ing influences of worldly, sinful pleasures and associations; to avoid the excitements of passion and the indulgence of appetite; remembering well, however, that in all this you are not accomplishing the proper work of the Spirit. You only abstain from interposing obstacles in His way, and present your souls in humble attitudes and favorable positions. It is right and wise to stand in the way when the Savior may be expected to pass; but be sure you cry aloud to him, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me!"

The leaven to

5. Another idea is suggested by the text. which the kingdom of heaven has so many instructive analogies "leavens the whole lump." This is its nature and its design. That which fails to accomplish this is not leaven, but some worthless substitute. So it is with the "kingdom of heaven," that has come unto us, and it is indispensable to keep this in view. Christ is a great King, and will reign over his people; and the authority which he claims is absolute. It is incommunicable, and he will share it with none. It is universal, extending to every thought, and purpose, and aspiration. Let no man expect his favor-his indwelling grace, who does not heartily consent to an unreserved surrender. We may not know, or be able to state in detail, what rights and prerogatives belong to such a dominion, but we may assure ourselves that there are and can be no reserved rights for the subject. He gives up all or nothing. Let the inquirer remember this. When he prays for grace -for pardon-for the Spirit, let him never forget the conditions upon which they are promised. If he receives the "kingdom of heaven," all other dominion must cease. It is as leaven which works "till the whole is leavened." Whosoever has not embraced religion on these terms will realize discomfiture. Whosoever is not seeking to fulfill these conditions in good faith, is devising a fraud upon the Gospel, and practicing a terrible delusion upon his own soul.

6. Valuable instruction is also couched under the idea of

N

progression in the text. "Till the whole was leavened."

It was a process which involved time.

So is it with the

The new convert

kingdom of heaven that is "within you." very often has his first struggles with pre-established habits, or with some special form of temptation, and for some time these may give him pretty full employment. From this more exterior part of religion the fruitful Christian will very soon proceed to the essential work of conforming the inner man—the tempers, the tendencies, the tastes, the fears, the motives, the desires, to the law of Christ. It is not usual, perhaps, to make an even and uniform progress in every part and department of this interior field of labor. Some masterpassion, or tendency, or inward hinderance is likely to attract attention at first, and the hands may be so full of one employment as to lead, almost of necessity, to the partial neglect of something else hardly less essential to the perfection of the Christian character. We may suppose an advance of this sort, namely, from the attainment of victory over one foe, and then another-from grace to grace-from strength to strength-a consecutive progress from one virtue to another, rather than in all virtues and graces alike. We must not, therefore, be too much discouraged if, after some months or years of experience, we make startling discoveries of lurking evils yet to be exterminated. If, nevertheless, we have been growing in grace, if the leaven has been spreading all the while, it is effecting its object and testing its efficacy, and it will, with your consent, "bring into captivity every thought." This progression is often very observable in our fellow-Christians, and seeing that God admits of progress, which supposes the lapse of time, we must concede as much in our charity. We must expect to meet, and to bear with great imperfections, and we may do so patiently, if we have good evidence that their number and enormity are diminishing under the divine process that is going on in the soul. All the evils of the life and the

heart are to be encountered at once, and with all our might; and if our piety is genuine, we shall obtain the victory over all, yet some may outlive others. Some are naturally, or by indulgence, stronger than others, and we are most led by the divine grace to the cultivation of such virtues as, at the time, we may most need.

This view of the work of religion as progressive is scriptural, and, therefore, a legitimate ground of encouragement to those who, though growing in grace, are yet groaning under the consciousness of many imperfections. It is incumbent on them, however, to remember well that "the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven that leaveneth the whole lump." The Gospel is dishonored by lower views or designs on our part. He who does not aim to keep every commandment, violates the whole law; and he who does not triumph over every spiritual foe, falls below the designs of the Savior, and sins against his own soul. There is no place of safety, or repose, or innocence, short of this absolute and unreserved consecration to God. Many seem to stop satisfied after gaining some partial successes, or acquiring some ostensible reforms, or securing some decent habitudes. No delusion can be more manifest or disastrous than theirs. There is no safety but in perpetual diligence and advancement. He only is a true Christian who makes it the business of his life to obtain and to do the utmost good. The leaven spreads—the grace abounds. God works in those, and those only, who give all diligence to make their calling sure, who work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Even as the hidden but all-pervading leaven, so the Holy Spirit performs his work steadily and mightily in all such as, penitent for sin and leaning on the Savior, bring forth the fruits of obedience and sacrifice-who acknowledge that their bodies and souls are His who bought them, and who believe and act upon the belief that talents, and influence, and money are chiefly desirable, because they may be made instruments of promoting

Christ's kingdom, even the kingdom that is as leaven, and which seeks to diffuse itself, and to transform and sanctify all nations and all hearts.

XVIII.

THE TRUE DEFENSE AND GLORY OF A NATION.

A SERMON FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1824.

Righteousness exalteth a nation.-PROVERBS, xiv., 34.

"IT is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and his ministers are grievously away from their Master's work when they mingle in the ranks of faction, and prostitute the influence and the functions of their holy calling into auxil

iaries of its mischievous purposes. They are commissioned to bear glad tidings to the poor, to preach repentance for the remission of sins, to reclaim the rebellious families of men into the acknowledgment and the exercise of that rightful allegiance unto God which they have denied, and from which they have departed; and out of the alienation and the thankless stupidity of the natural heart, to bring an acceptable of fering of willing obedience and of fervent gratitude.

But the Gospel, which lays its greatest stress upon a future state of existence, is likewise concerned for our temporal interests; and while it points to heaven as the high object of our efforts and our hopes, it makes this world the theatre of trial and of preparation. That godliness which is stamped with the worth of eternity, and which animates the soul with the assurance of everlasting life, has likewise "the promise of the life which now is." That righteousness, which, associated with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, establishes the kingdom of heaven in the heart of the believer, sheds a benign influence over all the walks of men, gladdens a fam

ily, blesses a neighborhood, and "exalteth a nation." And if the apostle Paul did no violence to the Gospel when he inculcated, as a religious duty, upon the subjects of despotic power, the only political right which tyranny had left them -the right of obedience, I shall not exceed the spirit of that high example by attributing the same importance to the more sacred duties and the more valuable privileges which belong to us as citizens of a free republic.

I the more gladly avail myself of this yearly festival to speak upon a topic usually thought inconsistent with the sacredness of Sabbath ministrations, because I believe there is a growing and dangerous prejudice, which tends to abridge the privileges of the pulpit, and in the same degree to impair the security of our happy institutions. Our constitution of government very wisely forbids any political connection between Church and State-a connection which produces no other effect so directly as the conversion of the clergy into tyrants and hypocrites, and the degradation of the people into bigots and slaves. The opinion appears to be gaining ground among us, that this legal separation has wrought an actual divorcement between the religious and political interests of our country, and that the piety of the people has little or nothing to do with their prosperity. It is unfortunate that both the power and the right of correcting these erroneous sentiments, or of staying their fatal consequences, are fast passing out of the hands of those who could exercise them with the fairest probability of success. Every subject, connected however remotely with the politics of the day, is forbidden an approach to the pulpit, even by the most distant approximation. The most pernicious vices need only the example or the patronage of the candidates or the incumbents of office, in order that public opinion may fix upon the lips of the clergy the seal of perpetual silence. Sinful excesses, which, if committed under ordinary circumstances, would be thought to call most loudly for the interference of