willing and anxious homage, they never can be availably practised. It is not enough that we simply do well, we must also love to do well. All the value of an action lies in the motive; and, in our religious observances, surely where the Almighty could not approve of the one, it is very little likely that he should accept the

other.

If we consult the Apostle we shall find that his directions embrace something beyond a mere "Be not ostensible worship. Hear his words. conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." The fault, indeed, with most of us is that we do not seem sufficiently to estimate the importance of vital religion. We are too apt to be satisfied rather with the actions than the feelings of devotion, and to think that because the duty of worshipping our Creator is imperative upon us, it is sufficient to perform it simply, though our hearts bear no participation in the act. We often pray only because we are conscious that we have been sinners and have therefore rendered ourselves obnoxious to the divine displeasure; as if a few cold and heartless prayers, heedlessly offered up to the throne of grace, could make an effectual atonement for the most wanton transgressions.

The ancient Jews valued themselves on their

descent from Abraham, and on their admission into covenant with God by the rite of circumcision. They also boasted of the law in which they were instructed, and the ordinances wherein they drew nigh unto their heavenly Father. And such was their dependance on these things that they would not suffer themselves to doubt one moment their title to heaven. Precisely such also are the grounds upon which the generality of Christians seem to build their expectations of eternal happiness. They have been born of Christian parents, devoted to God in baptism, instructed in the truths of the gospel, and brought up in a constant attendance, if not on the Lord's supper, at least on the other ordinances of religion. If they can boast thus far, they will conclude that all is well with them, and that their salvation is quite secure; but it is not to be forgotten "that the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearbut the Lord looketh on the heart." Which brings me to the second inference from our text, namely, that the corruptions of the heart must be subdued and the passions mortified, or there can exist within it no vital religion.

ance,

A moment's reflection convinces us that the heart is the seat and strong-hold of sin, for out of it proceed "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, blasphemies." It directs and encourages all our

iniquities. The deeds of the body imbibe all their taint of corruption from this impure fountain. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life," are here awakened and fomented. All the difficulties opposed to us in our christian course proceed from the blind obedience which we pay to the impure dictates of our hearts. By yielding too readily to their quick and seductive impulses we fall into those numerous temptations which every where beset us. The heart being the seat of our inclinations, it has an influence either immediate or remote upon every action of our lives. Every impulse of the soul, every emotion of the mind, every excitement of the passions derives its energy and assumes from it its tendency and character. The outward action is the mere sensible interpretation of the inward feeling. The act itself possesses no abstract quality of guilt. From the heart it imbibes all its moral turpitude or relative excellence. The deeds of an idiot, let him violate the laws of God or man, in whatever degree, are not cognizable by any tribunal either human or divine. Where there is no moral obliquity, no discriminating perception of right and wrong, there can be no moral responsibility. The heart then, being the source of all that is evil or good within us, must be the object of our care and government, "for," says the preacher," the heart of the sons of men is

full of evil, and madness is in it while they live and after that they go to the dead." Here therefore must the remedy for sin be applied.

As we are conscious, if we have any just notions at all of God's omniscience, that he intimately knows all that passes within us, what efficacy can there by any possibility be in mere external worship, whilst we use no endeavours to correct our secret sins? Outward sanctity, where there is no internal devotion, may, it is true, impose upon men, but it becomes a question if by this very act of imposing upon men, we do not actually sin against God. Religion enjoins us not to cultivate simply a formal or nominal, but a spiritual, piety,—a piety which takes root in the heart, curbs its impetuous volitions, moderates its carnal affections, and gradually fixes within it a love of virtue. A fervent piety leads us to worship God in spirit as well as in form, and to strive to encrease our inward purity rather than our external holiness, since we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live." This St. Paul assures us.

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Even human judgments, though directed by the general actions of men, always associate with good deeds a corresponding purity of intention. No man is judged to be virtuous from his con

duct among his fellow men, but only so far as his heart is presumed to influence and be interested in it. If we could positively know that the heart were utterly depraved, the very best actions would lose their value and the agent be notwithstanding despised: for the deep and pervading corruptions of the inward, would entirely eclipse the mere specious virtues of the outward, man.

If then our judgments are guided by the spiritual motive, rather by than the carnal impulse, what shall we imagine to be the judgment of Omnipotence? Shall we for an instant suppose that he will accept their devotions who only "make clean the outside of the cup and platter," as a sufficient tribute of homage to himself, when he sent his only begotten Son from heaven to take their curse of guilt upon him and expiate it upon the cross, in order that they might “die unto sin and be made alive unto God?" "Did not He that made that which is without make also that which is within ?" And can we imagine that He will accept any thing less than the dedication of the whole man both outward and inward to His worship and service?

It is important, nay absolutely necessary, in putting ourselves under the discipline of a spiritual rule of conduct, that we should commence by curbing our least governable feelings; since these are the foes by which we are so frequently