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hough he knows himself to be a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, ver, with the persuasion that heaven is his home, he abounds in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. The peace, which is imparted to him, is a peace which passeth understanding; a stranger intermeddleth not with his joy.

Whoever is destitute of the faith of the Gospel, is destitute also of its consolations: but if any man be in Christ Jesus, however low his condition, and however painful his lot, that man can rejoice in the Lord. We have a striking proof of it in the Christians who were dispersed through the provinces of Asia. St. Peter addresses them, in the time of persecution, as men who, on account of their faith in Jesus Christ, could, even under these circumstances, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Such also was the feeling of St. Paul; for thus he writes to the Philippians: "Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith," i. e. even if my blood should be poured out as a libation upon your offering, "I joy and rejoice with you all.”

III. There is yet another idea in the text, which should not be omit ted. In calling the believer a new creature, the Apostle shews what is the source of this newness of life how it is produced. The words, if literally translated, would run thus: "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation." The allusion is to the creation of the world: and the passage means, that in this renewal of the mind, there is as complete an act of Almighty creative power, as in forming the universe. This is the leading idea; and I will not pursue it beyond its plain and obvious import. If we ask, then, by what means is our understanding to be enlightened? the answer of the Apostle would be: "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of

the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." As in the beginning of time, when darkness covered the deep, God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," thus it is when he visits the benighted mind; the same Almighty power, which bids the darkness retire, bids also the day to dawn, and the day

star to arise in our hearts.

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If we ask, by what authority is the will to be subdued? the reply is the same: "It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure."-If it be demanded, wherewithal shall cleanse our ways and purify our hearts? the prayer of the Psalmist will be a guide to us: "Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.""Old things are passed away," saith the Apostle; "all things are become new." What is the renovating principle? It is the same power which created the world: it is the same God who is represented by John as seated upon his throne, and who declares, in reference to new heavens and a new earth, "Behold, I make all things new."

Let us then propose to ourselves the question, Have we reason to believe, that we are ourselves united to Christ?

The point should be examined by the Word of God. Let us be careful to what test we appeal, and how we apply that test. We have spoken, for example, of the enjoyments of the Christian: but if we place our reliance only upon certain frames and feelings, as marking the condition of the mind, we are in great danger of self-deception. Do we live in the spirit of devotion? Are we under the influence of Christian principles; and is the evidence to be found in our Christian conduct-in our words, and thoughts, and actions? Do we love God, and are we anxious to please him? Is the life that we live a life of faith and hope through the death and merits of his Son?

It well becomes us diligently to

try and examine ourselves; and to be especially careful that we do not mistake a slumbering conscience for a good conscience. To acquiesce in an idle persuasion that we are the children of God, while we are pursuing our own ways, and thinking our own thoughts, what is it but to cherish delusion, and to substitute darkness for light? It is not for want of evidence that men deceive themselves on this point: in the revelation of truth the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; the characters are drawn as with a sun-beam: but it is, because men reject evidence, and will not come unto the light.How often do we pray, that we may ever hereafter please God in newness of life, and how little do we think of it! How often do we entreat the

Father of Mercies to create and make in us new and contrite hearts, and how little do we look for the fulfilment of our prayer! Yet thus alone is it, that we are enabled to walk in the path that leadeth unto life-the highway to happiness and heaven. Let no man deceive himself: if we would live in glory hereafter, the life which we now live must be by faith in the Son of God. May we all be truly sensible of the nature of our profession, of its sacred duties, and of its high reward; and may the influence of Almighty Power, which alone can quicken and renew us, "make us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

MISCELLANEOUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

THERE are certain faults of a minor kind, which, by their frequent recurrence, poison the mind more deeply than some others of a more alarming nature, and therefore well deserve our attention. On one of these, the habit of making excuses, I shall take the liberty of offering a few remarks. This practice is the refuge of weakness or of sin. So prone is man to error and to trans. gression, and so much is it incumbent upon him ingenuously to confess his faults or his mistakes, that when the making of excuses becomes a habit, it cannot be characterised in lighter terms. A false excuse is evidently a sin; a flimsy excuse is as plainly folly; and to suppose that others will be satisfied with it, or that it will raise us in their estimation, is a sure mark of a weak, unthinking mind. Some unchristian

practices require long habit to render us familiar with them; but this which we are considering commences so early, and is so congenial to our nature, that it takes the appearance not so much of an acquirement as of an instinct, bearing some analogy to those which are given to animals for the purposes of self-defence. The learned and the ignorant, infancy and age, seem alike acquainted with this universal art, and almost equally perfect in its application.

