quested of Alexander the Great to give him ten talents to marry his daughters with, saying that this would be amply sufficient; the king answered, this would be enough for Perillus, but not enough for Alexander. Instead of ten talents he gave him fifty. If God had asked man after his fall, What wilt thou that I should give thee? Alas! it would have been a great thing for us, to have restored to us our primitive innocence and happiness. Lord, we should have said, restore to us our Eden, and our original integrity! Restore to us the portion of our first parents, and that shall suffice! But it appears as if God said unto us, That which would have been sufficient for you, is not enough for my almighty power and infinite goodness; that which would have been more than you deserve, would be too little in reference to the

merits of my Son. Instead of the earth, I will give you heaven; instead of a changeable righteousness, I will give you an everlasting righteousness, and a happiness which shall never change! He shall not do as David did, who, in reestablishing Mephibosheth, restored to him only the half of the riches he had aforetime given him; God gives us an hundred times more than we had! It is true, that here we recover our holiness and happiness only in part, and that we still feel the effects of the fall; but hereafter our nature shall be a thousand times more glorified than in the creation. Then it is that we shall see "all things put under our feet," and eternally praise and adore Him who hath set us upon the throne, that we may reign eternally with his Son! To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be honour and glory, world without end! Amen.

MAN HIS OWN DESTROYER.

It is said, that Julian the emperor bore in his standard for his arms, an eagle pierced through the heart with an arrow, the wing of which was composed of an eagle's feathers, with a few Latin words, signifying, "We are transpierced by our own weapons." He meant that men are generally the causes and instruments of their own misery. His device ought to be ours, and that of our first parents; we are pierced by our own arrows. observable in nature, that the earth sends forth from its own bosom exhalations, which afterwards change into the hail and tempests which ravage it. It is the iron that generates the rust which eats

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it; and the worm is formed within the apple. It is in ourselves that the evil was formed which hath destroyed us. The wisest of the heathens have acknowledged, that men became miserable by their own crimes. Simplicius, the great philosopher, after having reasoned much upon the origin of evil, concluded very wisely, "that because of the freedom of man's will, no other thing could properly be said to be the author of evil but the soul of man. "And he concludes with these words: "Thus having found out the cause of evil, we may confidently assert, that God is not the author of sin, because the soul committeth sin willingly, and of its own free choice; and that it is not God who doeth evil. For if the soul committed sin by compulsion, any one might justly accuse God with having permitted the will to be forced; and whatsoever might be thus done by force, would not, strictly speaking, be sin. But since the soul acts freely and voluntarily, it is that alone which can justly be called the cause of sin." Thus it is that this philosopher unites his suffrage with the invariable truth which we maintain, that man hath of himself sought out many inventions which have destroyed him.

HUMAN INFIRMITY.

IN vain do the advocates for unassisted free-will; in vain do the greater part of men imagine that they have sufficient strength left to shake off the yoke, and break the chains of sin, as they might have done in the state of innocency, if they had not delivered up themselves. Alas! poor Sampson, thou art no longer the same man thy locks are shorn, thy strength is gone; those robust arms are dead; the Lord has departed from thee. Thou art a slave, and thou canst not break thy fetters, till the Lord shall reestablish thee, and make thee a new man. We must, therefore, renounce ourselves, and have recourse to Divine grace. Without it we are like a vessel in a tempest; without pilot, without sail, without anchor-we perish! Lord, save us! Carry us in thine arms! let thy strength be made perfect in our weakness! Let us be no longer as wandering stars-as clouds without water, driven hither and thither. Make us as so many fixed stars; let us be rooted and established by the power of thy good Spirit.

Our natural state causes us to tremble; but the mercy of God, in Christ Jesus, Adored be that mercy, encourages us.

which has descended to visit us in the region of the shadow of death! Adored be that salutary grace, which has appeared unto us in our darkness! Oh! how delightful and welcome must it be to us if we feel our misery! Oh! how sweet and precious must "the gift of Jesus Christ unto eternal life" be unto us, if we are convinced of "the sin of Adam, which had reigned unto death." Oh! what glad tidings are those of redemption! Let us embrace, by repentance and faith, our Redeemer-our Saviour, who is come to deliver us from sin and death; to destroy the works of the devil; to bruise the serpent's head! Let us fight manfully, under the banner of Jesus Christ, against his enemy. He hath overcome our first father; but we, in our turn, shall overcome him, under the command, and through the grace, of Jesus Christ. Let us resist his temptations repel his attacks, without listening to him for a moment. Let us profit by the default of our first parents. Let us no longer seek out either vain inventions or vain desires. Let us impose upon ourselves one inviolable law, to obey God in all things without reserve. Adam fell by unbelief; let us maintain our ground by faith. Adam sinned by vain desires after knowledge; let us hold fast, by certain and well-regulated knowledge, the truth which God hath revealed to us. Adam destroyed himself by his iniquity; let us go to him who saveth us-even to Jesus Christ, our Redeemer!

