How wretched, then, do you appear, unhappy man, in your lamentable self-deceit! You imagine that if you have not been adorned with conspicuous virtue, you are yet free from heavy sin. Behold! your thousand omissions of good are your thousand sins, which call you to certain judgment. The awful hour will one day come, when you will tremble at your indifference to the countless good works, which you have suffered to remain undone. For indifference towards a virtue which we can practise, is indifference towards the Eternal who shall judge us-is indifference towards the Most Holy. Every opportunity for good which is set before us, is like an invitation of God to our hearts to consecrate that act to Him-it is the prayer of our good Angel that we should become more holy.

And how can I stand, then, Heavenly Father, in Thy glorious presence? Alas! if my days and hours be reckoned to me, and the sum of my good deeds drawn up beside them, how shall I abide it? However great Thy mercy may be, what claims or hopes can I have in a blessed eternity, in a more perfect state, when I have so often forfeited them by negligence and perverseness?

I acknowledge my weakness and my guilt before Thee. Yes, I am a sinner, a far greater sinner than I have hitherto imagined myself to be. My

omissions are my transgressions-these press upon me, and I cannot justify them in Thy sight.

Nevertheless, I still live! O God, merciful God! Thy long-suffering has not yet deserted me-unworthy as I am. I yet live! There is yet a series of days before me which I may spend in more than fruitless repentance, in which I may shew the power of a more virtuous, a more acceptable disposition. I live still-and look forward with joy to the moments which will give me an opportunity for thoughts, words, and deeds, that may contribute to the general happiness of my fellow-creatures. O Father, Thou demandest nothing which exceeds the power of Thy children! Why should I not do willingly all that I am capable of doing? O most merciful Father, forgive my omissions-FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES. Amen.

XIII.

APPEARANCE AND REALITY.

46

JAMES ii. 1-4.

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment ; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"

GOD is Supreme Wisdom! So we hear,—so we read, often without having any distinct idea of what, properly speaking, we are to understand by Supreme Wisdom.

God is Supreme Wisdom-but man should be the wisest among the creatures of God on earth. To this end has the Creator endowed us with the gift of reason. For this has divine revelation been given to the world by the mouth of the inspired messengers of Heaven. For this did God make Himself known to man by Jesus Christ.

And who then is a truly wise man! The Christian should be one. Ah! but is every Christian a wise man? Wherefore is he not?

What is the substance of wisdom? It is the clear knowledge of the true, the good, and the becoming -it is the absence of all illusion, of all self-deceit, respecting the affairs of life.

The opposite to wisdom is folly; and folly judges not of things according to what they are, that is, according to their reality, but allows itself to be blinded by their appearance. It permits itself to be misled by the outside of objects, and regards them as something different from what they are in point of fact. Hence is the old man commonly wiser than the inexperienced youth-the aged mother, than the daughter who is unacquainted with the world. Age is taught by experience, is brought through the school of error to a knowledge of the truth, and is preserved from many an illusion by repeated trial.

The fool estimates the worth of an individual only by his clothes, by his fortune, or by his office. The wise man values not any one by his externals; but by his principles, his intelligence, and his actions. The fool considers him a pious Christian who diligently attends the house of God, and assumes the modest outward appearance of a religious person,

who is accustomed to say prayers which he has learnt by heart,-who often reads in the Bible or some other serious book, and abstains from noisy pleasures. The wise man deems only him a Christian, who in all his thoughts and actions is full of charity; who aids and assists wherever he can; injures no one; and thus, as it were, lives only in love that is-in God. 66 By their fruits shall ye

know them!"

God is Supreme Wisdom. He cannot be deceived or blinded by any outward appearance. He knows the true worth of all things animate and inanimate. Before Him there is no respect of persons. In the balance of His justice the regal sceptre and the beggar's staff are of equal weight. In His eyes that which is accidental is not regarded as essential.

But mortals, here below, long wander under the influence of illusion. It is the endeavour of every man to appear better than he is. He deceives others by this simulation. We know not what men are, but only what they appear to be. We bow before error, instead of truth. We consider only accidental, secondary qualities, instead of the main properties beneath them. We stand before painted sepulchres, but we see not the corruption and rottenness within.

The more justly a man appreciates people and