is to rebel against him, to resist him, and to do despite to him. But to grieve him seems to intimate, that the sin was against light and knowledge; a sin of ingratitude as well as of folly; a sin against grace received and mercy proffered, as well as against the dignity and holiness of the supreme Lawgiver. We resist and provoke an enemy; but we can grieve none but a friend, or one who wishes well to us; one who pities our misconduct while he feels displeasure at our offence.

How, then, it may be asked, may the Christian be said to violate the exhortation in the text? In what way does he grieve the Spirit of God? To this it may be replied, that every sin, every act, or thought, or word inconsistent with his holy profession, has this effect. He is called to be a saint:" his duty and his privilege, therefore, is the cultivation of every thing that is pure and heavenly. He is utterly to forsake and abhor every evil way, and to aspire after whatsoever is lovely and of good report. He is to grow in humility and penitence, in faith and love, in spiritual-mindedness and meetness for heaven; and in proportion as he fails in any of these respects, he grieves the Spirit of God.

But it is not necessary, or possible, to specify minutely and individually every act by which the Spirit may be grieved. St. Paul, in the passage from which the text is taken, was enumerating various sins, which he exhorted the Ephesians to shun; and in the midst of the catalogue, as if to furnish one general rule and argument applicable to every occasion, he interposes the injunction before us. The sins which he pointedly mentions, and which, therefore, may be considered as particularly offensive to the Holy Spirit, especially when indulged in by a professor of religion, are uncleanness, falsehood, theft, evil conversation, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil-speaking. Now every person of really religious habits

must have often felt in his own case how greatly any of these sins grieves the Holy Spirit. For what are the deadness of soul, the want of satisfaction in religiou, the conscious guilt and remorse that arise in the heart of the Christian upon the commission of sin, but marks of the displeasure of the Holy Spirit, who employs these means among others to punish our wanderings, and to bring us back to the right path? He shews his dis pleasure against sin by withdrawing the light of his countenance, and leaving the sinner, at least for a time, to the effects of his own waywardness and folly. Guilt takes possession of the mind; prayer is no longer a willing and hopeful expression of the wants and wishes of the heart to a reconciled as well as Almighty Friend; and what was once a way of pleasantness and path of peace, is now beset with thorns and briars, which the hand of the transgressor himself has planted. The hope and joy which he once possessed have vanished; the promises of God appear no longer in his behalf; while his threatenings are impending over him, and destruction seems to be his portion. He is bowed down and dismayed, while He, whose love and mercy can alone deliver him, is grieved, and withdraws his favour. By deep penitence, with earnest prayer, and vigilance, and a humble trust in the death and merits of the Redeemer, mercy may again shine upon his path; but a deliberate and wilful continuance in those sins which grieved the Holy Spirit will at length quench his influences altogether, and consign the sinner to the punishment due to his transgressions. 'He, that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly perish, and that without a remedy."

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Without, however, adverting to the numerous ways in which we may grieve the Holy Spirit, or even touching upon all of those which the Apostle more particularly

mentions, it may not be improper to remark, that the Holy Spirit may be grieved by counteracting his influences under any of the characters which he is pleased to bear towards men. Is he, for example, a Teacher and Enlightener? We grieve him when we resist the truth of God's word; when we submit willingly to ignorance or error in religion; or when we fail to examine duly into the great topics which constitute the subjects of his instruction. What numerous benefits has he afforded us; what opportunities of religious information! We have received line upon line and precept upon precept: we have had, perhaps, the advantages of a religious education, the reading of the Scriptures, with all the other public and private means of grace. Must not, then, the Divine Dispenser of these blessings be greatly grieved, if we still continue ignorant or thoughtless or inattentive respect ing our eternal welfare? Is there not abundant cause for his displeasure, if, after so much done for us, we neglect so great salvation? Again; is he a Comforter? We grieve him, when, instead of cheerfully submitting to the Divine appointments, we reject his holy consolations, and evidence a rebellious or discontented spirit. We grieve him when, by reason of gloomy tempers and conduct, we bring an evil name upon religion. If those consolations be wanting to us which it is his office to bestow, the unhappy effect must be traced to our own unholiness or inconsistency of conduct; and therefore, must necessarily grieve Him, whose character of a Comforter is thus rendered unavailing for the repose of our souls. Thus also he is grieved through the injuries that fall upon the Gospel itself by means of the unhappy or unamiable character of some of its professed adherents. But chiefly is he grieved by the resistance made to him in his highly important office of a Sanctifier. It is here that he is most opposed and thwarted in his gracious influ

ences for the benefit of our souls. Our inherent, our abiding corruptions, and too often perhaps our wilful and cherished sins, check his benign and salutary operations. Not a day or hour passes by, in which some unhallowed thought or word or action does not occur, to evince our proneness to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Having thus considered the exhortation in the text, we come, SECONDLY, to touch upon the motives on which it is grounded.

