demand his interference and exertion. In short, it is the same all through life: whoever hopes to do himself any real good must steadily direct all his endeavours to one point; he must not trust alone to superficial knowledge of this kind, or superficial knowledge of that: life is hardly long enough-so difficult a thing is sound acquirement-to gain one branch of knowledge thoroughly and well. Therefore general information is lawful, because it is all we can have upon most points: but excellence is an object of steady growth; it can only arise from the fixed purpose and the regular habit of applying, and investigating, and determining, and then persevering.

But I come now to the most useful bearing in this argument: and that is the adaptation of it to higher, and to spiritual designs.

If the sentiment in the text, my brethren, be a true one in affairs of this world, how much more true is it in things connected with that world which is to come! If a man cannot excel in a trade, a profession, or science without study, application, and perseverance; if a man cannot, and with very just cause cannot, we will say, become either a good scholar or a skilful architect, provided he will not submit to the rules of the art, and if he only attend by fits and starts; how, let me ask, can he reasonably expect to become a good Christian by the same means? What is it that exempts Christianity from that careful attention that belongs to every other pursuit? What is it that induces us to hope that the foundation and superstructure, the knowledge, the experience, the application, the comfort of religious truths, are all to be acquired by a few trifling fanciful attempts, just according to a momentary burst of feeling, or a capricious use of accidental opportunities? Is it that religion is of no importance, and therefore needs not take up much of our time? Brethren, what can be so important? What can, or what ought, to excite a half—nay, a thousandth part of the concern upon our minds of all the things of this world, as that single questionwhether, when the few years of our pilgrimage are over and gone, we shall live for ever, body and soul, in heaven or in hell? I will venture to assert, that a truly pious man who has the magnitude of eternity properly fixed upon his heart would, if it were not for the relative duties he owes to society, and the pleasures wisely affixed by the God of nature and of grace to the performance of these duties as far as the abstract importance is regarded, would, with the greatest readiness, give up all of it, retire to a dungeon for life, or spend his days in a wilderness.

Is it, again, that Christianity is sooner learned, and upon that account we may treat it with inconstancy and neglect? What, my brethren, is the Bible soon read, and studied, and understood? Are its histories soon arranged-its connexion soon perceived-its doctrines of faith, and grace, and justification, and holiness soon comprehended-its habits soon formed-and the objections to all these (and many are often urged) answered and confuted by a momentary study? Is the whole armour of God to be fitted on and used without the least practice? Be assured of this, and some amongst you may have found it out by experience, that the more we know of religion, the more we shall perceive is yet to be known. Our work is never done. Amongst the clearest truths in the whole Bible is this, that religion is a progressive state. If we are not getting better, we are getting worse before God; that is, if our principles and habits are not becoming more fixed by exercise, and our hearts more purified and more holy by the increasing operation of the grace of God, increasing exactly in proportion to our

endeavours and to our prayers-why, then habits must be contracted of inattention, and the thoughts lose their relish for all spiritual subjects and enjoyments. It is exactly like proceeding in a boat against a stream; if we relax the oars only a single moment, in that moment the current prevails, and we float back and lose our labour.

Now, these are truths perhaps, which none will deny and yet let us see how many men behave notwithstanding. One man shall think that if he goes to church upon a Sabbath day, he may do almost what he pleases during the rest of the week. Another reads the titles of the books of the Bible, or goes so far as to peruse some of the lessons of the day; and there remains his acquaintance with and knowledge of the Sacred Volume. A third repents of his sins bitterly to-day, and commits every one of them again to-morrow. A fourth makes resolution after resolution, and observes none. A fifth shall pray to God at night sometimes, and omit it entirely as a morning sacrifice. Nay, a sixth shall go further still, he prays perhaps with devotion in the house of God-hears a sermon, or reads a book that affects and convinces him when he is at home, he instantly resolves to act accordingly, to reform his ways, to walk henceforth in a more humble, and virtuous, and religious course—and, we will take it for granted, he perseveres in this for a short period: but, alas! the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak. A few gay scenes, a few entertaining companions, dissolve the charm, and the next rising sun dispels the whole as a morning cloud or the early dew. And yet all these several parties shall be astonished-astonished that they do not feel the comforts of religion-astonished that they do not see its beauty-astonished that they are unable to resist temptation, and that they do not grow in grace—astonished indeed at every thing but at their own folly.-The reason, however, of all this is plain: “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." As long as they remain in this indecisive, fickle, inconstant state, they never will excel, although they make the attempt over and over again to the end of their lives.

Let us attend, then, for a moment to a few short rules and exhortations, sincerely but humbly offered, which under God's blessing may help to correct the evil.

The first grand foundation of being steadfast in religion is, to be thoroughly convinced of its reality. Spare no pains to effect this. Read and study and ask advice day and night, until you arrive—as I know every one will arrive who really tries in a right spirit—until you arrive at these important conclusions: namely, that there is a God, and that there is a Saviour; that the Bible is his Holy Word; that there is a guilty heart to be cleansed, and that there is free grace ready to cleanse, and to purify, and pardon; and that there certainly will be a future state of happiness, and a state of misery. Now, I say that it is every man's duty, as well as every man's interest, to come to a right and clear understanding upon these questions; but then, having done so, let him act up to it, openly and firmly. Do not believe God, and yet not serve God: do not believe in Christ, and yet every day crucify Christ afresh, do not believe in heaven and in hell, and yet never stir a single step upon account of either.

