gift is severed from the knowledge of Him who gave it. When the link is broken which binds the intellect of man to a higher and holier intelligence, it is then that the corruption of man works, without let or hindrance. The very nature of good and evil becomes confused and indistinct; reason seeks to hide, not to disclose truth; virtue is debased, vice enthroned; oppression a privilege, licentiousness a right.

We might also point to the manifest abuses. of high talents, alienated from the service of Him, by whom they were entrusted. It is not because genius winneth its wonted homage from the world-it is not because it hath dazzled and delighted, and hath arrayed nature in her loveliest attire, and hath decked out her fairest features in all the witchery of words, and sung the songs of the passions sweetly, and entranced for a while the reason, by the richness of their melody; it is not this alone that shall magnify their nobility. This is not the test by which good men will try them and their works; but the thought will arise, and the question shall be put, whether they have actually done good or evil to their fellow-creatures; it is this by which they shall be accounted either a curse or a blessing, their talents hallowed or deplored.

M

To stifle evil in our own hearts, and arrest its progress in the world, to increase the sum of human good, is the noblest effort of intellect. The service of humanity is the service of God. It is a most sad presumption to deem that the creature can in reality do aught to the glory of God, save in the good done to man, and in making the mind of man conversant with the Author of all good, shall your work be most surely crowned with success, and sanctified by acceptance.

If, then, we have at all shown the purity of God's word, as containing his will; that the mind of man, in reading the glories of the creation, falls short of its higher purposes when it reads not thereby the glory of the Creator. If the intellect, in that it is conversant with the great Source of intelligence, attests its alliance and kindred to a higher order of being; while the power of spreading abroad the influence of mind alike over the present and after generations, vindicates its birthright, and reveals its lofty distinction from mere animal sagacity and instinct. If sensuality deadens the powers of mind, and animal habits debase and brutalize them; if a pure and holy life is at all calculated to call forth and advance man's intellectual energies, and

God be the author of all holiness; and that the knowledge of him can lend solace, and shed comfort and tranquillity around our path and about our bed, when vain is the aid or the help of man. If the greatest minds have deemed their intellectual powers to be most prized because they strengthened the conviction of God's truth; if the knowledge of God's will, goes to prevent the perversion, and check the abuse of intellectual talent; if then chiefly, the mind of man is led to aim at human good and human happiness, and that too, by the best means; if the service of man cannot be severed with any hope of eventual success or blessing, from the service of God; if that be the most reasonable, the noblest ambition of the mind, we are warranted in pressing home the principle, that Intellect, in that she is conversant with God, magnifieth her nobility.

SERMON X.

EVIL IMAGINATIONS.

GEN. vi. 5.

Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

CREATION was but in its earliest infancy, when this mournful truth forbad the tender mercy, and summoned the just anger of God. Earth's corruption upbraided the Holy One, earth's violence mocked his long-suffering so that in the language of his creatures," it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." Still did the love of the Almighty abide with the fallen creature. The fiat to destroy went not forth till the command to repent had been unheeded. So when the fountains of the deep were broken up, and the rush of the deluge was heard, the many,

every imagination of the thoughts of whose heart was only evil continually," found death; the few, who walked with God in obedience and in trust, found salvation. The evil life, we see, was akin to the thoughts of an evil heart. Or ever all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth, every imagination of the heart had become evil continually.

My endeavour, will not now be directed towards gathering instruction from this record of God's wrath, against the unholy, but rather to urge upon your notice, the value of regulating our vain imaginations. If we do not submit our thoughts to spiritual discipline, we may not hope to succeed in our struggles, to subdue the continual evil of our hearts. In Scripture, the heart is a term frequently used to express man's carnal or animal nature, this I understand to be the meaning of the word, in my text. Let it suffice, also to consider our imaginations as signifying simply our thoughts. This will render it unnecessary for me to force your attention, upon nearer, though I trust needless distinctions, by nicely defining the limits and operations of this faculty of the mind.

Experience, has made known to every one of upon whatever objects or pursuits the

us, that