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but presumption—the very height of pre sumption, that led them to venture in pursuit of the Israelites so utterly regardless of the result.

Faith signifies confidence, dependence, trust; simple reliance on the mediation of Jesus. Christ was preached to the Jews and Gentiles as the object of their trust. "In His name shall the Gentiles trust."

heart." He alone has the most reasonable claim to it. He constituted it with all its wondrous affections, aspirations and desires. He made it for Himself, to be His temple here below, His dwellingplace for ever. Can it be hard then to give Him His own? to 'give Him that' which will make us happy? to give Him that wounded heart, which the world has ten thousand times betrayed and disappointment has seared? to give it to Him, who will never forsake it, who will heal all its diseases, soothe its sorrows, assuage its anxieties and fill it with joy and peace in believing?

The word, faith, in Scripture has several acceptations. The system of Christianity is called "the faith.' Felix sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith. The same apostle prayed for the Philippians, that they "might stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the If a father said to his child, "My child, faith of the Gospel." It is sometimes give me thine heart," would it seem an unused for the truth and faithfulness of God. fair, an unreasonable, an irksome, a reIn the third chapter of the epistle to the pulsive, an abhorrent request? Yet alRomans, we have a supposed argument most everything is given to God in prebetween Paul and an unconverted Jew, ference to the heart. Pilgrimages and peon Jehovah's faithfulness to the Jewish nances are encountered; the most costly nation; in which the question is asked, ceremonies are celebrated; long prayers "For what if some did not believe? shall and fastings are kept up the external their unbelief make the faith of God with- worship of God is regularly attended to, out effect?" It frequently means fidelity and self-righteous attempts perpetually in the performance of promises. Faith-practised. The spirit of the Pharisee and fulness is evidently its meaning in the passage before us. It is used in conjunction with other moral and relative virtues, and refers to the operation rather than to the principle of faith. Our translators, very properly, render the same word fi delity, in Titus ii. 10. "Exhort servants

to be obedient to their masters, and to please them in all things; not answering again; not purloining; but showing all good fidelity."

This subject brings before our notice an excellent grace, an extensive field and an important duty.

I. An excellent grace. It comprises sincerity of heart, truth in the language and integrity of life.

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hypocrite lives in the breasts of thousands. It is a spirit in harmony with the pride of our apostate nature, and which places that in the form, which can alone be found in the power of godliness:

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"Their lifted eyes salute the skies,
Their bended knees the ground,
Bnt God abhors the sacrifice,
Where not the heart is found."

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The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.' Till the heart is given, nothing is given; no duty is discharged aright, no service is performed from right principles, no sacrifice is acceptable.

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'Nothing but truth before His throne,
With honour can appear;
The painted hypocrites are known,

Through the disguise they wear.

The hypocrite is the most guilty and detestable of all the characters that take refuge within the precincts of the sanctuary. He is an impostor of the blackest descrip

"Ation.

1st. Sincerity of heart. The heart is the seat of godliness. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.' "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things." good tree bringeth forth good fruit." Good affections produce good actions; purity of principle, piety of practice. Actions and professions may attract the esteem of your fellow-men; but God looks at the heart" searches the heart and tries the reins of the children of men." His demand to each of the fallen sons of Adam is, "My son, give Me thine

He endeavours to persuade you that he is a child of God; but he is a child of the devil. His profession assumes all that is lovely and attractive; but he is inwardly full of pollution and rottenness. To the eye of man there may be something about him that strike and interests; but to the eye of God he is infinitely abominable. He is a whited wall-a painted sepulchre : his cry will not be heard when

trouble cometh. He is double-minded, and double-tongued.

and endeavour to serve Him with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. You must belong to the circumcision, worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

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2. Truth in the language. This requirement is binding on us, both as men and as Christians. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour.' To lie, is an attempt to deceive; either directly or indirectly. It is possible to do this by silence, as well as by expression; by tones of voice, looks, and gestures. That which is stated, may be in substance true; but the manner of expressing it, the significant nods, the sneers, the looks, the tones of utterance, the omission and the drawbacks connected with it, put upon it quite a different construction. The whole of the facts may possibly be related; yet they are so apportioned, so placed and so coloured, that while you cannot charge the individual with having omitted any thing necessary, or uttered any thing false, he has so contrived to arrange the various parts, as to produce what he intended-a wrong impression. He may indulge in nothing but the language of praise, but it is satire, and praise of the most fatal kind. The modulation of speech and emphasis, are such as to inspire suspicion. If it be said, for example, that such a man has the charac

