impiety, or covetousness, or resentment, prompts him to do it. Personal attachment to the minister is now the strongest bond of union; and to hold together by this bond a society of fallen men demands no ordinary vigilance and fidelity. Our predecessors might do less than their duty, and the primary impulse, unresisted, would cause things to move on in the right way. But now the resistance is increased, and the impelling forces diminished; and nothing but an impulse carefully and constantly applied will keep things in their proper course.

The necessity of study is not diminished, but the necessity of action has greatly increased. Action is now the order of the day; for, beside the peculiar exigencies of our own people, and the churches in this State, such a field of labor is opening before us as the world never saw. Jesus is coming quickly to take possession of the earth, and is now putting in requisition the hearts, the thoughts, the time and strength, of all his ministers; and which of us will not rejoice that it is so, and give him all ?

SERMON V.

THE BIBLE A CODE OF LAWS.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes: the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb." PSALM 19: 7-10.

WE have, in this Psalm, a concise account of the discovery of the glory of God, made by his works and by his word. "The heavens declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handy work." But these disclosures of the heavens, "whose line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world," though they create obligation, and discover guilt, are not sufficient to restrain the depravity of man, nor to disclose an atonement for him, nor to announce terms of pardon, nor to sanctify the soul.

But the law of the Lord is perfect. Adapted to the exigencies of a lost world, it speaks on all those subjects on which no speech is heard from the heavens, and is attended with glorious efficacy. It converts the soul; it makes wise the simple; it rejoices the heart; it produces a fear of the Lord, which endures forever; and to all who have felt its sanctifying power, it is more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey.

THE TEXT, THEN, TEACHES US TO REGARD THE WORD OF GOD AS CONTAINING THE LAWS OF A MORAL GOVERNMENT, REVEALED FOR THE ILLUSTRATION OF HIS GLORY IN THE SALVATION OF MAN.

In discoursing upon this subject, it is proposed,

I. To illustrate the nature of moral government; and,

II. To show that the Scriptures are to be regarded as containing a system of moral laws, revealed to illustrate the glory of God, in the salvation of man.

I. A moral government is the influence of law upon accountable creatures. It includes a law-giver, accountable subjects, and laws intelligibly revealed, and maintained by rewards and punishments, according to the character and deeds of the subjects. To accountability in the subjects are requisite, understanding, to perceive the rule of action; conscience, to feel moral obligation; and the power of choice, in the view of motives. Understanding, to perceive the rule of action, does not constitute accountable agency; choice, without the capacity of feeling obligation, does not constitute accountable agency;- but the capacity of understanding, and conscience, and choice, united, do constitute an accountable agent. The laws of God and man recognize these properties of mind as the foundation of accountability. A statue is not accountable, for it has no perception or choice; an idiot is not, for, though he may have choice, he has no competent understanding to perceive a moral rule, nor conscience to feel moral obligation; and a lunatic is not, because, though he may have choice and conscience, he has not the unperverted exercise of his understanding.

The faculties, then, of understanding, conscience, and choice, constitute an accountable agent; and their existence is as decisive evidence of free agency as the five senses are of

the existence of the body; and nothing is inconsistent with free agency, or annihilates the evidence of its existence, which does not destroy one or more of these faculties of the mind.

Law, as the medium of moral government, includes precepts and sanctions intelligibly revealed. The precept is directory; it discloses what is to be done. The sanctions are influential; they present the motives to obedience included in the comprehensive terms of reward and punishment. But, to have influence, the precepts and the motives must be presented to the mind. The law, in all its parts, must be intelligible, otherwise it is not a law. A law may be unknown, and yet be obligatory, when the ignorance is voluntary; but never, when it is unavoidable. The influence of law as the medium of moral government is the influence of motives upon accountable creatures; and the effect of this influence is always the actual exercise of free agency in choice or action. The influence of motives cannot destroy free agency; for it is the influence of persuasion only, and results only in choice, which, in the presence of understanding and conscience, is free agency. If there were no objects of preference or aversion exhibited to the mind, there could no more be choice or free agency, than there could be vision without external objects of sight. Direct irresistible impulse, moving the mind to action, would not be moral government; and if motives, in the view of which the mind chooses and acts, were coercive of choice, accountability and moral government would be impossible.

The administration of a moral government includes whatever may be necessary to give efficacy to its laws. Its chief influence is felt in the cognizance it takes of the conduct of subjects, and the evidence it affords of certain retribution

ng to their deeds. In some points, there is a coinci

dence between natural and moral government; and in others, a difference. They agree in this fact, that the subjects of each are influenced to act as they would not without government. To suppose complete exemption from any kind or degree of influence from without to be indispensable to free agency, is at war with common sense, and daily observation, and every man's own consciousness. What is family government, what is civil government, what is temptation, exhortation or persuasion; and what are the influences of the Holy Spirit, but the means, and the effectual means, of influencing the volitions of the human heart, and the conduct of human life? To deny the possibility of control by motives without destroying free agency, annihilates the moral government of God, and is atheism. It shuts him out of the world and out of the universe, as moral governor. It blots out his laws as nugatory, emancipates every subject from his moral influence, and leaves him not an inch of territory on earth or in heaven over which to sway the sceptre of legislation. He must sit upon his throne as an idle spectator of all moral exercise and action, receiving no praise for what he has done from saint or angel. "By the grace of God I am what I am," must have been a falsehood when uttered upon earth, and a sentiment not to be repeated in heaven.

Natural and moral government may agree, also, as to the certainty of their influence. It may be as certain that an honest man will not steal as if he was loaded with chains and could not move a finger; and it may be as certain that an intemperate man will drink to excess, when he has opportunity, as if the liquid were poured down his throat by irresistible power. But they differ entirely as to their subjects, and the manner of producing their results. Natural government is direct, irresistible impulse. Moral government is