this subject; it is because I believe that the great proportion of Christians hold opinions in relation to it substantially the same with ours. When Professor Stuart came forward as the authorized expounder of the Trinitarian faith, he said they did not believe in three persons as we use the word; they did not believe in three beings united in one God: all they maintained was, that the Scriptures recognized a threefold distinction in the Deity, meaning, as it would seem, a distinction of character, such as I have admitted; for the Scriptures speak of God the Father, they speak of the Saviour as God with us, and the term Holy Spirit is often applied to God. And thus, I have no doubt, you will find that those who really have opinions on these subjects agree very nearly with each other. The great difficulty is, that so many take up with words, and never are at the pains of forming an opinion. Looking at the words which Christians use, you would suppose them to be fearfully disunited; but words are not much, words are the daughters of earth, and therefore perishable, while things are the sons of heaven, and do not pass away. Words cannot keep men apart for ever, any more than air-lines can form permanent inclosures. There are some animals, which, if you draw a line round them, will feel as if it could not be passed over; but the greater proportion of those which have wings and feet are always ready to use them. No one needs be troubled about party feelings; they are of those things which perish with the using. Now they are like

ice upon the living waters, binding up their channels and suppressing the music of their flow; but when the Sun of righteousness rises higher, — and

rise it will, all these chilling restraints on the free action of the mind and heart shall feel its influence, and for ever melt away.

I see the Divine mercy in this provision, that in all matters of profound importance men cannot think very unlike each other. They may talk very differently; they may feel some alienation; but these things are written so plainly on the front of the sacred page that he who runs may read, and read the same practical meaning. As Christians grow more spiritual, they take less note of things outward, and give more heed to those that are within. When they look under the distinctions of party, they see that one Christian is like another Christian; his real character is not affected by the name which he happens to bear. And thus narrowness and exclusion are wearing away; - things are leading to that consummation when there shall be one fold and one shepherd, one faith, one baptism, and Father of all.

one God

9*

SERMON X.

IMMORTALITY OF THE AFFECTIONS.

YOUR HEART SHALL LIVE FOR EVER. - Psalm xxii. 26.

Or the many striking things in the Old Testament, there are none which impress me more than these transient and occasional bursts of inspiration, which anticipate what Christianity was afterwards to teach, and intimate to that dark, ancient world what its rich disclosures of truth were to be. They seem like lightning-flashes illuminating the deep obscurity for a moment; - not long enough to give any clear and connected impressions of truth to those who knew it not; but still they are sufficient to show to those who might otherwise doubt it, that the inspiration of God is in those ancient volumes, and gleams of the same light shone through it which afterwards broke in full glory upon the world when the Saviour came from on high.

Observe, then, how much is implied in these words, "Your heart shall live for ever." They mean that the body shall not; in its present elements it shall not; it has nothing to do with the life immortal. Now we lavish our pains and care upon

to see.

it; earnest to provide for its wants, its dress, its nourishment, and shelter; still more solicitous to provide it with those luxuries which sometimes bring heaviness and disease, and never minister to its strength and joy. Our anxiety and forecast for the body extend into the future. We are unhappy if we have not laid up means and resources to sustain it in future years, not one of which, perhaps, we are So much does the worldly spirit act upon the religious spirit, that if any one suggests that the body shall not survive the grave, that the spiritual body, according to St. Paul's fine illustration, shall be as different from it as the new plant is from the seed from which it springs,— he is rejected as a teacher of falsehood and delusion. But certain it is, and this is the point of the truth conveyed in these words, certain it is that the happiness of the future existence shall not come from the body, from the gratification of its passions, nor the exercise of its powers; and just so far as a man depends for his enjoyment on these earthly indulgences, he is unfit for that spiritual state to which death will soon translate us, and for which it is our wisdom now to prepare. He will find himself in that world cursed with desires for which there is no gratification ; while the enjoyments of the refined, heavenly spirit are no better than tortures to his soul.

These words also imply that the mind, though it shall endure, will not be the source of happiness in another existence. We know too little of its nature to say whether death will change it; but certainly

it will change our estimation of it; for now, in this world, talent, force of mind, genius, are set highest among the gifts of God. This is an advance, indeed, from that state of imperfect civilization in which bodily strength and symmetry are in the highest esteem; in proportion as men make intellectual advances, the mind and its interests rise above the body and its powers. But our religion would fain carry on this course of improvement till men shall understand that the affections, — or, as they are called in Scripture, the heart, the heart is as much above the understanding as the mind is above the body whose home is the dust. It is in the affections that the elements of heavenly happiness are to be found; the improvement of the affections, rather than of the mind, is the preparation for the heavenly state. And though we look with pleasure on physical strength and beauty, which strike the eye, though we admire intellectual ability as it deserves, and even more than it deserves, still, in the sight of angels and of God, he is the best, and happiest, and greatest of mankind who has the largest and best heart. "Your heart shall live for ever."

These words teach us what should be our constant object, and lead us also to consider how abundantly God has provided for it on every side.

Consider, in the first place, how all the arrangements of this life favor the growth of those affections which are the elements of life immortal. Our present existence is not much by itself; but it grows into immense importance when we consider it as