failings and imagine more; not for the purpose of praying for them and correcting them, but to draw a secret satisfaction from the thought. They are vexed at the successes of others, and not unpleased at their failure. They attribute bad motives to their good actions, and aggravate in imagination their faults. They conceive an ill-will against some one, and are fond of rehearsing, as it were, in their hearts imaginary quarrels and contests with him. And thus, without proceeding so far as hatred, which is murder, they break the bonds of love, which is the necessary badge of Christianity, and destroy the grace of charity, without which, knowledge, and almsgiving, and even an unflinching faith itself, are nothing. But besides these classes of more obviously sinful thoughts, the indulgence of idle thoughts must be considered a sin. I do not mean that the mind is never to be relaxed,—that the strained bow is to be for ever bent. While the powers of the intellect rest, the thoughts will run on, even unconsciously, over trifling things. But I am speaking of habits of mental sloth, analogous to bodily indolence, which suffers the mind to be filled perpetually with the merest trifles, which is impatient of continuous thought on any subject, and which turns away from the consideration of serious and important things as demanding too great an effort. This is the frame of mind naturally resulting from the desultory, trifling reading of the present day; and, though not confined to them, is peculiarly the danger of that sex, whose occupations are not usually of a sufficiently exciting character to oblige them to think more closely and continuously. And thus the mental powers become weakened and dissipated; trifles are the mind's food, till it can relish nothing but trifles; and it becomes difficult, and well nigh impossible, to fix the faculties on anything which is really worth their energies. Now this is not a weakness merely: it is a sin. : Our mental powers are talents given to us by God to be improved: we conceal and neglect them. His purpose is, that they should be employed in His honour, to the good of our souls, and the benefit of His creatures we spend them on trifles. Our time too is His gift, and to be accounted for to Him we waste it in vain thoughts. Religion, besides,-real religion,-the effect of grace upon sober reason,-can have no hold upon such a mind as this. To understand God's word, we must meditate upon it. To know our own sinfulness, we must be capable of looking with a steady eye into our own hearts. To value God's mercy and to love Him, we must be able to dwell in adoring thought on His attributes, the wonders of His redeeming grace, our own vileness and His exceeding goodness, and on Himself, revealed to us in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Christian should have the mastery of his thoughts, as well as of his appetites, and be able to turn them to the service of God. To this pertain the exhortations of Scripture to be "sober" and the expression of Paul to Timothy, "God hath given us the spirit of a sound mind:" and it is this trifling spirit which is condemned in the words of Solomon: "Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth." 3 But, to quit a subject which can hardly be exhausted, let us conclude with one or two practical remarks. And first, it has been the one object of our meditations this Lent to extend our knowledge and deepen our sense of sin, in order that our repentance may be quickened; and that judging ourselves here, and humbly confessing our offences before God, we may receive the pardon which He has promised for Jesus Christ's sake. Let us then, dear brethren, as the improvement of the subject 1 1 Thess. v. 6, 8: 1 Pet. i. 13; iv. 7; v. 8. 2 2 Tim. i. 7. we have been considering, examine carefully the general tenor of our thoughts. Let us ask, whether their usual character is sober, profitable, and godly; or whether they are vain, trifling, and worldly? Do we detect among them thoughts of pride, self-esteem, impurity, or uncharitableness in some of its various forms; and are these, when they occur, checked at once and expelled, or suffered, if not encouraged and delighted in? These are questions which we shall seriously ask and sincerely answer; and should lay the result before God in humble penitence, and prayer for pardon and for grace. At the same time, let us resolve to exercise for the time to come a strict supervision of our thoughts. Great self-discipline will be here required. We must endeavour at all times to check wandering ideas, even when not in themselves unlawful; and to fix the mind steadily on the subject before it. We must watch the first entrance of forbidden thoughts, and must endeavour to |