The passage itself furnishes us with one or two considerations which may justly be viewed as very powerful dissuasives from the sin of grieving the Holy Spirit of God. The very appellation itself, is a forcible argument. The character given to this Divine Person, as a "Spirit," and as "holy," might well deter us from those things which we know to be offensive in his sight. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; how then shall the transgressor escape unpunished? But the Divinity of his nature, implied in the phrase "the Spirit of God," is a still more powerful dissuasive; for he whom we offend and grieve is not a created being, like ourselves; one whom we can deceive or intimidate or overcome: He is the High and Holy God; he has infinite power to punish, as well as infinite mercy to save; and in proportion to the exaltation of the person, is the magnitude of the crime. To oppose him deliberately and systematically is the greatest of all offences. Our Lord himself said, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come."

But the motive more directly urged is an appeal to our gratitude and personal interest: "By him ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Such is our obligation to him; He is not an unconcerned or inactive spectator of our spiritual condition; but, on the contrary,

effectually operates in our hearts, by his sacred influences sealing us for his own and qualifying us for the heavenly possession.

The expression "to seal" appears capable of different significations; but it would seem chiefly to imply, that by means of the Holy Spirit diffusing his graces in our hearts, converting us from our sins, leading us by faith to a Redeemer for salvation, and assisting us in all the excellent fruits of a holy obedience, we are marked out, or set apart, and stamped as it were with a seal, to specify our character. Sanctification of heart and life is the best and strongest test of our state before God. Where it exists, it is the pledge of future glory. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Thus, by the sanc tifying operation of the Spirit in the heart we become marked out as the flock of the Great Shepherd: we are no longer our own, but, being bought with the price of the blood of Christ, we are bound in duty, and invited as our privilege, to devote ourselves as the willing servants of Him who loved us and gave himself for us. Thus living and

dying, our redemption is secure; we are sealed forit; and at length, when the body is at the last day redeemed from the grave, both body and soul shall be re-united in heaven. That will indeed be in a conspicu-ous manner the day of redemption; and to that are we sealed by the sacred stamp of character given unto us by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost.

Such appears to be the Apostle's argument. Our sins committed under such circumstances partake of the character of the blackest ingratitude: they grieve our best and most exalted Benefactor, against whom they are most immediately directed. Let us, then, by every tie of love and gratitude, by every motive of hope and fear, by every merciful promise and every warning threatening of the Divine word, be persuaded to such a holy and consistent frame of soul, and such a heavenly line of conduct, as may not repel or grieve or quench the Spirit, but, on the contrary, invite his blessed influences, and bring down upon us all the gracious effects of instruction and consolation and sanctification which it is his office to impart.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. ABOUT two years ago I transmitted to you a commentary on Rom. i. 1-7, the production of one of your earliest and ablest supporters and most frequent correspondents, now no more, which you were so good as to insert, (vol. for 1816, p. 204.) A great many outlines or fragments of papers, the work of the same lamented friend, which were intended to appear in due time in the pages of your miscellany, have since come into my hands. It would be doing injustice to his conceptions, as well as acting unfairly towards your readers, were I to attempt to

fill up his sketches, or to add a single line to what he has left unfinished. I send them to you in the state in which they were found when this excellent man was called to exchange his labours on earth for the glories of heaven. There is, to me, something awful in the abruptness with which many of these pieces are broken off. Thus abruptly do most of our earthly schemes terminate. Happy those, who, when arrested in the midst of them, are found thus devising and executing plans for diffusing virtue and happiness in the world! Alas! how different are the circumstances in which multitudes are summoned

to appear before their Judge! May all who read these lines be duly affected by this consideration!

One of my reasons for sending you these embryo papers is, that they may possibly suggest useful topics of remark or discussion to some of your correspondents. There are some men whose great difficulty in writing is to find suitable subjects on which to write. To them, the hints conveyed by the fragments now sent you may be of use. And certainly there are many of them which deserve to be taken up and followed out by your ablest correspondents.

M.

POSTHUMOUS FRAGMENTS, AD. DRESSED TO THE EDITOR OF

THE CHRISTIAN OBSERVER.

1. On the Use of Influence. There are many persons in this country, who, possessing influence and wealth, unquestionably perform an important service by endeavouring to raise from obscurity individuals who are endowed with peculiar gifts of nature, and are qualified for the higher stations of life. Who, for example, does not respect the character of those who befriended a Johnson or a Beattie in their early youth; who foresaw the virtue and genius which they would display, and became their patrons at a period when there was little honour in having a name associated with theirs?

