world as his portion. He will not only give up his soul to Christ, and his body to the resurrection of the just, but he will give to God his time, his talents, his friends, his influence, his property, his entire all. These he will hold and employ for the advancement of Christ's kingdom on earth. Entire consecration to God will be in his heart, and he will seal it upon the altar, before angels and men. Does any church member shrink from this? It is the very standard of the gospel.

This uniform and entire consecration to God is necessary to give efficacy to the prayers of the Church for the spread of the Gospel. Why are the labours of the few missionaries we have sent forth among the heathen attended with, comparatively, so little success? Must it be attributed to want of piety in our missionaries? shall it be referred to the mysteries of divine sovereignty? or shall the church take the blame upon herself? She cannot consistently censure her missionaries, imperfect as they are, much less impeach the sovereignty of God, till she comes up to the conditions on which the promised influences of his Spirit are suspended. Let the church lay all her influence, her wealth, and her talents at the foot of the cross, then may she go with boldness to the throne of grace, and plead the the promises of God for the conversion of the world. Such are the prayers that enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth, and that move the heart and hand of everlasting love.

The prayers and influence of a church immersed in the world, acting upon its principles and governed by its maxims, will draw from Heaven but few and scanty blessings upon her missionaries abroad. It is inconsistent with that whole economy of means that God has instituted for the promotion of the gospel, to expect any very signal outpouring of his Spirit upon the heathen, however numerous, able and faithful our missionaries may be, till the church throw off her conformity to the world, and under the influence of a spirit of self-consecration to the work, plead the promises of divine grace. Let the spirit of primitive Christianity take full possession of our churches,-let them be deeply imbued with the same spirit, which they expect and require their missionaries to possess, and their prayers for the progress of the gospel, both at home and abroad, would give it an energy unparalleled in modern days. There would be no VOL. I.

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need of the gift of miracles. A mightier agency than that of miracles would break the chain of every pagan caste, and plow up the foundation of every heathen temple.

There is much important truth in the enigma-" Religion is a commodity, the more of which we export, the more we have remaining." There is no mystery in this, if viewed in the light of Christian philosophy. The very nature of the missionary enterprise, if properly considered, would lead us to anticipate this result. Who does not know that that spirit which excited the church to this noble work, and which increases her zeal in carrying it onward, is awake and active in all domestic operations? This too is what we are to expect, if we look to, and confide in, the promises of God. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.""The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." "He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." We should be chargeable with ingratitude to God, not to acknowledge his faithfulness to his promises, in this thing. When, I ask, has there been a greater number of extensive and powerful revivals of religion in our country, than since we began to pray and labour for the ignorant heathen? When has there been so much liberality and effort to extend the Bible to the destitute in our country, and to send missionaries and other appropriate means of instruction to the borders of our own land, as since the foreign missionary spirit has been kindled in our churches? It is that enlarged spirit of Christian benevolence that seeks the universal promulgation of the gospel, which promotes and sustains all our domestic charities.

It has been said that our country is looked upon by the world, as an example of the tendency of a free, elective government; and that the progress of free institutions through the world, will be accelerated or retarded by the experiment our country is now making. And as the success of this experiment depends on the moral and religious character of our growing population, it is thought to be of immense importance for the world, as well as for ourselves, that all our resources, of a religious character, should, at least for the present, be retained and employed within our own borders, -that we should first save ourselves; and that in this way we shall do the world the greatest good in our power.

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.

SIN is the source of all the mischiefs which have, with such unpitying severity, scourged the family of man. It 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."

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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