the heart. Compassion is the call of our of obedience to his Creator, has cherished Father in heaven to us his children, to each generous and liberal movement of put us upon relieving our brethren in dis- the soul, with a head ever studious to tress. This is an affection wisely interwoven contrive, a heart ever willing to promote, in our frame by the Author of our nature, and hands ever ready to distribute to the that whereas abstracted reason is too se- good of his fellow-creatures, should notdentary and remiss a counsellor, we might withstanding be doomed to be an assohave a more instant and vigorous pleader ciate for ever with accursed spirits, in a in our own breasts to excite us to acts of place where benevolence never shed its charity. As far, indeed, as it is ingrafted kindly beams, but malice and anguish, in us, it is mere instinct; but when we and blackness of darkness, reign for ever cultivate and cherish it, till we love mercy; and ever. No, the riches which we have when we dwell upon every tender senti- given away will abide with us for ever. ment that opens our mind and enlarges The same habit of love will accompany us our heart, then it becomes a virtue. Who- to another world. The bud which hath soever thou art whose heart is hardened opened here will blow into full expansion and waxed gross, put thyself in the room above, and beautify the paradise in the of some poor unfriended wretch, beset heavens. perhaps with a large family, broken with misfortunes, and pining with poverty, whilst silent grief preys upon his vitals; in such a case, what wouldst thou think it reasonable thy rich neighbors should do? That, like the Priest and the Levite, they should look with an eye of indifference, and pass by on the other side; or like the good Samaritan, pour balm into thy wounded mind? Be thyself the judge! and whatever thou thinkest reasonable thy neighbors should do to thee, go thou and do likewise unto them.

SERMON X.

ON THE DANGER OF SMALL TRANSGRESSIONS.

Whosoever therefore shall MATTHEW v. 19.—“ break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven."

Al

THE Roman Catholics divide sins into two classes, the venial and the mortal. Consider next the pleasure derived from In the first class, they include those slight benevolence. Mean and illiberal is the offences which, as they say, are too inconman whose soul the good of himself can siderable to offend the Deity, and, in the entirely engross. True benevolence, ex-second, those great and aggravated transtensive as the light of the sun, takes in gressions which expose men to the Divine all mankind. It is not indeed in your vengeance in the world to come. power to support all the indigent, incura- though this distinction, which overthrows ble and aged; it is not in your power to the law of morality, is abjured by all Protrain up in the paths of virtue many friend-testants, yet something like it is still reless and fatherless children: but if, so far tained by great numbers of men. What as the compass of your power reaches, the Papists call venial sins, they call sins nothing is deprived of the influence of of infirmity, human failings, imperfections your bounty, and where your power falls inseparable from men. And their own short, you are cordially affected to see favorite vices, whatever they be, they call good works done by others, those chari- by these names. Cruel is the condition ties which you could not do, will be placed of the human kind, say they, and rigorous to your account. To grasp thus the the spirit of the christian law, if we are to whole system of reasonable beings, with lie under such terrible restrictions; if an overflowing love, is to possess the breaking one of the least commandments greatest of all earthly enjoyments, is to shall exclude us from the kingdom of God. make approaches to the happiness of Will the Great Creator be offended by a higher natures, and anticipate the joy of few trivial transgressions; with little libthe world to come. For it is impossible erties, which serve only for amusement? that the man who, actuated by a principle If others take a general toleration, shall

we not have an indulgence at particular permanent and governing; they sleep and times? If we are prohibited from turn- wake upon their bad designs, and carry ing back in the paths of virtue, may we them along in their going out and coming not make a random excursion? If we in; and thus forming evil habits, make are not allowed to taste the fruits, may their lives a system of iniquity. Whowe not at least crop the blossoms of the ever does so, though it be only in the forbidden tree? While the waters of violation of what he reckons the least compleasure flow so near, and look so tempt-mandment, shall be called least in the ing, shall we not be permitted to taste kingdom of heaven; that is, shall be exand live? Will the Great Judge of the cluded altogether from it.

of little offences, a man may sin unto | in those commandments as in these? Have death.

