the black and the white, meet on a common ground; one in humanity, in rights, in privileges, and in common destiny. There all have one common home, one common Saviour, one common God and Father. There is neither Jew there, nor Greek there; there is neither barbarian nor Scythian there; neither bond nor free there; but all fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God, bound together in one high, living, and enduring relationship.

This is the true and literal character of the Church of Christ. There may be those within its sacred fold who carry there the principles of the world with them; but they are not allowed there. There may be churches in name that deny the great fundamental principles of the Gospel; but they are not the churches of Christ. There may be imperfections, wrongs, and even oppression in some of its branches; but they exist there under the condemnation of its Supreme Head. In comparison with the divine principle no other doctrine, form, ceremony, service, or mode of discipline is of any account. Let it be apostolic or non-apostolic, orthodox or heterodox, glowing with zeal, or frozen in torpidity, it is all accounted as nothing, as the sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. This underlies and gives value to all-its animating principle, its moving power, its crowning glory. Otherwise it is the body without the spirit. Were this single influence what it might easily be, and what it should be, it would not be long before men would enjoy their dearest rights, and be raised to their highest state of development. And what is demanded for this but the full practical recognition of its power in every branch and in every section of the professed Church of Christ? Let it once sway its membership, and how soon would heart flow into heart, and that scene of universal peace and charity foretold by the prophet open upon the rejoicing vision of all? Self-seeking would fly from her boundaries, the covetous man and the extortioner be at once excluded from Christian intercourse and fellowship,-union and concord cement the true friends of the Redeemer and of man,unessential and divisive differences die under the concentrated rays of light and love, and man, the well-being of universal man, be the moving spring of Christian energy. The blessed influence of the church would extend to the wider field of the world; social evils would be removed or reformed; the measures and aims of civil government all run in the pure channels of wisdom and rectitude; humanity displace outrage and oppression; the social state be controlled by the upright and the honorable, and all men form a common bulwark of right and justice, and one joy in the welfare of another, and each in the welfare of the whole. Then will the Church of Christ become that colossal man, complete in every member, and well-developed in every part, informed with divine intelligence, moved by a divine influence; and out spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, prove itself the Him whose fulness filleth all in all.

SERMON XVI.*

BY REV. JOHN MARSH, D.D.,

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN TEMPERANCE UNION.

GOD'S MOST REASONABLE DEMAND PRESSED UPON THE SINNER. "My son, give me thine heart."-PROVERBS XXIII. 26.

It is a plea often offered by impenitent men for their neglect of religion, that there are mysteries in it which they can not fathom. Be it so, that there are mysteries beyond the comprehension of Gabriel; there are truths and commands which a child can understand and a child may obey. And while the salvation of the Asoul does not depend on an understanding of the one, it does on an obedience to the other. What command more simple and intelligible than this: "My son, give me thine heart?" And yet a compliance with it is the sum of all true religion, and secures salvation. In behalf of God, and for your own sakes, I urge it upon you, my impenitent hearers. God says to you, in infinite_tenderness and majesty: "My son, give me thine heart." I would show what is meant by giving God the heart, and notice a few things which are implied in this demand,

I have asked, What is more simple and intelligible? Let this be the command of a parent to a rebellious child, and no one would think of asking for an explanation. But as the command of God to the sinner, many have veiled it in mystery, supposing the heart to be something over which the individual has no control; and hence we find many saying, "I would give God my heart if I could," as though the heart was something distinct from the desire, the choice, the purpose of the man. The term heart, as used in relation to the moral man, is a metaphor drawn from the seat of animal life; that delicate organ through which the blood flows, and which imparts action to the system. And it is a metaphor which most forcibly presents the preference of the soul, the choice, the disposition, the act of the will, which constitutes moral character. Now, to give God the heart is nothing more nor less than to place on him the affections; or, in more intelligible language, to love him. Thus, one individual gives to another his heart when he becomes sincerely and deeply attached to him; and thus man gives God his heart, when he truly says: "Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth I desire besides thee." This, surely, all can understand. This, all may feel.

* Preached in a time of a great revival.

I proceed to notice a few things relative to yourself, my impenitent hearer, clearly implied in this demand.

I. It is implied in this demand that, from the earliest moments of your being, you have withheld from God your heart.

God would not demand of you what you had already surrendered to him. He would not say to Gabriel: "My son, give me thine heart." If he should, Gabriel might ask in reply, "Lord, why dost thou make this demand? Thou knowest that my heart is and ever has been thine; thou knowest that I love thee." Let God make this demand of Satan, and there is a meaning and a force in it; for Satan is a rebel, and has for ages turned away his heart from God. And this demand made of you shows where you are; that your heart in like manner is alienated from God, and placed upon some other, some unhallowed object.

