incessant change, making an oracle and an end of vanity, such persons ey live. For want of this spiritual ades himself to the worship of condie sense of what he is. He passes by r a blazoned equipage, and bows his before them-forgetting that he himan a house, greater than an equipage, world. Oh! to think, that this walkarth should so forget itself; that this n man should be frittered away, and trifles and vanities; how lamentable no Gospel for such a being; for the foundations in the spiritual nature. g for man, but what lies in his spirit, ht, in spiritual interpretation. Without is heaven nothing, but the world is great Apostle has resolved it all in few e is no condemnation to them who are who walk not after the flesh, but after to all others there is condemnation,nity, death. For to be carnally minded be spiritually minded is life and peace." X. LIFE CONSIDERED AS AN ARGUMENT FOR FAIT AND VIRTUE. LIVI BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID, IT IS WRITTEN THAT MAN SHALL NOT THE necessity to man of something above all t resources of physical life, is the subject to which, this discourse, I shall invite your attention. In two previous discourses on human life which have addressed to you, I have endeavoured to show, i the first place and in general, that this life possesses deep moral significance, notwithstanding all that i said of it, as a series of toils, trifles and vanities; and i the next place, and in pursuance of the same thought that every thing in life is positively moral; not merely that it is morally significant, but that it has a positive moral efficiency for good or for evil. And now I say in the third place, that the argument for the moral purpose is clenched by the necessity of that purpose, to the well being of life itself. "Man," says our Saviour, with solemn authority, "shall not live by bread alone, but"-by what? how few seem to believe in it!" by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." How few seem to believe in it; how few do believe this, in the highest sense; and yet how true is it! Into how large a part even of the most ordinary life, without some faith in man; that part of man. You cannot dig in t a reliance on the unseen result. r think or reason, without confiding spiritual principles of your nature. and bonds, and hopes and interests the spiritual. Break that central now that the world would rush to higher than this indirect recognition our argument. Let us proceed to principles then, involved in the moral ng its whole scope, whose necessity I onsider. They are faith and virtue; hat is to say, on which virtue reposes, elf. Something above a man's phyere be to help it—-something above it mething beyond it, in its attainment. faith as necessary to human life, I dertake to define its nature! This appear as we proceed. What I wish general, a faith in religion; in God, h and hopes. What I maintain in ndispensableness to human life, of this My present purpose is, to offer some ependent considerations in support of these considerations I find based, imunded in human life. To illustrate the er of the view which I wish to present, comparison. Let it be admitted then, n the one hand, that there is a God; let of Jesus, also, be received; that this ner; that he has a paternal interest in the way and the means of our salvation from sin and ruin; that he hears our prayers and will help our endeavours; that he has destined us, if faithful, to a future and blessed and endless life; and then, how evident is it that upon this system of faith, we can live calınly, endure patiently, labour resolutely, deny ourselves cheerfully, hope steadfastly, and “be conquerors," in the great struggle of life, "yea, and more than conquerors, through Christ who has loved us!" But take away any one of these principles; and where are we? Say that there is no God, or that there is no way opened for hope and prayer, and pardon and triumph, or that there is no heaven to come, no rest for the weary, no blessed land for the sojourner and the pilgrim; and where are we? And what are we? What are we, indeed, but the sport of chance, and the victims of despair? What are we, but hapless wanderers upon the face of the desolate and forsaken earth; surrounded by darkness, struggling with obstacles, distracted with doubts, misled by false lights; not merely wanderers who have lost their way, but wanderers, alas! who have no way, no prospect, no home? What are we but doomed, deserted voyagers upon the dark and stormy sea, thrown amidst the baffling waves without a compass, without a course, with no blessed haven in the distance to invite us to its welcome rest? What now is the conclusion from this comparison? It is, that religious faith is indispensable to the attainment of the great ends of life. But that which is necessary to life, must have been designed to be a part of it. When you study the structure of an animal, when you examine its parts, you say, "This was designed for food; there must be food for this being, somewhere; neither growth nor life is possible without it." And when you examine the structure of a human mind and understand its powers and wants, you say with equal confidence, "This being was made for faith; there must be something, somewhere, for him to believe in; he cannot healthfully grow, he connot happily live without it." The argument which I now urge for faith, let me distinctly say, is not that which is suggested by worldly prudence; that religion is a good thing for the State, useful to society, necessary for the security of property; and therefore to be received and supported. The concession that the great interests of the world cannot be sustained without religion, and therefore that religion is necessary, is considered by many, I fear, as yielding not to reasoning fairly, but to policy. This was the view of religion, doubtless, which pervaded the ancient systems of polytheism. It was a powerful state engine; a useful social economy; and hence, with multitudes, it was little more than a splendid ritual. It was not a personal thing. It was not received as true, but only as expedient. Now that which I maintain is this; not that religion is necessary, and therefore respectable; not that religion is necessary, and therefore to be supported in order that the people may be restrained and managed, and held in check; but my argument is, that religion is necessary, and therefore true. The indispensableness of religion, I hold, is not merely a reason for its being supported, but a reason for its being believed in. The point maintained, let me now more distinctly observe, is this: that in every kind of existence, in every system of things, there are certain primary elements or powers, which are essential to its just order and true well-being; and that under a wise Providence, these elements must be regarded as bearing the |