marked characteristic of the Bible, is its matchless wisdom, and unsparing fidelity, in discovering the secret workings of the heart of man,-in detecting his motives and principles of action, in accounting for his inconsistencies and perversities, so that he who reads it, "as one beholding his natural face in a glass," shall see things which were before hidden, not only from others, but even from himself. Is the man whose soul is exposed to this searching light a sinner; one who loves his sins, and desires to retain them? How will he indicate his consciousness of the presence of this heavenly light, and his acknowledgment of the truthfulness of its revelations, but by shrinking from it, and so far as possible closing his soul against its entrance? His uneasiness, his outcries, his efforts to escape, or to hide himself from it, are the unwilling testimony of his heart and conscience, that he hears the voice of God. This is not the bearing and conduct of slandered innocence, but of conscious guilt, in the presence of an accuser whose testimony is known to be true. He, of whom it was foretold that he should "reveal the thoughts of many hearts," did not fail in detecting and exposing this tendency of a sinful nature. "He that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Wisdom and truth are trying

qualities to a sinful creature. Next to giving ourselves up to their influence and direction, and walking in their light, we can render them no higher homage, than to wince under them--to hide from them-to hate them; and so evidently are they present, in their highest perfection, in the searching words of our Saviour and his apostles, as to force from sinful men this token of their perception.

And again, out of this dislike to the exposure of the evil that is in us, naturally grows a dislike to the distinguishing doctrine of the Gospel-salvation by the blood of Jesus. We have seen that a renewed heart rejoices in the discovery of the glory of Divine wisdom and grace, in the suitableness of the Gospel to the character of God, and to the wants of man. But if we reject the testimony of God to the nature and extent of our ruin, we will not be likely to look with favor upon any plan of relief, in which that testimony is assumed to be true;-and especially if the acceptance of such relief, necessarily involves a humble practical admission of all that is most glorious in God, and of all that is most disgraceful to ourselves of his holiness, justice, and truth, and of our own exceeding sinfulness and utter ruin. The key note of the Gospel, to which the praises of earth and heaven are all attuned, is grace to sinners, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our

sins in his own

blood, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." No sound jars so unpleasantly on the ear of pride, or seems less harmonious to the heart of sin, but surely not the less sweet because on such a test condemned. Here it must be expected that a sinful nature will most willfully rebel; nor let us wonder, however fierce the wrath and bitter the revilings, that spend themselves upon such a Gospel. To yield here, is to give up all that has been contended for, and to accept all that has been contended against, from the beginning; to love all that was hated, and to hate all that was loved-to lie low before God, trailing our pride in the dust. Here again, we only see the antagonism of an evil principle to its opposite, which must, by that token, be good. And thus on every point, from the very verdict of condemnation, we demand a reversal of the sentence, and a judgment in favor of that which has been condemned-the hearts and consciences of the jurors betraying a secret consciousness of their own injustice.

Let it not then seem strange to us, that an evil heart should reject the Gospel. We were prepared for this. At the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, it was said, "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." The hatred of a sinful world against the Lord Jesus Christ, was long ago explained, and we are ready to estimate it at its true value, and to receive it as an indirect

and involuntary acknowledgement of his Divine excellence. "The world hateth me, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." We were faithfully warned by the Holy Spirit, of the consequences of our corruption, in depriving us of the light of heaven. "The light shall be dark in the tabernacle of the wicked, and his candle shall be put out." "The way of the wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they stumble." "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

Our whole train of remark, though pointed in a different direction, will go very far in enabling us to understand the nature of unbelief. We ought to understand it, that we may know what reason we have to fear and hate it, as the worst of all evils, and the greatest of all sins.

In speaking of unbelief, we are in danger of being misled by a feeble word. It has a harmless, modest sound, which might convey the impression that it is the merely passive, negative state of an impartial and unprepossessed soul; the unfortunate absence of a positive faith, arising from a want of sufficient evidence, or of a clear perception of what the heart would gladly acknowledge and obey, but for these hindrances. As thus viewed, unbelief is destitute of

any moral character; it is a nonentity, and the heart of which, it is affirmed, may be a very pure and honest heart, like a sheet of white paper, some would say.

We may be able to imagine such a condition, but have we ever seen it? Is this the actual unbelief of man, and is such his heart? No, alas! his unbelief is the most decided, active, malignant principle in his nature, because his heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. As is the fountain, so will be the stream. Unbelief is the uprising of a sinful nature against all that is holy, and just, and good; yes, horrible impiety, against God himself, and against every exhibition of the glory of his majesty.

Thus only can man's rejection of the Gospel be explained. He can understand things far more abstruse and intricate than the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ. He finds no difficulty in receiving, with the most hearty confidence, the word of his fellow man, in relation to all earthly good, and will venture important interests upon it. He carries his faith often to the extent of ridiculous credulity, persuading himself that the most foolish fables are true, upon no evidence that deserves the name. Faith is a very easy thing, when it can be exercised without compromising our position, or where a proud and sinful heart has no interest in opposing it; but let any thing be suggested that exalts God, and abases man; any thing that condemns and startles him out of his