Fellow-sinners, let me caution you against so serious an evil. Let me call upon you to consider consequences. Will it soften your dying pillow, will it lighten the gloom of death, will it throw one pleasing scene around your last recollection, to remember that you have been a deceiver—that you have professed to be what you never were that there was no heart work in your religion-no love to God-no union to Christ-no attachment to holiness? "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." If your children were to return the love you have manifested to them, by every outward show of regard, by a continual readiness to consult your wishes, by a scrupulous compliance with all your intimations and requests-and if you had the power of looking into the secret recesses of their breast, and saw with transparent accuracy, that there was not one spark of love, not a particle of sincerity that the whole was hollow pretence, the result of interest, or custom, or fear, or of some still more sordid or mercenary motive-I ask, would all this show of affection satisfy you? No; your hearts would spurn the thought; and you would consider the very nicety of obedience an hypocrisy infinitely the more odious, while it puts on them ask of love that was never felt. Dear friends, can it be otherwise with your God? Can Heter of being pious, another replies, "Yes, refrain from being indignant? Can He behold, without the most dreadful abhorrence, such ceremonious and unnatural cant? Examine your religion, and see how much of it is for man, and how much remains for the God of love. All that you would lay aside, if you had no one to deal with but the Divine Being, is irreligion and hypocrisy.

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Men and brethren, let us be faithful to one another, and faithful to our consciences. To what purpose is the bare formal recitation of your prayers? To purpose are all your alms? To what purpose are all your attendances on the means of grace? To what purpose would you give your goods to feed the poor, and your bodies to be burned? If you have not love, it profiteth nothing. Destitute of this, there can be no more devotion in your religious exercises, than in the sounding of a bell. If you engage in the worship of the Lord, you must give Him your heart. You must hate vain thoughts,

he has the character of being so,' and by the mere emphasis upon the word "character," he will at once tell you that he believes it to be a reputation altogether unmerited.

Falsehoods are committed, when we lay an undue stress upon arguments—when we attach a greater weight to them than we believe they really merit. All controversy is full of this; full of attempts to deceive. But we have no more right to deceive men by a show of arguments, than by false statements: or to keep back a material argument, than a material fact, There are indeed occasions, when it may be well to withhold for a time a part of the truth. Our Saviour said to His disciples, "I have many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now." The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, that hitherto he had "fed them with milk and not with meat, because they were not able to bear it; neither then were they able." But the portion of truth kept back,

was in perfect consistency with that which was communicated; nor was the one essential to the comprehension of the other. There was no insincerity on the part of the teachers; they openly said, We have declared only a part-we have more to say, but must reserve it until you have well digested the lessons, which have already been conveyed.

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drawn more from imagination than from memory, and contracted guilt with almost every sentence. They love to hear themselves talk, and wish to do so with effect; and are pleased with interesting others, and obtaining their notice. As "life and death are in the power of the tongue,' and as "he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief," the resolution of the psalmist, if adopted and exemplified, would exert a most salutary effect, by laying it under due restraint; "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue.'

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Falsehoods are extensively propagated in mercenary engagements. An individual promises that certain services shall be performed in a certain manner by a given time, while at the moment of making such a promise, he has not the least 3. Integrity of life. "What doth the intention of fulfilling it. Some go so far Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to as to lay deliberate schemes of deception, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy and have no hesitation in publishing their God?" The Christian, who lives much exploits; yea, of boasting unblushingly under the unction of the Holy Spirit, has of their success in defrauding the innocent one golden rule, by which to regulate his and unwary. The sin is so prevalent, that course; "Whatsoever ye would that persons most observant in other respects men should do to you, do ye even so to appear to have come to the conclusion, them." He walks uprightly and works that it is utterly useless to attempt any righteousness. Uprightly; according to system of punishment for false state- rule-the rule of God's Word. Uprightly ments in pecuniary transactions between with God; exercising devotedness to His man and man. It is readily taken for service; "worshipping Him in spirit and granted, that when men go into matters in truth;" acquiescing with cheerfulness of buying and selling, all sorts of false- in all His decisions, and following Him hoods will be told; and that it is in vain fully. Uprightly with himself; not sufto look to the law for the redress of inju-fering himself to be deceived by a false ries resulting from misplaced confidence. hope; not crying "Peace, peace," when The guilt of lying, however, is not less there is no peace; but proving, watching, heinous in the sight of God because it is common. The express command of heaven is, "Defraud not :" "Ye shall not deal falsely, neither lie one to another." Every lie is placed among the treasure of His wrath, which, when full, will burst with resistless fury upon the sinner's head. Falsehoods are fostered by flattery. There is something in this species of de- II. An extensive field. It would be ception peculiarly despicable. To com- difficult to survey more than a small porpliment persons whom we do not esteem, tion of it, within the narrow limits allotted that we may receive their applause-to to us. We can only fix our eye upon a ascribe to them excellencies which they few spots which rise above the general do not possess, or exaggerate those that surface. We begin withbelong to them, making them more considerable than they really are-to act so, for the purpose of securing favour or personal advantage, is to be influenced by the basest motives; it is to attack human nature in its weakest part.