It is one of the glories of Great Britain, that the path of preferment is open to all. Very different in this respect is the condition of many other countries. In our own West Indies, there is a line of demarcation between the freeman and the slave, which the slave can never pass. In Russia, the peasant is doomed to a condition, not undoubtedly so low as the West-Indian slave, but equally hopeless. In many European countries, the prejudices in favour of nobility effectually restrain the competition of the middling and lower classes; and in the East

Indies, the institution of cast_creates an insurmountable boundary. They who promote the elevation of men of genius in this country, follow up, therefore, the very principles of our constitution, and are instrumental in turning the talents of the kingdom to the best account.

There is, however, a measured and humbler kind of patronage, which is proper in the case of the more moderate degrees of endow ment; but, above all, there is a debt due to religious and moral excellency, which ought never to be forgot. To endeavour to exalt those persons into stations of influence who are likely to employ that influence in promoting both the honour of God and the good

of man, is one of the clearest duties of religion. It is true that care should be taken not to place pious men, possessing moderate talents, in situations to which they are unequal; and that high emoluments are not perhaps the best reward for piety. To give, however, to those who are evidently bent on doing good, more enlarged means of doing it, is at once the truest policy, and the best and most acceptable recompence for their past services.

I have offered these remarks, partly because I wish to secure myself against being misunderstood in some observations which I shall proceed to add, on the subject of a bad species of protegée-ship which, as I apprehend, very much prevails in this country.

I believe, Mr. Editor, that there hardly ever occurs an election to any vacant office in any of the public institutions or charities of this kingdom, for which there are not numerous competitors; and that there is seldom a competitor who is not supplied with abundant testimonials of his sufficiency for the office, and is not supported by friends who take a most lively interest in his success. I was lately struck by a little circumstance, the relation of which may stand in the

place of a long argument on this subject. An acquaintance of mine brought me about half a hundred printed letters certifying the merits of a candidate for an office under a public institution, which I will not name, in terms the most unmeasured, and requested me to sign and address a few dozens of them to any individuals I could influence. "Pray, sir," said I, "do you perfectly know this candidate whom you recommend?" "He is known," said my friend, who, by the way, is a man in trade, "to a person with whom I am somewhat connected in business." "And what does he know of him?" "Oh! I believe he knows him very well," was the answer. "Do you know any thing of the other candidates for the same office?" 66 I cannot say that I do, but I believe that one of them has a strong interest." "Do you know his merits?" " Why, sir, his friends speak well of him; but I dare say not better than my friend would speak of the gentleman whom I recommend to you." "Do you know any thing of the merits of the third candidate?" "I have heard that he is a man with a large family." "Is he fit for the office?" "I should be sorry to say any thing against him in that respect: I dare say he is." "Can you speak to the comparative qualifications of the three candidates?" "No indeed I cannot."

2. On Punctuality.

The ancients admitted both gods and demigods into their theology; and it may be doubted whether some of their inferior deities might not be nearly as respectable as the higher order of their divinities; whether Hercules, for example, was not almost as formidable as Mars, and Orpheus as musical as Apollo. May I venture to remark, that morality also has both its virtues and its semi-virtues; and that some of these semi-virtues, those Dii minorum gentium, are, in my opinion, entitled to hold up their heads

almost as high as some of the D majores of the moralists. Permit me to devote the present paper to the celebration of a semi-virtue which I conceive to be much underrated; I mean, that of PUNCTU

ALITY.

It will probably be assumed, that the writer is some dull old man, wearing a cocked hat, a wig of ancient cut. * * *

I assure you, sir, I am no such thing.

3. On Antinomianism.

On

I beg leave to offer a few cursory observations on the general subject of that sort of Antinomianism which, as I apprehend, prevails in either a greater or less degree in various parts of our religious world. I am not one of those who are excessively alive to evils of this nature. the contrary, I believe that Antinomianism is often said to exist where it does not, and to abound where there is only a slight infusion of it. In many of the persons among whom it is found, there is a tendency to errors of another class, and these also it will be my endeavour to describe. With Antinomianism, properly so called, men are often overcharged, while some of those other evils are too little regarded. To give a fair view of this general subject will be the object of the present paper.

When a person who once mixed freely with the world, who partook of its pleasures, was infected with its vices, and had been satisfied with its empty forms of religion, begins to feel what the Scriptures call "the powers of the world to come;"-when an awful eternity presents itself to the view; when the repentance, heretofore so superficial and so transient, becomes deep, and serious, and abiding; and, above all, when the doctrine of a Redeemer, once so coolly and so sceptically entertained, becomes the very joy and comfort of the whole heart; then the value which had been placed on moral works