of alienation and estrangement from God, is not the piety of the word of truth.

Now, in consequence of our natural descent from Adam since his fall, we come into the world totally destitute of this right disposition towards God, and grow up under the influence of a contrary temper. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." This is what we mean by the total depravity of human nature; not that there is an absence of all general and praiseworthy feeling towards our fellow-creatures; not that there is the predominance of criminal and vicious appetite; but that there is a total destitution of all right feeling towards God. Before true religion be possessed by one human being, there must of consequence be an entire change of mind, a complete alteration in the disposition.

The scriptures inform us that all are inherently depraved, for" that which is born of the flesh is flesh;" and therefore, with equal explicitness they inform us that all must be changed before they can partake of true piety. This change is so great, that our Lord himself calls it a second birth. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom dom of heaven."

Until this change takes place there cannot be even the commencement of true religion. Whatever is avoided, or whatever is done that bears the semblance of piety, is carried on without a right disposition of mind; and we cannot suppose, that God who sees the heart, is pleased with such service, any more than we should be with compliments from a person, whose bosom we knew to be destitute of all right feeling towards us. The mistake, which many make in

religion is, they do not begin with the beginning; they attempt to carry up the superstructure without seeking to have the foundation laid in the renewal of their nature. They profess to serve God outwardly, before they have surrendered their heart to his renewing grace. Their

religion is a new dress, but not a new nature. It is the mechanical performance of an automaton, not the voluntary actions of a living man. It wants that which alone constitutes piety,-a right disposition towards God.

III. This disposition is implanted in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost.

The operations of Deity, in the formation of the material world, are frequently alluded to by the sacred writers, as illustrating the work of Jehovah in renewing the human mind, and bringing forth the beauties of holiness in the human character. The soul of man, as to all spiritual excellence, is in its natural state a chaos; and the same divine Spirit, which brooded on the materials of the formless void; which moved on the face of the deep, and brought order out of confusion, and beauty out of deformity; which said, Let there be light and there was light; now operates on the dark mind, the irregular affections, the hard heart of the sinner, giving true light to the understanding, a right disposition to the soul, submission to the will, and in short creating the whole man anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. This is declared in many passages of the Scriptures. "A new heart also will I give you," saith God to the Jews, "and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes."* To the same effect are our Lord's words to Nicodemus. "Except

a man be born of water and the Spirit, he shall not see the kingdom of heaven." This same truth is often repeated by the apostles. "You hath he quickened." "Who hath saved us by washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." "It is God who worketh in us to will and to do." That it must be some power out of man, and beyond himself to effect the change, is evident, from the circumstance, that it is not merely the conduct, but the disposition itself, which requires to be changed; and who can reach the mind, and regulate the springs of action, but God? Not that we are to lie down in indolent neglect, and say, "If then it is the Holy Ghost who must change the mind, I may give up all concern about the matter, and wait before I attempt to perform the duties of religion, till I feel that I am changed." No; as rational creatures we must use our faculties, consider our case, examine our hearts, tremble at our situation, call upon 'God in prayer, and give him no rest till he pour out his Spirit upon us. The very circumstance, that we are thus dependent on God, should make us more tremblingly anxious, more importunate in prayer, for divine help. If you were entirely dependent upon the assistance of a fellow-creature for help to recover your property, liberty, or life, would not that very conviction impel you to the door and presence of the person, in all the eloquence and urgency of importunate entreaty?

* Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.

Would you not pour out your very soul in the language of wrestling supplication? Would you not press your suit by every argument, so long as a ray of hope fell upon your spirits! In this case, the idea that help must come from another, would not render you indolent, and why should it do so in the business of conversion?

IV. I shall now state how a right disposition of mind towards God will exercise itself in our circumstances as sinners, which will bring us more immediately to a consideration of the nature of real religion.

First.-Reverence, veneration, and awe, are due from us to that great and glorious Being, who is the author of our existence, the fountain of our comforts, the witness of our actions, and the arbiter of our eternal destiny. How sublimely grand and awful is the character of God, as it is revealed in his word! Acknowledging as you do, my children, his existence, you should make him the object of your habitual fear and dread. You should maintain a constant veneration for him, a trembling deprecation of his wrath. A consciousness of his existence, and of his immediate presence, should never for any great length of time be absent from your mind. The idea of an ever-present, omniscient, omnipotent Spirit, should not only be sometimes before your understanding as an article of faith, but impressed upon your heart as an awful and practical reality. Your very spirits should ever be labouring to apprehend, and apply the representation which the scriptures give us of the deity. A desire to know him, to feel and act towards him with propriety, should be interwoven with the entire habit of your reflections and conduct.

Secondly.-Penitence is indispensably neces

sary.

In order to this, there must be deep conviction of sin; for none can mourn over a fault, which he is not convinced that he has committed. A deep consciousness of guilt is one of the first feelings of a renewed mind, and is one of the first operations of the Holy Ghost. "When he is come, he shall convince the world of sin." We come to a knowledge of our sinful state, by an acquaintance with the spirituality, purity, and extent of the moral law; "for sin is the transgression of the law." Until we know the law, which is the rule of duty, we caunot know in what way, and to what extent, we have offended against it. The exposition which our Lord has given us of the law, in his sermon on the Mount, informs us that it is not only the overt act of iniquity which makes a man a sinner: but the inward feeling, the imagination, the desire. An unchaste look is a breach of the seventh commandment; a feeling of immoderate anger is a violation of the sixth. Viewing ourselves in such a mirror, and trying ourselves by such a standard, we must all confess ourselves to be guilty of ten thousand sins. And then again we are not only sinful for what we do amiss; but for what we leave undone that is right, and ought to be done. If therefore we have a right disposition towards God, we must have a deep feeling of depravity and guilt; an impressive sense of moral obliquity; an humbling consciousness of vileness. To the charges of the law, we must cry guilty, guilty. We must not only admit upon the testimony of others that we are sinful, but from a perception of the holi