are seen all the elements of the perfection we have scribed. The excellences of human nature, as well a defects, are not often embodied in solitary individ but are distributed through the race. As gold and s and precious stones are treasured in the mines of no si continent, so self-denying virtue and heroism are mo olized by no sect or nation. The Creator diffuses inspirations of his spirit like the vital currents of th mosphere, and quickens some germs of goodness flowers of beauty in human hearts through every r of existence.

Every man who enjoys a tolerable reputation am those who have known him intimately, will be foun have some quality of character that is really admira Perhaps he may have a clear, sound love of truth, an instinctive hatred of all sophistry and falsehood. him, duplicity is the sum of evil, and integrity the fir the virtues. He regards the man who is cowardly end to seek refuge in a lie, or artful enough to put specta on the nose of the public, so that he may be seen thro what discolored medium he prefers-as bad enoug serve the devil in any capacity. Or, this man may peculiarly excellent in his domestic relations. His h is the endeared kingdom where he reigns, by the un suffrage of those to whom he has proved the best ear friend. It is the dearest spot the earth contains, and appeals to his cupidity or to his ambition could te him to sacrifice one of its joys. In the companion shares the mingled essence of his destiny, and in the dren who form a "belt of rosy bloom" around his wi fire, he finds the most enduring enjoyment, because which is least tainted by selfishness. Or, again: the may have tender sensibilities, so that he shall weep at story of distress, and give his money with alacrity to humane causes. He may be a social benefactor by son of his ready charities,-one whose impulses are erous, ardent, and noble,-though his conscientious may be feeble, and though he may not be governed any positive sense of duty. Or, yet again: the individ we have supposed may be characterized by a deep und tone of piety. If cherished apart from sentiments of nevolence, this feeling will separate his religion from

human relations, and cause it to eddy around the great thought of God. In the dim, indescribable expanse of his consciousness, the image of infinite majesty will rear itself, in silent mightiness; and thither will the incense of his veneration rise, like vapor ascending the side of a mountain. Such a man will absorb his noblest faculties in contemplative adoration, and the more sacred volume of his sensations will translate itself in ecstacies. His connexion with the world will be only superficial; he will stay in it for bargaining purposes, but will not pitch the tent of his religion amid its motley crowds. When he desires to taste life as a spiritual being, he locks up the counting-room, brushes off the profane memories of twelve per cent., and swings clear upon the idealities of faith.

Now it is doubtless a blessing for a man to possess even one of the qualities we have named. By virtue of such a quality, he exacts a certain degree of respect. There is a perceptible moral dignity about him. We may point. to his solitary excellence, as we might to the badge worn by a soldier-as indicating that the man has rendered service to his king. Here the mercy of heaven has grazed him as it rolled, and left a living spark that nothing can extinguish. Here is a sound place in his otherwise shattered nature, to which other principles can be nailed, and clinched with deep-driven convictions. Or, to use a more natural figure, here is a germ of moral goodness, which may spring, under the fostering influences of God's truth and providence, into a harmonious and perfect growth of character.

What we desire is, that the sterling qualities and adorning graces that are strewn through the race at large, may be consolidated into individual life. Not that we would have human beings the servile copies of each other, and so abolish that diversity which is the charm of every prospect, whether material or mental. The constitutional peculiarities of people are marked enough to avert such a catastrophe. But surely the essence of all the goodness. and grace that now abide on this earth, might be assimilated into individual character, and still leave ample scope for the diversities of form and expression, through which the power and amplitude of life reveal themselves to the

senses. In a word, while there should be no interfe with the "diversity of gifts," there might be "one sp circulating from God to the humblest human soul, imbuing each member of the race with the essential ments of character.

Let us now proceed to the enumeration of ce qualities, existing in a greater or less degree of mat among men, which it were desirable to combine in formation of personal character. We shall of co consider these with implied reference to that scrip personage, in whom they were all blended in their ut perfection. In Christ alone we see all the qualiti manhood balanced, harmonized, and rounded in sphere of glory. In him the fabric of character is plete, and spiritualized by living intercourse with Creator.

