commune with improper instruction, lusts will arise and lead straight onward to sin. But, if it be filled with admirable truth, the judgment and moral powers will be masters, and the passions will be servants, instead of insatiate and ruinous tyrants.

The Bible is the school for filling the soul with lofty and pure thoughts. There God, in all his grandeur, love, and grace-there Jesus, ever blessed Savior, in all the divinity of his character-there the resurrection, with all its glorious views and hallowed associations-there the reconciliation, with all its elevating and purifying influence there religion, holy in virtue, clear in moral instruction, and perfect in pointing out human duty-are all nobly displayed, and are offered to the soul as its best and most invigorating food. And the mind which treasures up these heavenly communications-the intellect which meditates on them-the moral powers which are brought into active play by them— will be strong to say to every evil thought, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Such a mind, nerved with truth and powerful with the knowledge of duty, will form the outward actions in purity, holiness, righteousness. That individual, instead of being a Hazael in wickedness, and so conducting that the virtuous and the good will weep. over his actions, will hear conscience whispering with still and gentle voice, "Well done, good and faithful servant;" while men will be glad in view of his goodness.

When the intellect becomes thus instructedwhen the moral powers become thus strong— when the passions become thus subdued-then genuine Christian character is formed in the soul, and angels rejoice because a sinner is saved and a bright jewel added to the crown of Christ.

SERMON XII.

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS.

Increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1 ;

10.)

There is a picture, which represents an individual pressing onward towards light streaming from the skies, and exclaiming, "light; more light still." This individual seems animated by an intense earnestness for new accessions of knowledge; by vigorous exertions for higher flights in the atmoshere of truth. He appears electrified by the precious thought, that one must constantly labor, if one wishes to add to his moral and intellectual treasures.

Admirable truth is here seen. Truth which teaches the necessity of progress, of advance.Progress is the great high-road to ultimate perfection. God has made it an imperative law in his government. In the grand movements which are unfolding in the heavens-in the changes which are going on in the earth-all things advance, progress, in producing ultimate results. Nothing is effected by inertness, slug. gishness. There would be no harvests, without a ceaseless work in the germination of seed and the maturity of their fruits. The seasons, with their varied features and peculiar utility and joys, are only the results of the earth's rev

olution around that wondrous body, the sun.The purity of the atmosphere and of the vast ocean-waters, is the result of the unfailing ac. tivity of forces which are ever driven onward by the power of law. The sublime harmony and order which prevail throughout the gigantic systems that crowd universal space, are continually evolving from the progress of movements which are beyond all conception complicated and yet certain. Thus all physical things are in a state of progression, working their way for. ward to fulfil some matchless plan of God, whose wisdom and glory even the universe itself cannot adequately express.

;

As in physical things, so in the intellectual, moral, and social world, there is progress. The vast accumulation of knowledge which man has made; the power which he has gained over the elements; the wonderful changes which have been introduced in governmental and social institutions; the admirable discoveries which have created the mechanism that has filled the world with its noble fruits; the benevolent improvements which have infused a nobler spirit into the treatment of the insane and the criminal the modification of old creeds, by excluding cruel dogmas and the adoption of other principles more nearly approaching the truths of Christianity; have all been procured by progress. The splendid hopes which now illuminate many portions of the civilized world; the grad. ual advance of society out of the old tyranny of lord and slave; the triumphs which the masses are gaining over monopoly and central powers, and the influence which they are accumulating to command remuneration and respect for labor; the perfect freedom of mind from the chains

which have bound it in past times; the great light which now beams in the domains of religion, giving clear views of divine truth and of the nature and objects of punishment; the prevalence of those moral influences, which are gradually overcoming the causes of war and diffusing a more generous spirit among the nations of the earth; the increase of the real comforts of life, not for the rich alone, but for the masses in general; are the rich fruits of progress. These grand achievements; achievements which are among the truest glories of the race; came not from indolence; not from inactivity of mind; but from the highest forms of industry. They have been procured by the ceaseless exertions of moral and intellectual power; by the careful treasuring up of past knowledge; by constant lessons of experience; and by earnestness in applying the principles of Divine Revelation to human wants and conduct. They were not won by opiumizing the soul with Turkish fatality, which sits still and suffers events to roll onward without any attempt to control them; but by Christian energy, which bids the soul work its way to the highest forms of truth, virtue, and civilization, and to rejoicingly soar, like the eagle, into the highest atmosphere of intellectual, moral, and physical good.

So true is this position, that even those discoveries which are generally supposed to be the result of accident, are in fact fruits of vast toil.No discovery has ever come, alone and by itself. There has been a previous preparation of society for it—a working up to it. And when the discovery has been made, great labor has been necessary for its application to actual praetice. It was an accident, by which the principle

of the telescope was ascertained—but it required great study and labor to procure the necessary accompaniments to make that principle of any practical utility. The mere fall of an apple suggested to Newton the idea of gravitation, by which all things tend to common centres-a law which is universally diffused through the universe, and alike grasps the atom and the mightiest cluster of worlds that dwells in space. Yet

what labor it required to prepare his mind for seeing any connection between the fall of an apple and a vast law of nature. He had, no doubt, often witnessed the same event, as had thousands of persons, without any importance being attached to it. And it awakened the right thought in his mind, only after the proper training had fitted him to seize the simple incident. And after he had seized it, it called all the energies of his intellect into play, to use it as a guide into a new development of Almighty Wisdom and Power. In this case, as well as in others, the remark of this illustrious man applies with great force, that "if he had done the world any services, it was due to nothing but industry and patient thought, and that he kept the subject under consideration constantly before him, and waited till the first dawning opened gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light."

It follows, then, that whatever of good man has attained by his own exertions, is the result of progress, and progress is the result of labor, of industry. The wonders of the intellectual world; the perfecting of those blessings which God hath given us; do not alone show that labor is required-we discover the same truth elsewhere displayed. If individuals expect to succeed in business, they can not do so, save by