towards others as we, in a change of circumstances, should think it right for them to do unto us. There is in the heart of man a selfishness, which disposes him to see every thing with partial eyes ; magnifying his own rights, and overlooking the rights of others. This disposition the Gospel will subdue and mortify ; and, in its place, it will establish a principle of universal equity, that will weigh the claims of others with exactness, and prompt us, under all circumstances, rather to "suffer wrong than to do wrong c."]
3. Truth—
[This is the perfection of Christian morals, or the bond which keeps all the other graces in their place d. Where the Gospel has had its perfect work, there will be " a spirit that is without guile e." The Christian is a. pellucid character: he appears as he is, and is what he appears.
You will perceive, that, in immediate connexion with our text, the Apostle says, " Walk as children of the light : for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth." Now, here the three graces mentioned in the text are represented as constituting light, or, at least, as com- prehending all that is contained in that image. Now, of all things in the whole creation, light is the most pure (for it is incapable of defilement) ; the most innocent (for it injures nothing, which has not, through its own weakness, an aver- sion to its rays) ; and the most beneficial (for there is not a thing in the universe, possessed of animal or vegetable life, which is not nourished and refreshed by it). Invert the order of these words, and you behold how light beams forth in our text ; embodying all the purity of truth, the innocence of righteousness, and the beneficence of active goodness.]
But, to understand practical Christianity aright, we must,
II. Trace it to its source —
It springs not from nature's stock : the natural man cannot attain unto it. It is " the fruit of the Spirit," even of that very Spirit who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ himself from the deadf.
1. It is the Spirit who alone infuses life into us —
[We are by nature " dead in trespasses and sins :" and it is the Spirit who quickens us, that we may live unto our
c 1 Cor. vi. 7, 8. d Eph. vi. 14.
e John i. 47. f Eph. i. 19, 20.