I. In the structure of Christian character, there more essential element than moral purity. Without the highest reason is clouded, and the strongest inte tual faculties are liable to perversion. Until this b tained, an impenetrable cloud will oppress the spir sense, fostering an importunate skepticism that no and no evidence can allay. The universe cannot be in its higher departments and nobler relations, excep the morally pure; for, only the pure in heart see or that portion of his works with which he is pecul. identified. In fact, moral purity, more than any t else, forms the condition on which depends our eleva from the earthly into the spiritual sphere. It forms chief distinction between those who are in bondag their senses, and those who, accepting the truth as in Christ, are free in the service to which he calls th Moral purity is frequently lost in childhood, through miscuous intercourse with corrupt company. The learns to defile his lips with vulgar words, and to pe his fancy with vicious images, before he can form notion of the injury he is inflicting upon himself. I the saddest fact in all the sad catalogue of human reg The child who contracts this contamination, may ren all his days blind to the subtler glories, and dead to serener pleasures, which God has enshrined in human It makes the heart bleed and the eye grow dim to th

of the millions of youthful spirits already clouded, or yet to become so, by the recklessness with which they are allowed sometimes compelled to acquire evil associations and vile habits, in lands where the morality of the gospel and the sanctity of the soul are profoundly revered. It is the great imperfection of our social order, and a terrible reproach to the Christian church in this age, that the young have few or no safeguards against the insidious leprosy of vice, a disease that approaches them under such various and specious forms, that they may scarcely be said, in numerous instances, to have the power of resisting it. The child who escapes such defilement, has, we solemnly believe, greater cause of gratitude to the Father of mercies, than the saint whom divine grace has armed against the flames.

But those whose childhood has been thus unfortunate, need not perpetuate the calamity upon their manhood. They may eradicate it, if they will. It will require time, and vigilant self-watching, and conflict, and prayer, to make the consciousness pure and fair; but it can be done. And it ought to be done. He who will not resolutely strive to eradicate such impurity, when he shall have realized its nature and its deprivations, is guilty of wilfully defiling the most sacred temple of the Lord. The man destitute of moral purity-though fortunate in every other respect-is cursed like the wretch to whose person a corpse was bound, which he was condemned to bear through the term of his life. He wandered through flowery plains, where all the sweetness of summer hung on the genial air-through tropical woods, where brightplumaged birds swung on the pendant branches, and mingled their songs with the roar of the waterfall and on the meandering shore, where the sub-base of the sea rolled in to support the milder harmonies of the night. But, with that loathsome horror lashed to him, every scene took a repulsive hue, and every sound an accent of dread. Is it an unpardonable exaggeration to compare the sensualist to one thus cumbered with corruption, and doomed to see all nature through its defiling sense? The impure heart he bears in his bosom, is not less foul be cause he does not confess its repulsiveness; and, by its subtle influence on his perceptions and on the sources of

his sentiments, it actually transforms the universe, perverts the noblest realities of existence.

II. With moral purity, we would connect the senti of honor. Certain rude notions of honor appear to been generally prevalent. They are common to the barian and to the civilized man. But with most me yet, the sentiment of honor is but a perverted instinct, closing itself in ridiculous vindications of animal coura that reduce a man to the level of a game-cock, instea elevating him to the dignity of a rational being. Still sentiment is authentic and noble; and, when corred by the Christian principle and spirit, becomes one of strongest safeguards, as well as best elements, of cl

acter.

Giving the sentiment of honor a Christian interpre tion, we may call it the sense of moral self-resped something that decides what conduct is becoming a tional, responsible, and immortal being. The sentim of honor forbids falsehood-the low artifices of the der gogue the demoralizing doctrine of expediency; it sco every form of dishonesty, and repudiates every subterfu of selfishness. It leads a man to estimate his position a importance in the world, by the quality of his men attainments and the spiritual prospect opening bef him; and not by the social consideration awarded hi nor by the material forces which he may direct. It lea him to discriminate between an apparent insult, which savage would avenge, and a real dishonor, which a Chr tian connects with guilt.

Happy is the man who is actuated by this sentiment honor, girding his motives with it, and bearing its bad into the secret courts where he meets his God. He is nobleman in the kingdom of the Lord, and his seat among the peers of the spiritual realm. But let hi guard the sentiment vigilantly; for there is a subtle bas ness in society that will otherwise corrode and waste. Let him bear it with him in all places; and, like a tr charm worn upon the breast, it will baffle temptation, a preserve him from much evil. But, if he lays it asi when he goes to serve his party, or while transacting b business in the city, the rust will find it, and it will cru ble and perish like a disused buckler. Let him, ther