ness of our nature, that we too often yield even to the slightest insinuations to which we are inclined to listen, and thus we are deceived into sin.

The world, from the variety of its allurements, and from the force which these have upon our secret desires, is the most flattering, and generally the most successful tempter, that assails us. Its language, upon occasions in which the denunciations of God are most explicit, is,-"ye shall not surely die :" and when it so addresses us, we forget the Apostle's charge, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

One source of allurement are the examples that the world holds out to us. We are always disposed to imitate the good or the bad conduct of other men, and to make their practice, rather than our own knowledge, the standard of our duty. The differences between good and evil are wide enough to be distinguished even by the most uncultivated minds. They are perceptible by what I may term the moral instinct of our nature. The beauty of the one, and the deformity of the other, are, in a manner, apparent to our senses, without much appeal to reason. The convenience, and the obligation, of eschewing what is evil, and of following what is good, are discoverable by the light of the understanding, without the aid of a written revelation from God. Yet, to strengthen these impressions,-to take away every pretext for ignorance,-to remind us of what

we already well know,-to help our infirmities,-to awaken and actuate our consciences,-and to leave us altogether without excuse,-God has been pleased to reveal to us his most holy will, and in so doing, to make morality a part of religion. We possess, then, every means of knowing our duty. We are

aware also that that duty is incumbent upon us as individuals, that each of us is personally responsible for his own acts, and that "to his own master he standeth or falleth." We know that the practices of other men, are not, considered barely in themselves, a rule to us, that our imitation of them, merely as practices, and without considering whether they agree or disagree with the law of our own minds. and with the law of God, is no part either of virtue or of religion. We know that if we imitate good actions, because they are good, or in other words, because they are such as right reason approves, and the scriptures enjoin, we act well and religiously,— and that if we avoid bad actions because they are bad,--because they are such as right reason disapproves, and the scriptures condemn, then too we act well and religiously. We know that the rule by which we are to be guided, is one thing, and that the practices of mankind are another ;-that if men act wickedly, their conduct does not alter the nature of things, nor destroy our obligations to virtue and holiness, that if all the world, no one individual excepted, should pursue a uniform and systematic course of wickedness, still the divine laws would

remain in as full force as ever, and the Psalmist's declaration" Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar," would be strictly and literally applicable. All these points we certainly know:-and yet, so strongly are we inclined to imitate the examples which we see before us, that we permit them, in many cases, to beguile us into sin, at the very time that we have the wise man's caution-"If sinners entice thee, consent thou not," and God's own prohibition,— "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.”

Another mode in which the world allures us to sin, is, in shewing us that men who have long been addicted to wickedness, do, notwithstanding, often escape any visible judgments of God while they live. "They come to no misfortune like other folk, neither are they plagued like other men." We know that the reason of God's suffering them to prosper, is, either that his goodness may lead them to repentance, or that if they always continue in an impenitent state, that punishment may overtake them in the next world, that was withheld in this. For the sake too of others, whose temporal welfare may depend upon the prosperity even of wicked men,their children and families, for instance, their neighbours or dependents, or any other of their connexions, --the purposes of divine providence do not allow that the vengeance which men's sins deserve, should always visit them in this life. The tares and the wheat, as our Saviour expressively states it in his parable, are suffered to grow up together till the

great harvest of the day of judgment,-and this, because in rooting up the tares, the more valuable roots of the wheat, which are growing closely by them, may not be torn up at the same time. These are truths with which all Christians are well acquainted; and yet they do, upon the presumption of impunity, act in opposition to them.

We suffer the world also to seduce us by its temptations of wealth, power, and sensuality. The gospel expressly declares, that "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of the world." Such, however, is the treachery of the human heart, that inclination, rather than duty, is the motive of our actions. RICHES entice us by the means they offer of supplying our wants and g atifying our wishes; but the acquisition of them creates other wants, and multiplies our wishes to an insatiable extent. In the first instance, perhaps, we seek them, in the flattering idea of accomplishing some innocent object which we imagine to be essential to our happiness ;-and we persuade ourselves that when that object is attained, we shall sit down contented with our gains. But it is the nature of all worldly things, when pursued either as the means or the end of a worldly purpose, to engage our affections and to impose upon our judgment. It accordingly happens that whether the original object be attained or not, in the course of the pursuit, the affections are, in a great measure, withdrawn from that, and transferred to the wealth

which has engaged our industry. The love of riches is not, perhaps, a passion naturally congenial to the human heart; for we find that young persons seldom or never entertain it. It is a passion into which men for the most part train themselves by the force and drudgery of habit; but when it has once been contracted, it is the most settled vice, and the most difficult to eradicate, of any that can affect us. When we consider too, the base pride and selfishness that attend it,--and how it bends down our spirits to a fondness for this world,-we see how irreconcileable it is with the temper that qualifies us for "entering into the kingdom of heaven." We are aware of all this but we suffer our propensity towards earthly things to prevail over our better convictions.

POWER allures us by its means of gratifying our vanity. The natural desire of excellence, which the Almighty has implanted in our bosoms, for the great purpose of promoting virtue and holiness, and fitting us for the enjoyment of heavenly bliss, is perverted, by the corrupt inclination of our hearts, into a worldly ambition. Flattering ourselves that, in point of talents and merit, we “are not as other men are," we aspire to distinction among our brethren. Nothing, therefore, will satisfy us but the possession of that rank or influence that may enable us to command, controul, or direct, to dazzle mankind with our pomp and greatness,--to swell our hearts with self-complacency, -to banish idleness, and ease, and virtue, for the sake of a false glory. We read of men, and we are our