We are angry: it is indignation at vice. We are niggardly; it is in order that we may assist more deserving objects. We are extravagant: our station requires ex pense, our health indulgence.

Dr. Franklin is said to have had a servant who was never in the wrong. At length the Doctor's patience was exhausted, and he said, "My good friend, you and I must part.

I never knew a man who was good at an excuse, good for any thing else." The remark was a just one: for this is not a fault which only influences our conduct occasionally and incidentally: it is so wound in and dovetailed with all we think, and do, and say, that the whole is infected.

The most prominent device of this fault, when it has not the stain of intentional deceit, and also its most dangerous feature, is, that it disguises our vices in the attire of virtues*. It is the camera obscura of the mind, smoothing asperities, softening colours, and (by a sort of magical effect) producing, when we view ourselves, a general complacency and satisfaction ill suited to our fallen state. Like those mirrors to which vanity has recourse, it shews us not as we are, but as we would willingly believe ourselves to be. It persuades us to cherish faults, by whispering peace: it leads us astray, and blinds us to our danger: it communicates a disease, and takes away the remedy.

This habit, as it respects what we ought to do, is disobedience: as it respects what we have done, it is pride and impenitence.

Disobedience of this kind contracts much aggravation from the delay and reflection which accompany it and God, we find, has manifested towards it his signal displeasure when it has appeared even in his most faithful servants. Thus his wrath was kindled at Moses, when he asserted his unfitness to appear before Pharoah, and desired to excuse himself from the mission for the deliverance of the Israelites. Jonah, for a similar offence, was "cast into the deep, in the midst of the seas; the waters compassed him about even to the soul!" And our Saviour declared, "That none of those men who were bidden should taste of his supper," they having Mrs. II. More's allegory of Parley the Porter, exemplifies this with singular spirit and correctness.

"begun, with one consent, to make excuses." How different is the feeling manifested by our Lord and Saviour: "My meat is to do the will of my heavenly Father!"— What a beautiful contrast is afforded in the humble dependence and lively faith of Abraham, who, "when he was called into a strange country, obeyed, not knowing whither he went;" and who, "when he was tried, offered up his only son Isaac, of whom it was said, that in Isaac should his seed be called; accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead!" A ready obedience, in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances, is a distinguishing mark of the children of God.

How do the hosts of heaven perform the Divine will? Their obedience is not languid, cold, and formal; it is not an obedience from which they shrink, and endeavour to take refuge under excuses; it is prompt, universal, cheerful, perfect. God will not be satisfied with reluctant service and unwilling compliance. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily," with all "gladness and singleness of heart." In what light, then, must we regard those who, through shifts and evasions, frequently decline altogether to obey his will?

The connection between reluctant service and excuses is obvious. What we take a pleasure in, we employ no excuses to avoid. When a man is hungry, he seeks no arguments for abstinence; or when he is fatigued, for exertion: so no one, eager to obtain the favour of his heavenly Father, would delay to obey his will, and to seize every opportunity of promoting a renewal in his image. To instance the cases in which this fault finds a place, would be to name all the vices to which human nature is subject: I will mention, however, one or two which happen to occur to me, as deserving particular attention.

We are apt to flatter ourselves, when we withhold our charity, that

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It remains to say something on excuses for our past conduct.

Do we hope that we can alter its real character by our delusive colouring? And on its real character must depend the estimate formed of it, not only by God, with whom disguise and pretence can be of no avail, but even by our fellow-creatures. All the barriers which sophistry can erect against merited censure will prove useless, and only serve to shew that there was a weak point which needed defence. Experience proves that those fare best in the opinion of the world, who are ready to acknowledge their faults; but to pretenders of all descriptions, it shews little mercy, and will scarcely allow even justice.

we do so in order to bestow it upon a more worthy object. But is this the case? Do we not afterwards consult our own vanity, in the selection of the case; or, failing to meet with an object to our mind, devote to an indulgence in unnecessary gratifications no small part of the fund which ought to have been employed in the solace of misery, or the promotion of knowledge and virtue? Did the Samaritan pass by the sick traveller, that he might seek greater distress; or excuse himself, like the Levite, by a profession of intending to bestow his alms rather upon a brother than a stranger? Another instance, in which. excuses are far too readily admitted, regards our social intercourse.Here, I think, the failure is both frequent and important. We either persuade ourselves that we have no talents which can promote the interests of religion; or we take shelter, under the plea of youth and modesty, in cases in which that plea is not fairly admissible.

