Be not deceived, says the Apostle, God is not mocked. There is no deceiving of Him we find.

"Then it is the preacher."

So one would naturally think; and so, indeed, thought Isaiah— I have laboured in vain (says he) I have spent my strength for nought; I find I am deceived." But he is assured by God that it was not so; that neither his preaching, nor the word which he had preached, should be in vain. For, as to himself, he is told, that his reward was with God, whether the hearer profited or not and as to the word, that as the rain cometh down, and the snow, from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth (saith the Lord :) It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

If, then, the deception fall neither on God, nor the preacher; it must be the HEARER that is deceived. "Deceived? How?" In more respects than one. And first, in grossly mistaking the very nature of sermons. Ezekiel plainly intimates that even in his days they seemed to think of sermons no otherwise than of songs: to to give them a hearing, to commend the air of them, and so let them pass. And, indeed, the music of a song,

and the mere eloquence of a sermon, are but little different.

But to be deceived," it may be said, " is no great matter; since even the wisest of men have been and still are liable to it." Yet mark with what poignancy the Apostle presses it home to us You deceive your OWN SELVES.

If we must be deceived, we are most reluctant to be deceived by those in whom we trust. If it had been an enemy, says David, then I could have borne it......but it was even thou, my companion, my guide, and mine own familiar friend.

If, then, not by one we trust; less, surely, can we bear to be deceived by that party in whom most we trust-namely OURSELVES. He that deceives HIMSELF, is not only the deceiver but also the deceived. The deceived may be pitied: the deceiver cannot but be blamed. He, therefore, is utterly without excuse who is the author of his own deception. Yet, if this deceiving our own selves were in a matter of no great importance, it would perhaps be tolerable. But St. Paul tells us, that it pleased God by the foolishness of PREACHING to SAVE them that believe. Life or death, heaven or hell, therefore-(matters of no less consequence than these) depend on the deception we are now considering.Things, of all others, in which it surely most concerns us NOT to be deceived.

Lastly, they who will be HEARERS of the word, and not DOERS of it, though they have been hearers

ONLY all their life long, shall, in the end, be doers of THAT word, which, least of all others, they would wish to do. A word there is, that they shall not hear only, but hear and do, whether they will or not. And what is this irresistible, this tremendous word?-Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. This is the word-this is the cOMMANDMENT that they shall fulfil, even though they VIOLATE all the rest. And, who is able to fulfil, nay, to abide that word? Who can dwell with everlasting burnings? Let us then attend to it in time-Oh! let us obey the injunction, that we may avoid the penalty!

1

SERMON VIII.

FROM DONNE *.

MATTHEW Xviii. 7.

Woe unto the world, because of offences.

THE man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. The man Moses was so : but the child Jesus was meeker still. Compare Moses with men, and he will scarce be paralleled. Compare Moses with Him, who, being so much more than man, as that he was also God, was made so much less than man, as that he was a worm, and no man; and Moses must instantly give place.

If you consider what Moses would willingly have parted with for his brethren, (Pardon them, or blot my name out of thy book,) yet will the zeal of St. Paul bear full comparison with that of Moses,

* John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, was born 1573, and died

in that he wished himself to be separated from Christ, rather than that his brethren should be so. But what comparison has a sudden, passionate, and unexecuted vehemence of love, (for Moses was not blotted out of the book of life, nor was St. Paul separated from Christ for his brethren ;) what comparison has such a love, that was but said, and perhaps should not have been said, (for hardly can we excuse Moses or St. Paul, of all excess and inordinacy in what they said,) with a deliberate and an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus to come into this world and die for man; and then, in the fulness of time, really to do so?

The meekness of Moses had at least an interruption, when he revenged the wrong of another upon the Egyptian whom he slew. But, ere Christ had interfered with either, a bruised REED might have stood unbroken, and smoking FLAX might have lain unquenched for ever. And therefore, though he sent his disciples to the Scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses' seat, for other lessons, yet for this, he was their Master himself; Learn of me, for I am meek. He gives them the elements of true instruction; rule and example. He finds them contending for precedence; who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He sets before them a little child, and tells them, that unless they become as humble, as gentle, as tractable as that little child, they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven. And he gives them a second