that those very works of the flesh to which we are most inclined, must be cast away.* In short, that, to be a Christian indeed, he must steadily and manfully persevere, at every instant of his life, in his adherence to that excellent and most needful precept of the apostle, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."

And is all this deservedly called weakness? Is this the mark of an abject and spiritless mind, to make sacrifices and preternatural exertions like these, (for they are preternatural when God is with us, and through him alone they are done,) at the call of duty? Or does the credit of manliness and courage really belong, as it is often profanely asserted, to those who make it a principle to give way to the first temptation, and who have not the strength to look difficulties and trials in the face, but resign themselves a willing and ready prey to the power of Satan and the deceitfulness of sin? Oh! believe me, they know nothing of that deeply founded and unyielding resolution which has grown up in the Christian's heart, and which can be seen even through his external demeanour of kindness and of charity, who talk and reason thus. And still less do they reflect on the awful account which will be required of themselves, who have omitted, like the

* Hebrews xii. 1.

Christian, to lay hold of some "anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast," but who have suffered their frail and shattered bark to be tossed about by every wave that rolls and every wind that blows, till already its ruin draws near, and it must finally be stranded on the shores of eternity. The heathens themselves could discover that he had achieved a mightier and a nobler victory than the subjection of kings and of empires, who had learned to conquer himself. But in a Christian country we are compelled to witness the prevalence and operation of a spurious morality, and that too professed by persons who have actually made vows to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil,-which exalts into a manly virtue the slavish subservience to the will of the majority, and the weakness which resigns itself without resistance to the anarchy of its own disordered passions, anger, sensuality, uncharitableness, and revenge!

These considerations then may help us to make a just comparison between the firmness of a Christian character and the corresponding quality, whether it be called courage, manliness of spirit, or a dignified and magnanimous indifference, in the code of honour. But there is yet another circumstance which still more seriously aggravates the popular error on this point; and

that is, that the principle on which it is founded is one which is directly opposed to those common maxims of order and propriety by which the law of opinion itself is regulated and controuled. When we recollect that, whatever be our aberrations now, we have at least begun our course differently; that we are actually at this moment under the obligation of covenants and engagements of the most solemn kind; that our allegiance is already made to God-our lawful sovereign, to Christ-the "captain of our salvation;" we cannot but reflect that every wilful transgression of the divine laws, besides the mental infatuation and moral turpitude which, in other respects, the deed involves, exposes us also to the additional charge of a violation of contract, and breach of faith. And then, let me ask, is the world, at least, wont to attach the credit of stedfastness of purpose, and a resolute and manly spirit, to the commission of offences like these? Does the soldier, on the most ordinary principles of honour and justice, expect a reward for his courage, who, though engaged by the strongest obligations to risk his life in his country's defence, deserts his post at the first approach of danger? Do we praise the merchant for vigilance, perseverance, and strength of mind, who is diverted from the steady pursuit of his merchandize by

every fleeting object that attracts him, and who is ready to sacrifice the future and the permanent to mere passing and momentary advantages? Or, in our own case, should we find matter for panegyric on the manly and unflinching fidelity of that undeserving claimant on our esteem, who, at the first appearance of difficulty or of advantage to himself, should forget, without reluctance, every principle of friendship, and desert the professions he had made? These comparisons will help to shew the relative value of the pretensions which zealous and indifferent Christians respectively make to the virtue recommended in the text. And it were well if those deluded multitudes who vainly imagine that they can serve God and mammon at once, and can partake the full blessings of the gospel at the same time that they gratify all the demands of a perverted appetite and a licentious will, would consider that they offend the common sense of man while they neglect the special ordinances of God; and that, while they augment the catalogue of their transgressions against heaven, they are swelling still further the amount of their general guilt, by adding to the dark catalogue the meaner vices of unsteadiness of principle, abject cowardice, and violated faith.

2. But perhaps the cavils which were men

tioned above, concerning the weakness of the Christian character, are more particularly directed against the doctrines of humility, meekness, and resignation to the will of God,-doctrines which form some of the most prominent features in the gospel, and which seem to be, more than others, abhorrent to the proud heart of the natural man. By a very easy transition, although with a gross indifference to the truth, men readily pass from the vulgar opinion which attaches a certain factitious greatness and dignity to pride, to the still more dangerous belief that there is a degree of insignificance necessarily and inseparably connected with the Christian graces of patience, meekness, and humility. But-passing over, for the present, the consideration that pride and anger are themselves infirmities, and that there is more true greatness and strength of mind in conquering them than in giving way to hasty ebullitions of passion, or suffering ourselves to be elated with the favorable fluctuations of fortune, -it will be found, I believe, on a fair and unbiassed investigation of the subject, a most grievous mistake to suppose that Christian meekness implies in it the very smallest portion either of infirmity of purpose in particular, or of weakness of character in general. It is more than probable, indeed, that these virtues are often misrepresented