flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof : but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." The language of the Church Catechism harmonizes with this description, where it is implied that the things which the child of God renounces, are "the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh." It is, however, of high importance that the catechumen should be taught that the renunciation of the lip, without the renunciation of the life, is hypocrisy, not religion, and that even an actual or practical renunciation of those evils would afford no certain or satisfactory evidence of the existence of a filial spiritual relation to God. It is obvious that an unregenerate man might abandon all these things uninfluenced by motives of christian piety, and virtue. Still such negative proof is an essential component of the general evidence which sustains the fact of spiritual regeneration. The positive evidence of this change, however, while it is equally essential, is of a far loftier character; involving reconciliation and friendship with God, union to Christ, daily spiritual fellowship with the Father and the Son, resemblance to the divine image, submission to the divine authority, and holy obedience to the divine commands. The negative evidence may be proof that a man has,

in certain respects, renounced the world, the addition of the positive evidence shows that he has renounced it fully, and that he is on his way to heaven.

X. The children of God are not recognised as such by the world. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, [i. e. upon believers,] that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." 1 John iii. 1.

The character of the children of God presents to the world an unresolvable enigma. Neither their principles, their motives, their habits, their privileges, their intercourse, their enjoyments, their objects, their consolations, nor their hopes, are understood. Of the inhabitants of this earth, the child of God is alone invested with true dignity, yet the world holds him in contempt; he only is endowed with true wisdom, yet the world accounts him a fool; he only exercises the virtues of truly genuine and pure benevolence, yet the world deems him uncharitable; he only enjoys really heart-gladdening pleasures, yet the world regards him as living without any. God has designated his own people the " salt of the earth;" the antiseptic element in the composition of society, which preserves it from a state of moral putrescence, and even nations from dissolution and destruction; yet the world would regard it as a happy riddance had they entirely ceased to dwell in the midst of them.

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XI. "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." 1 John v. 4.

This evidence that a man is born again of the Spirit, in other words, has been made a child of God by his regenerating power and grace, every person of the least reflection may readily comprehend and apply. Every man may learn what is meant by "the world," from the following words of the apostle John in the same epistle. "All (says he) that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John ii. 16. Any person may easily distinguish between the man who is struggling against the sinful principles, maxims, habits, pursuits, and spirit of the world-and the man who is carried along with the world, in the course of the world, acting on its principles, approving its maxims, complying with all its appropriate solicitations, and participating in its various pleasures and amusements. Thus, also, the apostle James describes the world's friendship and friends. "Know ye not (says he) that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James iv. 4. And our Lord himself, speaking of his true disciples, says, "and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John xvii. 14. If, then, a man lives in the spirit and " after the course

of this world," it is evident that, in the Scripture sense of the designation, he is not a child of God. The above words of our Lord also point out the true cause of persecution; "the world hath hated them because they are not of the world." Now, this hatred is one of those roots of bitterness, which the work of spiritual regeneration, according to the Scripture representations which I have taken the liberty to bring before your Grace, can alone eradicate.

XII. The children of God are persecuted by the children of the world. Gal. iv. 29, (page 8.)

They stand in relation to each other as the persecuted and the persecutors. St. Paul thus affirmed in his time, as to that of Isaac and Ishmael. "As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now." And it may be added, with a strict regard to truth, so it is still. Without adverting

to the spirit and proceedings of the Roman and Greek Churches and of Mahomedans, it is only necessary to observe what is constantly taking place in every part of our own country, with the connivance, and frequently by the instrumentality of those, whose office, or whose rank and station, require that they should, in a peculiar manner, cherish good will towards and openly countenance and encourage those who enter upon a life of uncompromising obedience to the laws of God

and to the laws of the land, and act with an inflexible regard to the dictates of their consciences. Those who are read in history, and are also observant of what daily passes in the world, and even in their own neighbourhoods, need not be at a loss to ascertain who they have been, and who they still are, that stand in the relation of persecutors, and who they were who have stood, and who they are who now stand, in the relation of the persecuted. It would be well if those who stand in the former relation, would cherish a solemn recollection of the words uttered by the Psalmist concerning such as bear that character, viz. "He hath ordained his arrows against the persecutors," and were to assure themselves, that some of the sharpest of those weapons will be directed against such as persecute" for righteousness' sake;" who, for instance, when a servant or tenant is brought, by the grace of God, under the authority and influence of religious principle, and inflexibly adheres to his conscientious convictions of duty, instead of bestowing on such divinely-favoured individual additional marks of his countenance and approbation, treats him rather as one might treat a person who has committed an offence, "to be punished by the Judge." In this age of enlightened sentiment in regard to the rights of conscience and the principles of religious liberty, (rights and prin