blessed Saviour, as we have of the poor, short-lived kindness of our earthly friends? Alas! for us, that God should in the Gospel reach forth the arm of his mercy to lift us up and bless us, and yet that we should look upon it with cold indifference.

I have mentioned these merely as instances of the state of mind, to which I have alluded,—a state of lethargy and deadness with regard to the reality of religion. Men believe or profess to believe what you teach them of the great truths, which relate to eternity; but they do not realize them, they do not suffer them to be wrought into the whole texture of their thoughts and feelings, as they do with respect to those truths which prompt and regulate their mechanical, agricultural or mercantile pursuits. Now it is manifest, that while they remain in such a state, they can have nothing which deserves the name of experimental religion. On such a soil, at the best, nothing but stinted shrubbery and half-formed fruits can ever grow. If we would experience the power of Christianity, we must love it; and how can we love it, if we do not realize it? There must be a strong, vital feeling, that the great and essential principles of religion are as true as that the sun shines upon us, or else "the kingdom of God" will be to us not "in power," but "in word" only. This persuasion must lie at the foundation of all experimental holiness of heart.

I know that the sense of the reality of the great truths relating to God, to his moral government, to our accountableness, and to the solemnities of a future state, may, in a peculiar state of mental weakness or in the excitement of passion, operate so blindly, and with such painful intenseness, as to produce nothing but anguish or dismay of

spirit; and this distressing perversion of a good thing may induce us to dread being in earnest about religion. But, we should remember there is as much difference between a solemn and affecting sense of the actual truth of religion, and that agonizing feeling which crushes the heart, as there is between health and sickness, between a pure atmosphere and pestilent vapors. Lay it down for a first principle, that there must be something more than a faint, nominal, misty and loose belief in the great doctrines of Christianity, if we would have them come upon our souls in their power and purity,-that, in short, there can be no such thing as experimental religion, without a deep and earnest feeling of the reality of its truths and principles.

2. Another essential requisite to experimental religion, is a sense of personal interest in the subject. It is not enough to believe in the truths of the Gospel; it is not enough even to have a deep feeling of their reality. We must go further; we must appropriate them personally to ourselves, to our own warning, our own improvement, and our own encouragement. This is an indispensable step in the process by which the power of Christianity is brought into the heart and enthroned there. No man ever experienced religion, in any rational sense, who did not consider its great and solemn truths as applicable to himself, to his own peculiar moral condition, his own spiritual wants, his sorrows, his temptations, and his sins. It is very easy to be loud in the praises of Christianity, to bestow upon it splendid and eloquent applause, to think and speak of it as a glorious and beautiful dispensation, to tell how it stimulates and fills the vast spiritual desires of the human breast, how it relieves every want, and

brightens all despondency; to be wrapt into admiration at the light which it sheds on eternity, at the everlasting hopes which it holds out to the aspirations of man, at the dignity and elevation which it imparts to the affections of our nature that cleave to immortality; it is, I say, very easy to think and talk in this glowing strain, and yet have no feeling of a personal interest in this most blessed gift of God to man. We may consider it in every point of view, except that in which it touches our hearts, and addresses itself to our souls. We may regard it as that, in which mankind in general have an interest, but in which we have no peculiar interest. Thus we may please ourselves with a sort of romantic warmth about it, and forget meanwhile that its vital power has never gone down into our hearts.

Now this general, vague, superficial way of thinking and feeling will never be sufficient to make religion a matter of experimental acquaintance to the heart of the individual. It is certainly important to have and to cherish these large and noble views of religion, and of the benefits it has conferred on the human race. But we must penetrate more deeply into its spirit, if we would personally know its power. We must go with it into our closets, and commune with it alone, and submit our motives, desires, and purposes to its strict and unsparing scrutiny, however painful it may be. We must retire from those wide considerations, which connect it with the world around us, and view ourselves as the peculiar objects of its counsels, its precepts, its warnings, its hopes, and its fears. Religion must be permitted to address us, as Nathan addressed David; it must say, "thou art the man."

It must not stand before us in the dis

tance, merely as a bright vision to gratify our sense of the moral sublime; it must be felt in its presence and nearness, as a subject of personal concern, and as bringing an errand from God to our hearts and souls. All this it must certainly do, or it cannot be experimental religion.

Does the voice of nature and of revelation teach us that there is a God, an Infinite Spirit, who rules all worlds? Then let each one say-this God is my Father, my Creator, my Governor, and will be my Judge.-Are we taught that we stand responsible to the bar of heaven for the use of all our gifts and privileges? Let every individual, then, consider how this awful truth bears upon him personally, and what answer he could give, were he now summoned to his final account.-Does Christianity present to us that Saviour, who came to bring light and pardon to a world lying in darkness and sin, and "to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works?" Then let every one solemnly ask himself— has Christianity been to me personally" the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation?" Have I imbibed the spirit and imitated the example of him, who lived and died for me?—And does the Gospel teach us, that our spirits go not down to the dust with our bodies, but are made for immortality and retribution? Does it disclose to our view the world beyond the grave, in which "tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soul of man that doeth evil, bat glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good?" Let this solemn thought, then, personally affect each one of us; and let every heart seek earnestly for itself, that an entrance may be ministered into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and

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Saviour, Jesus Christ."-By such applications as these, of the searching truths of Christianity, our religion may become a personal concern; and this will be one of the effectual means of making it experimental. When, therefore, the instructions and exhortations of divine truth occur to thy mind, do not meet them with the cold reflection that they belong to others; be assured, that they belong to thee, that thou hast a personal concern in them of imperishable and everlasting value. Then shalt thou know by thine own experience the strengthening and refreshing influence of heavenly truth; then shalt thou have "rejoicing in thyself, and not in another."

3. The last step, which I shall mention, in the acquisition of experimental religion is, that it must be within us a governing principle of life and conduct. Without this, all the rest is useless.-It is in vain that we realize the truths of Christianity as having an actual and distinct existence; it is in vain that we view them as applicable in a personal manner to ourselves, unless they become habitual principles of action, and manifest themselves in all the ways of good living. Till they have become so, though they may, like barren trees, stand forth in form and comeliness, yet they have no deep, vigorous roots, and are laden with no precious fruits. Let it appear that religion pervades the life, that its spirit is infused into our temper and conduct, that our daily thoughts, motives, and purposes are purified and consecrated by its influences, then, and then only, will it be experi mental religion.

This is the ultimate test, by which the profession of a personal acquaintance with the spirit of Christianity is to be tried and proved. It is easy and common enough