Through levity and loquacity freedoms of speech are indulged in, far from being consistent with the requirements of truth. I have heard persons talk-yes, and professors of religion, too-in a manner which has led me to fear that they have

comparing and examining his heart. Uprightly with the world; showing candour, openness, and honesty in all his transactions. Searching out his duty diligently; performing it uniformly; and "labouring to have a conscience void of offence, both toward God and toward man.”

1. Ministerial duties. It is required of stewards, that they be found faithful; that they "declare the whole counsel of God," and keep nothing back that may be profitable to the people. Some preach nothing but doctrines and nice distinctions; these are only a part of God's counsel. Others perpetually dwell on duties; these are only a part of His counsel. And others, are always declaring Christian experience; this is only a part of His counsel. He, who declares all the

counsel of God, sweetly unites doctrines, | bours to know the Lord. False delicacy

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duties, and experience. He says all that often deters us from speaking for Christ God has bidden him, whether pleasing or and His cause. Who has not been silent, painful; levels the arrows of conviction at when he ought to have been valiant; or the sinner's conscience; pours the light reserved, when he ought to have been of Divine truth upon his mind; directs candid? A word fitly spoken, how good him to Christ crucified, and declares there is it! It fixes as "a nail in a sure place." is salvation in no other. He views him- If you heard sinners crying after you in self, as standing before the face of his the streets-Oh! sir, have pity on us, Master, to whom he must render an ac- and afford us your advice; we are afraid count. His hearers are perishing, he of the everlasting wrath of God; labours for their salvation, and travails in know we must shortly leave this world, birth until Christ is formed in them. To and are afraid lest we should be miseraevery unreconciled and rebellious trans-ble in the next; as you ever pitied poor gressor, he says, 'Come with me, O wretches, pity us, lest we should be torguilty man, into the presence of our mented in the flames of hell; if you Maker; we must debate the matter there. have the hearts of men, pity us'-could You refuse to submit to Him. He claims you, I ask, surrounded with such entreayour obedience; you determine to with- ties, help bursting forth into tears of comhold it. He requires your subjection; passion? Could you regard them otheryou refuse to yield. Come then, and be-wise than as objects of tender commisefore Him, who hath sent me, let me ration? Could you spare any earnestness charge you with your sin, and reason with of persuasion, or urgency of impassioned you against it. While He is the witness feelings, to bring them to God? Now enof my fidelity, let me deal faithfully with deavour to picture yourself in such a siyou. While He listens to my importu-tuation, and act accordingly.

nity, let me beseech you "to be recon- It is probable, there are some, that enciled." If you persist in your hostile circle your festive board, that bow around course-if reckless of eternal consequences, you refuse the offered clemency, and will die as you live, an enemy to God, at least let me be clear; I will not be chargeable with your destruction, and God Himself shall be my witness, that you perish through no fault of mine.'

The fact that a major part of his audience have listened for a series of years to the preaching of the truth, and that it has produced no effect upon them, except to harden them, operates with an overwhelming oppressiveness upon his spirits, and compels him, knowing the terrors of the Lord, to neglect no means to persuade 'Oh!' he exclaims, and must their souls be lost after all my preaching and my prayers? Must I accuse them before the bar of God? Lord, let me hide myself from this congregation! Let me enter within the veil, and intercede again for them. Let me once more supplicate Thy especial blessing to rest upon them.

men.

