1. This testimony will inspire the most de lightful confidence in approaching to God.

A consciousness of sin unpardoned, or of sin indulged, must necessarily produce alarm and self-reproach, and render the act of drawing near to God an occasion of disquieting apprehensions. "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." 1 John iii. 20-23. We know that we cannot draw near to God, acceptably, unless in the exercise of faith in Christ; but if we have the testimony of our conscience, that we are exercising that faith, we approach with confidence. We know that we are not the disciples of the Saviour, if destitute of brotherly love; but if we have the testimony of our conscience, that we are cherishing that love, we approach with confidence. We know that we are not the servants of Christ unless we keep his commands: but if we have the testimony of our conscience, that there is not. one precept which we do not cordially love, and anxiously desire to obey, we approach with confidence. Although painfully conscious of our defects and imperfections, yet

placing our hope in the merit of the Redeemer, and yielding ourselves to the iufluences of heavenly grace," the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Rom. viii. 14-16..

2. This testimony will induce a noble superiority both to the applause and to the censure of the undiscerning world.

There is a deference to the sentiments of others which is amiable and desirable; but there is an anxiety respecting their opinions, a desire of applause, and a fear of disapprobation, most ensnaring. It is the condemnation of many that they love "the praise of men more than the praise of God." John xii. 43. The very reverse of this characterized the apostle Paul; "With me," said he, "it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: but he that judgeth me is the Lord." 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. With the great tribunal in view, with the word by which we are to be judged at the last day open before us, and with the decisions of an enlightened conscience to direct our conduct, surely we ought to rise above the dread of human censure, and the undue desire of securing the approbation of the world. Were the applaudings of our fellow-creatures repeated every hour, they could not compensate for

the absence of one approving testimony of our consience; and if that testimony be habitually received, it may well be "our rejoicing," even amid the contempt and the calumny of a mistaken world.

3. This testimony will give an increased capacity for enjoying all the lawful pleasures of life.

“He that is of a merry heart," said the wise man a heart rendered cheerful by the testimony of a good conscience, "hath a continual feast." Prov. xv. 15. His familiar trains of thought are peaceful and pleasurable. His memory presents before him no disturbing recollections, his imagination no images of terror. There is diffused through his spirit a tranquillity, which is the first requisite to true enjoyment, and which gives a zest even to the ordinary pleasures of life. "Go thy way," said the inspired writer of the book of Ecclesiastes, "eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works." Eccl. ix. 7.

4. This testimony can administer the most desirable support in the time of trouble, and in the prospect of death.

Its efficacy is attested by the apostle in the words connected with the text. "We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God

which raiseth the dead. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience." 2 Cor. i. 8, 9, 12. Was there ever, in his eventful history, a situation of peril or of suffering, in which he was not sustained and cheered by the voice of an approving and rejocing conscience? Under its bliss-inspiring influence, the dungeon of Philippi, at the midnight hour, was even as the gate of heaven: and at Rome, in the prospect of a speedy martyrdom, he could say with undisturbed serenity, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing," 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. These concluding words intimate, that the joyous anticipations, thus expressed, were not peculiar to the apostle, but were such as all who love the Saviour are authorized to cherish. They have been adopted, with serene composure, or with seráphic joy, by thousands and by tens of thousands of departing Christians, whose dying experience attested, that to them death had lost its terrors and its sting. Directing the eye of faith to Jesus on the cross, making atonement for their sin; to Jesús before the throne, interceding for his people; and to Jesus in his glory, exercising uncontrolled authority over the invisible world and over death-they have seen no cause of tre

pidation in a departure from the present life; but have exulted in the prospect of being the inhabitants of another and a happier province of their Redeemer's empire, rendered attractive by his presence, and irradiated by the beams of his glory. May our end, like theirs, be peace and joy: and cannot the gospel and the grace of Christ accomplish that for us, which it has already effected for them? Not more secure from change are the promises of the Saviour, recorded in his word, than the dispositions which reign in his heart. Let us then, with an entire reliance, entrust to his love and to his care the interests both of our mortal bodies and of our never-dying spirits. With a conscience sprinkled by his atoning blood, and purified by his word and Spirit, may each of us be enabled through life and in death to exclaim, "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day!" 2 Tim. i. 12.

CHAPTER III.

THE PLEASURES OF AN ENLIGHTENED INTELLECT.

SUCH was the criminal disregard of the word of God, during one dark period in the history of Judah and Jerusalem, that not a single