unavoidable or proper,

us!

- where business requires it,

and social relations demand it, our grand rule is to attend us. What a shield would this regulation be to How moderating, how restraining, how guarding would be its influence! How shall I leave, not the most conciliating impression simply, (for that may be an impression in favour of myself, or of some softened and injured view of truth,) but, the truest and best impression of religion? How shall I avoid giving a gloomy, or what is worse, an unfaithful and deceptive view of piety? How ought I to act, so as not to mislead, to blind, to harden others with regard to the things of God? How shall I act, so as to be an auxiliary, or at least not a hinderer, to another man's conscience? How shall I move so as to afford no aliment to self delusion, no argument for sin, no excuse for unbelief, no check to repentance, no objection to piety? How shall my ways plead for God? What becomes me as the subject, the servant, the friend, the child of the Lord God Almighty? And how shall I "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing," and "adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour in all things?" Such are the questions which a christian devoted to the glory of God, will often and earnestly put to himself; and that they are not empty fancies, or needless scrupulosities, we have sufficient authority for asserting: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and GLORIFY YOUR FATHER which is in heaven."* That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the

*Matt. v. 16.

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world; Holding forth the word of life." in wisdom toward them that are without."2

"Walk

"Walk "But

honestly toward them that are without."3 SANCTIFY THE LORD GOD IN YOUR HEARTS: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ."4 With the presence and power of the preserving principle for which we now plead, accompanied with the directions for its application which we have just drawn from the holy volume, it cannot reasonably be said that we are left in the wide world pathless and guideless. It is a mere trick of unfaithfulness, the manoeuvre of a sceptical and worldly mind, to maintain that we are without law and rule upon this department of life. They are but seeking license and unhallowed latitude, who would insinuate that we are, in this matter, at sea, without chart, or compass, or star、

VII. The divine honour is to be sought by the manner in which we sustain the common relations of human society. That there are ends for which these relations are ordained, we instantly and universally perceive; but what the chief and real ends are, we do not so quickly and certainly discern. It is to be feared that most persons look no further than the temporal order, convenience, enjoyment and advantages of which they are productive. They do not

Phil. ii. 15, 16. * Col. iv. 5

H

Rom. xiii. 13. 1 Pet. iii. 15.

recognize ends higher, purer, or remoter, than those which are secular. Time bounds all their views. This, in their eyes, comprises the sum of those results which are to be wrought out by the wise and wonderful machinery of human affinities and social affections. Such, then, is the poor and perishable good to be effected by an arrangement so vast, so skilful, and so extensive, as that of the social system! But this will not be the thought of him who has a correct view of the true ends of his own individual existence. He finds it impossible to admit them privately, and exclude them relatively. The personal leads on the social. The relations are those of mind, of responsibility, of character, of moral action and influence, of truest interests; the related beings are accountable and immortal, and their eternal destinies may be reciprocally affected. A Christian will therefore ask, what end does God propose? Let that be mine. It is, in one word, to glorify God. With this aim, he will follow the footsteps of his great Parent through the sentient, the mental, the moral, up to the spiritual and divine ends of those particular relations in which he himself stands. In this sublime pathway he takes the Bible as his guide. He recognises all its directions relative to the lower purposes to be kept in view; but rises to those nobler ends to which inspiration points him, and to which their own light and beauty and grandeur invite and allure him. Is he a CHILD? He obeys his parents "in the Lord,” because this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. It is a seemly acknowledgment of parental solicitude and kindness. It is a becoming submission to authority delegated by heaven itself. It is the indispensable

condition of deriving moral and spiritual good from a parent's prayers, instruction, and example. Does he become a HUSBAND? It is "in the Lord;" and he seeks to hallow and strengthen the earthly bond by heavenly principles-by the fear and love of God, and is anxious that he and his companion may "walk as fellow-heirs of the grace of life, that their prayers be not hindered." Is he a PARENT? He "trains up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," and places this end in reference to his child, above all the glitter of wealth, the fascination of honour, the blandishments of earthly science, or even the reasonable attraction of competence and comfort. The thirst for his child's salvation will be stronger than all the promptings of ambition, the cravings of vanity, the dread of shame and poverty, and even the deepest yearnings of parental love when moved only by the worldly interests and happiness of its object. He honours God, when he would rather, infinitely rather, that his child should "fear the great and terrible name of the Lord," that he should be animated with the love of God, that he should be like God, and that he should have a place in the friendship of God, than that he should be monarch of the globe. And he honours God too, when all his measures in reference to his child are conducted under this impression. O, if this weighed as it ought upon the hearts of christian parents, and if it were carried as it ought into the whole course of our parental motives, and deeds and schemes, what a race would rise up to call the Saviour blessed! How many aching hearts would be prevented! How would the number diminish of those whose grey hairs come with sorrow

to the grave! Is he a MASTER? He remembers that "he also has a master in heaven." He remembers too that this heavenly master is not only righteous, but kind and gracious. He looks therefore beyond the mere pecuniary compact to the claims of christian benevolence in reference to his dependants. He forgets not that God has placed under his roof and under his care, beings immortal and accountable, and that they demand his solicitude, his prayers, instructions, and example. Is he a SERVANT? When he obeys, he does it "to the Lord, and not to men." Is he a MAGISTRATE, supreme or subordinate? It is as "the minister of God," that he seeks to be "a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well." Is he a SUBJECT? "He submits himself to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake."

VIII. Station and office are especially to be brought under the principle of regard for the divine. glory. If this be the influence under which we act, we shall with filial and humble submission refer our lot and place in life to God's disposal. When in our right mind, we shall wish to be just what and just where God wills. A determination, utterly irrespective of the mind of God, to occupy a particular rank and standing, or to maintain a particular appearance and consideration amongst men, is a proud and rebellious denial of God's right or fitness to manage his own affairs. It is telling the Great Parent that he shall not rule in his own family. Perhaps there are few things respecting which even christians are so untractable, as the station which they are to fill in life. It is surprising how like foolish, way