dience and glory, honour and immortality attend upon faithfulness and well-doing. Thus much, then, being contained in the caution, let us further consider what is implied by "these things," here mentioned. The two chiefly insisted on here are-uncleanness, and the desire of amassing the perishing things of this world, called covetousness. Of these things, as sins against GOD and your profession, it is the duty of the Ministers of CHRIST often to remind you; and it is not so much our object now to do this, as to show you how much this caution is needed respecting them-how deceitful is the enticement to them, and how general; "because of these things cometh the wrath of GOD upon the children of disobedience."

With respect to the first of them, how often do we give it a soft name, and palliate its sinfulness-how often do we suffer in our hearts impure thoughts to arise, and endure, nay, make a practice of being found in, society where impurity is countenanced, or not discountenanced. It is grievous to think how much this sin, and the many more subtle and delicate forms of it, prevail among persons who would in words be most ready to condemn it, or, if not this, might by a moment's thought be convinced of its great sinfulness and awful consequences; and all this, because they have been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin-because they have left the only sure Guide, and have trusted to their own power to guide themselves through temptation; and that having failed, they endeavour to persuade themselves of the uncertainty of the truths for the want of whose influence they are miserable. And so it is that we meet with men seemingly respectable, who would be thought to fear God and deal honestly by men, who yet do not scruple to let their tongues utter words and

even themselves to perform acts of impurity, fancying all the while that they matter little; saying in their hearts exactly what the fool says: "Tush, how shall GOD know it? Surely a false step or two is of little consequence, if in the main we are right--if our general conduct and example be such as not to dishonour our character." Yes, but those very false steps show that, in the main, you are not right, but wrong; that your pretended religion is not a real abiding sense of GOD'S Presence in you and about you, but merely a mask put on and taken off at convenience and your hope that of the hypocrite, which, we are told, shall perish.

Now, on the other hand, see the sin of covetousness, one which is usually ranked as very trifling in the order of guilt. So many specious names are invented for it, so many palliating circumstances alleged, that we seem nearly to have forgotten that covetousness in every shape is certainly sinful towards GOD, and that, in that it takes away from His honour as LORD of the heart of man, and sets up wealth there instead, and thus falls under the description of idolatry, given to it in this passage. The temptation to be deceived in this matter is very great and dangerous, for it is so mingled with all our honest callings, it so lies in our duties to our families, our friends, and ourselves, that the man who can distinguish in his practice between the honourable industry of one who fears GOD, and the laborious selfseeking of one who desires gain, is very rare in the world, and the habit only to be attained by continual watchfulness over all the inlets and opportunities for temptation. To this rich and poor alike are subject; especially since covetousness, properly taken, means nothing but the desire to have more, whatever that thing be towards which the sinful wish extends.

He is a covetous man, not only who overreaches and defrauds for his own private gain, but also who repines at the state in which God has placed him; one who vehemently longs for any object which circumstances may have rendered desirable to him, so as to expel from his mind thoughts of GOD, or render him unfit for his station in life.

Now against these two classes of sins I wish particularly to caution you to-day. They are enemies which it will require in you some labour to overcome; but I trust we shall have succeeded in showing you that they must be overcome that they are not propensities which you may keep, together with the profession of GOD's service-that neither natural disposition nor worldly circumstances will ever serve as an excuse for that which GOD in His law has written down as deserving His displeasure; also, that it is strictly and invariably true that a sure punishment, described here as the wrath of GOD, must and will follow their indulgence. "Be sure your sin will find you out," was Moses's warning to the Israelites, and it is ours to you. The unclean or the covetous man may prosper for a time: the one may quiet the voice of his conscience, and the other dream of security and peace in the attainment of an earthly object. The arm of the LORD may sleep for a time, but at length it shall awake, and because of these things the wrath of GOD shall come on the children of disobedience; and that because it is disobedience-because, knowing GoD, they chose not to serve HIм, but rather would build their conclusions on, and draw their motives from, their own experience, which has led them so wofully astray.

Now, I have said this not merely to read you a moral lesson to-day, but with a desire (if it may be so) to

glorify God, by asserting His Power and Justice in the government of the world, and the alienation of man in heart and mind from HIM; and to build you up in holiness, that when you see how GOD, as it were, claims the vindication of sin to HIMSELF, and says, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay;" you may not look only at your fellow-men and the interests of society, or of yourselves as men, but may lift your thoughts higher, and be actuated by motives of genuine obedience and love to HIM Who has redeemed you by CHRIST, that you may not be lost sheep, but may walk by the guidance of the Good SHEPHERD, bearing His Name, and following HIM.

SERIES II.

2 c

H. A.

THE INSTABILITY OF THE WORLD AS COMPARED WITH THE DURATION OF ETERNITY, AN ARGUMENT FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Fourth Sunday in Lent.

1 ST. JOHN II. 17.

THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY AND THE LUST THEREOF, BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF GOD ABIDETH FOR EVER.

SUCH, Brethren, is the constitution of our fallen humanity, that we cannot be persuaded to withstand the world unless some adequate incentive be presented to us for resistance to its fascinations. On this account, Holy Scripture condescends to employ various arguments and inducements to deter us from evil and allure us to good; and, because the feelings of mankind are so different, that a motive which can influence one individual has comparatively little or no force with another, these divine promptings are adapted to the numerous classes of mind discoverable in the human family. Sometimes, for example, the appeal is made to us on the ground of the love displayed to our race, in the Incarnation and Sufferings of our Blessed