science, the smiles of heaven, and the sentence of the just, to all the treasures of the world.

Had the penitent not been in earnest, false shawe might have prevented or retarded his return. Conscious of guilt, and covered with confusion, how shall he appear before bis friends and acquaintance?" I know (might he have said) the malice of an ill-judging and injurious world. The sins which are blotted out of the book of God's remembrance are not forgotten by them. Let me fly rather to the uttermost parts of the earth, retire to the wilderness untrod by the foot of men, and hide me in the shades which the beams of the sun never pierced, than be exposed to the scorn, and contumely, and reproach ofall around me.'

But the penitent was determined and immoveable. * * The rest of the MS. was not legible.

SERMON XX.

1 CORINTHIANS ii. 12.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.

THERE are two characters which, in Sacred Scrip

ture, are set in perpetual opposition, the man of the earth, and the citizen of heaven. The first character pertains to that class of men, who, whatever speculative opinions they entertain, yet, in practice, consider this life as their only state of being. A person of this character centres all his regards in himself; confines his views entirely to this world, and, pursuing avarice, ambition, or sensual pleasure, makes these the sole objects of pursuit. Good dispositions he may possess, but he exercises them only when they are subservient to his purposes. Virtues also he may cultivate, not for their own sake, but for the temporal advantages they bring along with them. The citizen of heaven moves in a nobler sphere. He does not indeed affect

the character of sanctity, by neglecting his temporal concerns. He looks upon the maxim of David, as inspired wisdom, "If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself." But although he has his temporal interest in his eye, he has a higher interest in his heart. What is necessary, what is useful, will often be a subject of attention; but what is generous, what is lovely, what is honourable, whas is praiseworthy, become the chief objects of pursuit. He cultivates good dispositions from a sense of their beauty, previous to his experience of their utility; he esteems the possession of virtue more than the earthly reward it procures; he lives in a constant discharge of the duties of life in this state, and, with a well-grounded faith, and an animating hope, looks forward to a better world, and a higher state of being.

These two characters, which divide all mankind, are always represented in Scripture as inconsistent and incompatible with each other. It is impossible, says our Lord, at one and the same time, to serve God and to serve Mammon. If any man love the world, says the Apostle John, the love of the Father is not in him. The principles that actuate these characters, are represented. in the text as two spirits opposite to one another, the spirit of the world, and the spirit which is of God. The spirit of any thing is that vital principle which sets it agoing; which keeps it in motion; which gives it its form and distinguishing qualities. The spirit of the world is that principle which gives a determination to the character, and a form to the life of the man of the earth. The spirit, which is of God, is that vital principle which gives a determination to the character, and a form to the life, of the citizen of heaven. One of these spirits actuates all mankind.. While, therefore, I represent the striking lineaments in these opposite characters, take this along with you, that I am describing a character which is your own: a character which either raises to eminence, or sinks down to debasement.

I. The spirit of the world is mean and grovelling; the spirit which is of God is noble and elevated. The man of the earth, making himself the object of all his actions, and having his own interest perpetually in view, conducts his life by maxims of utility alone. This being the point to' which he constantly steers, this being the line from. which he never deviates; he puts a value on every thing precise

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ly as it is calculated to accomplish his purposes. Accord ingly, to gain his end, he descends to the lowest and the vilest means; he gives up the manly, the spirited, and the honourable part of life; he makes a sacrifice of fame, and character, and dignity, and turns himself into all the forms of meanness, and baseness, and prostration. The Prophet Isaiah, with infinite spirit, derides the idols of the Heathen world. "A man," saith he, "planteth a tree, and the rain doth nourish it; he heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak: and of the tree which he planted, he maketh to himself a god. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule, he marketh it out with a line; he fashioneth it with planes, and maketh it after the figure of a man; and then he worshippeth it as a god. Part thereof he burneth in the fire, with part thereof he maketh bread, and with the residue he maketh a god." Similar to this is the creation of these earthly gods. Read the pages of their history, and behold them rising to divinity by compliance, by servility, by humiliating meanness, and the darkest debasements. How dishonourable often is that path which conducts to earthly grandeur; and how mean a creature frequently is he whom the world calls a great man! So low and grovelling is the spirit of the world.

