the carnal heart. This was the religion of the inpenitent Israelites. At the time of their deliverance from the house of bondage, and in view of the miracles both of mercy and judgment which had been wrought in their behalf, they sang the memorable "song of Moses," on the banks of the Red Sea. But how soon do you find them murmuring at the waters of Marah, and in the wilderness of Sin! The same scene, only in more awful colours, was again exhibited at the foot of Sinai. God appeared in all the greatness of his majesty. And when the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. Sad reverse! Scarcely forty days had elapsed, than the very land that just beheld Jehovah descending in the cloud, and that trembled at the voice of his thunder, saw the golden calf an idol, and heard the heathenish acclamation-These be thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt! The same scene, though in more awful colours still, was exhibited in the streets of Jerusalem. sooner did the Jews behold the miracles, and

No

share in the favour of the promised Messiah, than

they overlooked all the humbling circumstances of his birth, and were anxious to make him their king. They followed him with Hosannahs; were impatient to see him enrobed with the badges of royalty, and seated upon the throne of David his father. But their attachment was soon put to a test which discovered its selfishness. They early found that the kingdom of the Messiah was a spiritual, and not a temporal kingdom. They soon learned, that he was not a Jew, who was one outwardly; and that if they would be the subjects of his kingdom, they must become new creatures ; must relinquish their attachment to the world; must deny themselves and take up the cross; must become holy in heart and in life; not too proud to relish the humbling religion of a crucified Saviour, nor too righteous to submit to the righteousness of God. Their hopes of individual grandeur and national glory, therefore, withered in the bloom. The promised Messiah became the object of neglect and malignity. No longer did they follow him with acclamations of praise; but with the hiss of derision and the finger of scorn. No longer did their zeal prompt the cry, Hosannah to the Son of David! but their disappointed and infuriate selfishness, instigated the malignant shout, Crucify, Crucify! Such is the religion of

sinners. Sinners, saith the Saviour, love those who love them. Ye seek me, said Christ, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

Far be it from me to say, or to believe, that all those who inculcate this kind of religion, are to be ranked among the hypocrite and the self-deceived. We believe many of them to be Christians. The religion which they possess is better than that which they teach. Still, we do not hesitate to say, that those who have no other religion, have none at all that will stand the ordeal of the Last Day. A deceived heart hath turned them aside.

On what is such religion founded? There is nc supreme attachment to the excellency of the divine character, to the holiness of the divine law, or to the perfection of the divine government. There is no supreme delight in the glory of the Gospel, for its own inherent excellence. On what then is such religion founded? Simply on the assumption, alike dishonourable to God, and destructive to the souls of men, that there is, and there can be no loveliness in the divine nature, no glory in the divine perfections, but what results from God's particular love to them, and His

designs to save them. A principle so reproachful to the character of the Deity; so reproachful to the cross of Christ; and so destructive to the souls of men; has made many a man an enthusiast, and a hypocrite; but never yet made one an humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. After all the glosses that can be put upon it, the amount of this principle is just this, ASSURE ME OF MY SALVATION, AND THE GOD OF HEAVEN IS AMIABLE AND GLORIOUS: DEPRIVE ME OF MY SALVATION, AND HE IS STRIPPED OF HIS LOVELINESS, AND DISROBED OF HIS GLORY! Reader, does this look like taking your place in the dust, and exalting God on the throne? Is this being reconciled to the character of God, or being supremely in love with yourself?

Though selfish piety is naturally blind to its own nature, yet the effect of this mercenary scheme is unequivocal. The grand sentiment of the system is, that it is a mark of genuine holiness to be very anxious about your own welfare, but to care very little for the honour and glory of God. It is therefore a system that is perfectly compatible with supreme selfishness; and therefore, perfectly compatible with total depravity. There is nothing in all this, with which the carnal mind is at enmity, If vital godliness consist in

such a system of views and feelings, there is no need of a radical change of heart. Let the veriest sinner on earth be persuaded that God loved him with an everlasting love, and from eternity designed to make him an heir of the heavenly inheritance; and his enmity will subside without any change of nature, any alteration in the moral disposition of the soul.

The presumption on which we have been animadverting, is one which any unrenewed man may cherish, who is under the delusion of Satan and his own wicked heart. It is easy to say, "Par"don is mine; grace is mine; Christ and all his

blessings are mine;-God has freely loved me; "Christ has graciously died for me; and the Holy "Ghost will assuredly sanctify me in the belief, the

appropriating belief, of these precious truths." It is no Herculean task, for a heated imagination and an unsanctified heart to make these discoveries. This is a kind of confidence which the subtle Deceiver is interested to flatter and strengthen, till the unhappy subject has lost his hold, and the Roaring Lion is sure of his prey. And the joys and sorrows, the zeal and engagedness, which spring from this delusion, form a kind. of religion, which the blindness and deceit, the