mise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come."

Much less am I to be understood as implying, that these details of our national and temporal welfare, as promoted by Christianity, go to lessen the guilt of our individual vices and sins as members of Christian nations. On the contrary, they increase our personal responsibility. The conduct of vicious men is, in its aggregate, the very cause that the effects of Christianity are less striking and complete. That our religion has upon the whole produced such immense good, notwithstanding the coldness of so many in her cause and the insincerity and vices of more, is indeed a glorious proof of her divine original. The improved aspect of things, the mighty principles set at work, the positive changes effected, are indeed palpable marks of a revelation from heaven. But these very things aggravate our particular sins, our individual neglect of Christian duty, our impurities, our violations of the sabbath, our scorn of vital religion, our resistance to all the light and knowledge and sacred influence which is diffused around us. God forbid that we should suppose that our external advantages lessen the individual criminality, which, in truth, they augment. Our sins acquire a deeper guilt from the very means of holiness and salvation which we abuse.

I would, therefore, in drawing to a conclusion,

I. Entreat each one to ask himself, how far these good effects of Christianity have been THE RESULT Do you,

OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES IN HIMSELF.

my dear hearers, exhibit in the purity of your manners, the wholesome fruits of the gospel of Christ? Do you so fill up your station in the community as to prove the excellency of the principles on which you act ? Do you maintain that uprightness and downright integrity in your dealings, that kindness and friendliness in your temper, that diligence and punc

tuality in your engagements, that consistency and propriety in your whole conduct, which may enable others to recognize in you the effects of a divine religion? You may be living in a bright day of Christian truth, and in a manner much superior to the heathens as to your particular course of behaviour; and yet there may be no Christian principles effectively at work in your own hearts. It may be others who are operating upon you, and not you who are labouring with others to exhibit the Christian pattern. You may be passive, not active in the business. Christianity may be producing its good effects notwithstanding your irreligion and negligence; not in consequence of your virtue and piety. You may be guided to what is externally right, by custom, a regard to reputation, interest, the general habits of those about you; and not from principle, not from the love of God, not from a conscience of the divine law.

II. NOT TO STOP SHORT IN THE TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Christianity dispenses good, indeed, to all within its sphere of influence. Like its divine Author, it blesses "the evil and the good, the just and the unjust." But it saves none but those who imbibe its genuine principles, who are humbled for their sins, who receive the gift of pardon in the one sacrifice of Christ, who are led and governed by the Holy Ghost and live a holy life. It is in this way that it communicates "not only the promise of the life that now is," as my text speaks, "but of that which is to come." For its main blessings are spiritual. Its main design is to redeem men from death. Its chief glory is to " destroy the works of the devil." Temporal benefits are strewed by the way. Temporal blessings are incidental. It is only Eternity that exhausts the designs of Christi

anity. It is the "life that is to come" for which it provides. To stop short in its general advantages, is to lose its noblest designs, to frustrate its grand purposes, to defeat its immense provision of grace and mercy.

Nor, indeed, can its temporal advantages be fully secured, unless you imbibe the spirit of Christianity from which they flow. He only knows the genuine happiness, and peace, and joy, which the gospel dispenses, who drinks them pure and unmixed from the fountain. The dregs are indeed valuable, but have no life-giving virtue. And yet they are considered as every thing by those who, refusing the living streams themselves, receive these dregs through corrupt channels, into the receptacle of an impure heart. A man cannot be happy as a citizen, if he be not a true Christian. Yield then to the friendly invitation of mercy. You acknowledge Christianity as having "promise of the life that now is," receive it as giving also that life which is to come. Let the lower displays of the divine bounty, lead you to seek the higher and abiding blessings of salvation. Soon will all the pageant of this world be passed, and "the life that now is," be removed and gone. Nothing then will remain but eternity. The temporal benefits you may have derived from Christianity, if those be all, will then avail you nothing. Secure then the eternal life which is offered you in Jesus Christ. Let "the goodness of God lead you to repentance." Let his daily bounties, his constant blessings to individuals and nations, be so many witnesses to you of his providential guidance, and so many inducements to you to seek his face. It is in this way only, that the abundant effects of Christianity can be preserved in each passing age, and handed down to the next. Personal and individual penitence and faith, are the springs of religious prosperity. As these are multi

plied, Christianity generally is sustained in its purity, and its attendant blessings of every class are propagated and increased. And here I would notice,

III. That the Christian religion is productive of all the advantages we have been detailing, ONLY IN PRO

PORTION AS IT IS ALLOWED TO DEVELOPE ALL ITS

STRENGTH AND ENERGY. If our religious profession sinks into formality, the good effects of Christianity sink with it. If the heavenly medicine be diluted or mingled with foreign ingredients, its virtue is proportionably diminished. Christianity will not contribute effectually to the temporal good of man, except it be exhibited as the remedy for all his spiritual maladies. The life-blood must flow warın at the heart, in order to cherish every extremity of the frame. The shape and lineaments of a man, without warmth and circulation, are of no avail. Around the living substance of Christianity, temporal blessings will be collected, as comeliness and form and flowing garments around the person of a prince. But remove the substance, and the appendages vanish with it. If you would have the secondary benefits of religion, you must cultivate the primary ones. If you would have its palpable good effects in implanting the principles on which national welfare depends; if you would have its good effects in banishing enormous vice, mitigating every moral evil, and conferring substantial benefits on your people, you must have a vital Christianity, pregnant with its first virtue, founded on the doctrine of the fall, glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and honouring the Holy Spirit of grace. This will give you the "promise of the life that is to come; with that of the life which now is." But if Christianity be stripped of her peculiar attributes, if she be separated from the person and sacrifice of the Son of God, and the operations of his Spirit, if she be employed by the artful and enterprising, as the instrument of

spiritual tyranny, or by the worldly and speculative, as the means of promoting civilization merely, she resents the indignity, she claps her wings and takes her flight, leaving nothing but a base and sanctimonious hypocrisy in her room.15 We must take the whole of the divine doctrine, in order to share permanently any part of its sacred effects. Then it is of sovereign virtue; then it is productive of the highest as well as lowest scale of blessings; then it is true to all its simple, and yet inestimable designs, whether it be viewed in its minutest effects on the regulation of an individual action, or in its widest operations in the salvation of mankind. Thus it resembles all the works of God in nature," which are not like the puny productions of human workmanship, which serve only one particular purpose; but are capable of being applied to ten thousand different uses: thus, in the midst of complication, preserving a grand simplicity, and thereby bearing the unambiguous stamp of divine authority; like the principle of gravitation, which, while it is subservient to all the purposes of common life, keeps at the same time the stars in their courses, and sustains the harmony of worlds." 16

15 Dewar.

16 Wilberforce.