SERMON II.

PRINCIPLE OF ACTION.

HEBREWS XI. 6.

He that cometh to God, must believe that he is; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

EVERY man, who values at all the dignity or happiness of his rational nature, would wish to pass through life with a character formed and governed by some settled and determined principles. A man is both contemptible and miserable, who, in the various situations in which he is called to act, has no general rule of life, no fixed maxims of conduct, to which he can appeal; whose opinions and actions vary and fluctuate with every passing event; whose mind is a mere chaos of contrary impulses and conflicting wishes; whose conduct is only a tissue of temporary expedients for the day that is passing over him; and of whose actions, therefore, in any given case, you can form no certain calculation, because they will be regulated by no principles, which the accidents of an hour may not change. They are at the mercy of every

casual impulse and event, and you can no more determine whether they will be right or wrong tomorrow, than you can predict what new shape and colour the clouds may then assume. But one, whose life proceeds on a settled system; whose steady principles impart their own character and complexion to the events and circumstances which occur to him; who follows a clear line of honorable conduct, at all times, and places, and seasons; such a man is ever dignified, because ever consistent; and he alone can have any claim to the name of a man of high and uniform virtue.

Since then it is so important to the dignity and perfection of our natures, that our lives should be formed on some fixed rule; the question becomes beyond measure interesting, "what that rule shall be." In order that it may be perfect, it must comply with several important conditions. It must be invariable, or else we shall sometimes be inconsistent. It must be comprehensive, or it will not embrace every case. It must apply to our conduct, not only now, but at all times; not merely to one part of our existence, but to our whole being; it must be enforced also by motives and sanctions of universal and unchanging operation.

It will be my present purpose to endeavour to show, that such a rule, enforced by adequate sanctions, can be given to us only by religion. "He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek

him." This is religion in its simplest and most elementary form, as it might exist independently of any peculiar dispensation which illustrates and enforces it. God and futurity are the all comprehensive ideas which it labours to imprint on every heart. He cannot come to God, cannot be an object of the divine favour, cannot have a perfect rule of action, whose character is not formed on those principles which flow from regard to the will of the Supreme Being, and whose actions are not influenced by a consideration of the consequences which will attend them in another life. importance, then, and necessity, of a religious principle of action, is the subject of the present dis

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A man, whose life is not governed by a principle of religion, wants, we may say, the only genuine criterion and standard of morals, the only universal rule of virtuous conduct. I of course shall not be misunderstood to say, that such a man may not possess many amiable and admirable qualities, many kind and noble and generous affections; may not comply with all the established decencies of well-ordered society; may not be free from any just charge of doubtful integrity, of violated friendship, or neglected offices of domestic affection. Undoubtedly there are some, whose conduct puts to shame the dwarfish virtues of many a lukewarm professor. There are many, whose habits are better than their acknowledged principles, and who

living in a community where christianity has elevated and refined the public standard of morals, conform insensibly to that standard, without explicitly acknowledging its authority, even to themelves. That such men are estimable and valuable, as far as this world is concerned, I mean not to deny. They are certainly not to be confounded with the vulgar herd of trifling cavillers, and bold blasphemers. I would say only, that the virtues of such men are not founded on a solid and unchangeable basis, and they cannot be relied on in all cases as uniform and stable; and they never reach to the highest form of character of which our nature is capable, and which he who cometh to God must possess.

What then are the rules by which a man, without a religious principle, must form his character, and govern his conduct? They must be drawn from the prevailing moral sentiments of the community of which he is a member; from that peculiar modification of them, which is called the law of honour; from a calculation of the temporal consequences of his actions; or from the dictates of a moral instinct.

With respect then to the first of these, the prevailing moral sentiments of the community, of which we are members, as the standard of action. It is obvious that the purity of this standard will vary greatly in different countries. Let us take one of the strongest cases which can be put-that standard as it exists in the place where we live. It may

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well be doubted, whether it will be found higher and purer in any spot of equal population on the earth. The principles of religion have been so long established among us; we have so many hereditary habits of respect for them; they are presented to us every week, I trust I may on such an occasion be allowed to say it, in so much of their native simplicity and rationality; they are so publicly reverenced by the greatest and best men among us, that they certainly exert a most direct and sensible and powerful influence in giving rectitude and elevation to the public judgment of morals. A man, then, who should argue with us, from the purity and elevation of this standard, against the importance and necessity of a religious principle of action, has an advantage to which he is not fairly entitled. He ought to take the case of a community, where that religious principle, which he would discard for himself, is equally neglected

others; and this would bring him, I believe, to a state of society so corrupt, that we should hear little more of this argument.

But, granting that he has a right to take the highest and purest which he can find; the incompetency of this standard, as it is found among us, to form a character of pure and uniform and exalted virtue, is sufficiently manifest. What this standard is, must be determined, of course, not by the moral sentiments of those who are professedly governed by a religious principle, but is to be seen in the de