you

you a dispensation granted you to take A good life is one of those pictures the name of God in vain in common conwhose perfection arises from the nice and versation, any more than you have to swear the minute strokes. It is not one blazing falsely before a civil magistrate? Have star, but the host of lesser lights, which you more liberty allowed you to wound forms the beauty of the heavens. In like your neighbor's character than you have manner, How does the great Judge at to shed his blood? No, the prohibition the last day decide the fate, and deter-extends to the one as well as to the other. mine the characters of men? You reckon The same authority that forbids the acsins of omission but little sins, yet, on action, forbids the desire. The same law count of these, the sentence of everlasting which says, Thou shalt not steal, says also, condemnation is passed. Because ye gave Thou shalt not covet. But you say, that no bread to the hungry, no water to the the indulgences you plead for, are with thirsty, and no raiment to the naked, re- regard to things in their own nature inlieved not the oppressed, and visited not different. Alas! if you had proper ideas the prisoner, therefore "depart into ever- of a God possessed of infinite perfection, lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his nothing that he commands or forbids angels." In like manner he determines would appear indifferent. To you it may the character of the righteous, not from appear a matter of little moment or conthe striking and splendid virtues they ex-cern, what the strain of your thoughts is, hibit to the world, but from the perform- or how the tenor of your conversation ance of the inferior duties of daily life: runs; but when learn that your "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit thoughts are known in heaven, and that the kingdom prepared for you from the by your words you shall be justified or foundation of the world." Why? Is it condemned, these assume a more serious for the splendid works of piety, for build- form, and become of infinite importance. ing temples to the Deity, or dying as mar- But if the things for which you beg an intyrs to the Christian Faith? No. Men dulgence are in their own nature small, may build temples, without love to the why do you not abstain from them? If Deity: they may die as martyrs, without the prophet had commanded you to do a real religion; but because ye have given great thing, you might have murmured food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, against the precept; but when he only enand raiment to the naked; actions of life joins what you yourselves reckon a little in which ye must have been sincere; be- thing, what pretence have you for a comcause ye never expected that such actions plaint? In place of being an excuse, this would be heard of, and the practice of is an aggravation of your offence. With them grew so much into habit, that ye your own mouth you condemn yourself. scarcely thought it a virtue to perform Can there be a stronger proof of a degenerate nature and a stubborn mind, than this inclination to disobey your Creator, in things that you reckon of little consequence? What can show a heart hardened against God, and set against the heavens, so much as this refractory and rebellious disposition, which leads men to violate the majesty of the law, to insult the authority of the Lawgiver, to risk the vengeance of the Omnipotent, and to pour contempt on all the perfections of the Divine nature, rather than part with what they themselves reckon small and inconsiderable.

them.

Secondly, These little sins attack the authority of the Divine Legislator as much, or perhaps more, than great sins. Evil thoughts are as expressly prohibited in the Divine law as evil deeds. The same God who says, Thou shalt not kill, says also, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart. What sentiment must you entertain of the Majesty in the heavens, when his commands cannot restrain you from the commission of the least sin? Hath not God forbidden the impure desire and the malicious intention, as well as adultery and murder? And is it not as much his will that he should be obeyed

In the third place, You may contract as much guilt by breaking the least of the

everlasting burnings are kindled by many sparks, or by one fire-brand? When God shall reckon up against you at the great day the many thousand malicious thoughts, slanderous words, deceits, oaths, imprecations, lies, that you have been guilty of, the account will be as dreadful, and the wrath as insupportable, as if atrocious crimes had stood upon the list.

commandments, as by breaking the great- | many small wounds, or by one great. est of them. You start back, and are wound? What great difference does it affrighted at the approach of great iniqui- make, whether the devouring fire and the ty; the heart revolts from a temptation to flagrant sins; yet thousands of lesser sins, evil thoughts, malicious words, petty oaths, commodious lies, little deceits, you make no scruple to commit every day. But the guilt of such reiterated sins is as great, or greater, than that of any single sin. To hate your neighbor in your heart without cause, to take every opportunity of blasting his character, and defeating his designs, makes you as guilty in the Divine eye as if you had imbrued your hands in his blood. To use false weights, and a deceitful balance, is as criminal as a direct act of theft. He, who defrauds his neighbor daily in the course of his business, is a greater sinner before God, and a worse member of society, than he who once in his life robs on the highway. The frequency of these little sins makes the guilt great, and the danger extreme. The constant operation of evil deeds impairs the strength of the soul, and shakes the foundation on which virtue rests. Wave succeeding wave undermines the whole fabric of virtue, and makes the building of God to fall. The thorns, which at first could scarcely be seen, spread by degrees over the field, and choke the good seed. The locusts, which Moses brought over the land of Egypt, appeared at first a contemptible multitude; but in a little time, like a cloud, they darkened the air; as a mighty army, they covered the face of the earth; they devoured the herb of the field, the fruit of the tree, and every green thing, and turned what was formerly like the garden of Eden into a desolate wilderThus these little sins increase as they advance; they blast where they enter; by degrees they make the spiritual life decay; they lay waste the new creation, and turn the intellectual world into a chaos, without form, and void of order. And yet we are not on our guard against them. It fareth with us as it did with the Israelites of old. We tremble more at commandments. He speaks to you in the one Goliath than at the whole army of the Philistines. One gross scandalous sin makes us recoil and start back; and yet we venture on the guilt of numberless smaller sins, without hesitation or remorse. What signifies it whether you die of

ness.

