principle of action; and that even apart from his outward acts. His external deeds are no more his character, than the fruits of a tree are the tree. It is not so much what I have actually done or not done, as what I have wished and willed, that determines the quality of my character. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Now, this fundamental principle is either "good" or "corrupt": there is no middle quality-no neutralism, in morals. There are two, and but two, attractive forces in the moral world,-truth and error, right and wrong, Satan and God; and all souls point to one of these as steadily as the needle points to the pole. Souls, like pendulums in motion, are everlastingly moving to one of two points. "Ye cannot serve two masters,-God and mammon." "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad."

Another thing suggested by this passage in relation to this underlying element of moral character is :

GENERALLY DIS

III. THAT WHEN IT IS CORRUPT, IT IS GUISED. The wolf comes "in sheep's clothing." Man has the power to mis-represent his heart. He can make a moral masque and wear it, so as to deceive the very elect. But mark you, it is the evil principle which he disguises, not the good; it is the wolf that puts on the "sheep's clothing," not the sheep the wolf's. Vice always puts on the robes of virtue, and error speaks the language of truth; but never the reverse. In sooth, the "corrupt" principle dares not fully show itself; a bad man is bound by his badness to act the hypocrite. He is seldom just to his own depraved principles; he lacks the courage, he is too great a coward, to act them out in the sunlight of social life. Where is the debauchee that dare publish to the world the whole of his filthy thoughts? Where is the dishonest tradesman or professionalist, who would avow all his schemes of chicanery and craft? Where is the infidel that would venture to act

Vol. IV.

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fully out all his views and feelings before the eyes of his fellow men? The truth is, unless a wicked man concealed, in some measure, his principles, and put on some of the outward forms of virtue, he would not be able to hold up his head in society. He would be shunned as a demon, and left to pine away a wretched life in dark and chilly isolation. To the honor of the moral intuitions of humanity and of goodness, let it be proclaimed that a good man alone can be faithful to his principles and afford to be un-hypocritical. He alone can be open and natural; goodness, like the widespread landscape, expansive ocean, or the open heavens, unfolds itself to all, and is most beautiful when most exposed.

But Christ, in the passage before us, refers to the corrupt principle as being under the disguise of religion, and under the disguise of religion in its highest form. It appeared not merely in the character of a saint, but in the character of a "prophet." "Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing." Jesus referred to the Jewish teachers of his day, who sat in the seat of Moses. In the name of divine truth they inculcated vain traditions; in the name of benevolence they sought their own selfish ends; in the sacred name of religion they wrought out their own worldly aims. Evil has often robed itself in this attire. Every age has had its hypocrites in the pew, and its false prophets in the pulpit. This, instead of being an objection to religion itself, is an argument in its favor. It is sin's homage to holiness. For does not imitation always imply, in the imitator, faith in the excellence of the original? Whenever a character of distinguished excellence has arisen in any department of life -politics, science, or art, as well as religion; has there not always followed a host of sciolists and quacks?

Another thing suggested by the passage in relation to this underlying element of character is:

IV. THAT WHENEVER DISGUISED IT MAY, AND SHOULD, BE DETECTED. "By their fruits ye shall know them," &c.

First: It may be detected. How? "By their fruits." The fruits are the test. But what is the fruit of a man's soul? Fruit is the natural production of a tree; it embodies and expresses its essence. Hence all the acts of men cannot be regarded as the fruits of the inner life. Sometimes human actions have no vital connexion with the inner governing principles of the heart. Men, sometimes, act against their will; sometimes without their will; they are sometimes the creatures of necessity, and sometimes the dupes of mistake. The actions, therefore, which can only be regarded as the criteria must be those which are fruit-the natural production, exponents, and embodiment, of the moral principle. The fruital actions of a man are the average and spontaneous doings of his life. We would not judge a tree by its productions; one year it may fail, and yet be a good tree. So with man's character, you must strike the average of his deeds. You must deal with it as the philosopher deals with nature, the theologian with the Bible, the judge with the evidence-look upon the whole. The average conduct then, and not the occasional deed, is the fruit by which you are to test the inner principle of a man's heart. This is the tongue of his soul.

This test is (1.) infallible. "Do men gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles?" In the material world, like causes always produce like effects. Men reap what they sow; every tree beareth after its kind. This law holds good in the moral sphere; -a corrupt heart will have a corrupt life. It is true that the mere occasional acts of a man may not agree with his inner principles; but his general conduct, which is the fruit of his being, will ever fairly represent them. (2.) The test is universal in its application. "Every tree," &c. It is not some particular tree that produces fruit after its own kind, but every tree; so it is not some particular man, whose average conduct expresses his heart, but it is the case with all men. He, for example, who can live without prayer, whose whole energies are engaged, and whose time is engrossed, in worldly pursuits and pleasures-whatever his professions-is destitute

of piety. Aye, the heart will out in the life, however strict the guard set over it. "By their fruits ye shall know them.”

But this test will apply to other things besides character. It will apply to systems of religion. You may test Deism, Paganism, Islamism, Mormonism, Christianity, &c., by their fruits. It may be applied also to particular doctrines of christianity. You may test predestination, justification by faith, &c. by their fruits. It may be applied, also, to the methods of promoting christianity. The comparative value of the voluntary and coercive principles employed in the promotion of christianity may be determined by their fruits.

Secondly: It should be detected. "Beware," &c. Why should it be detected? (1.) Because the evil principle is highly pernicious to others. The primary element of a corrupt character is a devouring instinct. Christ compares the false prophets to the "ravening wolves." The allusion seems to be, to the ferocity and subtilty of these creatures in seizing the unsuspicious sheep and feasting a savage appetite upon their blood, regardless of their cries and agonies. As the wolf lurks in the day and prowls forth in the night on its mission of death, so corrupt men misrepresent their principles in order to gratify their malevolent instinct. Like Joab, they profess friendship in order to stab between the ribs; or, like Judas, they kiss in order to betray. Hence the importance of being on our guard-of seeking to detect the corrupt everywhere; especially when it assumes the character of prophets, for then it is most dangerous. Let us try the spirits to see whether they are of God; and try them not by their words, however scriptural, or their mien, however devout; but by their fruits. Moreover, we should "beware." (2.) Because the evil principle is destructive to its possessor. "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." This evil principle in man insures ruin, it produces a character only fit for the flames, it is the hell of the soul. BEWARE!

Germs of Thought.

SUBJECT: Moses and the Burning Bush; a Picture of a True Student and the Bible.

"And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt," &c.-Ex. iii. 2-6.

Analysis of Homily the Hundred and Twenty-seventh.

THE circumstances connected with this extraordinary incident suggest four general facts:

First: That God's purposes are punctual in their accomplishment. If you refer to the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, you will find God declaring to Abraham that his seed should go into a strange land,—referring to Egypt, that they should be slaves in that land, and that the people of the land should "afflict them for four hundred years," and that afterwards they should "come out" with great substance. The clock of time had now struck the four hundred years, and God forthwith began to redeem his pledge. Wonderful things had occurred in the history of the race during that period. Several generations had come and past away. Nations had arisen and disappeared; but amidst all the revolutions, God remembered his promise to Abraham. There was nothing just now in the circumstances of the Israelites to indicate the deliverance; for although death, the ruthless conqueror of all, had deposed one of Egypt's tyrannic monarchs, another, as tyrannic, had assumed his place. Perhaps, the chain of despotism the Jews had never felt to be heavier and tighter than now, and the gloom of their oppression was never more dense; "they sighed by reason of