sider these as parts of himself, his love is still but selfish. He is looking still at his own things, not at the things of others.

The pure love of his fellow creature he knows not; much less does he know any thing of the pure love of God. Thousands of favours he is receiving without thankfulness, and without any humbling reflections how unworthy he is of them. And, if God deny him any thing, which he has set his heart upon, he does not think he does ill in being angry. His heart frets against the Lord, as if God were merely his servant, and acted unfaithfully to his master. Oh! the pride and the selfishness of the heart of man! I have given you only a few touches of them. Every thinking person will feel the seeds of these things within him. Moreover, this selfish spirit so blinds the man, who is under its dominion, that he can see no beauty in God's government, except every thing contribute to his own entertainment, interest, or gratification. Hence he ever seeks to avoid thinking of hell and of everlasting punishment; but, if he does, at any time, admit these thoughts, he abhors them as shocking and unjust, instead of considering how unrighteous and ungrateful he himself is, to sin against infinite goodness, by indulging so unreasonable a humour, as though his own personal gratification or interest were of more consequence than the glory of God, and the happiness of all the rest of mankind. He has no idea of submitting to the wisdom of God. If he cannot fathom the divine dealings, they are, of course, absurd, or wrong. He will have no God but one of his own imagination, who shall be subservient to his ease and benefit, and will not controul him.

Is this, which is the genuine picture of all unconverted men,-Is this, I say, to have the mind which is in Christ Jesus? He humbled himself exceedingly for our good. He was obedient to death, even the death of the cross, though he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Can Christ look with pleasure at this proud selfish being, when he shall appear before him in judgment? Can there be any society or union between them? Impossible. "Depart, he will say, thou proud, selfish, wretched, being, and be thou united to those Angels who were not content with their first state, but rebelled against their Maker: Thou, like them, hast sought thy happiness in thyself, and not in God; theirs therefore be thy portion for ever." But, I speak to thee, now, O man, while thou art in the land of the living. I speak to thee, that thou mayest be converted and live. The great difficulty is, to be really persuaded that thou art in this sad, ruinous, and selfish condition. Pride is ever ready to supply thee with some false hopes and presumptions.-Now to every one of this character, I further say, You profess to believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God. Look then at the Text and read it over. It is a most beautiful portrait of the temper and spirit of a Christian. Its beauty can never be sufficiently admired. You cannot deny that he, who practises this, is a happy man, and such as a man should be. The small remains of man's original grandeur, consisting chiefly in the light of conscience, show you this. I may defy you to deny its excellence, and the bliss of the soul who possesses it. But surely, it is not yours. Your own interest, your own ease, your own praise, your own indulgence, your own

will and humour, these are the gods you worship. You are quite contrary to this humble, self-denying, loving spirit. You are in the bond of iniquity. Oh! that you felt it aright! But, are you sensible of it in No degree? Do you not now, if you look within, feel that this is indeed your temper? Watch yourself during the next week only. Take notice, hour by hour, of the thoughts which spring up in you. Very many know nothing of themselves: They look not at home: They are abroad all the day long in business or in pleasure; and avoid thinking of their own hearts. Thus they take it for granted that their hearts are good, without examination. But, look, I say, within; and be convinced, from experience, as all honest inquirers are, that you are nothing but selfishness and unreasonable pride. In the mean-time, remember that all good men have known themselves to be thus vile. To GRACE, not to nature, they have acknowledged themselves indebted for the imperfect state of goodness which they have attained. The Lord declares, by Moses, that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." And the same is the testimony through the whole Scripture; for all revealed religion is built on this truth. When, therefore, you are once convinced from Scripture, what you are by nature, a great point is gained. Then, repent and believe the Gospel : and when you truly know Jesus, he will teach you to have the same mind which is in himself, and will fit you for his kingdom.-I beseech you, for your soul's sake, neglect not what has been said; but be wise for time and for eternity. Secondly, Let me speak to such a one as,

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hearing the word of the Gospel, has, in a crude manner, acquired superficial notions of the doctrines of the truth; and, though a stranger to the faith and hope of the Gospel, fancies, that, because he holds the doctrines of the fall and of salvation by Christ alone, through grace, he must be right. His orthodox opinions he takes for faith, though he never came truly as a lost sinner to Christ; and his decent morality, though it flows not at all from Christian principles, he mistakes for the fruits of the Spirit. Thus he is doubly armed with a false hope. He thinks he has both faith and good works, though, in reality, he has neither. How is he to be tried? Turn not away in anger, I beseech you, from the charitable work, which is before me, of attempting to undeceive you, and thus to save your precious soul from destruction. But if any will not give a fair hearing, if any are so vainly confident that they are saved by grace, as to fancy that they need not try what manner of spirit they are of, their very unwillingness to be probed is itself a suspicious circumstance against them. Bring your state to the test: You cannot stand the test: Your fruits are even contrary to those of a sound Christian. You have the same, or as striking marks of selfishness as the man of mere ignorance whose case we have just before considered; the same covetousness, unreasonableness, envy, contentiousness, vain-glory, and pride. Or if you are altered in some respects, still your plan is SELFISH; though it may now wear a religious form, as it formerly did a worldly one. You expect to be honoured and looked upon as a person of considerable consequence in religion: You are

infallible as a Pope, and cannot mistake: You bear not the least contradiction with patience: You are ever apt to imagine your attainments in religion to be greater than those of others; and no one understands so well as you.-Is this lowliness of mind? Is this esteeming others better than yourself?

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We have seen that a true knowledge of themselves leads men to judge themselves worse than others; more ignorant, more weak, more depraved than any; and we have seen how this conviction produces a humble temper of mind. Can it then be that Christianity, which thus leads you to set up your Christian knowledge and experience above those of all others, should come from the same Holy Spirit which indited the sentence of our Text? "In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." Certainly, the Holy Spirit is consistent in his doctrine and precepts, and in his work of grace on the heart. There can never be this contrariety: So that if this self-sufficient spirit prevail over you to the end,—for a good man may be deceived by it for a time, you will be proved to be without the mind of Christ; and, assuredly, the gentle and humble Lamb of God will not then own you as HIS. You are not concerned for the good of your Christian brethren, or of the Church of Christ in general; your own interests, even when of a spiritual nature, engross you. You dislike all religious conversation which does not minister to your praise; you love those that applaud and humour you, but cannot bear such as think that you mistake. And what is this but the religion of publicans and sinners, who love those only that love