That the people of old were but partially awake and alive to the great change required to be wrought in them, from sin to righteousness, from the love of evil to the love of good, from a “bondage unto the elements of the world” to the glorious liberty of the children of God, is too fully proved from the complaints of patriarchs and prophets and holy men of every determination. The sound of the gospel, thank God, has now gone forth into all lands, and brought “life and immortality to light;” it has awakened many nations, who lay fast bound in the slumbers of spiritual death; but whether it has vitally and savingly awakened a greater proportion of those, to whom the glad tidings have been revealed, is a matter of reasonable doubt. At least, if we compare what man is by nature, with what he may be and ought to be by divine grace, it must appear, from the life and conduct of the great majority in the christian world, that they have by no means attained that renovation of spirit and principle and character, which can entitle them to the appellation of new creatures. Of how many may it be said, (and their own consciences will bear witness to the truth of the accusation,) that their thoughts are ordinarily flowing in much the same channel, their passions yielding to the same excitements, and their pursuits directed to the same end, as they would have been, had the pure doctrines and precepts of Christ never been promulgated. Vast numbers, in the visible Church of Christ, who profess some regard for religion, instead of raising their affections to the standard of the gospel, are seeking to _bring down_ the immoveable standard of the gospel to _them_: and greater numbers still, of reckless men, bestow not so much as a thought upon that spiritual change, which is absolutely essential to the christian character. For what is the religion of thousands amongst us?—merely, if I may so call it, that traditionary acquaintance with divine things, which is acquired in infancy; that outward assent to evangelical truths, which was handed down to them by their forefathers; a cold respect for the shadow, without any concern for the substance: they are content to observe the forms of religion, because they have been accustomed so to do, and their neighbours do the same; and to attend to what are called the decencies of life, because they would otherwise be disreputable; to crimes and to holiness strangers perhaps alike; satisfied to do no worse, than they see the multitudes around them doing; and resting their claim to God’s favour on a few moral pretensions, or even on the absence of scandalous immorality; probably looking for exemption from the penalties of the divine law, because their transgressions have never been such, as to expose them to the scourge of the law of man.