithet of holy is more frequently affixed to the name of God than any other. His mighty name is less often invoked, than his holy name. To offend against this attribute is represented as more heinous than to oppose any other. It has been remarked that the impiety of the Assyrian monarch is not described by his hostility against the great, the Almighty God, but it is made an aggravation of his crime that he had committed it against the Holy One of Israel. When God condescended to give a pledge for the performance of his promise, he swears by his holiness, as if it were the distinguishing quality which was more especially binding. It seems connected and interwoven with all the divine perfections. Which of his excellences can we contemplate as separated from this? Is not his justice stamped with sanctity! It is free from any tincture of vindictiveness, and is therefore a holy justice. His mercy has none of the partiality of favouritism, or capricious fondness of human kindness, but is a holy mercy. His holiness is not more the source of his mercies than of his punishments. If his holiness in his severities to us wanted a justification, there cannot be at once a more substantial and more splendid illustration of it than the noble passage already quoted, for he is called 'glorious in holiness' immediately after he had vindicated the honour of his name, by the miraculous destruction of the army of Pharaoh. Is it not then a necessary consequence growing out of his perfections, that a righteous God loveth righteousness,' that he will of course require in his creatures a desire to imitate as well as to adore that attribute by which He himself loves to be distinguished? We cannot indeed, like God, be essentially holy. In an infinite be. ing it is a substance, in a created being it is only an accident: God is the essence of holiness, but we can have no holiness, nor any other good thing, but what we derive from him-It is his prerogative, but our privilege. If God loves holiness because it is his image, ho must consequently hate sin because it defaces nis image. If he glorifies his own mercy and goodness in rewarding virtue, he no less vindicates the honour of his holiness in the punishment of vice. A perfect God can no more approve of sin in his creatures than he can com. he can be reconciled to it. The infinite good. ness of God may delight in the beneficial pur. poses to which his infinite wisdom has made the sins of his creatures subservient, but sin it. self will always be abhorrent to his nature. His wisdom may turn it to a merciful end, but his indignation at the offence cannot be diminished. He loves man, for he cannot but love his own work; he hates sin, for that was man's own in. vention, and no part of the work which God had made. Even in the imperfect administration of human laws impunity of crimes would be construed into approbation of them.* The law of holiness then, is a law binding on all persons without distinction, not limited to the period nor to the people to whom it was given. It reaches through the whole Jewish dispensation, and extends with wider demands and higher sanctions to every Christian, of every denomination, of every age, and every country. A more sublime motive cannot be assigned why we should be holy, than because 'the Lord our God is holy.' Men of the world have no objection to the terms virtue, morality, integrity, rectitude; but they associate something over. acted, not to say hypocritical, with the term holiness, and neither use it in a good sense when applied to others, nor would wish to have it ap plied to themselves; but make it over, with a little suspicion, and not a little derision, to puritans and enthusiasts. This suspected epithet, however, is surely rescued from every injurious association, if we consider it as the chosen attribute of the Most High. We do not presume to apply the terms virtue, probity, morality, to God; but we ascribe holiness to him because he first ascribed it to himself as the aggregate and consummation of all his perfections. Shall so imperfect a being as man then, ridi. cule the application of this term to others, or be ashamed of it himself? There is a cause indeed which should make him ashamed of the appropriation; that of not deserving it. This comprehensive appellation includes all the Christian graces; all the virtues in their just proportion, order, and harmony; in all their bearings, relations, and dependences. And as in God glory and holiness are united, so the apostle combines sanctification and honour' as the glory of man. Traces more or less of the holiness of God may be found in his works, to those who view them with the eye of faith. They are more plainly visible in his providences; but it is in his word that we must chiefly look for the ma nifestations of his holiness. He is every where described as perfectly holy in himself, as a mo del to be imitated by his creatures, and, though with an interval immeasurable, as imitable by them. noliness of God.'