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miration which we feel for it. Where the external sense is awanting, or diseased dormant, the information which we ought to receive from it is deficient; and where the internal sense is dormant or weak, there is either no impression received, or a deficient one. Our external senses come in contact with the external form of objects and actions, and our internal senses come in contact with their spirit and meaning. If we do not come in contact with the whole, we do not understand the whole; we receive only a partial impression, and that impression limits our belief. A belief of the Gospel, then, comprehends, not only the impressions corresponding to the external facts of the history, but also the impressions which correspond to all the moral qualities and conditions, therein attributed to God and man. If the Gospel was made known to us that it might conform our characters to the image of that God who is manifested in it, the perfection of our characters will depend on the perfection of the impression which we receive from the Gospel. And the perfection of that impression will depend on our coming

in contact with every part of the Gospel; and we only come in full contact with it, when those affections which are addressed by it, are really excited by it.

But can a corrupt mind receive any impression which may with fairness be said to represent the holy love of God? We cannot believe in holy love without knowing what it means, and how can a polluted heart acquire such an idea? Is faith in the Gospel a holy principle? Is it a new faculty? I would answer this question by another. Is the remembrance of the atonement, a holy principle or a new faculty? Both the belief and the memory are here exercised on a holy thing, the impressions to which they belong are received from a holy object, and that object has been presented to the heart by the holy Spirit; but yet belief and memory are natural exercises of the mind, and are conversant with the things of earth as well as the things of heaven.

Conscience gives us an idea of sin, and the idea of sin enables us, in some measure, to form a conception of its opposite, holiThe corruption of man does not consist in his acquiring wrong faculties, nor

ness.

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does the renewal of man consist in his having new faculties bestowed on him. His cof ruption consists in the misdirection of his faculties, and his renewal consists in their being directed to their proper objects. Ho liness consists in this right direction of the thoughts and affections, in a love for their proper objects, and a distaste for their wrong objects. Man, in his depravity, hast all the faculties which a child of God has, in this life. And he has a natural ability to use these faculties as he will. The in ability, therefore, of a polluted creature to receive an impression of holy love, is not a natural inability; if he would, he could; his inability, is moral, it lies in the opposition of his will and affections, and this is his crime. But whatever the cause of pollution may be, and whether the impossibility be natural or moral, a polluted heart cannot receive an impression of holy love. How then does the Gospel enter the heart; for are not all hearts polluted? Yes; but there is a Divine and Almighty agent, who opens the eyes of the understanding, and prepares the affections to receive the truth, even the Holy Spirit, who takes of the things that

are Christ's, and shows them unto the souls of menil And there is also a wonderful adaptation apparent in the Gospel itself to the heart of man in every condition. Its first address is to the very elements of our nature, to that instinct which seems common to us and the inferior animals,-selfpreservation, and the desire of happiness.

This principle is a most powerful one. Joy and sorrow are mere expressions of selflove, and these are our ruling feelings, and maintain their sway most universally and constantly. They are the sources of our love and hatred, our hope and fear. We love and hope for that in which we find joy; we dislike, and avoid, and fear, that in which we find sorrow. These feelings exist, and are in exercise, in every mind; and the character depends on the objects by which they are excited.

The form in which the Gospel was announced by the angel to the shepherds of Bethlehem, marks its distinguishing characteristic to be joy, and points to these na tural instincts as the feelings to which it is addressed. "Behold," said the heavenly messenger, "I bring you good tidings of

great joy, which shall be to all people; for "unto you is born this day in the city of momordy, həbri992 "David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

This message was dictated by Him who usa to luo made the heart of man, and knew what was fitted to give it joy. It is therefore evident, that unless we see joy in the 06 ng substance of the message, we do not understand it as God meant it, and therefore cannot believe it. We cannot believe that tidings are joyful to ourselves, unless we see that in them we out241

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which excites our joy. of joy lay in the birth of the Deliverer. That person had appeared on earth who, according to Daniel's prediction, was to make an end of sin, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness. If we are convinced that we are in a state of ruin and condemnation, we canVIS IN TUISH not but consider the news of deliverance as

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tidings of great joy. But deliverance sounds poor to a man who does not feel that he requires it. The words of the message, it will be observed, do not merely refer to the moral nature of the Gospel; it addresses particularly the feelings of joy and sorrow.

Behold these feelings, and then contemplate the glorious character of God; and let