of his sobriety or his honesty'. or his honesty'. The defect in the persons, whose characters I am describing, consists in their having a will untamed, unbending, and unsubdued. Their affections are too much placed on things below, and too little on things above. Whatever duties they perform are discharged from a sense of religious obligation merely; not from finding in the discharge of them that spiritual pleasure, that communion with God, which appears to be at once the happiness and the privilege of a Christian. They do not take up the yoke with their whole heart, though conscience forces them in some measure to submit to it. They are strangers to that, which is prophesied of our Lord in the Psalms; I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart: nor can they comprehend, how it could be his meat to do the will of him that sent him. They attempt, indeed, to perform this will: but every effort is grief and

1 Integritatem atque abstinentiam in tanto viro referre injuria virtutum fuerit. Tacit. Vit. Agric. § 9.

2 Psalm xl. 8.

3 John iv. 34,

weariness to them. They strive to conquer their dislike: but, instead of yielding, it seems rather to increase.

1. Thus far they coincide in some measure with those unhappy men, whose case has been already described: but here, the grand, the constituent, difference between them commences.

The former detest and oppose the law of God: the latter simply derive no pleasure from paying obedience to it, and are not interested in its precepts as they could wish to be. The first absolutely hate the divine image, which shines conspicuously in the character of every true Christian: the second love it, and labour earnestly to acquire it, grieving bitterly at the waywardness and perverseness of their hearts. The first are anxious to stifle the voice of conscience, and burn with rage against any person who attempts to rouse it: the second endeavour to keep the conscience tender, and do not cease to regard a neighbour as a friend though he may point out failings and deficiencies. In short, the former stumble at the very threshold of Chris

tianity; while the latter lament their unwillingness, yet continue striving to acquire a relish for their duty.

2. The condition of this second description of persons is doubtless uncomfortable, but yet very far (I apprehend) from being dangerous.

Let not such despair: let them not doubt, but that God, in his own good time, will accomplish the work which he has begun within them. That they are possessed of any good wishes, that their hearts are at all inclined, however small that inclination may be, toward a desire of gaining the favour of God, is an argument of greater blessings yet in store for them. Every good and every perfect gift cometh from above: nor is a single one bestowed, without carrying with it a demonstration of goodwill toward man. However lark and clouded may be the prospects of those, who acknowledge and lament the hardness of their hearts and their utter disinclination towards that which is good; blessed be God, despondency ought not to be their portion. He, who has promised that he will not

bruise the broken reed nor quench the smoking flax, would never have raised those wishes for a better disposition of the heart, without an intention to gratify them. Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; is one of those comfortable promises, with which Scripture abounds and we cannot, we ought not to, doubt, but that the strength of Israel will accept every one without distinction, who cometh to him in his Son's name. It is even possible, that a man's heart may be sincerely attached to God, when he himself is the most ready to suspect its sincerity. Actions, not words, are the best proofs of a state of grace: and the performance of those duties, from which our natural inclinations shrink, is assuredly the very highest exertion of religious obedience. Thus, if we may argue from our intercourse with each other, we are accustomed to set a much greater value upon the friendship which will expose itself for our sake to difficulties and inconveniences, than upon that which in serving us merely gratifies its own inclinations. The road of duty is, indeed,

thorny and painful to those, whose natural affections run in a different channel: but let them earnestly pray to God, to grant them strength and perseverance, to remove their heart of stone, and to give them a heart of flesh. The first of these petitions he will most assuredly listen to: and, if the second be not immediately granted, they may be certain that the refusal proceeds from wise reasons best known to himself. He may for a time be deaf to their intreaties, with a view to try their faith and to exercise their patience: to show them, what weak, miserable helpless creatures they are without his assistance; and to train them up in the school of spiritual discomfort, in order that they may be better prepared for the everlasting rest of heaven. This dissatisfaction with the world and with themselves proceeds from God: and, however painful it may be for the present, let them recollect, that the chastisement of their heavenly Father is the result, not of hatred, but of love. The sordid worldling, and the dissipated voluptuary, are strangers to that conflict between