-When we are told therefore that Christ is made unto us righteousness,' we are in the same place taught that he is made unto us sanctification; that is, he is both justifier and sanctifier. In vain shall we deceive ourselves by resting on his sacrifice, while we neglect to imitate his example. The glorious spirits which surrounded the throne of God are not represented as singing hallelujahs to his omnipotence, nor even to his mercy, but to that attribute which, as with a glory, encircles all the rest. They perpetually cry, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts; and it is observable, that the angels which adore him for his holiness are the ministers of his justice. Those pure intelligences perceive, no doubt, that this union of attributes constitutes the divine perfection. This infinitely blessed Being then, to whom angels and archangels, and all the hosts of heaven are continually ascribing holiness, has commanded us to be holy. To be holy because God is holy, is both an argument and a command. An argument founded on the perfections of God, and a command to imitate him. This command is given to creatures, fallen indeed, but to whom God graciously promises strength for the imitation. If in God holiness implies an aggregate of perfections; in man, even in his low degree, it is an incorporation of the Christian graces. an imperfect state. Religion, it is true, is intial happiness, and points to its per ection: but as the best men possess it but imperfectly, they cannot be perfectly happy. Nothing can con fer completeness which is itself incomplete. With Thee, O Lord, is the fountain of life, and in Thy light only we shall see light.'* Whatever shall still remain wanting in our attainments, and much will still remain, let this last, greatest, highest consideration stimu late our languid exertions, that God has negatively promised the beatific vision, the enjoy. ment of his presence, to this attainment, by specifically proclaiming, that without holiness no man shall see his face. To know God is the rudiments of that eternal life which will hereafter be perfected by seeing him. As there is no stronger reason why we must not look for perfect happiness in this life, than because there is no perfect holiness, so the nearer advances we make to the one, the greater progress we shall make towards the other; we must cultivato here those tendencies and tempers which must be carried to perfection in a happier clime.But as holiness is the concomitant of happiness, so must it be its precursor. As sin has destroyed our happiness, so sin must be destroyed before our happiness can be restored. Our nature must be renovated before our felicity can be established. This is according to the nature of things, as well as agreeable to the law and will of God. Let us then carefully look to the subduing in our inmost hearts all those dispositions that are unlike God; all those actions, thoughts, and tendencies that are contrary to God. The holiness of God indeed is confined by no limitation; ours is bounded, finite, imperfect. Yet let us be sedulous to extend our little sphere. Let our desires be large, though our capacities are contracted. Let our aims be lofty, though our attainments are low. Let us be solicitous Independently therefore of all the other mo that no day pass without some augmentation of tives to holiness which religion suggests, indeour holiness, some added height in our aspira-pendently of the fear of punishment; indepen tions, some wider expansion in the compass of our virtues. Let us strive every day for some superiority to the preceding day; something that shall distinctly mark the passing scene with progress; something that shall inspire an humble hope that we are rather less unfit for heaven to-day than we were yesterday. The celebrated artist who has recorded that le passed no day without drawing a line, drew t, not for repetition, but for progress; not to produce a given number of strokes, but to forward his work, to complete his design. The Christian, like the painter, does not draw his lines at random; he has a model to imitate, as well as an outline to fill Every touch conforms him more and more to the great original. He who has transfused most of the life of God into his soul, has copied it most successfully. To seek happiness,' says one of the fathers, is to desire God, and to find him is that hap. piness. Our very happiness therefore is not our independent property; it flows from that eternal mind which is the source and sum of nappiness. In vain we look for felicity in all around us. It can only be found in that original fountain, whence we, and all we are and have, are derived. Where then is the imaginary wise man of the school of Zeno? what is the perfection of virtue supposed by Aristotle? They have no existence but in the romance of philosup v. Happiness must be imperfect in dently even of the hope of glory, let us be holy from this ennobling, elevating motive, because the Lord our God is holy. And when our virtue flags, let it be renovated by this imperative injunction, backed by this irresistible argument. The motive for imitation, and the Being to be imitated, seen almost to identify us with infinity. It is a connexion which endears, an assimilation which dignifies, a resemblance which elevates. The apostle has added to the prophet an assurance which makes the crown and consummation of the promise, that though we know not yet what we shall be, yet we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' In what a beautiful variety of glowing expressions, and admiring strains, do the Scripture worthies delight to represent God; not only in relation to what he is to them, but to the supreme excellence of his own transcendent perfections! They expatiate, they amplify, they dwell with unwearied iteration on the adorable theme: they ransack language, they exhaust all the expressions of praise, and wonder, and admiration; all the images of astonishment and delight, to laud and magnify his glorious name. They praise him, they bless him, they worship him, they glorify him, they give thanks to him for his great glory, saying Holy, holy, hol", *See Leighton on Happiness. Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.' inferior trials; for the sin of habitually yielding or the grace of habitually resisting in compa They glorify him relatively to themselves ratively small points, tends in no inconsiderable I will magnify Thee, O Lord my strength-degree to produce that vigour or that debility of My help cometh of God-The Lord himself is mind on which hangs victory or defeat. the portion of my inheritance.' At another time soaring with a noble disinterestedness, and quite losing sight of self and all created glories, they adore him for his own incommunicable excellences. 'Be thou exalted, O God, in thine own strength.'-'Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.' Then bursting to a rapture of adoration, and burning with a more intense flame, they cluster his attributes-To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, be honour and glory for ever and cver.' One is lost in admiration of his wisdom-his ascription is to the only wise God.' Another in triumphant strains overflows with transport at the consideration of the attribute on which we have been descanting: O Lord, who is like unto Thee, there is none holy as the Lord.'"Sing praises unto the Lord, oh ye saints of his, and give thanks unto him for a remembrance of his holiness.' The prophets and apostles were not deterred from pouring out the overflowings of their fervent spirits, they were not restrained from celebrating the perfections of their Creator, through the cold-hearted fear of being reckoned enthusiasts. The saints of old were not prevented from breathing out their rapturous hosannahs to the King of Saints, through the coward dread of being branded as fanatical. The conceptions of their minds dilating with the view of the glorious constellation of the Divine attributes; and the affections of their hearts warming with the thought, that those attributes were all concentrated in mercy-they display a sublime oblivion of themselves-they forget every thing but God. Their own wants dwindled to a point. Their own concerns, nay the universe itself, shrinks into nothing. They seem absorbed in the effulgence of Deity, lost in the radient beame of infinite glory. CHAP. XI. On the comparatively small faults and virtues. THE 'Fishers of men, as if exclusively bent on catching the greater sinners, often make the interstices of the moral net so wide, that it cannot retain those of more ordinary size, which every where abound. Their draught might be more abundant, were not the meshes so large tha the smaller sort, aided by their own lubricity escape the toils and slip through. Happy to find themselves not bulky enough to be entangled, they plunge back again into their native element, enjoy their escape, and hope they may safely wait to grow bigger before they are in danger of being caught. It is of more importance than we are aware, y are willing to allow, that we take care dili. gently to practice the smaller virtues, avoid scrupulously the lesser sins, and bear patiently Conscience is moral sensation. It is the hasty perception of good and evil, the peremptory de. cision of the mind to adopt the one or avoid the other. Providence has furnished the body with senses, and the soul with conscience, as a tact by which to shrink from the approach of danger as a prompt feeling to supply the deductions of reasoning; as a spontaneous impulse to precede a train of reflections for which the suddenness and surprise of the attack allow no time. An enlightened conscience if kept tenderly alive by a continual attention to its admonitions, would especially preserve us from those smaller sins and stimulate us to those lesser duties which we are falsely apt to think are too insignifican to be brought to the bar of religion, too trivia to be weighed by the standard of Scripture. By cherishing this quick feeling of rectitude light and sudden as the flash from heaven, and which is in fact the motion of the spirit, we intuitively reject what is wrong before we have time to examine why it is wrong, and seize on what is right before we have time to examine why it is right. Should we not then be carefu. how we extinguish this sacred spark? Will any thing be more likely to extinguish it than to ne glect its hourly momentoes to perform the smaller duties, and to avoid the lesser faults which, as they in a good measure make up the sum of human life, will naturally fix and deter mine our character, that creature of habits Will not our neglect or observance of it, incline or indispose us for those more important duties of which these smaller ones are connectin links? The vices derive their existence from wilu ness, confusion, disorganization. The discorc of the passions is owing to their having differen views, conflicting aims, and opposite ends. The rebellious vices have no common head; each 18 all to itself. They promote their own operation by disturbing those of others, but in disturb ing they do not destroy them. Though they are all of one family, they live on no friendly terms. Profligacy hates covetousness as much as if it were a virtue. The life of every sin is a life of conflict, which occasions the torment but not the death of its opposite. Like the fa bled brood of the serpent, the passions spring up, armed against each other, but they fail to complete the resemblance, for they do not effec their mutual destruction. But without union the Christian graces coula not be perfected, and the smaller virtues are the threads and filaments which gently but firmly tie them together. There is an attractive power in goodness which draws each part to the other This concord of the virtues is derived from their having one common centre in which all meet In vice there is a strong repulsion. Though bad men seek each other, they do not love each other. Each secks the other in order to promote his own purposes, while he hates him by whom his purposes are promoted. The lesser qualities of the human character |