Let us

throw ourselves into his arms! He it is who shall bestow upon us his blood, to expiate our sins; efficacious grace, to change and establish our hearts; a covenant more firm than that of nature; and a happiness more durable than that of innocence, which will be a happiness unchangeable and eternal.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

ONE of the most excellent lessons of wisdom, is that which cries unto each of 118, "Know thyself." It has frequently resounded in the schools of philosophy. Some sages have particularly adopted it as their favourite maxim; and it was formerly seen inscribed on the temple at Delphos. Upon which the Roman orator said: "This sentence was regarded as the precept of a God, because there was nothing so divine as self-knowledge." He added still farther: "It appears that philosophy is the richest present of heaven; because that alone teaches us,

not only the knowledge of other things, but of ourselves, which is the most difficult." What an excellent privilege of man, said the ancient philosophers, that he can reflect upon himself, and upon the motions of his soul, which brutes cannot do! The eye of the soul is, in this respect, more perfect than that of the body; for this eye can view, not only all surrounding objects, but it can see and contemplate itself without any mirror, without any other help than its own reflections.

Such are the praises heathens have lavished upon the knowledge of our selves! At the same time, whilst in the midst of all this, we seek for their true meaning of this knowledge, and the use they have made of it, we are very far from being satisfied. We see that they had no other design than to excite us to meditate upon the nature, the properties, and actions of our soul; to make us admire the strength of our reason, the penetration of our understanding, the activity of our faculties, the power of our will, and that almost infinite number of ideas and operations of which we are capable. Thus wholly occupied in extolling man, and leading him to the contemplation of his dignity and his greatness, their only aim was, by this method, to excite his contempt for that which was beneath him; and induce him to distinguish himself from brutes, as much by his actions as he is exalted above them by his nature. This is almost the only practical use they derived from the knowledge of man; and not seeking to correct him, but to inspire him with courage, and increase his good opinion of himself, they have generally presented to him the more favourable side, concealing that of his misery and baseness, as only calculated to discourage him in his views, and weaken his efforts: so that we may say they have always produced pride in him, but never humility.

Believers! experience hath too much convinced us, that this way was not good; that it was not sufficient to heal us, at least of itself; and that it produced only false virtues. It was necessary to unite the consciousness of what we are by sin, with the idea of what we ought to be by the nobleness of our origin. If the con sideration of the excellency of our soul can lead us to anything truly good, it is only since we have entered upon the knowledge of our misery, and, by sentiments lively and humble, have been convinced of the depravity of our heart.

This is what philosophers have not done. They were not only ignorant of the origin of sin in man, and the source of that prodigious contradiction which is found in him; of that astonishing mixture of greatness and littleness, of reason and folly, of light and darkness, which is so observable; but by a strange blindness, which experience alone can remove, they supposed that man had all his powers, that reason was still the mistress of him; and they scarcely perceived the disorder and confusion which prevail within us. Thus in love with themselves, and always flattering human nature, they have departed from the original path; they have erred from the first point of morality and religion.

It is revelation alone that properly saith unto each of us, "know thyself." Religion alone is that celestial philosophy which can, with propriety, be called "a present of heaven;" because that alone teaches us to know ourselves-to know ourselves, not only in our primæval glory, but in our fallen state; not only what we were in our creation, but what we are by sin. This it is which gives us to see our deformity and weakness; showing us, at the same time, what is the source of our misery; causing us to feel the greatness of it; and teaching us, that unless we know and feel it, we cannot be healed. In effect, without this knowledge, we could not desire grace to perceive the need we have of a Redeemer, to come to him by faith, and to see the value and the necessity of the remedy which he offers us.

renders it restless, eager after novelty, capricious, quickly tired and disgusted with everything. After this, what dependence can be placed upon this soul, whilst abandoned to itself, and unestablished by grace? What dependence can be placed upon a soul, constant and uniform only in this one thing, that it always returns to sin; but in every thing else is changeable? We say we must not depend upon the weather, because it changes in a moment; a clear sky frequently deceives the mariner, for often the tempest comes on unexpectedly. Suffice it to say, that even a friend is inconstant, his friendship is deceitful; you cannot place any dependence upon it. Since our heart is inconstant from so many inward and outward causes, we should beware of too much dependence upon it; we should consider it as a deceiver.

