to them that are at ease in Zion."* "It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil." Now it is that men may escape these threatened judgments, of utter destruction to the impenitent and of severe chastisement to his people, that he "draws them with the cords of a man," that he commissions his ministers to 66 warn, exhort, rebuke,” and

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"stir up" even pure minds by way of remembrance." In order that we may see more clearly the force of the preceding observations, let us look into the world, and see how the emphatic question before us is practically dealt with by different classes of

men.

1. There is a large, a very large class, (which had already begun to grow up in the Apostles' time) who substitute "the form of godliness," in some shape or other, for ↑ Zeph. i. 12.

* Amos vi. 1.

"the power thereof."* There are two parts of religion, the outward and the inward, the visible and the spiritual, each highly important in its place, and so much so, that neither can be neglected with impunity. But when the form is substituted for the power of religion, the consequences must be fatal. There is a constant tendency in the human heart to do this, because the semblance is always more easily attained than the reality-because it is infinitely easier to observe the form than to exercise the power of any thing, and especially of religion. And if this be true, then it follows, that the more spiritual and excellent the form, the greater the danger of resting in it, at least to intelligent minds. Let it then be observed, at the outset, that whatever may be said against the abuse of the form in no ways tells against the form itself. We are favoured in our own land with the most pure and scriptural forms and ordinances that have ever

* 2 Tim. iii. 5.

been devised by the wisdom and piety of men. And as might be expected, there are multitudes who rest contented in the observance of these forms, without partaking of the spirit which they embody. To be a Christian, in their estimation, is to be baptized in infancy, to be brought up a member of that section of the visible church to which their fathers belonged, to assemble at stated periods in the place where "prayer is wont to be made," and the word of God to be preached, and to unite in political feeling and social intercourse with those who assemble with them at those stated periods;-such is the meaning which thousands practically attach to the profession, "I am a Christian." It is evident that the sense of responsibility must be proportioned to the standard of profession. In proportion to the meaning which a man attaches to the name of Christian will be his view of the duties and obligations which it binds upon him.

Let us only compare the view of Christianity just given, with that taken by' the dying pastor, and we shall see at once how low and defective it is. It lowers the aspiring eye from God to man, from heaven to earth, from eternity to time; instead of constraining the mind to look into the word of God for the standard of morals and the tone of feeling at which it should. aim, this secular notion of Christianity tends to render men contented with conformity to the opinions and expectations of their fellow men. It draws off the attention from watching the movements of the inner man, from warming and disciplining the heart, the source of action, to fix it exclusively on certain detached branches of, the outward conduct. In how many, how very many cases is the inference in question not drawn at all; how many minds are there to which the solemn enquiry before us has never suggested itself? And when it has, to what does it lead? "I am a Christian-What then? Why, I am within the

pale of salvation; I have complied with all the external requirements of the founder of my religion, I have striven to do my duty to my neighbour, and where I have failed, the merits of my Redeemer will make up my deficiencies." My brethren, we have special cause for examining ourselves on this head, for we possess at the same time the most pure and the most complete form of religion that any christian church is blessed with. And if "the moon walking in brightness" be an object that tempts the admiring eye to idolatry, we too are in danger of forgetting God in our enjoyment of his spiritual ordinances, of" denying the power" while we hold fast "the form of godliness."

Let me beseech you, then, to examine yourselves on this point. Consider whether there be not something far higher and nobler in the scriptural notion of a Christian-something far weightier and more solemn in the responsibility attached