proof that one and one made two, we should scarcely, I think, attempt to give it him; we should rather say that his very asking for proof shewed that he was either mad or an idiot. And so it is with the requiring proof of the wickedness of falsehood. In fact, no one does require proof of this what many want is rather a sense of the great evil of wickedness in itself; they do not say, "it is not wrong to lie," but they say, "there is no great harm in it if it does not injure others." The mischief is in the expression "no great harm;" in saying that there is no great harm in any sin; in thinking that sin against God is little in itself, except it happen to involve harm to others. But I do not find that the lie of Ananias and Sapphira was meant to do, or could possibly do any harm to others; his lie was simply told to do himself good, to make Peter and the church in general think better of him than he deserved; -her lie was one of those which are often regarded with most favour, for her principal object no doubt was to screen her husband from detection; the lie in the first instance was for his credit rather than hers; he had told it, and she supported it to screen him. And, doubtless, if any human relations were near and dear enough to be preferred before our duty to God, the wife might be excused in lying for her husband. But what said Peter, or rather what said the Holy

Spirit himself present in Peter, and confirming his presence by the immediate display of his power? "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out."

The third point which I noticed was cruelty, or, more properly speaking, what is called in schools by a name of its own, "bullying." Here, too, I am sure that the picture does not suit our actual state; this evil is one which I am happy to believe is neither general amongst us, nor, where it does exist, does it, as I trust and think, exist in any very bad degree. Yet it does exist undoubtedly, producing, as it ever must, much suffering, and even more evil to the mind of him who is guilty of it. Nothing more surely brutalizes any one, than the allowing himself to find pleasure in the pain or annoyances of others. It degrades and brutalizes too those who stand by and laugh at annoyance so inflicted, instead of regarding it with indignation and disgust.

Fourthly, I spoke of active disobedience; of the pleasure of breaking rules because they were rules; of disliking a thing, in fact, because we like it, or liking it because we dislike it. And here the existence of such a feeling in the heart can only be known by Him who sees the heart. But I can truly say, that regarding the school generally, I

have no suspicion whatever, I have had no reason ever to suspect, that such a feeling exists amongst you. I do truly believe that from this evil, and a very mischievous evil it is, we are altogether free. I have no apprehension that you regard us as your natural enemies, whose pleasure it is to restrain and annoy you, so that you in your turn should make it your pleasure to disobey and annoy us. Yet such a state of feeling is conceivable in a school, and therefore I thought it right to mention it as one of the evils by which schools might possibly be corrupted.

Fifthly, I spoke of general idleness; of a decided wish prevailing amongst the majority to put down all exertion and all proficiency. I need not say that I do not believe this to be the case here. Nevertheless, we cannot pretend to be wholly free from this evil; it would not be true to say that a diligent boy, desirous of improving himself, never met with any discouragement and even with annoyance. Nay, I must confess, that I have heard before now of instances of this evil which have utterly surprised me, which my own school experience had in no way prepared me to expect. I have heard,the cases I hope are not common,-but I have heard that boys have been actually ill used by other boys for getting above them, nay, even for shewing a knowledge greater than that of most around them. I could not readily believe that a spirit so utterly

paltry and vile would have dared to shew itself at a public school, where mean faults at any rate are mostly discouraged. And truly a meaner or a baser spirit than is betrayed by persecuting or annoying another because he does any thing better than ourselves, or because we wish ourselves to do it ill, and therefore would have no one do it well, is not easily to be met with.

I am come now to the sixth fault, the spirit of combination and companionship. And it were vain to deny that this also exists in some degree amongst us. But this spirit shews itself in so many ways, and is so widely prevalent for evil, not here only but amongst all mankind, that I would not willingly notice it so briefly as my time and limits would require if I were to enter on the subject now. I will rather reserve the consideration of this sixth evil, this bond of wickedness, for yet another occasion, when I may hope to complete the whole matter of the text.

RUGBY CHAPEL,

Aug. 30, 1840.

SERMON VII.

CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS.

ST. LUKE, xix. 45, 46, 47.

And He went into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. And He taught daily in the Temple.

I STOPPED last Sunday after having noticed five out of the six evils by which I supposed that great schools were likely to be corrupted, and changed from the likeness of God's temple to that of a den of thieves. The sixth evil I left for separate consideration, because it appeared to require a fuller notice. And its very name, if we attend, will make it probable that it does so. I called it the spirit of combination and companionship, whereas the other evils of which I spoke were such things as idleness, falsehood, drunkenness, disobedience; names very different in their character from combination and companionship. They are very dif