an accountable being, will be temperate because he knows that intemperance is a sin against God. He will be ho-nest, because he is sensible that fraud, in all its forms, is a sin against God. He will be benevolent, because he is aware, that to neglect the miserable and needy is a sin against God. In fine, he will be virtuous, because he is convinced that vice of every kind is offensive to the divine rectitude and purity.

It will be seen, then, that while we would not question the propriety nor weaken the force of other motives to virtue, we maintain that there is none so proper, and none so effectual, as that presented in our text. Such is the position for which we contend. And one or two remarks will serve to evince its correctness.

We have said, that there is no motive to virtue so proper, so intrinsically fitting, as that presented by the thought, that all sin is an evil committed against God. If our first position be granted, there can hardly be any diversity of sentiment on this point. When the fact is conceded, that every moral error, besides its pernicious consequences to the individual who commits it, and to society in general, is the contravention of a divine law, it must also be admitted, that we ought to be deterred from what is wrong, not so much by the apprehension of its injurious effects upon ourselves and the community, as by the consideration of its opposition to the will of Heaven. In other words, the fear of offending God, and the desire of securing his approbation, rather than the dread of temporal disadvantages, and the prospect of temporal rewards, should, in strict propriety, be our reason for doing what is right.

Again, there is no motive to virtue so really effectual, with one who feels its force, as that presented in the text before us. The individual who habituates himself to

view all sin as an evil committed against God, throws around his moral character the strongest panoply that can be conceived or desired. He knows that if he does wrong, he incurs the heavy indignation of One who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. He feels that if he does right, he secures the approving smile of One whose favour is life, and whose loving kindness is better than life. O! how powerless and inefficient, as well as how unworthy, compared with views and feelings like these, must be a mere dread of the world's frowns, and a mere desire of the world's applause! May we not say, that the motive arising from the one source, exceeds that which flows from the other, in the same ratio that eternity outmeasures time?

And here let us distinctly note one fact, that imparts peculiar importance and efficacy to the motive on which we are now insisting. This motive, it will be observed, operates with as much force as ever, under circumstances calculated to render other motives feeble, if not entirely impotent. There are sins which may be kept concealed from the world; some, the knowledge of which may extend only to one or two persons besides the individual who commits them; and some, of which every being in the universe, except the guilty agent himself and his omniscient Maker, may be ignorant. Now, what motive, we should like to know, will deter from sins of this description, where the fear of God is wanting? Tell us, how is man to avoid the commission of secret errors, if he does not reflect, that, although no mortal eye may be upon him, he is yet amenable to a Deity who follows him to his closet, and with whom the darkness and the light are both alike? Look at the case of Joseph. Is it not perfectly apparent, that, had he been regardless of the divine authority and laws, he must have fallen a victim to

the peculiar temptation by which his virtue was assailed? Are we not entitled to affirm, that no other consideration than that which forced itself with such irresistible awe and energy upon his mind, when he gave utterance to the words of our text, could have availed him in the trying circumstances in which he was placed? He might have yielded to the solicitations of Potiphar's criminal consort, without subjecting himself to any immediate consequences of an injurious nature; and, although it rarely happens, that such a sin, however it may be hid for a time, escapes ultimate exposure and punishment even in this world, yet the apprehension of remote possible or probable disadvantages, must have exerted little influence on an inexperienced youth, in a situation like that in which he found himself.

There is, then, no proper and effectual substitute for that motive to virtue, which grows out of a sense of our obligations to God. We will go farther, and say, that this one motive is so appropriate and powerful, that it does not need to be aided by any other. The most plausible auxiliary that human ingenuity has devised, is, perhaps, to be found in the practice of auricular confession, which forms so prominent a feature in the ecclesiastical regulations of a large Christian community. We have sometimes heard this practice commended by serious persons not belonging to the particular sect who adopt it, as an institution calculated to deter from sin, and in this way to do much good to society. But, while we would not deny, that benefit may, in some instances, have resulted from auricular confession, we are constrained to believe, that it has more frequently proved the means of encouraging, than of restraining evil. For one individual who has said, "I will not commit this offence, because if I do, I shall have to disclose it to the priest," we pre

sume, that ten have said, "Why should we refrain from this gratification, when we have only to acknowledge our error to the priest, and obtain absolution ?" Can it be imagined, for a moment, that if Joseph had been regardless of the divine authority and laws, he would have been deterred from the commission of sin, by the consideration, that he would be under the necessity, either of neglecting a religious rite, or else revealing his crime to one whose official situation bound him to inviolable secrecy? And feeling, as he did, that to commit adultery would be doing a great wickedness and sinning against God, he surely needed no additional reason for resisting the temptation to which he was exposed.

It is not necessary, however, to enlarge on this subject. Every candid and serious thinker must be convinced of the intrinsic propriety, and the superior efficacy of that motive to virtue, which religion furnishes, and which the text exhibits as swaying the conduct of a good man when powerfully tempted to do wrong. And, brethren, how unutterable are our obligations to the Bible for revealing such a motive! The doctrine of infidel morality, as taught by Hume, the most distinguished, and certainly the ablest of its professors, is, that adultery, provided it can be concealed, is nothing, and even if discovered, is only a trivial matter. But not so speaks Christianity. Not so thought Joseph, when, in the true spirit of Christianity, he exclaimed, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"

Brethren, we may learn from our present subject, the importance of contemplating sin as an evil committed against God. This is the view of sin which the Scriptures present. It is the view of sin which arises from the deductions of reason. It is the view of sin which is sometimes impressed on the mind by the still small voice of

conscience. Let us, then, accustom ourselves to look upon transgression in this light. If we would lead a pure and an upright life-if we would avoid those moral errors which cannot fail, sooner or later, to overwhelm us with ignominy and wo-if we would enjoy peace here, and bliss hereafter-we shall best attain our object by pursuing the course now recommended; or, rather, we shall attain our object in no other way. The only motive on which we can safely rely, for the preservation of our virtue in seasons of emergency and peril, results from the thought, that, if we deviate a single inch from the path of rectitude, we do a great wickedness, and sin against God. This motive, dear hearers, is a buckler with which you may encounter fearlessly and securely every temptation incident to your present state. The sharpest arrows that strike it, will fall blunted at your feet. Christian, thank your heavenly Father for such a weapon of defence. And O! remember, that it must be your own fault, and your own eternal disgrace and ruin, if, with this implement of moral warfare at your command, you should not come off, at last, a conqueror-aye, and more than a conqueror.

Our present subject furnishes a test, by which they who are anxious to know what is their character, and what their prospects as moral and immortal beings, may examine themselves. There is no better evidence of piety, than a deep feeling of the evil of sin as an injury done to the great and benificent Ruler of the universe. Nor is there any better evidence of advancement in religion, than the growth of this feeling. Look, then, brethren, into your hearts, and strive to ascertain how far your conduct is regulated by a single regard to the divine authority and laws; and how far the influence of this motive augments, as you become older. Every Christian should often in