SELF-DECEPTION.

ALL who engage to do better are not always hypocrites, and, intentionally, cheats, who wilfully mock God, or impose upon men. Sometimes those who only imperfectly repent, believe that they repent truly and sincerely; they become the dupes of their own hearts-they believe themselves sincere, at least, in the first instance. And even true believers, whose promises are the most sincere, are ensnared by this impostor, which falsifies its word, as appears by their too frequent

CAPRICES OF THE SOUL.

WE are inconstant from the present state of our soul, which is dark, ignorant, capacious, void. It has a latitude which is very extensive and indetermined; it is always seeking after good, and it invariably mistakes false good for true. Thus it runs from object to object; and the contracted sphere of its knowledge, joined to the vast extent of its desires,

St. Peter was the dupe of his own heart, when he said, with so much presumption, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." Poor man, he believed he spoke the truth; his mouth not only spoke, but his heart resolved; his zeal and his present ardour thus influenced him. His heart appeared to unite with his words; but it was only in part; it proved unfaithful in the time of temptation. When God published his law to the Israelites, this people, humbled and terrified by the fire, by the earthquake, by the thunder, by the tempest, which accompanied this publication, failed not to promise a faithful obedience. They said to Moses, "Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it." But the Lord, who knew them much better than they knew themselves, said upon this, as is related in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, "Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they

would fear me, and keep all my commandments always!" See how he distrusted their heart! how he knew their infidelity and inconstancy! Oh that they might have always the same thoughtsthe same resolutions! but they will not long endure. Whence this infidelity of the human heart? Among other things, it arises from its making good resolutions in haste, without sufficiently examining and duly weighing them. It is on this account that it cannot continue long in a state which keeps it under restraint. It avoids everything that constrains and afflicts it. The idea of conversion, and obedience to God, includes a thousand obligations, which are grievous to a soul that desires nothing but pleasure. These things are, for the most part, mortifying to our delicacy and pride. We have only considered them in the gross, in the first resolutions which we formed; but in proportion as we view them nearer, and more in detail, we are disgusted with them we prefer rather to shake off this yoke than to subject ourselves to it. Just so was the young man, who said, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and went away sorrowful, when our Lord said to him, "Sell all that thou hast." We are disheartened; we shrink back, our courage sinks, and our heart fails us. This coward, which flies from pain; this perfidious wretch, whose treasons cause us so often to sigh, still deceives us by its evasions, and tells us by experience "that it is deceitful above all things."

FALSE APPEARANCES.

THE idea which we have of ourselves and our actions, and that which others have of them, are never exactly alike. Other men put not so favourable a construction upon our actions as ourselves; they see them in another light, and they usually judge much more justly of our defects and imperfections than we ourselves. Whence cometh this, since we ought to know ourselves best, if it be not that our eyes are blinded by self-love, and that theirs are not; that it holds up a deceitful mirror, in which we view our actions, whilst, on the contrary, our neighbours see them as they really are? We may add to this some reflections upon what is called the falsity of human virtues. is a thing now generally acknowledged by those who have studied the heart of man, that virtues purely human, such as those of wise heathens and of men of the

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world, who are called good sort of people, are imperfect productions. They are beautiful flowers, but they have a worm at the root apples of Sodom, in appearance finely formed and beautifully coloured, but within full of ashes. No; human virtues, you are, in reality, like tinsel, plaster, and painted paper, taken at a distance for real beauties. Everything that hath not grace for its principle; all that is done without faith-without the love of God-without an eye to him; all that relates to ourselves alone, all that is subservient only to self-love, is dead before God. At the same time, how many have deceived themselves, and still deceive themselves, upon this point! The wise heathens, undoubtedly, believed that they had virtues which were excellent and solid; they had no suspicion that their hearts were impostors, or their virtues false. And how many are there amongst Christians who have only Pagan virtues, without perceiving it-without suspecting that their hearts are given to change; and without ever properly developing the springs which cause them to

act!

