grace in vain will be this: that we have become more mild and charitable in the construction we put on our neighbour's conduct, and always hope the best till we are forced to believe the worst.

Many indeed would reply, that this is out of their power; that they wish indeed to believe the best, but they have been so often disappointed, have met with so much wickedness, that they cannot help growing more suspicious as they grow older. But it is worth their while to ask themselves, whether they have not quite as often found themselves deceived by judging too unfavourably of others, as by thinking too well of them? whether they have not, in very many instances, accounted this or that man wicked and unprincipled, when in fact he was only weak and wavering? If they would examine themselves fairly on this point, no doubt their consciences would teach them, as clearly as their Bibles, that it is their own wickedness, not that of others, which makes them so very keen and acute in putting evil interpretations upon doubtful conduct.

I proceed now to another mark-the last I shall now mention-by which we may try ourselves whether the grace of God, which we are daily receiving, is thrown away upon us or no. Are we daily becoming more industrious, and readier to deny ourselves, for the help and comfort of our neighbour? The more we know of the Gospel, the more we know of God's love to us: how dear it cost Him, how far it reaches, how unceasing and unwearied it is. The more pressing, therefore, is the call upon us, to think nothing too good for our brethren, no sacrifice too costly to be offered for the sake of ensuring

their eternal welfare. Every time we draw near to the Holy Communion, we see, by faith, the Cross of Christ, His Body broken and His Blood poured out, to redeem us from eternal death. How then can we avoid reflecting, with the beloved disciple, S. John, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren ?" "To lay down our lives," says the Apostle; for he lived in constant danger of that extreme trial of his virtue : he knew not how soon he might be called to martyrdom, to confirm the faith of his fellow-Christians. We, by God's mercy, are not likely to have to struggle with such overwhelming temptations, but it is not the less our duty to spend our lives in our brethren's service. In whatever way we are engaged with them, we ought to think much, and patiently, how we may do them most good. I am afraid most of us may find, when our time comes, that we have a more fearful account than we expected to give of our neglect of opportunities of this kind. Commonly we think no more of those with whom we are concerned in the ordinary transactions of life, than how we may deal kindly and honestly by them but if we had S. Paul's mind, to spend and be spent for them, or the mind of our Blessed Saviour, who went about doing good, we should consider their case more deeply than this; we should contrive beforehand how we might order all our intercourse with them, so as to give them most encouragement in the way of duty, or to check them most effectually in sin. I do not say that we should tell them, or any one else, that we are doing thus;

but surely we ought to do so wherever we are, and whoever is with us, we ought to keep God's watch for the good of our neighbour's soul; and the more regularly and the more quietly we perform this duty, the more reason we have to hope that we are not receiving the grace of God in vain.

This, I say, is a plain duty, and so are all the other tempers and habits which I have now set down as marks of Christian improvement; the right ordering of our thoughts and words, especially what we say and think of our neighbour's conduct. And yet these are points, in which hourly experience shows that it is very possible and very easy to fall short, in the midst of great attention to religious ordinances, and a sincere desire, so far as that goes, of pleasing God.

But none of these marks of real improvement are hard to understand, or hard to try one's self by. Consider then, I beseech you, whether it is not exceeding sinful and dangerous to rest contented in careless doubt about these things, and take for granted that you are going on as well as other men, while it is in your power, by constant watching yourself, to make your eternal salvation sure.

Baptised into the Holy Catholic Church, we cannot deny that we have received the grace of God. "Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world:" and whatever temptations we may be thrown amongst, if we die without sincere and timely repentance and amendment, we shall find ourselves answerable for having received His Grace in vain.

SERMON III.

SHAME FOR SIN, WHETHER INWARD OR OUTWARD, A MERCIFUL GIFT OF GOD.

PART I.

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.

PSALM lxxxiii. 16.

"Make their faces ashamed, O Lord that they may seek Thy Name."

WE have in the concluding words of this Psalm, one among the many instances in which the Holy Spirit puts words into our mouth which we should be afraid to have spoken of ourselves, they sound so very severe. After mentioning one after another, the names of many neighbouring heathen tribes, enemies of God and His people, who were then gathering themselves together and contriving mischief against Israel, David concludes with the following prayer: "O my God, make them like unto a wheel or, (as some think it means,) to the rolling thistledown, driven here and there by the breeze; or to the stubble before the wind: like as the fire which burneth up the wood, or as the flame which consumeth the mountains: persecute them even so with Thy tempest, and make them afraid with Thy storm: make their faces ashamed, O Lord, let them be confounded and vexed ever more and more: let them be put to

shame and perish." It is the same prayer as in another Psalm, "let them be confounded, and put to shame, that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as the dust before the wind, and the Angel of the Lord scattering them: let their way be dark and slippery, and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them. . . . let a sudden destruction come upon him unawares, and his net that he hath laid privily catch himself, that he may fall into his own mischief."

Now, of course, one way in which these fearful verses, and others like them are to be understood, is to let them remind us of the dreadful end of all such as set themselves against God, and His Kingdom. They express the concurrence (if one may so speak) of David and all the Saints-of the whole Church of God-in that unchangeable decree, "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God;" even as the Angels in the Revelation rejoice over the fall of Babylon: and as here, in this Psalm, the Angel of the Lord is His willing minister in scattering and persecuting such as strive against His servants. And in this sense we are permitted and enjoined with deep fear and awe, and without the least uncharitableness, to use these solemn forms of condemnation on the impenitent, as we say Amen, to the curses pronounced in Church against them out of Holy Scripture, at the beginning of Lent. It is not wishing harm to this or that guilty person, but it is acknowledging God's just and eternal judgement against all, whether ourselves or others, who shall at any time persist in such things.