joy. And although the faith by which they once lived on earth is now lost in vision, yet since none

hath known the mind of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him," it is certain that this acquiescence must for ever be connected with a childlike reliance on his wisdom and goodness.

Again, it is impossible for us to doubt, that an implicit obedience to the divine commands, is essential, in that region of light, both to the peace of every individual, and to the order and harmony of the whole community. In heaven all is tranquillity, because all is in unison with the mind of God, and subject to his righteous government. Watching and waiting for the manifestations of his will, the spirits of the just made perfect, like the angels who bear them company, are ever ready to receive his bidding. Delivered from the shackles of mortality, from all weariness and depression, and from the smallest remnant of an unsubdued will, they find their supreme delight in obeying the laws, and in executing the gracious commissions, of their Father and their King.

mynene i scal ite. It is the temperate, apes, the self-denying, and the merciful-it is who are ever ready to sacrifice their own ease

1, on Lome to God, p. 228. For a more extensive develciple and its consequences, see Joyce's excellent part 11.

and comfort for the benefit of others—who obtain the esteem even of general society; and in the narrower circle of the private family, these are the characters who are sure to attract the largest measures of love. Virtue, indeed, has often been the object of scorn and persecution, both in public and private life; because wicked men cannot bear the light which detects and condemns their own conduct. Yet there is something in the mind of man which compels him to confess her excellence; and no sooner are we ourselves imbued with any measure of her influence, than we feel a corresponding regard for all those who follow her guidance, and obey her laws.

"We own and feel the force of amiable and worthy qualities in our fellow-creatures," says Butler, "and can we be insensible to the contemplation of perfect goodness?" Forcible as is this question, experience forbids our giving to it a satisfactory reply; for it is certain that, even among Christian nations, love to God is by no means so predominant a principle, as the known prevalence of regard to human virtue might lead us to expect. While this capital defect in the sentiments and feelings of men can be traced to no other radical cause than our corruption in the fall, it is in a peculiar manner promoted by one of the consequences of that corruption-the natural incapacity of the mind to apprehend a spiritual Being. So great is this incapacity, that notwithstanding the most

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2. IS" ( s mura perfections.

Van met the influence of the Holy Spirit, thas know him we coma dr otherwise than 12 OR and Love him; and athough these £fections on nur pars fal, minely short of his clims upon us, the fly confrm the general principle, that moral excellence attracts on. They are the legitimate phoc, on our minds, of God's infinite goodness.

We may now advert to a second principle of much practical importance-that the love which good characters excite in the minds of men, who have "any spark of goodness" in themselves, is always accompanied by a desire to imitate the pattern which they admire and approve. What ingenuous person carí find his best affections drawn forth by noble and generous characters in the history of his country, without feeling some ardent wishes to act on the same principles of virtue and charity? The force of example is felt even in large communities; and goodness, under the divine blessing, is often diffused in society, through the tendency, so common amongst men, to imitate those of their neighbours who are the objects of their regard. The same principle applies with redoubled force to the domestic circle. When we are instructed and comforted from day to day by the good conduct of our dearest friends, it is impossible for us (if our minds be in any degree under a right influence) not to desire-and almost impossible not to endeavour—to be of the same mind, the same character.

But it is in religion, that this principle finds its highest application. When God has been brought near to us in the gospel of his Son-when we have been taught to regard and love him as a Being of infinite holiness and benevolence-the Spirit which. awakens these affections, never fails to excite in us an