In the fourth place, These little offences make life a chain and a continuation of sins, so that conversion becomes almost impossible. Often, upon the commission of a gross sin, a sober interval succeeds; serious reflection has its hour; sorrow and contrition of heart take their turn; then is the crisis of a man's character; and many improving this favorable opportunity, have risen greater from their fall. But if these little sins then come in; if between the commission of one gross sin and another, there intervenes a constant neglect of God, a hardness of heart, a vanity of imagination, and unfruitfulness of life, you still add to the number of your sins, and treasure up to yourselves wrath against the day of wrath. Such little sins fill up all the void spaces; so that, by this means, life becomes an uninterrupted and unbroken chain of iniquity. Thus you render yourselves incapable of reformation, and put yourselves out of the power of Divine grace. How is it possible that you can ever come within the reach of mercy? How can the voice of God reach your heart? He speaks to you in the majestic silence of his works; but you reckon it no sin at all to shut your ears against the voice which comes from heaven to earth, and reaches from one end of the world to the other. He speaks to you by the voice of his providence; but you reckon it of little moment to regard the doings of the Lord. He speaks to you in the holy Scriptures; but you reckon the precept to read these one of the least

ordinances of his own institution, but alas! how many hold it a little sin to absent themselves from these altogether? And how many of those who attend, think it but a little sin to spend their time as unprofitably as if absent! He speaks to you

with the still small voice; his Spirit | sons at their first setting out, would have whispers to your spirit. He seeks to trembled at the very thought of these sins, enter in by your thoughts; but vanity, and which in time, and by an easy transition, folly, and vice, swarms of little sins, stop up the passage. Thus every corner of life is filled up. Every avenue to the heart is shut. You no where lie open to the impression of Divine grace, and the soul is so full, that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to enter.

In the last place, These lesser sins in fallibly lead to greater. There is a fatal progress in vice. One sin naturally leads to another: the first step leads to the second, till, by degrees, you come to the bottom of the precipice. Deceit, duplicity, dissimulation in different matters, which many persons who maintain what is called a decent character, make no scruple to employ, have a tendency to render you insincere on more important occasions, and may gradually destroy your character of integrity altogether. He, who tells falsehoods for his own conveniency, will in the natural course of things, become a common liar.

they have been brought to commit with boldness. The traitor consigned to eternal infamy, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord of glory, had at first only his covetousness to answer for. Fly, therefore, I beseech you, fly from the first approaches of sin. Guard your innocence, as you would guard your life. If you advance one step over the line which separates the way of life from the way of death, down you sink to the bottomless abyss. Come not then near the territories of perdition. Stand back, and survey the torrent which is now so mighty and overflowing, that it deluges the land, and you will find it to proceed from a small contempti ble brook. Examine the conflagration that has laid a city in ashes, and you will find it to arise from a single spark.

SERMON XI.

ON THE DELIVERANCE FROM REMORSE.

speaketh better things than that of Abel."

The spirit of gaming perhaps you reckon a small sin. But whenever gaming is made a serious business, and the love of it becomes a passion, farewell to tranquillity and HEB. XII. 24.—“ The blood of sprinkling, which virtue. Then succeed days of vanity and nights of care; dissipation of life, corruption of manners, inattention to domestic affairs, arts of deceit, lying, cursing, and perjury. At a distance poverty, with contempt at her heels, and in the rear of all, despair bringing a halter in her hand.

Thus have I set before you the evil nature and the dangerous tendency of the least transgressions. And do you ask an indulgence in little sins, when you see how fatal they are? Do you still ask to make an excursion from the path of virtue? Such an excursion if you make you will fall in with the road to perdition. Do you still wish to taste the waters which unlawful pleasure presents to your eye? Taste them you may; but be assured that there is poison in the stream, and death in Alas! if we calmly indulge ourselves in the cool commission of the least sin, who knows when or where we shall stop? If once we yield to the temptation, in whose power is it to say, Hitherto shall I go, but no further? Many per

the cup.

REASON and philosophy have applied their powers to external objects with wonderful success. They have traced the order of nature, and explained the elements of things. By observation and experience, they have ascertained the laws of the uni verse; they have counted the number of the stars; and following the footsteps of the Almighty, have discovered some of the great lines of that original plan according to which he created the world. But when they approach the region of spirit and intelligence, they stop short in their discoveries. The mind eludes its own search. The Author of our nature has cheked our career in such studies, to teach us that action and moral improvement, not speculation and inquiry, are the ends of our being. Accordingly, the moral part of our frame is the easiest understood. Having been placed here by Prov idence for great and noble purposes, virtue is the law of our nature. This being the