in us,

to the christian profession than you have yet imagined. Remember that the Scriptures speak of being "united to Christ by faith," of our "dwelling in him, and he "* of being "born of the Spirit," † and "walking in the Spirit," expressions which bespeak the spirituality of the christian character. Have you been made partakers of this? And have you followed out this description of a Christian into all its consequences? Have you weighed the full import of exhortations such as these, which abound in the apostolic writings. "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." § "Know ye not that

your body is the tem

+ John iii. 5.

§ Rom. xii. 1.

ple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you; which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."* "I therefore beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Let these passages be considered in meditation and prayer, and they will give abundant meaning and emphasis to the enquiry, “ I am a Christian-What then?"

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2. But there is another class who practically treat this momentous question with still more fearful injustice, who "hold the truth in unrighteousness," who maintain the form of sound doctrine," while practically they "deny the power of it." There are many who, from the connexion into * 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. + Eph. iv. 1-3. Rom. i. 18.

which they have been thrown with others, or by following up the leadings of a naturally enquiring and thinking mind, or from attending a ministry which faithfully and strikingly "declares the whole counsel of God," have learnt to form a correct notion of the system of divine truth, and of the nature of christian privilege and christian responsibility. "They hear the word with joy," they are interested in the theory of religion, they learn to talk of it in the spirit of connoisseurs, nay, they "do many things gladly" in this active generation, wherein “ many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased:" they are enlightened" with an intellectual view of the truth, they "have tasted" the beauties and excellencies "of the good word of God," as far as the natural man is capable of discerning them; they have felt the influence of "the powers of the world to come" in the sublimity of their terrors

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*Matt. xiii. 20.

Heb. vi. 4, 5.

Mark vi. 20.

and the attractiveness of their hopes, and started under the influence into a sort of galvanic life, whose energy was as shortlived as it was violent, as readily excited as it was quickly subdued; and with these specious counterfeits, this spectral form of Christianity, they deceive others, and alas! themselves, into the belief that this fair mould of all but breathing clay is animated by a living soul. They "have a name to live," while they "are dead,"* they "drink in the rain which falleth oft upon them," but the produce is "briers and thorns." And what is the practical effect of this subtle deception? It shuts them out more hopelessly than ever from the influence of "the power of godliness." When "the form" is held merely in a cold adherence to the use of means, we indulge a hope that in time these means will, by the blessing of God, arouse the employer into life and energy. But when "the form" extends through all the ramifica+ Heb. vi. 8.

*Rev. iii. 1.

tions of religious truth and christian experience; when the life-giving truths of the gospel are embraced by the mind, and yet no life has followed; when the purifying faith and hope of Christianity are professed, and the heart still remains unpurified and unchanged, we are driven from every resting-place of human probability to the last refuge which hope can find, "With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

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What then I ask, is the conclusion which you draw in answer to the question before us? Is it not something to this effect ?—“I am a Christian-What then? Why, I am safe from the future consequences of sin. I believe in those truths, the belief of which is said to be counted to the ungodly for righteousness: I hold the same opinions and partake the same feelings with those who are considered the excellent of the earth. It is true I have not attained to their standard of spirituality; I do not feel that hatred to sin, that jealousy of the