bring them to the knowledge of Christianity, have found his infidel productions translated, and put into the hands of idolators, especially to counteract their efforts. Such has been the influence for evil of one man, living and dead. I have selected, it is true, a notable example, but the same principles hold true in respect to others of less abilities and attainments, and who exert a less commanding, but no less decided influence, in their respective spheres. The obscure man, who never enjoyed the advantages of mental cultivation, and of whose outgoings and incomings no chronicler takes note, has his own little world; it may be his own neighborhood merely, or his own family; but there the unrecorded conversation, and acts, and deportment, of which history will indite not a line, are leaving impressions, perhaps of evil, too, as Indelible as the mind of man can receive. The influence of the "village Hampden," or "some mute, inglorious Milton," may be felt a century after men have ceased to visit their graves. We are all capable of affecting other minds, and every day, and every hour of the day, however unmindful of the fact, are thus employed. If, then, to exert some kind of influence is the law of our condition, how important is the duty to render it salutary! I seem to be walking on a hair," said one as eminent for piety as he was for ministerial gifts," and hardly dare go down to breakfast or dinner lest I should do something which may hurt the cause of religion." And who will say that he had too nice a sense of the importance which may attach to the most trivial aaffirs in which we may be engaged? Look at a parent, surrounded with his family. Every word, every look even, is fraught with important consequences. The young immortals who look to him with filial reverence, to whom every word he utters is law, whose characters are in a moulding state, receive his impress just as the melted wax receives the impress of the incumbent seal. It is the influence which fathers and mothers exert over their offspring which is the most enduring and important in its character. Authority and affection combine to give it strength, and to render it almost omnipotent. But there is no relation in life, of which it is not true that a powerful influence goes forth reciprocally from the parties between whom it subsists. Brothers, sisters, friends, companions, are at once the objects and the sources of an influence which is certainly felt, and which is productive of the most important effects for good or evil on their respective habits, sentiments, and characters.

But it is unnecessary to illustrate this point further. The fact is so obvious as to be beyond dispute, that influencemoral influence-is one of the inseparable conditions of our earthly being. The man cannot be found who is so obscure, or so ignorant, or even so degraded by vice, as not to have some measure of influence. The example of the poor drivell ing sot, however he may excite our disgust or our pity, is not

without its effect. There is not a person present, young or old, who is wholly destitute of influence for good or evil. It is a talent, my hearers, for which we are accountable, and therefore it ought to be our chief study to improve it well. We may have five talents; we may have two. And if we have but one, we shall be found inexcusable if we misapply it.

Thirdly, I would notice briefly what is essential to a salutary influence. It was faith in Abel by which it is said in the text that he, being dead, yet speaketh. It was faith by which the elders obtained a good report. Faith is a mighty principle; for it makes things hoped for as substantial as if they were already in possession, and things invisible as real as if they were already present. The things revealed to it refer to the past, the present, and the future. It rests upon the revelation or testimony of God, and not upon the visions of a fanciful mind. It demonstrates to the human soul the existence, the perfections, and the presence of God; that he made, governs, and will judge the world; that his law is holy, and his service every way reasonable; that by the death of his Son, salvation has been provided for all who believe; and it is an influential principle, because it leads a man to act according to his convictions. It is the influence of a living faith which distinguishes it from that which the apostle styles a "dead faith." It leads to a deportment corresponding to the great and solemn truths which are addressed to the understanding and the heart. It is the distinguishing mark of a soul which has been born of God; it is the new principle which is implanted in the soul in regeneration. In those ancient worthies of whom mention is made in the chapter of the text, its power was manifested in constraining them to a course of conduct by which their example still speaks, declaring that God is faithful to his promises, and that the most useful life to men is one that is conformed to his commandments. Abraham and Moses, and others in the same catalogue, were eminently useful in their day and generation, and their influence continues to be felt, and will never be less, as long as the world shall stand, because they believed God; they believed his testimony as final and decisive, and made it the measure of their obligations to him. Their only inquiry was, "Has God spoken?" Their feelings and conduct were controlled by what he had spoken, as fully as if the things revealed were the objects of sight, or capable of being demonstrated. All that Abraham required him to go out from his own country, to sojourn as in a strange land, was the call of God. He believed, "for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Noah needed but the warning of God to impel him to the herculean labor of preparing an ark for the saving of himself and his house. It was by faith, simple faith in God, that Moses was willing to sacrifice his brilliant worldly prospects

as the nominal son of Pharaoh's daughter, and to suffer afflic tion with the people of God. Supported by the same princi ple, he forsook the land of bondage at the head of the dispirited thousands of Israel, although he well knew that he would be pursued by the warriors of Pharaoh.

