■whatever transaction he may have under review, he should endeavour, faithfully to set before himself, what he would think of such conduct in any other person.

But, whatever force there may be in such reflections as these, either to deter us from the neglect of this needful office, or to sustain us in the firm and effectual discharge of it, the main pillar of the whole edifice must ever be—the recollection, under whose eye the enquiry is conducted.

■ :.Let us paint to ourselves, as far as our imagination will enable us, what would be the turn and mode of this enquiry, if the Divine Being were actually present to our senses;—if his visible form brought home to our conceptions that power, that wisdom, and that justice, which (unseen as he is) we well know to be his inseparable attributes? Should we, in that case, attempt to put any other construction upon either our best or our worst deeds, than that, which his unerring judgment must fix upon them; or should we feel a doubt, what that judgment must be? Should we then satisfy ourselves with idle evasions, or propose

any future time, as fitter than the present, for turning our thoughts towards the state of oui souls? Should we then be disposed to congratulate ourselves upon any transaction, because it had .been artfully contrived, or audaciously executed ;—because it had been conducive to profit or power, or had obtained the suffrage and applause of the multitude? Should we, in that case, pre-? sume to call ourselves "lovers of God," when the love of our neighbour had been wanting; or "lovers of our neighbour," when under the colour of justice, we had wrung the uttermost farthing from his penury? Should we give ourselves credit for piety, merely because we had regularly gone through the forms of devotion; for charity, because we had scattered abroad our superfluities with negligent profusion; or for temperance, because our self-indulgence had been restricted by prudence and decency?

No! These are the glosses which we put upon Our conduct when we have lost sight of an everpresent God;—when we look no further, than to the shallow applause and superficial censure of the world, for a criterion of our merit. An appeal

from that world and its prejudices, to the infallible judgment of Divine purity and justice, would soon dissipate these mists, and set us before ourselves in our true form and colour: and how to make that appeal the most effectually, and thus to escape from those seducing influences, the royal Psalmist has already taught us. "Commune," says he, "with your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still." Shut out the world, and the world's vanity; and in the stillness of solitude, give full scope to that intensity of thought, and that singleness of heart, which the recollection of the presence of God, and of God only, will never fail to inspire.

How many of your previous notions of yourselves will you then clearly perceive to have been mere pleasing sophistry, and insidious delusion! What you had vainly imagined to be your righteousness, will then appear to you as the work of unprofitable servants; and you will cease to hope for Divine favour through any other channel, than the all-sufficient merits of a spotless Redeemer.

SERMON IV.

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
(for Good Friday.)

Philipp. Ii. 5.

He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.

The return of this day, and the painful history which it sets before us, most forcibly recall to our minds (what, indeed, should never, on any day, be forgotten) the inconceivable condescension of that sublime Being, who thus "humbled himself:" how lofty was the height, from which he descended; how profound the abasement, to which he submitted; how unbounded the love, whicli prompted his submission. You cannot, indeed, but have heard with reverent attention the recital of his sufferings from the Gospel of St. John, in the service of the day. I trust that you have also compared this account with the records of the same awful facts by the other holy Evangelists,