The disciples of Christ were poor fishermen; and, although not gifted with enticing words of man's wisdom, they were appointed to teach all nations, and to spread the knowJedge of the Gospel. A single word in due season, even from a very young person, if it has the genuine stamp of modesty and piety, will restrain levity, introduce right feeling, and give a new colour to the conversation, in which those who might be afraid of originating the topic will not be ashamed to join. If the plea of humility is urged, try it by the test of our conduct on other occasions. Is there the same hesitation in expressing our opinion on politics? Do we equally avoid discussing literary subjects? No: for these subjects are closely connected with the wisdom of this world. To this mankind pay adoration; and are we sure that we are not votaries at its shrine, and that we do not seek to share its honours?

But though we shall certainly fail in our attempts to carry away the good opinion of the world; in deceiving ourselves, if that be any consolation, we shall have great and lamentable success. Self-delusion is an easy task; and while others see through our arts, we shall present the humiliating spectacle of persons who have too little strength of mindto acknowledge our faults, or too little penetration to detect our own subterfuges, or to discover that others are alive to them. If habitual self-excusers could so far re move the veil from their minds, as to be aware of the sort of impression they make on others, they would, even without the aid of higher principles, discontinue the practice. But should their self-love fail to produce a change, let them turn their eyes inwards from the little world in which they live, and whose good opinion they preposterously court, to their own bosoms, and appreciate the effects of selfdelusion there. Do they hope to conquer their sins, if they refuse to see them; or to attain to virtue, when they are in the habit of clothing their faults in its attire?!

The know thyself, is a precept as well of the Bible as of philo-, sophy; and if the imperfect moral.

be judged of man's judgment: my judgment is of the Lord."

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ity of Greece and Rome called for an extensive and enlightened knowledge of ourselves, how much more David communed with his own must the pure religion of Christ, heart, and found it deceitful above which requires us to give an at- all things, and desperately wicked. count of our incipient wishes, our He knew that a small excuse hidden motives, and most secret serves to delay repentance, or renthoughts? "Of all knowledge, the der it insincere; and therefore he wise and good seek most to know poured out his acknowledgments themselves, in order that they may often, by no false or scanty mea divest themselves of the partialities sure: He had no reserve in his conand the pride which blind their fessions. Whether before God or sight and pervert their judgment; man, they were frequent, full, sponand of that sickly sensibility under taneous, sincere. Let us then seek reproof, which proceeds from an to follow the example of the Psalmover-valuation of the good opinion ist; and when we adopt his words, of the world, and from too great a let us pray and strive to attain his dread of its censure." spirit. With respect to the corWe discourage advice and re-rection of this fault in other perproof by the dissatisfaction or cold sons, as far as it appears openly, I ness with which we receive it; but think this more easy than in ourthe voice of humility would rather selves, for we both see it more reply, "I wish that these were all clearly and deal with it more homy offences. I could tell worse nestly. I am in general a great adthings of my own heart than those vocate for plain dealing; and in this of which the world knows." We case, we have additional motives for can all say this; and surely, then, practising it, because the very nawe do not act the part of piety and ture of the fault implies an attencandour, when we receive in silent tion to the opinion of friends: it is displeasure, or repel with anxious prompted by an undue desire to atwarmth, any suggestion to our disad- tain their good opinion; but when vantage, as if we were incapable of it is found that they are alive to committing some minor fault, or as the weakness of our excuses, and if it were unfriendly to tell us of it, that this habit rather lessens their esTo correct this disposition, let us teem, the temptation to it is removed, recollect that God is acquainted and the vanity or pride, which had with all our sins: let us imagine a share in prompting it, will by dean innumerable company of angels grees take up arms on the other witnesses not only to the offences side. These reasons are, I think, themselves, but to the subterfuges all in favour of not withholding our and concealment by which we seek friendly admonitions on such occato hide them from the face of the sions as will justify us in producing world. Above all, let us cultivate them, when our acquaintance offend self-examination and seek humility. in this way; and I have often reIf we attend earnestly to the first marked, that such admonitions opeof these, we shall soon, by Divine rate more speedily and permanentassistance, obtain more of the last; ly in the correction of the fault in and then we may learn "not to think question than of any other. of ourselves more highly than we ought to think," and not to wish the circle in which we live to do so. We shall become more and more anxious to be right than to appear right; and begin to say from our hearts," It is a light thing for me to

This subject, sir, is as extensive as it is important; and I am aware how very slight and imperfect these remarks are; but knowing your disposition not to be a severe critic of the productions of your correspon. dents, I venture to offer them for

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