SERMON ON REFLECTION.

PSALM cix. 59.

I called mine own ways to remembrance, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. WE have in these words a short description of the two component parts of true religion; serious reflection upon our own duties and proceedings, and a life of obedience to the law of God, as laid down in the Scriptures, which David calls "the testimonies of the Lord,"-testimonies of his goodness, and of man's duties and necessities. The second of these parts is a natural consequence of the first. Seldom, indeed, does it happen, that he who calls his own ways to remembrance, fails to turn unto the testimonies of God's law.

We are placed in this world for the purpose of glorifying God, and of securing, by the same means, our admission hereafter into a better state. For the guidance and regulation of our conduct, He has given two rules or laws, that of conscience, and that of the Scriptures; the former implanted in our breasts, a quick and powerful monitor, but liable to be deceived or corrupted; the latter laid open for the inspection and information of those who choose to take it for their guide, fixed, certain, and unerring. It is by the standard of the Scriptures that we must examine the decisions of conscience, and see whether we may safely abide by them. Indeed, the great use of conscience, is that REMEMBRANCER, No. 38.

which the prophet speaks of in the text, of turning our attention to the written word of God. And this it would never fail to do with every reasonable man, were it not that its voice is stifled by a multitude of calls upon his attention, far less important indeed, but louder and more immediately urgent. It very rarely happens that conscience has fair play. It is, however, a great part of our duty, as reasonable creatures, to cherish and encourage it, and to be on the watch for its suggestions, that we may not incur the aggravated sin of failing in the performance of our duty, for want of listening to the advice of a monitor, who speaks to us from within our own breasts.

It is a very common saying, "That every man loves himself best, and thinks most of himself:" but if we consider that every man's self, properly speaking, is his soul, we shall find that the saying no longer holds good; and that most men think about any thing rather than themselves. Their thoughts are wholly occupied about the comforts and enjoyments of their perishable part, while the eternal welfare of the soul, which will never die, is seldom an object of concern. is the great business of religion to remedy this weakness and perverseness of our nature, and to bring back mankind to proper notions of their present state and future destination-to teach them the hurtful or the transitory nature of the objects

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of this world, which is intended only to be a passage and introduction to a better state, and the infinitely greater value of those rewards which are more certain, though seen at a greater distance. And the great difficulty which the ministers of religion encounter, in their endeavours to recall mankind to a sense of the relation in which they stand towards God, is the reluctance which most men feel to enter upon a serious examination of themselves. When once we can persuade a man to look to his own condition, and to reflect upon what he has done, compared with what he ought to have done, there is every reason to hope that he will go on, and become a good Christian. He is able, perhaps, to quiet for a time the whisperings of conscience; or they are overpowered by the business or amusements of life; but when once he steps aside from the bustle of the world to the privacy and silence of his chamber, and sets himself to consider his ways-when he "communes with his own heart, and his spirit makes diligent search," it is scarcely possible that he should remain ignorant of his dangerous condition. He cannot but be alarmed at the fearful array of sins committed, and of duties neglected, which pass in review before him. He sees his own miserable and sinful state, and calls to mind the threats of auger and punishment which God has denounced against offenders like himself. He begins to be sensible that religion is a much more serious concern than he had believed it to be, and feels that it will be well for him to take more thought about it for the future: And thus the first step is taken towards conversion, which by the assistance of God's grace will probably be improved to the purposes of a hearty repentance and true turning unto God. "I called mine

* Ps. lxxvii. 6.

own ways to remembrance, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies."

There is no duty, therefore, which a minister who has the spiritual welfare of his brethren at heart, will more earnestly recommend, than this of self-communion and meditation; and surely there is none which is rendered more necessary by the infirmities of our nature, and the dangers with which we are surrounded, than the habit of occasionally retiring within ourselves, and taking a review of our conduct. As we are placed here in a state of trial, and are born to troubles and temptations of every sort, while at the same time our final happiness depends upon our uprightness and diligence, it is plain that we should be often, if not always, looking around us, and casting our eyes alternately upon the paths we have already trodden, and upon the steps we are about to take. A Christian, who would live according to the Christian rule of life, striving to be perfect, even as his Father which is in heaven is perfect, has so much to repent of in the past, and so much to provide against in the future, that he can never afford to neglect an opportunity of laying both to heart. Prudence and foresight are much better than repentance-it is a much safer and more satisfactory thing, to avoid a fault, than to be sorry afterwards for having committed it. But our weakness is such, and we have so little knowledge of future trials and dangers, that the business of repentance must necessarily occupy most of our thoughts, in the hours of retirement and meditation.