But secondly: Read the Word of God, and read it regularly-a certain small portion at least every day. Let nothing prevent or impede this habit. You find time for your meals, to say nothing of your pleasures: find time, likewise, for that meal which gives you the bread of eternal life.—

In the next place, Do not be fond of prying into new doctrines. Do not

encourage itching ears, hearing the word for the sake of entertainment only, or curiosity; or, like the Athenians, (recorded in Acts 17th) spending your time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing in religion. I do not mean to say that the caution is particularly required by any one here, but it is a caution not unuseful in the present day. Some men will be found to alter with every passing day: one while Armenians, then Calvinists, then a mixture of both; now of this, and now of that party. Unquestionably, brethren, this cannot tend to eventual good. There is no objection to a man's altering his creed (and acting up to it) with patient investigation and with due conviction; nay, it is rather a proof of a sincere and a pious mind. The thing to be guarded against is changing for changing's sake, lightly, inconsiderately, capriciously, and from momentary motives and feelings. "Prove all things,"

says the Apostle; but he adds, "hold fast that which is good." Let conscience be your guide in every hour of your life, and against its solemn dictates let no temptation, no threats, either of the world, the flesh, or the devil, ever prevail. Conscience will well repay to you every debt which it owes. It has been said that perseverance is to be admired even in a bad cause: without going to that length, however, how admirable is perseverance in a good one!

My brethren I am aware of human infirmities: I know that sometimes even the best men may waver: but then how delightful to see them recovering, and catching hold again of that friendly plank which in the spiritual shipwreck they had dropped from their hand in an unwary moment. Look at St. Peterwho knows not his conduct? Look at more modern times when in the days of persecution one of the greatest ornaments of our own church, Archbishop Cranmer, tried to save his life by the recantation of his faith. The moment he had done it, like the Apostle he wept bitterly; and when tied to the stake, amidst the flames, (for his concession, after all, could not save him from a cruel death,) with a noble fortitude he plunged the hand which had signed the paper into the fire, and there he held it unmoved until it dropped, a cinder itself amidst the ashes; crying out all the time, "This is the hand that sinnedthis is the hand that sinned." "When we see," says his biographer, "human nature struggling so nobly with uncommon sufferings, it is a pleasing reflection that through the assistance of God, there is a firmness in the mind of man which will support him under trials in appearance beyond his strength."

Nor can I refrain from mentioning an interesting fact, recorded in ecclesiastical history, of the forty martys of Sebastian, mixed up as it is with a useful, although an awful lesson. About three hundred years after the death of our Saviour, there were forty soldiers in the Roman army who had become Christians, and who had turned away from idols to the service of the Living God. One day an edict was passed by the governor that they should turn from Jesus Christ, and worship their former idols of wood and stone. This they unanimously refused to do. They told their exasperated leader that they were certainly his worldly servants, and that their bodies he might dispose of as he thought proper; but that their souls were not their own, but bought with a precious price, and that the Redeemer who had bought them, him only would they serve. The gov rnor then resolved to put them to death, and in a very extraordinary way. Under the walls of the town was a river frozen, and upon this river he exposed the forty naked sufferers to perish of the cold: a warm bath was prepared at a small distance for any of them who would relent, and would turn from Christ to the Roman temple. They cheerfully submitted to the

desperate trial, and they bore boldly hour after hour the thrilling agonies of the frozen air. At last one unhappy sufferer relented: while the gates of heaven were just opening to his view, while the thousands of angels were preparing his crown of victory, and saints were expecting his ascending spirit, the wretched apostate arose from his icy couch, crawled to the seductive bath, and stepping into the warm emollient water-he expired! May that God who knew what was in man have mercy upon him! But may the lesson not be lost upon us.

Finally, then, let me entreat you not to be "unstable" in your prayers. If once a man habitually finds excuse for neglecting his prayers, the chances are fearfully against him. Here let the Christian make his great stand. Never omit morning and evening prayers: never omit them either because you are tired, or because you are late, or because you are unwell, or because you are in a hurry. No; twice a day at the least bend the knee to your Lord and Saviour. Pray, and he will hear you; he will guard, perfect, stablish you; he will bring you safe through all temptation, and he will build you upon that which shall resist the winds and the waters, for he shall build you upon a rock.

RELIGIOUS REVIVALS

REV. J. CLAYTON,

POULTRY CHAPEL, FEBRUARY 9, 1834.

"Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?"-JOHN, iii. 9.

THIS language was evidently employed by the ruler of the Jews when he came to Jesus by night, in order to enquire of Him, who was a professed teacher come from God, into the nature of those tenets which he was diffusing among the people. Our Saviour, in reply, at once began by referring him to the indispensable necessity of a change of heart wrought by the divine agency in man, and says to him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The enquirer mistook his reference, and considered the words which he employed in their literal sense; and, betraying his ignorance and his inconsideration, rejoined-" How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" His instructor proceeds again to reiterate the necessity of this change, that the man who was the subject of it might possess that spiritual perception that he should discern spiritual things, and that spiritual taste that he should enjoy the privileges of the kingdom of God. Jesus answered and said unto him, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." He then goes on to illustrate the mysteriousness which was connected with this wondrous alteration which takes place in the human mind when all things become new, and says, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Still his meaning seems to have been not apprehended by Nicodemus; for he enquires, “How can these things be?"

Now, my dear hearers, this is the literal reference of the passage I have already read as my text; of which however I am about to make another application, as my subsequent remarks will prove. For expressions like these have been frequently applied to what we are accustomed to term revivals of religion. All indeed who take a deep interest in the affairs of piety will acknowledge the desirableness of such revivals in our narrower circles where Christianity prevails; and likewise in the Churches of this land, which the Lord hath blessed, or where they are established throughout the world; though there are existing some shades of difference of opinion as to the circumstances associated with them, and as to the means by which, under the blessing of God, they are to be secured. There are some, however, who have brought forward this statement—that our population is not in a suitable state to receive the plenteous outpouring of the