your minds to the approval of his most holy and benevolent will.

The epithets" that good and acceptable and perfect," are applied by our translators to the will of God. But by some commentators they are placed, and perhaps more justly, absolutely and independ'ently. This method of using such terms is not unusual with the Apostle Paul. The translation to suit this sense would be as follows: "but be ye transformed in the renewing of your minds, that ye may discover what is the will of God-the goodthe well-pleasing the perfect." These expressions denoted, in the abbreviated language of moral writers and philosophers of that time, the chief object of mental ambition, the elements of improvement and perfection of character. The will of God is, that man should secure the chief good of human life; that which is most acceptable to God, most grateful to the well-disciplined mind, he should adopt; that what is faultless in character he should aim to reach.

Does not this teach us to correct our notions of that which will promote the glory of God? Not mere formal worship, not a multitude of words, not long prayers, and fasts, and penances, but an effort to reach the happiness we can enjoy; a holy and daily and unceasing ambition to increase our knowledge, to correct our errors, to purify our hearts, to rise to that elevation which our nature, with the blessing of God, is fitted to attain; "to press for

ward towards the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus." God is praised when man is improved; God is glorified when man is happy. "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." To those who have acted faithfully and benevolently in life, under the impulse of principles which prompt us to do good and to get good, when life is closed, that welcome summons will be addressed,-" Inasmuch as you have done the duty of life to one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me: enter ye into the joy of your Lord."

DISCOURSE VII.

WE CAN LOVE HIM WHOM WE HAVE NOT SEEN.

1 PET. i. 8, 9:

WHOM HAVING NOT SEEN YE LOVE: IN WHOM, THOUGH NOW YE SEE HIM NOT, YET BELIEVING, YE REJOICE WITH JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY: CONSIDERING THE END OF YOUR FAITH, THE SALVATION OF YOUR SOULS.

If there is any passage in the whole Bible containing the sum and substance of a Christian's hopes and expectations, it is this. If language, the vehicle of thought, can express more forcibly the truth it utters, when it is dictated by personal experience of its value, when it is the result of deep conviction and warm affection, you find it here"Whom having not seen ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Love-ardent, affectionate, deep, unchanging love of Christ is characteristic of the Christian heart. But it rules not only over his affections, it prevails in its influence

over his whole life. And when the affections are thus won by surpassing beauty, by unrivalled ex cellence, by sinless perfection, by the greatest bene fits procured by the greatest sacrifices, when "Christ thus dwells in the heart by faith," then "ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;" the measure of your earthly happiness is full; one engrossing object gives a satisfaction which nothing else can procure; all things essential to your welfare are yours; the secret of being happy which men covet to learn is to you revealed; your outward advantages are blessed; life's troubles are relieved; you can no longer sorrow with a grief bereft of hope; perfect love casteth out fear; and deeply seated in your breast is that joy with which "no stranger can intermeddle," which "the world can neither give nor take away."

I am afraid that this is a picture of the condition of the Christian, which, addressed to Christians in general, will appear an exaggerated or even fanciful delineation of their state. But in this case there must be some deficiency in their title to the name, or in their efforts to discharge all the duties and to enjoy all the privileges which the name implies. What I have said of its character, of its influence on the condition of those who hold it, is only what, in language far more appropriate and glowing, abounds in every document which records the history, expounds the principles, details the rules, and keeps perpetually glancing at the influence, of our holy re

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ligion upon the hearts of men. All is full of light If any sorrow comes, religion does not

and joy. bring it. his faith.

If any have trouble, it springs not from

The cares and vexations of this life make no impression long to be felt and seen, where a deeper feeling has taught us "to be careful for nothing, casting all our care on him-for he careth for us." The penalties we may endure, the trial of cruel mockings we may have to sustain, the bodily pangs we may have to suffer for fidelity to truth, are really ground of rejoicing to the mind firm in its integrity, which this persecution shall not be able to shake. And death itself is melancholy, hopeless, and cheerless only to him who does not believe that "Jesus died and rose again from the dead." With this faith, it is to ourselves a tranquil night and a peaceful sleep after the labour of a weary life; in removing our friends, it is a long separation, more to endear the reunion which will assuredly take place, when "death shall be swallowed up in victory," and when "God shall be all in all.”

That man must be sadly occupied and engrossed with external things, who cannot perceive the possibility of that state of the affections which the holy apostle describes. Actions recorded, as well as witnessed, attest the power, the ability of the agent. Benefits conferred convince us of the benevolence of him who has given. The faithful biography which leads us to contemplate the man in whom reside all the charities of the human heart, whose