constrained to cry out, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?" and to add, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" But do unregenerate men, occupied in the contemplation of nature, glorify the God of nature? Do their interesting speculations tend to promote in their hearts the love of the Creator? And do they, as they sometimes pretend, rise from nature to nature's God, adoring with suitable affections, the glorious Being whose works they are delighted to explore? It is to be feared that such cases are not only of rare occurrence, but that they do not in fact exist at all, nor can; the carnal mind being in every case enmity against God himself, however much it may admire the works of his Creation; nor, it may be added, do these works appear calculated in themselves, to excite devout affections in man's fallen heart. For whilst they exhibit astonishing displays of wisdom, and of power, and of goodness, there are still so many fearful mysteries attaching to these tokens of God's power and beneficence, that it is too probable they often excite in the unregenerate mind of the philosopher, thoughts of infidelity, rather than such an assurance of the love of God, as shall excite towards him a reciprocal affection. And it may be affirmed, without fear of contradiction from the word of God, that the love of his blessed name is never produced in the first place, by the perception of his glories, as they are displayed in the visible works of his creation. The love of God does not find an entrance through the eye or ear, or through any other of the senses, into the heart of man. Through the eye, innumerable lusts take possession of the soul, but love is produced in a far different way, than by the mere perception of external things. "The things that are seen,"

may indeed, and do, excite in the believer's heart, a pure love of God; for in the good creatures of God, he beholds tokens of his Father's loving-kindness and boundless generosity; and if he sees aught that is not good, and which may appear to militate against the idea of the divine beneficence, he is instructed how to interpret that evil and vanity, which by reason of man's sin, now mars the once perfect creation of God. But if the Christian, who can now adore God in the works of nature, be asked, from whence he first derived that love of God which animates his heart, he will surely say, not through the natural eye or ear, but by the "seeing and hearing of faith." He will say, That love was shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost given unto me." (Rom. v. 5.) "The Spirit of God was the divine author of that love; for, having first shown me my lost condition, as a creature under the wrath and curse of God, he afterwards revealed to me, that God so loved a lost rebellious world, as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And this announcement, made divinely effectual by the power of the Spirit, won my heart. For I no longer doubted of my heavenly Father's love, finding it thus attested by his word, and by the feeling of my own breast. A sweet filial confidence took possession of my soul; a confidence which could never have been produced by the mere consideration of those works of nature, which too often proclaim to the terrified conscience of the sinner, the wrath of an avenging God.'

By the expression, "the pride of life," as before observed, the apostle indicates the pomps and vanities of the world, as distinguished from those creatures of God, which incite to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the

eyes; and it was shown that this pride of life consists much in fictitious ideas of glory and of excellence, all founded in the vanity of the in them no reality of truth.

human heart, and having The various forms of vain assumes, some of which

glory, which the pride of life were before enumerated, will not be enlarged upon; but it may be well to advert to one of the most subtle and least suspected manifestations of this principle of evil. And self-righteousness, the offspring of vain and unfounded self-esteem, is the form intended. A species of pride which induces a man to seek honour from his fellow men, on the ground of his faithful discharge of relative duties; and also to challenge the reward of his good works at the hand of his Creator. For whilst some endeavour to obtain the estimation of their fellows, by their possession and display of superior wealth and earthly dignities; and whilst others affect the reward of fame more than gold, and all the mere pomp that it can purchase; there is another class who pride themselves upon their supposed fulfilment of the law of God, and who ground their earthly happiness upon the consciousness that their integrity of life and purity of manners commands the favour of God and the approbation of man. And it may be and often is, that this order of persons are much opposed to the external pomp and pride and vanity of life. Austerity, and a certain lowliness of demeanour, please them better than gorgeous apparel, feasts, and honourable titles. But we know that Satan exalts some of his followers upon the very ruins of that pride which they contemn. The histories of all false religions attest this; nor has the pure faith of Christ escaped from the pollution. This "pride of life," one of the most specious and deadly forms of ambition, has in all ages infected the church of the living God. Per

sons there have been at all times, and still are, who with the Pharisee mentioned in the Gospel, thank God that they are not as other men are. There are but too many

who know not that they are "poor, and miserable, and wretched, and blind, and naked," but who on the contrary assume that they are "rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing." Their supposed good works, their zeal for God, their invocations of his name, their devotion to his service, stands them in lieu of the righteousness of God their Saviour. Of the "righteousness which is of God by faith," they are ignorant. Therefore whilst they appear zealously affected towards God and his law, and their abstinence and sanctity is apparent to all natural men, the enlightened believer who tries them in the balance of the sanctuary, finds them wanting, and discovers that the pride of life” prevents them from submitting to the righteousness of God, and hinders them from gladly accepting from Jesus that holiness which he has been made unto his people: the Father's decree, -"that he that glorieth should 'glory only in the Lord," (1 Cor. i. 31.) being altogether overlooked by these self-seeking men.

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"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." The apostle now enforces his admonition to believers, not to love the world nor the things that are in the world, with an observation upon their fleeting nature. And we may notice that he not only declares that the world itself passes away, but also "the lust thereof." So that even whilst the same earthly things may remain to be enjoyed, man's relish for them fades away, and he no longer covets the same pleasures which he before desired. The objects that he overvalued yesterday, will not satisfy him to-day, and the idols of to-day shall

be loathed to-morrow,-" The lust thereof passeth away." But our divinely-instructed teacher is not satisfied with noticing the brevity of earthly things, and the transient nature of man's lusts, as a reason why believers should refrain from an over-estimation of the things that perish in the using; he also contrasts the fleeting life of sense, with the imperishable life enjoyed by those who do the will of God. Nor is it in general of much use to advert to the brevity of life and fading nature of earthly things, except in the connexion observed by our apostle. Many sublime essays have been written, and discourses of powerful eloquence delivered, on the topic of life's brevity and vanity. But the readers and hearers of such discourses, whilst assenting to the truth of the statement, have remained as worldly-minded as before. And for this reason :-The love of the world is only to be expelled by some other love, and it is in vain that moralists declaim against the perishable joys that nature values, whilst they are not able to impart the knowledge of a more noble and enduring life. Now this knowledge is only supplied by the revelation of that Gospel which brings life and immortality to light. And here is the true and only cure for worldly-mindedness, viz. the discovery made by faith, that in Christ we possess the promise of eternal glory: this is the only effectual antidote for that deeply-rooted disease; that even now, Jesus manifests himself as the portion of our souls, causing us to esteem all things but loss, so that we may win Him, and be found in Him. For how vain do earthly things appear to the man in whose heart Christ is revealed by faith! How poor the joys of time, to him who rejoices in the Lord with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. The honours, the ambition, the pride of life cannot seduce the soul, that is already by faith