nor Pharisaical hypocrisy will stand before God; that to be His we must abhor all evil, open or concealed. The means of carrying on this eternally purposed work of salvation for ourselves are in all our hands. He has not begun a work which He will not continue, and enable us to join in, continuing under His Grace.

Press forward then in your Christian course. Feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; take in and clothe the naked stranger; visit the sick; and with your alms let your prayers and your thanksgivings go up for a memorial before GOD. Not that when you have done all you can possibly have done anything beyond or above your duty, probably you will have done much less; but these things you are to do because your LORD will have them at your hand, for thus He wills that you should fulfil all His righteousness. Thus will you carry on the last great work of GOD, known to HIM from the beginning of the world, and will meet Death in obedience, and your LORD in

peace.

SERMON XII.

GOD'S MARKING OF INIQUITIES.

PSALM CXXX. 3, 4. (Bible version.)

If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.

THESE ȧre the thoughts of David after he

has prayed to GOD, LORD, hear my

voice let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications," and they seem to be the reason, as it were, for which David asked of GOD, that "His ear should be attentive"-as if he had said, "LORD, hear my voice, although I have sinned, and let not my sin stand in the way of the acceptance of my prayer by Thee," for, "if THOU, LORD shouldest mark iniquities, O LORD who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with THEE, that THOU mayest be feared."

If then, David, who we know was a chosen servant of GOD, and lived usually in obedience to His will, had still, in spite of all the privileges which he enjoyed from the favour of GOD, occasion to have such thoughts as these, we may be quite sure that we, with all our advantages of living under the dispensation of CHRIST, have great occasion to have them too, and to have them constantly: for who is there among us who should stand if the LORD were to mark our iniquities, to punish them all according as they deserved.

Some, however, may think that if GoD should mark their iniquities, they would, nevertheless, be able to stand; that is, be able to bear the enquiry, and excuse them : and others may perhaps go so far as to say that if GOD were to mark their conduct, He would find no iniquity, and that as He does mark all that passes in the world, and therefore their lives and conduct too, so HE whose eyes are purer than to behold iniquity without anger, can see none in them.

There is a third sort of people, namely those who do not think of the matter one way or the other: that is, do not trouble themselves to consider whether GOD marks their conduct or not, at all these of course, do not concern themselves much as to whether there are many iniquities in it or few, or whether they can stand before GOD or not but however, they do, for all this, put themselves really in the same situation with one or other of those sets of persons just mentioned to you, namely those who think they can excuse their iniquities, or those who think they have none to excuse.

All are equally wrong, and, for anything we know, equally far from GOD: being in the same mistake, of not knowing the sinfulness of their own hearts.

Now, if we reflect upon the words of the text, we shall see that David knew the hearts of men, when he thus spoke and that from having long accustomed himself to search his own, he was able to foretel what would be the state of the hearts of men through all the time of the world.

Is there then any day on which we can truly say or think, as we shall one day have to think at the day of judgment, that we have sinned neither against God nor man, but have fulfilled all the law, both towards GoD and our neighbour, and therefore also towards ourselves?

I am sure we must with one accord, say that we know there never has been such a day in our lives, and that we cannot let ourselves hope there ever will be while we are in the body on earth.

For if God is to be served in spirit and in truth, that is by the giving up to him, not our actions only, but our motives, as for example, not doing a thing we think right, because we have any other reason, but because we would please GOD; if GOD is thus to be served, think how many of those things which are called good, must look very differently in the eyes of HIM who can, if He will, mark our iniquities.

Your service to GoD here, for instance, is a thing good in itself, and necessary,