'enmity with God!' Stranger still that they should do this, after the formality of a religious profession which turns all eyes to them as lights in the world," and which, if it avail any thing for good in their experience, does justify those remarkable words, 'ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord,' and that most reasonable deduction, therefore walk as children of light, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness!' This subject is so clear in itself, and evidence so glaring bursts upon it from every page of inspiration and every day of human experience, that we have no fear of intimating that all must be of the same mind upon it, except those who are so little convinced of the deep repugnance of their nature to spiritual things, so worldly secure, and so strongly bent on gratifications foreign to religion, that they neither know its difficulties or its comforts, have no experience of those "cheering, warming beams" that light off the divine countenance, and are thinking to keep God satisfied with a little devotion now, and to give him a full measure when age or exhaustion shall incapacitate them for

1 Phil. ii. 15.

2 Eph. v. 8-11.

If a man is not rising upward to be an angel, depend upon it, he is sinking downward to be a devil. He cannot stop at the beast. The most savage of men are not beasts; they are worse, a great deal worse. -Coleridge's Table Talk, vol. ii. p. 132.

pleasure in other things. There is no religion in all this-clearly none. It is worse than indifference to it-a deliberate postponement of its claims-a discrediting of it, whether intentionally or no, and that, in the house of friends. This is no exaggeration ; 'There's nothing left to fancy's guess,.

You see that all is barrenness.'

1

Not a vestige of faith appears in a mind that is desolate and impatient without gratifications which indispose it to devotion. He pays but a sorry compliment to religion, who would obtain it at so cheap a rate at no sacrifice of worldly vanities and hopes. The heart, that strongly desires, or can easily persuade itself to take, the liberty of this indulgence, cannot stand the test of truth. It is already estranged from the life of God; it finds no access to him in prayer; its enjoyment is not in him, and the course it craves leads from him. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also; and where the heart is, there also will be our delight. If it be imagined that we can be preparing for heaven, while obeying our natural fondness for things here, turning our thoughts and affections in another direction, drifting by the force of cherished habit from God, and only looking back to him in duty when under the lashes of guilt, it is the grossest self-deception. We are going from the object, and it is vain to

expect that it will overtake us. Religion is a 'fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," a walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost;'2 and how are these to be maintained without a congenial, habitual thoughtfulness, without denying ourselves, and resisting the course of this world?'3" If we will decline a practice so reasonable, as well as scriptural, we must indeed have small thoughts of the objects to be gained by it; if we would carry with us into this fellowship the dead weights of the world, we may be sure that we are dallying and counselling with 'an evil heart of unbelief.' And its power to deceive, and draw us to destruction, will increase with every victory it gains over us. We may not trust it; its venom, its art, invokes a strong resistance.

"The serpent of the field, by art

And spells, is won from harming;
But that which coils around the heart,
O who hath power of charming?"

Our hearts are not like the hearts of others, nor is religion the great thing the Bible makes it, if we can safely presume to face the appearance of evil,' and leave our interest in it unguarded.

1 John i. 3.

2 Acts ix. 31.

3 Eph. ii. 2.

CHAPTER VI.

Want of self-knowledge a cause of error in religion-Self-loveExamples of its deceptive operation-Its opposition to correct views of truth-Perils of the state to which it carries the mindDifficulty of understanding this state, and of escaping from it— Errors that grow out of it-Its incompatibility with moral improvement-Two weighty inferences-Sense of guilt always slight in habitual sins-Great sins rendered sinless in our eyes by a continuance in them-Secret sins-The peculiar danger of themTheir effect on the moral perceptions-The false security and infidelity which insensibly spring from them-The folly of deciding on our character from the opinion of others-Deceptive appearances-Prayer of a Roman worshipper-Great inconsist encies in practice-Instruction drawn from the conduct of the thief and the robber-The moral decency of their example compared with that of others-Effect of sinning on the judgmentErrors in one respect leading to error in all others-Reflections.

HAVING considered the proneness of men to determine the good or evil of their actions by reference to the conduct of others, and the dangerous results which follow from it, we see, more and more, the deceitfulness of the heart, and the great importance of knowing ourselves, if we would know the causes of our unbelief and error in regard to divine truth. The progress of infidelity in every mind keeps pace with the increase of distaste to spiritual things. When we lose our delight in an object of faith, it is gone from us, and we see no more

its beauties-like as an object of vision is gone with all its colours, when we see it no longer. This is especially likely to be the result, when the truths to be credited are not only distasteful, but require the renunciation of objects and pursuits to which the heart has become strongly wedded. It is not to be expected that in this condition we shall see things as they are, if indeed we credit their existence; and, not seeing them as they are, it is impossible that our faith in them, be it more or less, should be according to truth, or have any suitable influence. We are all liable to have our judgment swayed by interest, prejudice, or passion; but it is very difficult to make any one see this in his own case. This truth however is universally acknowledged; and this, taken in connexion with the difficulty of seeing it in our own practice, shows, clearly, not that we are exceptions to the rule, that none will allow but ourselves-but that the powers of the intellect-the reason, the understanding-are susceptible of the greatest influence, and the grossest perversion from the qualities of the heart.

Self-love, in some of the forms of its manifestation, sways every man's opinions and actions, to a degree which he can scarcely credit. There are eminent instances of this which glare in every body's eyes; but it is not so important to contem