merated as one of the vices of the heathen to be "without natural affection."

There is another natural affection, which corresponds. to our relation to the whole human race. It is recognized by the moral sentiments and the language of mankind. A misanthrope is thought, not only odious, but criminal. A man who is indifferent to the welfare of others is called selfish, and is despised and disliked. The same sentiments are upheld in the New Testament. Christ spake a parable especially to elucidate the duty of loving all mankind, and of acting in accordance with that affection. To the question, "Who is my neighbour?" he spake the parable of the good Samaritan. That good man obeyed the natural affection of universal benevolence, the priest and Levite stifled and repressed it. And this example precisely illustrates our subject. He had kept his heart with all diligence. He had never suffered the warm current of his affections to become chilled by the indulgence of indifference, indolence, selfishness, or avarice.

So, I have no doubt, there is a natural affection implanted in the human heart towards God. The Samaritan did not compassionate and relieve the stranger in distress because he had implanted in his own bosom an affection which was not placed there by God, and then kept it alive by cultivation. He obeyed an impulse which God has made spontaneous in every human bosom, and which he created in man for the benefit of the species.

God is the father of mankind, and mankind are his children, and there is given them a filial affection towards their heavenly Parent. That affection is the cause and fountain of all the religions there are in the

world.

A virtuous child always loves a good father. It is his nature. A good man always loves God. He who loves God and his fellow-creatures is necessarily happy. A bad man does not extinguish this natural affection by his misconduct; he only smothers it for a season. Such is the doctrine of Christ, for as soon as the prodigal "came to himself," he said, "I will arise and go to my father."

But any admission of evil into the conduct, into the feelings, or even the thoughts and purposes, disturbs all these relations to God and our fellow-beings, and renders impossible the discharge of the duties we owe them. Hence the admonition dictated by Divine wisdom, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Keep thy heart right, and all duty shall be plain, simple, and delightful.

What stronger proof can there be than this of the essential rectitude of human nature? What higher evidence is needed that human nature, developed according to its essential elements and in its true proportions, makes a good and happy man? Not only will the conscience, if followed and obeyed, guide a man into all duty, but the affections, when cultivated, lead in the same direction, and, if the heart be kept pure, will secure the discharge of every social obligation.

DISCOURSE XV.

THE SPIRIT WILLING, THE FLESH WEAK.

THE SPIRIT TRULY IS WILLING, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK.- - Mark xiv. 38.

THIS I believe to be the wisest and the truest, as well as the most compassionate and benignant, statement of the constitution of human nature. It is worthy of the Son of the Father, the brightest ray of his glory, and the purest image of his perfections, who "pitieth us as a father pitieth his children, for he knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust." It does us good to repeat it from his lips, in this world of irritation, harsh feelings, and hard judgments. It is the honest and reasonable apology of human nature, a reproof as well to those who deify as to those who decry it. It is equivalent to saying, what is exactly true, that man is a creature of a mixed constitution; made up of a soul which is heavenly and divine, and of a body which is of the earth, earthy ; of an intellect which glances over the universe in a moment of time, and a body which is confined to one spot, and can change its place only by the most laborious process; of a mind which would be ever active, and of a

corporeal partner which soon becomes fatigued, and must pass a third part of its time in utter insensibility; of a moral sense which is quick to discern the true, the right, the generous, the noble, and appetites which crave immediate indulgence, without respect to the dictates of the higher nature; of a conscience which discerns the fulness and strength of obligation, and, like the mariner's needle to the pole, ever points to eternity and God, and, on the other hand, of the passions, which, like winds and storms on the ocean, often drive the vessel far, very far, from her legitimate course; of a spiritual nature whose perceptions and convictions are always nearly the same, and of a physical frame whose condition varies with the changes of every day, is now full of hope, energy, and activity, but to-morrow is sick, languid, and dispirited. The legislative power in the little commonwealth of human nature is strong, wise, clear-sighted, and nearly perfect; the executive is impeded by a thousand imperfections, in the powers through which it operates, the materials with which it has to deal, and the obstacles which it has to Overcome. Never was there a truer word spoken than this, that "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Such was Christ's explanation of the imperfections of human nature, and of the general fact, that we are always in danger of expecting too much from it.

I shall first attempt to show how wise and just, as well as merciful, an estimate of human nature this is. It is remarkable for its moderation, its equal distance from the extremes into which mankind are apt to run in their judgments of each other, and of that human nature of which we all partake. In both extremes mankind are liable to err, to think either too well or too ill of human nature, and our opinion upon this subject has an impor

One

tant influence on our characters and happiness. extreme is the representation that mankind are devils in human shape, polluted with the impurities of the beasts, besides being inspired with the malignity of fiends; alienated from all that is good, and inclined to all that is ill. Our Saviour says that "the spirit is willing." This theory of human nature represents that it is not willing; that it is averse, and obstinately bent on what is wrong and criminal. This theory asserts, that there is an innate and intrinsic disposition in the soul itself to sin. Our Saviour asserts, that there is no such disposition in the spirit of man. He says, "The spirit is willing," inclined to do that which is right, and that the hindrances are out of it rather than in it. It is the flesh that is weak, and prevents the spirit from carrying out those designs which its own dispositions predispose it to form.

In proof of the innate depravity of the human soul, as well as the human body, is alleged the actual wickedness of the world. And it must be confessed that the world does at times present a spectacle of awful practical wickedness, of fraud, oppression, lying, slander, hypocrisy, sensuality, cruelty, and malice. There are the most shocking oppressions done under the sun. To possess power is too often to forget right, and power must exist somewhere, to maintain order. The civil governments of most nations, how oppressive, and how miserable the condition of the downtrodden masses ! Time and custom have sanctioned the widest departures from original equity, and human ingenuity is taxed to perpetuate what is, instead of bringing about what should be. Alas! how much of the labor of the world goes to the support, not of the laborer, but of the idle and the unworthy Then, what an inconceivable amount of