The first thing which a man will naturally do, upon discharging from his mind all concerns but those of the soul, and giving his conscience an opportunity of making itself heard, will be, to revert to the weak or wicked actions of his life; and these will naturally appear a more serious and pressing concern, than the making provision for his future be

haviour and therefore the Psalmist does not say, I considered the way in which I ought to walk, and turned my footsteps to it; but "I called mine own ways to remembrance, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." Repentance is the first step towards a conversion and turning to God; it is the first and earliest doctrine of the Gospel: Jesus said, "I am come to call sinners to repentance*." "I showed," says St. Paul, "first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God t."-We must all be washed in the waters of this Jordan, before we can be cleansed from the leprosy of sin-our spirit must come again like the spirit of a young child, before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven. And how can this be effected without the help of self-examination? If we do not withdraw ourselves from all other thoughts, descend into our own souls, and see what are the sins by which they have been defiled, how can we know them or be sorry for them as ought? This is a duty which no man can do for us, nor materially assist us in, except by exhorting us to the performance of it." Every man knoweth the plague of his own beart:" every man knows best, if he will let his conscience tell the truth, what his offences are. But he knows them not, while he is hurried along by the business of the world, or intoxicated with its pleasures.He knows them not, until he makes inquiry into their nature and amount; and this he cannot do, except he looks back in quiet and seriousness upou his former life and calls to "remembrance the days that are past." While every thing goes on well with us, and the prosperous state of our worldly affairs seems to be the reward of our diligence or contrivance, we are more apt to look with complacency upon our flourishing condition in this world, than to inquire

Mat. ix, 13.

we

+ Acts xxvi, 20.↑ 1 Kings viii, 38.

into the dangerous state of the soul. But if we remember that the good things of this life are talents entrusted to our keeping, and its evil. things trials or warnings intended for our improvement, we shall see the necessity of pausing from time to time, to consider the use which we have made of both, and what reason we have to look forward towards that heavenly state which is promised only to the penitent and the faithful.

There are two objects upon which the Christian's meditations ought principally to dwell; the remembrance of past sins, and the prospects of the life to come. A serious review of his past conduct, compared with the law of the Gospel, will show him the danger of persevering in the same thoughtless or ungodly ways in which he has hitherto walked; and the prospect of heavenly rewards will confirm his better resolutions, and show him the folly of sacrificing his chance of imperishable treasures for the short-lived enjoyments of sin. This self communion is the proper exercise of the soul, which is requisite to keep it in health, compared with which," bodily exercise," as the Apostle says, "profiteth little §." It is the struggle by which it gradually disengages itself from the incumbrances of this life, and prepares itself for its flight to a better. It awakens our reason and our conscience, and breaks through the delusions of the flesh; we see before us in their true and lively colours the sinfuluess of our own conduct, and the holiness of the true Christian; the deceitfulness of this world, and the glories of that which is to come. It furnishes us with remedies for past transgressions, and preservatives against them for the time to come, and with abundance of comfort under distress"In the multitude of my troubled thoughts within me," said David, thy comforts delight my soul ||."

"

One of the greatest recommendations of the duty of calling our own ways to remembrance, is, that it is the surest, if not the only method of avoiding, for the future, the sins and the follies of which we have been heretofore guilty; and in this respect, it is beneficial, even in a worldly point of view. If men could always pause before the commission of an action, and calmly consider its probable consequences, what a safeguard would it be against sin? But it generally happens, that experience must be bought; and therefore the next best thing, is to look back upon our past conduct, and consider the consequences which it has produced; and if in these consequences we number not only the actual inconvenience and suffering, the uneasiness and dissatisfaction which our bad actions have produced, but also the danger in which they have placed us of losing Our eterual salvation, we shall have the strongest possible motives for avoiding a repetition of them, whether we consider ourselves merely as the children of this world, or as creatures intended for a better.

