It is readily conceded that consequences of vast importance to the world, are suspended upon the experiment which our country is now making; and it is equally true, that to be successful, we must rely, under God, mainly on the progress of morality and religion in our community. Every thing, then, that tends to enfeeble or diminish our moral strength, has a portentous aspect; and every thing that increases it, brightens our hope and prospect of success. Now the foreign missionary enterprise is just such an object as is suited to impart tone and vigour and strength to that morality, which is necessary to give complete success to our free institutions. The reflex moral influence which this work exerts upon our churches, and which is thrown back from our foreign missionary stations through our community, is great and eminently salutary. The tone of morality and piety is not only elevated, but diffused through the length and breadth of the land. This Christian community needs just such an object as the foreign missionary work, as a means of self-preservation. If our country is ever saved from the pollutions of infidelity and the withering blasts of popery, it is to be done by that spirit of enlarged benevolence "that seeketh not her own," that spirit which aims at nothing less, than the conversion of the whole world to Christ.

ART. VII.

CHRISTIAN SANCTIFICATION.

By Rev. GARDINER SPRING, D. D. Pastor of the Brick Church, New-York.

It

SIN is the source of all the mischiefs which have, with such unpitying severity, scourged the family of man. has converted a world, originally pronounced "very good," into a world of desolation, and the dwelling of wretchedness and woe. It is the bitterest evil, the heaviest curse ever visited on this fair creation. The mere philanthropist cannot resist the conviction, that to strike at the root of human miseries, and diffuse sufficiency and comfort throughout the mass of human society, no small measure of his benevolence and ingenuity must be directed to the mitigation, or removal of evils which have their origin in the moral corruption of mankind, and to efforts which mainly go to the moral and religious training of the community. And what Christian

does not feel, that of all the blessings God can impart, deliverance from sin, and a progressive assimilation to his own divine nature, is the first, the greatest, and the best good?

I find in the Bible a multitude of passages like the following, showing the importance of being delivered from sin, and being made holy: "Unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up like the calves of the stall." "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." "Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." In view of such passages as these, we are induced to offer to our readers a few thoughts on the subject of Christian Sanctification.

The Old Testament Scriptures use the word sanctified, to denote that which is separated, or set apart and offered to God. Since the ritual economy has passed away, by a very easy and natural accommodation, the acknowledged import of this word is, to make holy, or to produce moral rectitude. Every act of God by which he makes his people holy, is then an act of sanctification. When the love of God is first shed abroad in the heart, men are as truly made holy, as at any subsequent period; though the Scriptures speak of this particular act of the Divine Spirit as regeneration, rather than sanctification. Since in regeneration holiness is communicated which never was possessed before, and is something altogether new in the soul, and the pledge of holiness to be hereafter communicated, and communicated forever; it is called by the distinctive names of a new birth and new creation. The holiness subsequently produced is as really the work of God, and as really holiness, and differs not either in its cause or nature from the holiness imparted in regeneration; but since this subsequent influence produces nothing new, it is called the work of sanctification, and is simply making men already regenerated more holy. Sanctification, therefore, consists in the increase and augmentation of gracious affections. It is happily defined by the Westminster divines to be, "the work of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness." Regeneration is the spiritual birth, or infancy of the soul; sanctification is its progressive growth

and maturity. Regeneration may be compared to the implantation of the seed, or the insertion of the scion; sanctification may be viewed as analogous to the enlargement and growth of the branch, the bough, the tree, till it bears fruit, some twenty, some sixty, some an hundred fold."

When we advert to the character of good men as delineated in the Scriptures, we see that their holiness and spirituality, though not uniformly, were really progressive. No man doubts that Abraham had attained to higher degrees of holiness, when he ascended Mount Moriah to offer up his son, than when God first called him from Ur of the Chaldees; or that Moses had attained to higher degrees of holiness, when from the summit of Pisgah he surveyed the promised land, than when God at first appeared to him in the burning bush at Horeb; or that the great apostle had made higher attainments in holiness, when just on the eve of martyrdom he exclaimed, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand," than when he first fell at Jesus' feet on his way to Damascus. Who can doubt that Edwards possessed greater measures of piety when writing his work on the Religious Affections, and when struggling through his conflicts at Northampton, and his self-denying labours at Stockbridge, than when he roamed, in pensive song, on the banks of the Hudson? Who can doubt that Brainard possessed a vigour and maturity of holiness when he was preaching the gospel on the banks of the Delaware, and when, during his last sickness, he penned that memorable letter to his brother, which he did not possess when he denounced his teachers at Yale College? Who can doubt that the piety of Payson while a student at Harvard, or an instructor of the academy at Portland, bore no comparison with that enviable state of mind which he enjoyed for several weeks before his death, and of which he says, "The celestial city is full in my view. Its glories beam upon me, its breezes fan me, its odours are wafted to me, its sounds strike upon my ears, its spirit is breathed into my heart."