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"Great God, Thy sovereign aid impart, To give Thy Word success; Write Thy salvation on each heart, And make them learn Thy grace."' 2. Pious conversation. All our social intercourse with each other should be sought for, as furnishing opportunities to do good; to teach our friends and neigh

your family altar, and that cling to your arms, whose souls are dying-dying without hope, and in danger of encountering for ever the awful horrors and agonies of the second death. The idea is startling, and ought to lacerate our bosoms till they bleed. Oh! how can you endure the thought of your dear relation perishing in the flames of hell? Is it not maddening to think of parting at death, to meet in judgment, and then take a long, last farewell at the tribunal of Jehovah? Allow me, with the view of bringing home the reflection of that day, to introduce an anecdote illustrative of the point in hand. "I lately dreamed," said a good man, "that the day of judgment was come. saw the Judge on His great white throne, and all nations were gathered before Him. I and my wife were on the right hand, but I could not see my children. I said, 'I cannot bear this, I must go and seek them.' I went to the left hand of the Judge, and there found them all, standing in the utmost despair. As soon as they saw me, they caught hold of me and cried, 'Oh! father, we will never part.' I said, My dear children, I am come to try, if possible, to get you out of this awful situation.' So I took them all with me; but when we were come near

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and practice, faith and works; at one time insisting almost exclusively on right belief, at another time on right feeling, at another on right action. If you are about to give up either, you lop off one of of the essential branches of Christianity; you disturb the balance, you break the

the Judge, I thought He cast an angry look, and said, 'What do thy children with thee now? They would not take thy warnings when on earth, and they shall not share thy happiness in heaven. Depart, ye cursed.' At these words, I awoke in agony and horror." The recital of this dream was rendered useful in the conver-harmony of character. If you were to sion of several of the children.

3. Religious visitation. The habitations of the sick poor are generally accessible to the Christian visitor; and while they present ample scope for the exercise of those holy and benevolent sympathies, which religion inspires, they furnish opportunities for that fidelity, without which it cannot be expected that our visits will be rendered savingly useful. The destitute and the bereaved must be told of Him, who is the Father of the fatherless, and the Judge and the Husband of the widow. They must be told of the "Pearl of great price," and of the " inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." They must be told of Him, who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.”

There is hardly a case, in which it is more difficult to be faithful, than when standing by the bed of him, who is dying without an interest in Christ. His body is reduced to the weakness of infancy; his mind is lulled into tranquillity by hope of recovery or erroneous notions of religion; his soul is on the verge of eternity, without any covering in which to appear before God; his weeping relatives are bending over him, anxious to keep him quiet and easy; and to follow the dictates of conscience, by tell ing himhistrue state in such circumstances, would be regarded as the very essence of cruelty. "Let the dying man alone," say they, "that he may depart in peace. Make no mention of danger, and he will die like a lamb." Yes, and "in hell he will lift up his eyes, being in torments."

III. An inportant duty. Faithfulness is vastly important in all the concerns of life.

1. It is important, as it gives uniformity to the Christian character. Real religion consists in three things—right belief, right feeling, and right action. They are all absolutely essential. Without such an harmonious combination, the Christian shines not with his true lustre and beauty. The Church has often erred in severing what ought to be united; such as principle

take your right arm and bandage it up, and keep it still, it would soon become weak and deformed; you would lose the beauty of good proportion, and the pleasure of exercise. It is just so, when you tie up one of the Christian graces; the beauty of symmetry is destroyed, and happiness forfeited. Oh! pray for the spirit of Jesus; who, while He sat on the well, said, My meat and My drink is to do the will of Him that sent Me." "Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine."

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2. It is important to be faithful, as it enhances our peace. Men may blacken our character, and lay to our charge things which we know not; but our witness is in heaven, and our record is on high. The friends of Job mistook his case, and reproved him for hypocrisy; but he replied, "God forbid that I should justify you; till I die, I will not remove my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." The apostles of our Lord were most cruelly slandered and persecuted; their names were held up to ridicule, their words and actions perverted, their good deeds turned into crime, their persons bound in chains, and they were accounted "the filth and offscouring of all things." But mark their language: "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our consciences, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." Every faithful Christian derives joy from the same source. He rejoices here with joy unspeakable, and is longing for the time when the Saviour shall address him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Does this anticipation animate your breasts?

Dearly beloved friends, "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." "Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except yebereprobates?" We are all liable to be deceived; and especially to be deceived concerning ourselves; and

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