Since there is no method so likely to make us amend our conduct, as that of reflecting upon our past ways, it follows, that the oftener we have recourse to it, the better we shall be, and the more agreeable will be the performance of the duty itself. How sweet a satisfaction is it to the pious Christian, when he retires for the purpose of self-examination, to dis. cover that the sins, which he had occasion to lament, when he last inquired into his own condition, have not been committed since; that he is able to wipe out one offence from the catalogue of those which then made him tremble for his salvation. The last time that he called his own ways to remembrance, he found perhaps, that he had been remiss in his devotions, careless in his performance of public worship, negligent in relieving the distress of his poorer brethren. The concern,

which he felt at these omissions, awakened him to vigilance, and he now finds, that his faith has been stronger, his piety warmer, his attention to the offices of religion more conscientious, his charity more ready and active: and the satisfaction, which he feels at his own improvement, both rewards him for his past endeavours, and encourages him to go on, and "let patience have her perfect work; that he may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing In short, it may be truly said, that every time we retire within ourselves for the purpose of calling our own ways to remembrance, we draw one step nearer to God. None of us are so far advanced toward perfection as not to require an occasional survey and remembrance of our own ways. The noblest and most profitable use which we can make of memory, is to recall whatever we have done amiss; and if we do not take advantage of a faculty, which God has given us for the purpose of selfamendment, our sin will be very great.

The state of our soul is a matter of the most fearful importance; let us not perish eternally for want of laying it to heart. Let us judge ourselves, that we be not judged of the Lord. Let us look back upon our past lives with strictness and repentance, and then we may look forward to the future with hope. If not, let us remember that time wears away, and the number of sins unrepented of is increasing, and the night cometh, in which no work, not even that of repentance, can be done. And think with yourselves, how fearful the condition of that man will be, who calls his own ways to remembrance for the first time when he stands before the judgment seat of Christ! May we, before it be too late, take heed to the exhortation of the prophet. "Let us search, and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord †.”

James i. 4.

B.

+ Lam. iii. 40,

Sir,

IT is with infinite and sincere regret, that I see made, as well by yourself, as by the learned and indefatigable bishop of St. David's, such strenuous exertions to support the authenticity of the too celebrated passage of the heavenly witnesses; a passage which, notwithstanding what has been now further urged in its favour, I venture to pronounce, not only a foul and scandalous interpolation of the epistle itself, but a sad reproach to the whole Chris tian episcopate, in that they have tranquilly suffered it to be imposed on the Christian world, without using their best endeavours to give publicity to the fraud, and to arrest its progress.

For what, I pray, is the result of all the laborious enquiries which have been made in tracing its existence before the invention of printing? It is proved not to have been cited by any of the numerous and voluminous fathers of the Greek Church; nor to have been extant in any Greek manuscript whatever, saving a very suspicious and modern one, into which the verse had doubtless been translated, and copied from the text of the Vulgate. It was to be found neither in the Syriac, nor in the Coptic, nor in the Ethiopic, nor in the Armenian version; versions which must have been severally made from Greek manuscripts of the very first ages of the Christian Church; an argument with me of such preponderance and force, that had the passage been found in twenty of the existing Greek manuscripts instead of one, I should still have condemned it as an interpolation of the text.

the Dublin manuscript should have been thought by Dr. Adam Clarke to be of the thirteenth

can scarcely weigh a feather in the scale of evidence; for, supposing the conjecture to be true, the argument to be balanced from the discrepancy of the manuscripts, is not whether one particular manuscript were of the thirteenth or fifteenth century; but whether it be not much more probable, that the verse should have been fraudulently thrust into one solitary Greek manuscript, than that it should have been negligently or purposely omitted in all the Greek manuscripts besides, which have been hitherto consulted; and, especially, when with this triumphant majority of the manuscripts agree, likewise, all the ancient versions that were ever made from the

Greek tongue in the early ages of

the Church.

That it was originally no part of the Syriac version, is known to all. Gutbir, indeed, in his very laborious and useful edition, has inserted it; but since the antithesis of, in earth, is not likewise inserted in the eighth, the deformity of the patchwork is most glaring; and the whole of the praise due to the learned editor is, that he has left now but a very little to do for those that may come after him. He probably felt ashamed to interpolate too much at once; and, indeed, to an ingenuous mind like his, I can easily conceive, that the insertion of the seventh verse even, would be attended with some little misgiving of conscience at the guilt which he was contracting.

For the whole of the New Testament in Coptic, corrected from the authority of the best manuscripts, we have to thank the industry of the learned David Wilkins. In this version the passage does not appear. The editor, however, has very obligingly left a space; so that in the event of there ever being a call for