him than those, with which the Virgin Mary herself was honoured during the time of his abode on earth.

Still does the light of his Divine instructions shine with the brightest lustre, and diffuse itself around us! Let us open the eyes of our mind with singleness and simplicity to receive it; and make it our care to act according to it. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, (Hosea vi. 3,) and thus with cheerfulness shall we reap the fruit of a well-informed mind and a well-regulated life!

May we be delivered from all those false maxims which would darken our hearts amidst all this meridian lustre, and turn our boasted light into darkness! Would to God there were not renewed instances of this kind continually occurring among us; and that we did not daily meet with persons whose pretended wisdom teaches them to forget or despise the gospel, and to serve only to amuse their eyes, while it leads their feet to the chambers of death!

SECTION XXXVII.

LUKE XI. 37-54.

AND as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.

But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.-Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto

him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye enter not in yourselves, and them that were entering in, ye hindered.

And as he said these things unto them, the Scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; and such were the reproofs of Christ on this occasion. How well had all the entertainments of the Pharisee's table been repaid, had he and his brethren heard them with candour, humility, and obedience! These men despised them to their ruin; let us often review them for our instruction, that none of these dreadful woes may come upon us.

This discourse of our Lord is a most just and severe rebuke to every hypocritical professor, who is scrupulous and exact in matters of ceremony, while he neglects morality; and is studious to shine in the sight of men, while he forgets the allpenetrating eye of God. It exposes the ostentation of those who pride themselves in empty titles of honour, and eagerly affect precedence and superiority. And it evidently chastises those who press on others the duties they neglect themselves, and so are most righteously judged out of their own mouth.

How melancholy it is to observe, in instances like these, this hypocrisy and deceitfulness of the human heart, and its desperate and unfathomable wickedness! and to see how men impose upon themselves with empty appearances like these Pharisees; who built the sepulchres of the former prophets, while they were persecuting those of their own day; and, in contempt of all that was said by the messengers of God, were filling up the measure of their iniquities, till the cloud which had been so long gathering burst on their heads, and poured forth a storm of aggravated wrath and ruin!

May that God, who has an immediate access to the hearts of men, deliver all christian countries, and especially all protestant churches, from such teachers as are here described: who take away and secrete the key of knowledge instead of using it, and obstruct, rather than promote, men's entrance into the kingdom of heaven! How loud will the blood of the souls they have betrayed cry against them in the awful day of accounts! and how little will the wages of unrighteousness, and the rewards of worldly policy, be able to warn them against destruction, or to support them under it!

SECTION XXXVIII.

LUKE XII. 1-12.

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.-For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops.

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more

value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

常

Let us from this discourse, which we have been reading, learn the folly of hypocrisy, as well as the wickedness of it. A lying tongue is but for a moment, (Prov. xii. 19); and the great approaching judgment-day will shew all in their true colours. May we live as those, who are then to be made manifest! May the leaven of deceit, by Divine grace, be entirely purged out of our hearts and all our conduct be so fair and equal, that it may appear more honourable and lovely, in proportion to the accuracy with which it is examined; as the whitest garments are recommended by being seen in the strongest light!

If we would preserve such an integrity of soul, let us endeavour to get above the servile fear of man; of man, that shall die, and of the son of man, that shall be made as grass; as if the oppressor had us in his power, and were ready to destroy; and where is the fury of the oppressor? (Isa. li. 12, 13.) With what infinite ease can God restrain it; and, when it is let loose in all its violence, how little can it do to hurt his faithful servants! Let this mean passion be over-awed by the fear of that God, who has our eternal all in his hands; whose vengeance, or favour, will reach far beyond the grave, and determine our final misery or felicity, as we are the objects of the one or the other.

While we are in the world, let us labour after a firm faith in the universality of Divine Providence: from which the least of his creatures are not exempted, nor are they forgotten by it. Let us endeavour to enjoy the pleasure and comfort of such a thought; assuring ourselves. that He, who regards the life of birds and of insects, will not neglect the care and preservation of his children..

In a steady persuasion of this, let us determine cou

rageously to confess and maintain his gospel in the extremest danger; knowing that thus only we shall secure the honour of being owned by Christ, amidst all the glories of his final appearance.

And, in a word, to animate us to this holy courage, and to assist us in every other duty, let us earnestly pray for the Holy Spirit; by whose influence the apostles were instructed and supported in the discharge of their difficult and various offices; whose grace therefore must be abundantly sufficient for us, to cause us to abound in every good word and work. (2 Cor. ix. 8.)

SECTION XXXIX.

LUKE XII. 13-21.

AND one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Most prudently did our Lord decline the invidious office of an arbitrator in civil affairs; and wisdom will require his ministers generally to avoid it likewise. It is more suitable to our office, like our blessed Master, to endeavour to draw off and disengage the minds of men from covetousness, and to