his Son." I cordially embrace the faithful saying, so worthy of all acceptation, and in the act of receiving the testimony I receive a pardon. With ineffable delight I learn, that "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus;" but that, being justified by Faith, they attain an established peace with God. Much I wonder, and much I love, when I contemplate the display of love divine towards a rebellious world; but more I wonder, and more I love, when I discover love, so amazing, so divine, directed even towards such a rebellious, perverse, ungrateful worm of the dust, as I perceive and confess myself to be, and when I find encouragement to hope that neither the number nor the aggravation of my sins has been permitted to oppose an insurmountable barrier to the tender mercy of God. What shall I now render to the Lord, who forgiveth all our iniquities, and blotteth out all our transgressions. What is it which his will requires me to pursue;

what is it which his I seek for direction

will requires me to avoid? in his word; and I find it written there-" This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Sanctity, then, of heart and life, becomes the object of my desire, and my pursuit. I find that the design of the Saviour's death was "to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

It is, therefore, my heart's desire and prayer, that the purifying process may be going forwards in my inmost soul, and be rendered distinctly apparent by the unequivocal and practical indications of universal holiness. I learn that I am not my own, but "bought with a price," and therefore laid under the strongest of all obligations to glorify God with my body and spirit, which are his: constrained, therefore, by the mercies of God, I present my whole person living sacrifice; holy and acceptable to Him, which is my reasonable service." Mark, then, the moral influence of Faith. Faith produces gratitude, and gratitude impels to holiness.

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But the love of gratitude soon produces the love of admiration and complacency. Having ceased to contemplate the divine character with alarm, we begin to view it with admiring delight. Dread has subsided into awe, and prejudice has yielded to love. We open the eye of the mind, now cleared from its films and freed from its veil, and the glory and beauty of the divine perfections are beheld in their own resplendent light. In the harmonious assemblage of attributes which constitute the character of Jehovah, we discern all that is worthy of the Lord of the universe; all that is conducive to the happiness of his dutiful and loyal creatures. Beholding

"the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," every perfection appears not more awful than amiable. In all his attributes, the blessed God is now seen to display ineffable glory; but, in the effulgence of his holiness, he manifests "the glory that excelleth." Admiring this "beauty of holiness," we now desire, and pray, and strive with the energies of a mind renewed, that we may be holy even as he is holy. We find, in the precepts and in the promises of his word, nothing to repress, but every thing to excite and to encourage this holy ambition. We even find it to be the eternal purpose of Him who changeth not, that we should be conformed to the image of his beloved Son. The imitation, then, of the Lord Jesus Christ, becomes the business of our lives; and it is our most intense desire, that the mind which was in Him may ever be in us. Mark, then, the moral influence of Faith. Faith produces the love of admiring and complacential delight; and this love becomes the incentive to humble imitation.

The second of those principles of our nature which operate with greatest power, is Hope.

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Being justified by Faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; and rejoice in Hope of the glory of God." We have joy, and peace, and Hope, in believing. Not only does Hope, in the first instance, spring from Faith,

but by Faith it is sustained and excited. Now, the Hope of a believer in Jesus, is the "Hope of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away :" it is the Hope of admission to the felicities of the world, into which "nothing can enter that defileth." It induces, therefore, a powerful desire to be purified from all iniquity. It is a Hope of the society of the saints in light; it induces, therefore, a desire to be qualified for the purity of their communion. It is a Hope of being admitted into the immediate presence of the Redeemer, to behold his glory; it induces, therefore, a desire to be like him, when we see him as he is, in all the beauties of unsullied holiness. We wonder not, then, at the assertion of the Apostle John," he that hath this Hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure." The very contemplation of such objects naturally exerts a purifying influence on the heart. Let a man be much employed in thinking of heaven, and the joys of heaven, and the society of heaven, and the God of heaven, and the worship of heaven; and it requires no sagacity to predict, that he will become more and more dead to the polluting vanities of this present world, and more and more alive to the God of his salvation, whose glory he delights to contemplate, whose image he longs to attain. Not more certain is it, that impure thoughts cannot pass through the mind without

leaving some trace of contamination, than that the habitual contemplation of things holy and divine, must progressively assimilate the soul into their own resemblance. They will produce a distaste, and even a disgust, for all that is polluted, and a restless and most active desire to depart from all iniquity, and to abstain from every appearance of evil. With such feelings and such anticipations, we shall desire to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Mark then the moral influence of Faith. Faith produces a Hope of glory;" and Hope is a most powerful incentive to holiness.

Faith purifies the heart,

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SECONDLY, By bringing the mind into immediate contact with those truths, which are directly calculated to promote sanctity of character.

That the distinguishing truths of the gospel of Christ are, by their very nature, adapted to effect the purification of the heart, I need not undertake to establish by force of argument. Suffice it, for the present, to remind you of one petition in the prayer of Him who came to be the Illuminator and the Purifier of our world-"Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." Now in order that this truth may produce its full effect upon the heart, it is necessary,--

1. That the essential and characteristic truths