of the purposes for which both were implanted in him by his Maker. Indeed, a knowledge of the constitution of our nature, involves an acquaintance with some of the great ends of our existence, and, consequently, of our duties to the Creator. If we discover that our faculties and affections are susceptible of improvement, we may infer, with confidence, that God intended them to be improved. And on this point, as, indeed, on all, when it is rightly understood, religion speaks the same language as reason. Revelation assures us that we are placed here in an imperfect state, in progress to a better; that we are not only capable of great improvement, but that it is the very end and object of our existence; and that without it, we disappoint the gracious purposes of God. It is impossible, it is not in the nature of things, that a created being should attain to absolute perfection. None is good save one, that is God. The highest and the holiest of created intelligences is by many degrees short of faultlessness. Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. There is only one perfect, the eternal, the infinite, the incomprehensible source and cause of all things. Yet I suppose that no man wiil venture to lay down

Luke xviii. 19.

2 Job xv. 15.

a precise limit, at which the improvement of mankind shall stop, and beyond which it shall be impossible to carry it. One thing is certain ; that there never has been, nor ever will be, any mere man so perfect in every respect, as to make it impossible to conceive any thing human more perfect still: for certainly no man does ever in reality avail himself, to the full extent, of all those resources and aids, with which God has provided him, for the improvement of his understanding, affections, and habits.

With regard to the intellectual powers and capacities of man, the experience of every succeeding age abundantly proves, how unsafe it is to assign the limit of their progressive improvement and enlargement. What an infinite variety of natural truths are now familiarly known to the great mass of mankind, which formerly baffled even the researches of the philosopher; and how many errors and delusions are now exploded, and almost forgotten, which once considered as indubitable truths. Each succeeding age possesses all the knowledge of that which went before; and fresh materials for its further augmentation. And as new generations surpass the former, so in the same age, individuals excel one another, according

were

to the use which they make of the advantages which they possess. Two persons, with the same natural talents, with the same advantages of education, the same faculties of obtaining knowledge, but with different degrees of diligence, shall be as widely apart after a few years, as the faithful and the slothful servants in the parable. And surely no one can deny, that he, who has carefully improved his talents, of whatever description and value they may have been, has answered the purposes of his being more fully, than he who has suffered his to lie uncultivated and unproductive.

These principles are still more applicable to the moral condition of man; inasmuch as the objects aimed at are more valuable, the means of attaining them more certain, and the neglect of them far more pernicious. It may not be, and in many cases, it is not in our power to make any great advances in what is commonly called knowledge: and there are even some situations, in which a high degree of intellectual refinement might possibly become a source of disquietude and misery to its possessor. But this never can be the case with the improvement of the heart and affections. Under no imaginable circumstances can it fail to benefit

a man, to increase his happiness, to render him more fit for eternity.

Another argument is this. Upon looking into the state of our own hearts, we are sensible that all is not as it should be: there is something wrong; there is a struggle between conscience and inclination, which a reasonable being ought not to feel. There is a preponderance of evil influence and energy, which could not have been directly intended by a holy and merciful Creator. We could not have been made so at the first there is then something to be rectified. And we uniformly find, that in proportion as we apply ourselves to that end, we improve our happiness, we mitigate the violence of the struggle between the conflicting parts of our nature, and insure tranquillity of mind. It is evident then, that our Creator expects us to go on from step to step in the work of self-improvement; because he desires the happiness of his reasonable creatures; and this is a sure way of promoting it. That he expects this endeavour at our hands, is also sufficiently plain, from his having attached to it its peculiar and inseparable rewards. Every degree of self-improvement is succeeded by a more than proportionate increase of happiness. The first successful resistance,

made to the principle of evil within, is like the first glimmering of the dawn upon the outskirts of the morning: each succeeding triumph, of religion over sin, spreads fresher and brighter beams of light upon the soul; till at length it attains the meridian fulness of the perfect day.

Thus far we have considered the question upon general grounds. If there be a God at all, what I have said must be true: but I recollect that I am reasoning with Christians, and that I have far higher and nobler topics of persuasion than these. I have something to argue from, of more sacred and unquestionable authority than the volume of nature, inscribed as it is, in every page, with the indelible traces of God's power and goodness, man's weakness, and his duties. I have the Word; the revealed will of God; the law and the testimony. To that we appeal; and tell the Christian that with him the case is clear: he at least must be continually in progress to perfection. That important truth, which reason and conscience suggest, and all analogy confirms, that man is placed in this life, to be gradually improved by trials and labours, is fully established by revelation. As Christians we are

quite sure, that our life

ought to be a state

of constant advancement from one degree of