My hearers, if we would accomplish the great end of our existence, be useful in the noblest sense, so that from our graves there "shall arise some spirit to walk the world," making it the better that we have lived and died, we must possess that faith without which it is impossible to please God. Whatever natural gifts we may possess ; however highly cultivated our minds; however great the power in our hands, or exalted the station we fill, it is not possible that our influence should be wisely and profitably directed, if we do not act under the control of that principle which is the gift of God. It is faith, and faith alone, by which we may become spiritual and acceptable worshippers of God. It is by faith alone that we can receive Christ as the great propitiation for our sins. It is by faith that the invisible things of eternity become living realities. And it is by faith that we may have evidence of our acceptance with God, and have his Spirit witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. O how useful to men is a holy, devotional life! The prayers of a good man avail much. The world does not know how much it is indebted to the intercessions of the sincere and humble believer. He may pass unnoticed in the world, but, having power as a prince to prevail with God, he wields a mighty influence. What if we cannot see the precise point where the prayer of faith touches the chain of causes which is held by the hands of the unseen God; we can read on the inspired page that the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. We have also the record of numerous instances of answer to prayer which exemplify and confirm the truth of the promise. We cannot pierce the clouds which surround the throne of Deity, but we may behold the glory that gilds the sacred page. We cannot behold the operation of that wonderful power which works with a secret and amazing force, blinding angels and men, and all orders of being, in subjection to him who wields it, but we may behold the leader and deliverer of God's ancient people, pleading with him as a man pleadeth with bis friend, and the impending judgments averted ;----we may behold the patriarch wrestling till break of day with the angel of the covenant, and prevailing the prophet on the mount, which overlooks a territory parched with heat, and dry as the ashes of the hearth, his head bowed in supplication to his God--when, lo! the clouds roll up from the Mediterranean with a copious blessing for the earth. The long track of ages, from the time when Enoch walked with God to the present hour, has been marked with proof that the prayer of faith has influence in the court of heaven. It is

Christ in the prayers of saints which makes them a sweet smelling savor unto God. His mediation is our only way of success. His name we mention in all our petitions; the merit of his blood we plead. Sinners, unworthy in themselves, through the righteousness of the dearly beloved Son of God, find a gracious acceptance. Their cry is, "See, O God, our Shield, and look upon the face of thy Anointed." And a voice from the most excellent Glory replies, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." As in sacred story the angel is described ascending in the smoke of the offering, so Christ ascends in the incense of all the believer's prayers, and brings them near the throne of his Heavenly Father.

LIVING AFTER DEATH

BY THE EDITOR.

The influence which mind exerts upon mind is a mysterious and powerful characteristic of our being. It enters into It begins every act, relation, and circumstance of life. with moral agency, and extends along the entire line of existence. It is ever flowing out from us through a thousand channels and agencies, over the surface of society. No man can divest himself of this power, or refrain from exercising it; it is a condition of moral existence; we must exert a deep and lasting influence on the world, for good or for evil. A us all with the past link, unseen, yet real, connects Those influences which are mouldand with the future. ing our character, and working out our destiny, took their rise far up the stream of time; we did not create them, And we, in turn, are and we cannot arrest or escape them. living for coming ages; souls yet unborn will feel our influence, and be saved or damned by it. The good man little knows the extent of that blessed power which he will silently wield over human minds and hearts when he has ceased to be; the fruit of it all gathered to heaven will fill him with adoring wonder. And the sinner knows not how fearfully his influence will accumulate in after ages, nor how many souls will charge their sins upon him in the judgment-day.

"We are fearfully and wonderfully made." Such are the elements of our own being, and such our relations to others, that we cannot die in this world or the next. How numberless are our actions !—and not one of them will ever find a grave, or live an idle life, or prove false to its parentage. They may be unwise and regretted by us; the work of a mo ment's folly or passion: no matter, we have given them life and we cannot take it away and they will live on in their consequences when the occasion which called them into

being, and the remembrance of the deeds themselves, have perished; live still to fasten impressions on human character and control the destiny of souls immortal.

The wicked Cain is alive still on the earth; his type of character is manifest, and his footprints are seen along the pathway of the living world. The man who hates goodness and sheds innocent blood, copies 'the example and acts out the spirit of the first murderer. Abel is not dead. He belongs to living piety, as well as to history. By his recorded. example of obedience and faith, and by the memory of all that he was, he is present with the child of God in every land and age of the world, declaring the necessity of faith in Jesus, the mercy and favor shown to the penitent and believing, and the treatment which the good are to expect in this world of enmity and death. All the great and good of past ages are speaking to us-with united voice crying to us to press on in the race and seize the immortal crown; their influence, in letters of light and purity, is recorded on every page of the world's history; it is embodied in a thousand forms of living truth, and freedom and piety. The Voltaires, and Paines, and Byrons of past days, are still leading actors in the great drama of life. Their monuments stand thick along the road we are traveling to immortality. They live to-day in all those sentiments and movements which are hostile to Christianity, and operate, through a corrupt literature, a false philosophy, and an infidel creed, along all the channels of human intellect, affection and enterprise. On their mission of madness and death, they are traveling round the world. The missionary encounters them in the very heart of heathendom. They are breeding a moral pestilence amid the altars of Christianity. The press is wielding its giant power to give them a yet wider and deeper influence. What a harvest of ruin and damnation will such men reap! What a legacy to leave to posterity! What a curse to entail upon untold generations!

Not less certainly, indeed, does the life of every sinner reach into the future. His influence corrupts and destroys beyond his death-bed. It rolls onward from his grave with a cumulative sweep and strength. His example ruins his children; a whole community is infected by it; the poison courses through all the veins of living men, and flows down the ever-widening channels of human thought and life. And should not every good man, therefore, treasure up for posterity a holy influence, to counteract the many examples of wickedness, and perpetuate goodness, and truth, and piety in the earth? Should it not be the strenuous aim of every living man to leave a good influence to come after him, since he must leave one of some kind-either a saving or a ruining one? We cannot gather up our influence when we come to die, and take it with us. We cannot bury our example with our bones in the grave, so prevent its breeding a moral pes