Do you deny this? Then why does God make the demand? Do you ask for evidence of it? What evidence would satisfy you that a child had become alienated from its parent? what other than this, that it had ceased to think of him; that when it did think of him, the thought was painful; that it fled from his presence, sought no intercourse, refused to read his letters, trifled with his name, and disobeyed his commandments? Is not all this true of you? Let conscience answer. Let the record of your life testify. Consult the Bible and see what, from the beginning, has been the character of the race to which you belong. What did God say of the antediluvian world, and why did he destroy that world? What was his complaint against his own people? "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." What said Jeremiah of the natural heart? It is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." What said Paul of the carnal mind? It is enmity with God." Are you an exception-one out of the millions of the human family who does not withhold his affections from God? If so, why then have you not perfectly obeyed him? As a transgressor of his law, the evidence is complete against you. And yet I fear it is the last proposition to which you will assent. Amid all the ravings of rebellion, and while tossing on the billows of the fiery gulf, you will deny that you are a rebel, or, at least, that you are voluntary in your alienation, and will persist in affirming that you would love God if you could. I pray that the Holy Spirit may now fasten conviction of this great truth on your mind, that God shall not speak in vain.

II. It is implied in this demand that God has a right to your heart.

Wicked men often claim what is not their own, and we are not surprised. But does a righteous man present a claim, we feel that

it is lawfully his. But can God trespass upon another's? What is another's? What are we? What are any? What have we all, that we have not received?

God, sinner, has a right to your heart for what he is in himself. Do you ask why, and what is God? All that is excellent and glorious; the King eternal, immortal, invisible, before whom cherubim and seraphim cast their crowns, crying: "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory."

But more. God has a right to your heart from what he has done for you. Look at yourself, your wonderful frame, your physical and moral capacities, your immortal mind. Look around you and above you, at the world you inhabit, at all its conveniences and wonders, at the firmament over you, the light, the air, the ten thousand productions in the animal and vegetable kingdoms-all made for you, and all claiming your adoration and love.

God has a right to your heart for his patience and forbearance towards you. Think, for a moment, how many years you have withheld from him the tribute of your affections; how you have trampled under foot his authority and abused his grace; how you have cast off fear and restrained prayer; how you have neglected his word and violated his Sabbaths; how you have abused his mercies to sin; and how, when for every transgression he might justly have cut you off in his anger, he has permitted you to live, and not only to live, but has loaded you with mercies. And does he deserve no grateful return? Deny it, if you can. But another and higher thought. God has given his Son, his only begotten and beloved Son, to die for you; has opened for you the way of life, that you may escape from death, and has stooped from his eternaĺ throne to enter into covenant with you, that neither life nor death, principalities nor powers, things present nor things to come, shall separate you from his love. Oh! riches of grace! Mercies inex

haustible!

But if I must give my heart to supreme excellence, or bestow my affection on him who has done most for me, my liberty is abridged; "I am not mine own master; another has dominion over me.'

But what if you should bestow it upon one who has no rightful claim-would you have more freedom? Would not another be your master; even one whose wages would be death? Oh! boasted liberty! the liberty of descending to death and hell.

III. It is implied in the demand of the text that you can give God your heart. Just as much as that you have a heart, or that God speaks, or that you are his son. On any other supposition than this, the whole exhortation would be without meaning; would be taunting irony. Nor on any other would there be duty incum

bent on you, as duty is measured by the command of God and ability to obey.

"But my ability to do a right thing was lost in the fall."

What constitutes an ability to do a right thing, but an understanding, a power to know God, to know his revealed will, the rule of your duty with all its reasonableness; a conscience, a moral sense, a discernment of right and wrong; a power of choice, of preference of one course over another? Are not these all yoursyours in the very highest degree? Deny it, if you can. Your own mouth would condemn you.

Very

"But all inclination for the love of God is departed!" true; and this is the reason why God says: "My son, give me thine heart." But inclination is something very different from capacity. Suppose a man has capacity, but no inclination to obey the laws of the land. What then? Is he under no obligations to obey them? May he plead his inclination to do. wrong as an excuse for doing wrong? Was not this the very point for which the prophet so sharply rebuked the Jews when he said: "Will ye steal and murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

"But how can I love God when my mind is carnal, at enmity with him. I would if I could, but I can not. The divine Saviour says I can not, except the Father draws me."

But, my friend, the Saviour does not say you can not if the Father draws you. And if you can come and love God, and obey the Saviour when the Father draws you, then you have all the powers of moral ageney; the very point I am arguing. And does not the Father draw you? Has he not been doing it all your days, and have you not been continually pulling away the shoulder, and saying, The world shall be my portion? And now will you look up and say, I can not give God my heart?

Perhaps, however, you have no clear views of what is actually required of you. It is not that you should do something which you would be glad to do, but can not; as you would be glad to relieve a person in distress, but have no ability or means; or would be glad to redeem a soul from hell, but can give no ransom. God says: "My son, give me thine heart." And what does he mean by this? Precisely the same as if he had said: "My son, love me. My daughter, love me. To me consecrate yourself for time and eternity." That is all. And now do you say: "I can not love God; can not consecrate myself to him?" Why? What evil hath he done? What is there in his character or service repulsive to your feelings? Do you say: "Nothing; the evil lies,