claim as the Psalmist, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." If the professing Christian would reflect when he is about entering upon any worldly transaction, be it of what sort it may, and ask himself these simple, but weighty questions,-Now if my heavenly Master was standing before me face to face, should I do this? or should I not? Would it please him, or should I incur his displeasure? Such reflections would possibly prevent him from his intended transaction, and he would be rewarded accordingly. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Certain am I, if God's presence was more remembered and felt amongst us, many would blush to commit sins which now they too often think no sins!

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"There is an unseen Power around,
Existing in the silent air :

Where treadeth man, where space is found,
Unheard, unknown, that Power is there.

When sinks the pious Christian's soul,
And scenes of horror daunt his eye,
He hears it whispered through the air,
A Power of mercy still is nigh.

The Power that watches, guides, defends,
Till man becomes a lifeless sod,

Till earth is nought,-nought earthly friends,-
That omnipresent Power-is God."

Think of God then on every occasion; he neither slumbereth nor sleepeth-and may all your works be begun, continued and ended to his glory and the salvation of your everlasting souls. For our sincerity can only be proved when we know there is no witness but God and ourselves; and that on this account we shun temptation and resist indulging sensual desires, when we abstain from such, not only in the sight of men, but when there is only God and us; then, I say, we show in earnest that the fear of God constrains us, and that we are not hypocrites before him, deceiv

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ing our neighbours and ourselves. If we not only are careful to shun evil, but also ready to do a good work, as much as if we knew the whole world would be acquainted with it, only in the view of our all-seeing Father, we are of the light, and can assure our heart before him. For there are many "that rebel against the light;they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the day time: they know not the light. For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of death." (Job. xxiv. 13-17th.)

We have seen the necessity of religion as exemplified in the characters of Martha and Mary. I have proved (according to the measure of grace given unto me) that in the present times the truths of the scriptures may not be much disputed, but that there is a want a very great deficiency in applying such truths to our hearts, and producing in us that Life of Faith and Christian Morality which is the evidence of a saved and safe condition. Alas! the natural pride of man, that sin of the worst deformity impedes the influence of such glorious truths from having their proper effect. "As thou desirest the love of God and man, beware of pride. It is a tumour in the mind that breaks and poisons all thy actions; it is a worm in thy treasure, which eats and ruins thy estate; it loves no man-is beloved of no man; it disparages virtue in another, by detraction; it disrewards goodness in itself, by vain-glory; the friend of the flatterer, the mother of envy, the nurse of fury, the sin of devils, and the devil of mankind; it hates superiors, it scorns inferiors, it owns no equals; in short, till thou hate it, God hates thee."-Quarles.

The inconsistency of professing Christians is much to be deplored, and to those who make of such a plea for their own neglect to spiritual matters, the following reflections would be appropriate.

"I see many around me who make hypocritical pretensions to religion; pretensions to which their conduct gives the lie; I am sorry for them, and hope God will forgive and restore them; but in my indignation against their deceitful behaviour, I must not forget my own interest. If they are pursuing the road to destruction, that is no excuse, or reason for my doing so too. Their wickedness makes me neither better nor worse, I must answer for myself; I must die by myself. I must be happy or miserable for ever, myself. I must not be disgusted with religion, because some who are hypocrites, are not free from imperfections: remembering that the best of men have daily to mourn over much that is wrong in their temper and conduct, and that my wisest plan is to avoid their failings and to give the silent reproof of a better example. To enable me to accomplish this, I must employ every means within my reach of acquiring sincere, heart-felt, and genuine piety; being well assured, that those who have the most religion are the most happy. Should any be disposed to assist me in this great undertaking, I hope I shall never be so ungrateful as to repel their kind endeavours with asperity or rudeness; nor ever be induced to depreciate their characters, as if their being bad would make me any better; since they can have no motive for interesting themselves about me, and for exposing themselves to misrepresentation and obloquy, but a regard for my welfare. If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his sin, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul."

It is often a subject of surprise why vice and misery still abound, and do not diminish, notwithstanding all the sermons preached against them; and the exertions which are made by the well-disposed for encouraging religion, and virtue, and good works, and suppressing sin and wickedness in every shape? To account for this, I perfectly agree with a well-known writer, who states reason to be, that the natural laws are too much overlooked, and

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very rarely considered as having any relation to human conduct.— The theological doctrine of the corruption and disorder of human nature, joined to the want of knowledge to real science, have probably been the causes why the professed servants of God have made so little use of His laws, revealed in creation, in instructing the people to live according to His will. Before religion can yield its full practical fruits in this world, it must be wedded to a philosophy founded on those laws; it must borrow light and strength from them, and in return communicate its powerful sanction towards enforcing obedience to their dictates."

How is it that man has not really advanced in happiness, in proportion to his increase in knowledge? Because the will of Him,"in whom we live, and move, and have our being" is not fully known; and we are, as I have elsewhere observed, dependant on each other, and much rests with the better-informed in accelerating the progress of general improvement among the great bulk of mankind. And are not the ignorant frequently made the tools of interested leaders, or the creatures of their own blind impulses, having none to guide them into the path of life, having none to steer them to the port of happiness, and who cannot say with the Poet,— "As a bird each fond endearment tries

To tempt her new-fledg'd offspring to the skies,
They tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay,
Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way ?"

There is a remarkable passage in a work of the present Prime Minister of France-M. Guizot, where he says, Religion is the only restraining principle. He says,- "What is the object of religion-of any religion true or false? It is to govern the human passions, the human will. All religion is a restraint, an authority, a government. It comes in the nature of a divine law to subdue, to mortify, human nature. It is then to human liberty that it directly opposes itself. It is human liberty that resists it, and that it wishes to overcome. This is the grand object of religion,— its mission, its hope. But while it is with human liberty that all

religions have to contend, while they aspire to reform the will of men, they have no means by which they can act upon him, they have no moral power over him but through his own will, his liberty." Submission then to God is our first duty, in order that we may derive good to ourselves, and impart benefit to others. Well indeed may the same writer declare, that-" if religionists had well considered their means of action, if they had not given way to a natural but deceitful tendency, they would have discovered that their province was to strengthen liberty, in order morally to control it; that religion can and ought to act only by moral influences, and they would have respected the free will of mankind, whilst applying themselves to direct it: this they have not done, and in the end the religious influence has itself suffered as much as liberty." These remarks bring me to one point, which I am particularly desirious to impress upon the mind of the Reader. It is this:The intimate and close connection between religion and morality; in short, their very union together. In the commencement of this work, I expatiated on the "Deceitfulness of Appearances," which led me to speak of, I fear, an error prevalent now, of attaching too much importance to outward ceremonies; in fact, the attendance of a place of worship on the Lord's-day. Do not, however, misunderstand me. 66 The assembling of ourselves together,' as St. Paul terms it, is a christian duty, and which we should by no means neglect, since our blessed Lord promised that "wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them;" but what I desire to inculcate is, that such duty may give you the benefits, which ought to result therefrom, and that you may not only be professors of the outward and visible sign, but also partakers of the inward and spiritual grace !

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What says the pious Bishop Mant? "Morality distinguished from, and independent of christian faith, is nothing; but christian morality is of the very essence, it is the true fruit, the sure testimony, the faithful companion, the glory and perfection, yea, the very life and soul of true christian faith. Let us beware that we do not confound things so different as worldly and christian morality;