adultery and fornication, and the filthiness of the flesh, and the filthiness of the spirit? And how comes it to pass that, in the face of such declarations, these sins continue to corrupt and curse the world?

Men talk of native purity, original virtue, and natural delicacy:-but the Scriptures speak of being "conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. Men speak of the innocence of natural affections or of the resistless power of circumstances,-thus charging all their sins on God; for all our affections are of his implanting, and all our circumstances of his arranging; but the Scriptures reply, "Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God tempteth no man, neither is tempted of any man; but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed: and lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

When the Saviour, therefore, says, that "if a man looketh on a woman to lust after her, he hath already committed adultery with her in his heart," he not only explains the spiritual import of this commandment, in opposition to that superficial sophistry which would confine it to the gross actions of the conduct, but lays open the true seat and origin of all those diversities of sin by which the commandment is broken. He detects the corruption of the heart; and he teaches us, that, in the purification of the heart, its thoughts, and desires, and motives, we must seek the elementary principle of obedience to this precept; "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Since our hearts are naturally impure, and, whatever be our external character, there is within us the spirit of disobedience to this commandment, it is a question of infinite urgency,-How are our hearts to be made pure, that we may keep the commandments, and that we may see God? The peculiar urgency of this question we shall never feel until we are affected with a consciousness of our guilt before God,

and of the perfect opposition of our depraved nature to His. For this purpose, the influence of His Spirit must be implored; "for no man knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God." He can impress our minds with those views of the divine purity and justice, as displayed in the declarations of his truth, and manifested, especially in the way of salvation, through the atonement of his only-begotten Son,which will produce "godly sorrow," an earnest desire to be delivered as well from the defilement of our sins as from their condemnation, and a willingness to submit cheerfully to that method of deliverance which God himself has appointed and made known.

By the purity of the Saviour's life, and in the meritorious sacrifice of the Saviour's death, "sin was condemned in the flesh." He " gave himself for us," that He might purify unto himself a peculiar people. The faith by which alone we must be justified is the faith by which alone we must be sanctified; for God purifies our hearts" by faith."

The purity of our minds, then, must be the result of a divine and gracious operation,-awakening us to a lively sense of our condition, -leading us to repentance,-working within us "the work of faith with power,"-enabling us to rely, with perfect simplicity, on the grace which bestows salvation freely through Jesus Christ,—that we may "walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." Thus it is that "the law of the spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death." The Spirit takes up his abode in the soul,-and it becomes "the temple of God." The believer is "joined unto the Lord, and is one spirit." He is dearly bought with the precious blood of Christ. He realizes the omnipresence of a holy God. Deliverance from temptation is the burden of his daily prayer,-the business of his hourly watchfulness.

It is by appealing to a consideration of these exalted privileges and sacred alliances,-to a remem

brance of the divine presence, and to a sense of the danger and the subtlety of the temptations that surround us, that the sacred writers urge the christian to "keep his heart with all diligence," and, "abstaining from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, to perfect holiness in the fear of God." Nor are these considerations unaccompanied by the most arousing exhibitions of the "terror of the Lord." "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. If any man shall defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. The abominable and fornicators shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,-which is the second death."

Into the heavenly state "there shall enter nothing that defileth." There all is purity. The inhabitants of that region are those who have washed their robes and made them white "in the blood of the Lamb,"those whom the Father hath made "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." There the work of the Holy Spirit, commenced in the renewing of the mind, and carried forward through many oppositions in every stage of the believer's experience, will receive its consummation. But, it must be commenced on earth; for "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven."

Are you sensible, then, that the Holy Spirit has given a faithful delineation of your heart, in the Scriptures? Are you convinced that the favour of God cannot be enjoyed, either in the present or inthe future state, but by those whose hearts are made pure? Have you found the impossibility of purifying your own heart? Have you felt that you need the influence of the Holy Spirit to make you holy, as much as you need the merit of the Saviour's righteousness to ensure your acceptance with God? Do you believe that none will be cast out that come to God through Jesus Christ, and that your "Father in heaven will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask?"

Then, repair to his footstool, emulating the penitence, the lowliness, the faith, the fervency of David: "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities! Create in me a clean heart, O God; renew a right spirit within me!"

LECTURE IX.

EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.

EXODUS, Xx. 15.

Thou shalt not steal.

THIS Commandment is intended to control that principle in the human mind which impels to the acquisition of wealth. This principle is the most ordinary modification of self-love. It is called into exercise by our most active instincts, and by all the earthly associations we are capable of forming,-by the appetite for pleasure, by the desire of knowledge,-by ambition for power and distinction,-by the consciousness of our dependence on our fellow-creatures,and by the suspicion or the experience of the selfishness that surrounds us.

The principle itself is a part of our constitution. It is the great impulse to exertion. It lays the foundation for every kind of property, and for all the maxims and institutions by which property is either preserved or transmitted. To the diversified workings of this principle, chiefly, we are to ascribe the gradations of rank in society, the influence of individuals, the grandeur of families, and the majesty of empires.

In our present contemplations of man, we find it difficult to conceive of that balance of his tendencies