There is a constancy of holy affection in advanced piety, which is not discoverable in piety of feebler growth. The main difference between one good man and another is, that one exercises gracious affections more constantly than another. If the gracious exercises of the renewed heart were not so frequently suspended, its sanctification would

be most discernible and rapid. Just in proportion to the constancy of grace, is the progress of grace in the soul.

It is worthy of remark also, that where holiness becomes constant, it always becomes more complete. There are many Christian graces; and in the progress of sanctification, the believer more and more constantly exercises them all. You may discover in advanced piety a sensible increase of love to God and man; a more scrupulous attention to moral duties, as well as religious observances; a growing watchfulness and caution in matters of great and less importance, -all combined and blended in the exhibition of a character more and more like that of Jesus Christ. There may be less that is novel in mature holiness, but there is less that is transient; there may be less that is fervid, but there is less that is fluctuating; there may be less excitability, but there is greater permanency; there may be less that is rapturous, but there is more that is consistent and productive,— more of the habit and principle of piety, and more that is unwearied in good purposes and benevolent achievement.

Gracious affection also, as it increases in constancy and completeness, increases in strength. The reason why it does not always appear to increase in strength, is, that it is less associated with mere animal excitement. Subtract the animal excitement from those vivid expressions of holiness which are so common in the career of the youthful Christian, and compare them with the gracious affections of his maturer years, and the latter will be found the most vigorous. Supreme love to God in a mind long habituated to the exercises of piety, is a stronger and more holy affection, than supreme love to God in the same mind before it is thus disciplined. Different degrees of constitutional ardour and sensibility distinguish different men: but other things being equal, I have no doubt that piety is most vigorous and energetic where it is most constant, complete and mature. It is nourished and invigorated by its own fixed and steady purposes; it draws toward itself, and concentrates upon itself, all the scattered affections, and thus acquires an augmented vigour and ardency.

In the happier instances of sanctification, you shall see a man affectionate and humble in his disposition and deportment; discreet in his conduct, and prudent in forming his opinions; less and less inordinate in his animal emo

tions; more cautious in his intercourse with men; less rash, and more forbearing; more afraid of sinning, and more watchful against the encroachments of temptation; more submissive and more thankful; more self-denying, and yet more cheerful and happy; more patient, kind and forgiving; less contentious and more peaceful; more distrustful of himself, and more full of confidence in God. And with these virtues, you shall discover more enlarged views of God and spiritual objects; a deeper and sweeter fellowship with things unseen; a more thorough detachment from the world, and renunciation of sublunary confidences and created good, together with more earnest and intense desires after holiness, and a more uneclipsed and transforming vision of the divine glory. Sweet are his foretastes of the rest that remaineth for the people of God. Blessed are his views of the glory to be revealed in the saints. "Beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, he is changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Gracious affections, both in their commencement and progress, are all exercised in view of truth. There are many ways in which truth is presented to the mind, each of which constitutes a means of sanctification. One of the most important of these means is the direct contemplation of divine truth, and increase of divine knowledge. The apostle Paul, in writing to the Colossians, says, "We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work." The apostle Peter expresses the same sentiment when he says, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;" and also when he says, "As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." The knowledge of divine truth is to the renewed mind, what food is to the body. It constitutes the native and proper aliment of every gracious affection. There is high and holy joy in a clear perception of the nature, connexions, consequences and glory of the truth of God. The sensations of a devout and enlightened mind in the contemplation of divine truth, are not unlike those of a hungry man when he sits at a feast. Let him possess enlarged views of God, and just conceptions of his excel