It is a spirit of a different kind that animates the citi zen of heaven. He is born from above; he derives his descent from the everlasting Father, and he retains a conscious sense of his divine original. Hence, Christians, in Scripture, are called "noble;" are called "the excellent ones of the earth." It is unworthy of their celestial descent, it is unbecoming their new nature, to stoop to the meanness of vice. The citizen of heaven scorns the vile arts, and the low cunning employed by the man of the earth. He condescends, indeed, to every gentle office of kindness and humanity. But there is a difference between condescending, and descending from the diguity of character. From that he never descends. He himself ever feels, and he makes others feel too, that he walks in a path which leads to greatness, and supports a character which is forming for heaven. Such is the difference between the spirit of the world and the spirit which is of God. Suppleness, servility, abject submission, disgrace the one; dignity, elevation, independence, exalt the other. The cne is a serpent, smooth, insinuating, creeping on the ground, and licking the dust; the other is an eagle, that

towers aloft in the higher regions of the air, and moves rejoicing in his path through the heavens.

II. The spirit of the world is a spirit of falsehood, dissimulation and hypocrisy; the spirit of God is a spirit of truth, sincerity and openness. The life which the man of the earth leads, is a scene of imposture and delusion.Show without substance; appearance without reality; professions of friendship which signify nothing; and promises, which are never meant to be performed, fill up a life which is all outside. With him the face is not the index of the mind, nor the tongue the interpreter of the heart. There is a lie in his right hand. He is perpetually acting a part, and under a mask he goes about deceiving the world. He turns himself into a variety of shapes: he changes as circumstances change; he goes through all the forms of dissimulation, and puts off one disguise to put on another. He does not hesitate to counterfeit religion. when it serves a turn, and to act the saint in order to gain his ends. Hence the spirit of the world hath often. passed for the spirit which is of God, and Satan, under this disguise, hath been mistaken for an angel of light.— Such is the spirit of the world.

The spirit which is of God is a spirit of truth, sincerity, and openness. The citizen of heaven esteems truth as sacred, and holds sincerity to be the first of the virtues.He has no secret doctrines to communicate. He needs no chosen confidents to whom he may impart his favourite notions; no private conventicles where he may desseminate his opinions. What he avows to God he avows to man. He expresseth with his tongue what he thinketh with his heart. He will not indeed improperly publish truths; he will not prostitute what is pure and holy; he will not, as the Scripture says, throw pearls before swine; but neither will he on any occasion partake with swine in their husks. He is what he appears to be. Arrayed in the simple majesty of truth, he seeks no other covering. Supported by the consciousness of rectitude, he holds fast his integrity as he would guard his life. Such is the difference between the characters. The man of the earth turns aside to the crooked paths and insiduous mazes of dissimulation; the citizen of heaven moves along in the onward track of integrity and honour. The spirit of the world seeks concealment and the darkness and the shade; the spirit which

is of God loves the light, becomes the light, adorns the light

III. The spirit of the world is a timid spirit; the spirit which is of God is a bold and manly spirit. Actuated by s fish principles, and, pursuing his own interest, the man of the earth is afraid to offend. He accommodates himself to the manners that prevail, and courts the favour of the world by the most insinuating of all kinds of flattery, by following its example. He is a mere creature of the times: a mirror to reflect every vice of the vicious, and every va nity of the vain. His sole desire is to please. If he speak truths, they are pleasing truths. He dares not risk the disapprobation of a fool, and would rather offend against the laws of Heaven than give offence, to his neighbour. To sinners he appears as a sinner; to saints he appears as a saint. In the literal sense he becomes all things to all men, without aspiring to that faith, which would set him above the world, or to that spirit which would enable him to assert the dignity of the rational character. He is timid, because he has reason to be so.. Wickedness, condemned by its own vileness, is timorous,, and forecasteth grievous things. There is a dignity, in vir ue which keeps him at a distance; he feels how awful goodness is; and, in the presence of a virtuous man, he shunks into his own insignificance.

On the other hand, the righteous, is as bold, as a lion. "I fear my God, and I have no other fear," is the lan guage of his heart. With God for his protector, and with innocence for his shield, he walks through the world with an erect posture, and with a face that looks upwards. He despises a fool, though he were possessed of all the gold of Ophir, and scorns a. vile man, though a minister of state. The voice of the world is to him as a sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal. The applauses or the censures of the high o. the low affect him not. Like distant thunder they vibrate on his ear, but come not to his heart, To him his own mind is the whole world. There sits the judge of his actions, and he appeals to no other tribunal upOn the earth. He possesses the spirit which rests upon itselt. He walks by his own light, he determines, upon his ow deeds. Supported by, the consciousness of munocence, and acting with all the force of providence on his side, he has nothing to fear; knows that he can no more be hurt by