cording to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and that ye put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." Or, to express the same meaning in other words-that mortifying, laying aside, and altering that corrupt nature in which you were born, and which loves not God nor holiness, but, on the contrary, deceitful and worldly lusts: you should live, think, and act after an entirely different manner; as far as possible after the manner of the holy angels and God himself, to whom sin of every kind is an abomination.

By such a change as this, your hearts will receive a new nature, or, to use the words of the Bible, will be born again; and those holy thoughts, wishes, and actions which your former corrupt nature could not entertain, will be to your newregenerated nature easy and pleasant. The next question is-how are we to make this change in our hearts? if we are born with a corrupt and sinful nature, how are we to lay it aside and to put on one which shall

be new and holy. On this point, also, the apostles and ministers of the Lord have given you in the scriptures full information. They first convince us that man is not able, in his original nature, to do righteously, or to obtain for himself the power of becoming holy. See Psalm li. 5- Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin hath my mother conceived me." Job xiv. 4-" Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.' Romans viii. 7-" The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." They assure us next that, the change which we cannot make in ourselves, is wrought on us by the Divine power. Phil. ii. 13-" It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure."

The only question then which remains, is this-how shall we seek and obtain this assistance from heaven, without which we must perish in our sins? Now this being in fact the very question asked by the jailor in the Acts of the Apostles-" What must I do to be saved?" the same answer may

H

be applied-"believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." To those who believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and are baptized in his name, a promise is given that the spirit of God shall, if sought for, be always at hand to change and renew their heart, to turn them from sin, to make them love and practise holiness. And how is it to be sought by believing and baptized Christians? first by prayer and supplications, next by humble and constant attendance upon public worship and the sacrament of the Lord's supper, by studying or hearing the Bible, and lastly, by willing obedience to the word, as far as they are acquainted with it. Thus far I have explained to you the nature of the race which we have to run—that is, the performance of every Christian duty; and I have shown you how you may be enabled to run it. You observe that in seeking to gain an incorruptible crown, your condition is very superior to those who strove to win a corruptible one; they were left altogether to their own exertions-you have the assurance of all powerful help from

heaven if you only seek it faithfully, and diligently work together with it.

I come now to consider the second part of my subject, namely, the nature of the crown which is to be the winner's reward; the prize of the faithful Christian's high calling in Christ Jesus.

The language of Holy Writ, grand and magnificent as it frequently is, never rises so high as when it describes the glory, the riches, the delight of heaven, where the Christian is to receive his crown-and as if no single expression could possibly give a sufficient idea of it, it is compared in turn to every thing which we consider great, good, glorious, and valuable. It is called "an abiding city," "a city which hath foundations," to show its greatness, and that it shall last for ever-a mansion, where, after the labours of our Christian life, we shall rest with Christ-a harvest, to signify the exceeding plenteousness of the reward; and a crown, to express its splendour and magnificence. St. John, in that wonderful portion of the Bible called the Revelations, has given a description of heaven as it

appeared in his vision, in which all the brightest, most dazzling, most costly, and most glorious objects in nature are made use of gold, sapphires, carbuncles, the sun and the rainbow, are said to flame around the throne of the Lamb.

upon and

But after

all these splendours and glories have been exhausted, after heaven has been compared to every thing precious, every thing great, every thing lasting, the whole is summed up by declaring that still so infinitely is the reality above all these descriptions, that

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eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which the Lord hath prepared for those that love him."

And this is promised, this is preserved for us, mean, infirm, sinful beings; the end of our labours; the reward of our imperfect obedience; the prize of our race; peace which nothing can disturb; holiness which no sin can pollute; joy which can never be interrupted; life which will know no ending! This is our incorruptible crown! For a fading crown of leaves, for fame, the idle breath of a vulgar crowd, we have seen