Agreeably to this, a wise man hath observed, that the corrupt heart of man, attacked by pride and self-love, and surrounded with bad examples, may be compared to the commander of a besieged city, in which there is a deficiency of money. He makes money of leather and pasteboard. This money hath the appearance of sterling; it is uttered: but it is only misery and want that give currency to it amongst the besieged. Thus human virtues are like counterfeit money, which has only the image of good, but to which the misery of the human race hath given currency. What makes this the more wonderful is, that not only those among whom this money is uttered take it for sterling, but even those who have fabricated it are so blinded that they esteem it and look upon it as proper current coin, and of a just value. Is there anything that more effectually proves how much our heart deceives us? first principle of the wise heathens was, that man must seek happiness in himself. This was a false principle; at least, it should be rectified. They could not comprehend how a man should seek happiness out of himself: it was because pride puffed them up in their fleshly minds, and deluded them.

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SELF-ADMIRATION.

WHO would believe it possible that every man should be satisfied with himself, and should imagine himself to be in the good way? But consult experience; take mankind individually, before grace hath touched their hearts; and you will always find them sufficiently in love with themselves, ready to defend their conduct, and to justify their proceedings. Is it not seen in the world, that when even decency prevents us from boasting of our penetration, our sense, our wisdom; because this would make us pass for men puffed up with pride and presumption; we are not afraid to speak well of our heart, and we endeavour to make people think that we have, at least, certain good moral qualities. Whereas, in reality, our understanding is always much better than our heart, of which we can say little but what is evil. Thus, when grace touches us, the first change which it makes, is that which teaches us to abhor ourselves, and wholly to condemn our heart and our conduct.

I am astonished that so many men have always found reasons to give themselves some sort of repose, and to be satisfied with their state. The Jew flatters himself, because he is of the blood of the patriarchs. John the Baptist said: "Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father." He knew their weakness; this was one of the principal grounds of their assurance at other times; the prophets had said to them, "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, the temple of the Lord-the temple of the Lord.' Their exterior privileges, united with their self-love, to lull them to sleep. The Pharisee in the temple, who said, "God, I thank thee, that I am not as this publican: I am no extortioner, nor unjust;" built himself a bulwark of his own righteousness, and thought himself righteous, because he was not guilty of gross sins-of enormous crimes; or because he was not as the publican. At the same time, who can tell that he was not an extortioner, in ways more refined and more specious, according to the custom of his sect: "Who devoured widows' houses, and, for a pretence, made long prayers." There are some who console themselves, because God hath given them much of this world's goods, upon the ground of their prosperity; they dare to believe themselves the favourites of heaven. I see others, whose self-applause is gratified, if the progress of their passions is stopped. If they permit them to

be tranquil in some happy intervals, if there be a short truce, if they are in silence, that is enough; they flatter themselves that they are vanquished-that they are dead. Behold this man! he values himself upon the idea that he hath, I know not how much, zeal for his religion, which is frequently no more than an attachment to a party. Another applauds himself upon the exactness with which he acquits himself in the outward duties of piety; one who is in part regenerated, believes he hath true faith, and true peace of conscience. Finally, who can say in how many ways we deceive ourselves? "If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing," saith St. Paul, in the sixth chapter of Galatians, "he deceiveth himself." And he crieth to us, in more places than one, "Deceive not yourselves." So true is it, that it often happens that we do it; and do it in that, which, of all things in the world, is the most important; an error similar to that of the church of Laodicea, which said: "I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and was, at the same time, wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." But all these different deceptions, in which men who flatter themselves respecting their state—their vices and virtues; in whatsoever manner, and under whatever false pretexts, they may do it; all these different errors have only one and the same principle, which is that infinite self-love which we have for ourselves, which prevents us from seeing ourselves, which disguises the truth.

JUDGMENT ENDANGERED BY

FEELING.

WERE We to judge of an author, a preacher, a book, a sermon, we should form our judgment differently in proportion as we liked or disliked the person concerned in it. His words, or his writings, would appear to us more or less valuable accordingly as our heart was affected towards him. Even our judgments often vary respecting the same persons and the same things in proportion as our affections change. Every thing is excused, applauded, approved, when we begin to form better sentiments of the man we blamed, and whom before we could not approve. It appears that our eyes are open or shut according to the influence of our passions; so true is it, that our hearts deceive us!