_3. The influence of faith, in Christ upon the imagination._--There are few exercises of the mind fraught with so much evil, and yet so little regarded, as that of an evil imagination. Many individuals spend much of their time in a labour of spirit which is vain and useless, and often very hurtful to the moral character of the soul. The spirit is borne off upon the wings of an active imagination, and expatiates among ideal conceptions that are improbable, absurd, and sinful. Some people spend about as much time in day-dreams as they do in night-dreams. Imaginations of popularity, pleasure, or wealth employ the minds of worldly men, and perchance the Christian dreams of wealth, and of magnificent plans of benevolence, or of schemes less pious in their character. It is difficult to convey a distinct idea of the evil under consideration, without supposing a case like the following: One day, while a young man was employed silently about his usual pursuits, he imagined a train of circumstances by which he supposed himself to be put in possession of great wealth; and then he imagined that he would be the master of a splendid mansion surrounded with grounds devoted to profit and amusement--he would keep horses and conveyances that would be perfect in all points, and servants that would want nothing in faithfulness or affection--he would be great in the eyes of men, and associate with the great among men, and render himself admired or honoured by his generation. Thus his soul wandered, for hours, amid the ideal creations of his own fancy.