bountiful as he was, in the example which, of his penury and want, he has bequeathed to the Christian world. Mark his conduct; he has not yet received his sight-he only knows his blindness. "Casting away his garment, he rose and came to Jesus." Cast away thy "filthy rags of righteousness;" rise from this indifference to spiritual light and knowledge, and come to Jesus. Come unto me is the burden of His call. Suppose the blind man had pleaded his infirmity; that he could not see the way; that he was willing to do as far as he knew how; he would have been left where he was. Think not, therefore, to leave the fault of thy blindness of heart with God; thou art called: thou must go. Jesus will, compassionately, then inquire into thy case thou wilt obey his call, "Come, and let us reason together;" thou wilt urge thy need of salvation-thou wilt receive thy sight! Oh! what a blest change will then come o'er thee. New heavens and a new earth smiling, greet thee; new joys of light are showered around; the beauties of the new Jerusalem grow on the enamoured vision, darkness is turned into glory,

"The dews that round the mountain curl'd

Melt into day, and light awakes the world."-Young.

His sight received, the now happy beggar "followed Jesus in the way." So will every converted sinner. And in the way where Jesus leads, no pride, vain glory, or hypocrisy, no envy, hatred, or malice, no uncharitableness appears, but to be discouraged, disarmed, humbled, and subdued. Let us inquire. Does pride, first-born of blindness, ever rear its poppy-head

in "the field" where "the Word of God" is "sown?" Often, alas often. Hence the necessity of this prayer for deliverance. Offensive even to all men but the possessor, pride is the most hateful of all abominations in the sight of God; "for thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and lofty place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble."*

Have we no vain glory where child-like meekness and humility should be? To true glory we have no pretension; our glorying, therefore, is not good. It springs, too, from blindness of heart, and is the second brother to pride. The heathen sage said, Know thyself; and all antiquity declared the precept to be of heaven. Christ, in whom was "all the fulness of wisdom and knowledge," sought not His own glory, and recommended the exercise of the most noble virtues, only in order that the glory might be awarded to our Father in heaven. The Apostles are exceeding full upon the denunciation of vain glory. And he, who suffered most of all for the profession of which we affirm ourselves partakers, determined not to know anything but Christ crucified; gloried (if he must needs glory) only in tribulations and afflictions, and earned a beautiful crown of glory, by the abasement of everything which exalteth itself against God.

Hypocrisy-shall we find a hypocrite, an actor, a mere performer of religion, among those who would worship God in spirit and in truth? Think not that I have nerved my hand, in vain presumptuousness, to lash the follies of mankind. Far be it from one

* Is. lvii. 15.

who acknowledges that often, while drawing near to God with mouth and lips, the heart has wandered through the very wilds of impurity; the affections have lain dormant in the desperately wicked heart, and God has not been in all the thoughts. Far be it from one who-such is the deadly hold of sin upon the soul-even while he writes this fair confession, wrestles inwardly with spirits of pride, vain glory, and hypocrisy, that would tear him, throw him down, and leave him wallowing. O God, thou discerner of spirits, deliver me from hypocrisy! Let me never feel "thou hypocrite!" fall, like a thunderbolt, upon a soul too dear to be lost, but too corrupt to be saved, save in the precious keeping of its Redeemercleansed by His spirit, and presented, pure and spotless, to the Father of Spirits. Oh! read those reiterated exclamations of pity which hypocrisy drew from the divine lips, "Woe unto you! woe unto you!"* Ponder their awful conclusion; "Ye serpents, ye' generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" And compare it with the fate of the wicked servant,† "Cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Hateful in the sight of God, these three spiritual abominations have now passed before us-that we were delivered from them for ever! The three deformities of mind, temper, and conduct, which follow next, exercise their will chiefly against our neighbours; bursting from the stems of pride, vain glory, and hypocrisy-rooted and grounded, as these are, in blindness of heart-envy, hatred, and malice spread + Ib. xxiv. 51.

* Matt. xxiii.

"A

their baneful poison, and corrupt the world. corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit," and the absence of religion in the heart, must display itself, at home or abroad, in its own fruits. 66 Living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another,"* is the Apostolical description of men before conversion; a state of being as hurtful to the moral peace of society, as it is opposite to "the very bond of charity."

Envy implies the looking upon another, or another's lot, with an unfriendly eye. It is directly opposed to the mandate, "Weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice;" for it delights in the misfortunes, grieves in the prosperity of others. Entirely subversive of that calmness and resignation which the Gospel breathes, that peace which Jesus left with His disciples, it corrodes the heart, and eats into the best affections; it sours the healthy flow of Christian love, prompts to evil speaking, lying, and slandering-it excludes religion-it destroys the soul.

Hatred, which is envy grown bigger and older— that hatred should dwell where Christ has planted love! Would they who profess and call themselves Christians, reflect on the many ties which bind them to all mankind: their common lot, hope, death; their common inheritance of the earth, and all its fruits; that even Time, swift in his flight, binds them together as he goes; that they are appointed to work for each other, to succour and defend each other; that they all participate the blessings of a common Father-rejoicing in His sun and rain, glory

* Tit. iii. 3.

ing in His mercy, trembling beneath His warnings. Such considerations as these would go far to avert the plague, the pestilence, and the famine, which are sent to tell men sternly of their common and fraternal bonds. To quote on this head were useless ; there's not a child who knows not hatred to be inimical-if indulged, fatal-to Christianity; but yet, that we may not fail to bear in mind the spiritual magnitude, the crimson dye of this sin, let us remember that John, the beloved disciple, who knew most of his Redeemer's love, has recorded "Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer." There is the same heart, fierce and unyielding, to both. Malice, though in its secondary meaning interpreted of a bad passion of the heart, will bear also the signification of actual badness, active wickedness, against the interests of another; and this seems to be implied by its position in our prayer—as envy leads on to hatred, so this hatred displays itself in malice. But there is, in reality, no difference between them in the sight of God; the crime is before Him, whether it lie in wait in the breast, or be exhibited in the conduct. It is the property peculiarly ascribed to the Devil, who, too proud to envy or to hate mankind, "goeth about continually, like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

But as there are many modifications of these sins; many ways in which the hatred, born of envy, or the malice cradled in her lap, may be carried out in its effects, without appearing to infringe any positive commandment-such as evil speaking or not speaking well, significant signs and looks, affected pity in the detail of a brother's or a sister's faults, we