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cheat, and swindle with the worst, is not the fear of displeasing a good GOD, Who has done so much for us, and cannot bear to look upon such things, but the fear of losing our character in a world that does not like to be robbed, and pilfered, and swindled, and cheated, and therefore has determined to consider these things disgraceful.

Now take the case of a bargain; the world smiles upon a sharp bargainer, cannot exactly make up its mind to approve indeed, but considers him clever, while GoD says we are not to defraud or go beyond one another in any matter. How have we acted in such transactions ourselves? have we concealed defects, or exaggerated good points in our bargains beyond what we knew to be the truth? have we taken advantage of other people's ignorance or inexperience? because if we have it is not the word of GOD that has stopped us in this instance, and from this we may make a pretty good guess that it is not the word of God that has stopped us from breaking the Commandment in every other particular.

This is the meaning of judging ourselves; it is of no great use, particularly in such Commandments as the Eighth, to judge ourselves as to whether we have or have not done any particular thing; the point to which we should direct our attention is, what has kept us from doing it, or what has urged us to do it. It is of no use to judge ourselves in one fashion, when the judgment of the last day will be in another; and it is quite possible to imagine a case in which a man's honesty, as the world calls honesty, has been the cause of his final damnation; worldly honesty is often a temptation and a snare, it prevents a man from seeing his own wickedness, it prevents him from being frightened, it prevents him from repenting, it prevents him from being saved, and all the while it is no real virtue, it has nothing to do with religion and GOD's Commandments; he is honest because public opinion says it is a shame to be a thief, and he is proud that no one can bring this against him. In this one virtue it is for the praise of man he is working, and perhaps he gets it; people say, Well, whatever his faults were, he was an honest worthy man, and gave every one their due. He has got all that

OF JUDGING CORRECTLY.

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he ever tried for, and reaps his full reward. And what then? what will it profit him, when God asks him, what have you done for My sake? what have you done because I commanded it? what have you done to show your gratitude to Me, and your love to your SAVIOUR? You have worked hard for the praise of men, and for their sake have withstood many temptations. Well, you have what you worked for; men do think well of you. Is there anything more that you desire? have you tried for anything more?

Now no one can say but that this is a danger, and that the man has been led into it by thinking of his own honesty. If he would really like to try his own honesty, and whether it is keeping the Eighth Commandment of GOD, or keeping some commandment of men, let him examine himself and his honesty by the rule of God's Commandments, and ask himself some such questions as these which I now give you to take home with

you.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

1. I thank my GOD that I have never robbed any body, and that I have never stolen any thing; I thank my GOD that I should consider doing so, mean and unbecoming my character; but is this horror that I have of stealing respect to GoD or respect to man? I shall be able to know this certainly by asking myself whether I consider it a greater crime to steal to a large amount, or to steal some trifle that will never be missed, because men think the one greater than the other, but Gop says, Thou shalt not steal at all.

2. But if I have never been guilty of downright stealing, have I never stolen indirectly?

3. Have I ever taken advantage of my neighbour's necessities, to obtain some article of his below its real value? which is extortion.

4. Have I ever brought on him an unjust lawsuit, or by taking advantage of some mistake in the law, forced one on him? which is litigiousness.

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5. Have I ever tempted him to risk his property on chance? which is gambling.

6. Have I ever in selling concealed the defects of my own goods, and in buying cried down the value of my neighbours'? which is lying as well as stealing.

7. Have I ever borrowed or run in debt, knowing all the time that I could not pay? this is also lying as well as stealing.

8. If I have hitherto thought but little upon these things, is it not that I have never tried my keeping of the Eighth Commandment by our SAVIOUR's general rule-Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?

9. Have I ever allowed myself to indulge in any particular description of dishonesty, because public opinion is not so much against it as it is against other stealing? for instance, have I thought little of poaching, or smuggling, not considering that God makes no difference how I take from my neighbour, nor whether I steal from one man or from the nation?

10. Have I ever considered how unprofitable it was to break the Commandment, that I cannot be saved without repentance, that repentance requires me to give back what I took? have I considered then how useless and foolish it is to take my neighbour's goods in any way, if in order to be saved I must first give them back again?

11. Have I ever thought that when I plead poverty as an excuse for dishonesty I must plead faithlessness also, for that God has told me in so many words (Ps. xxxvii. 3,) that they who trust in Him and do good, shall certainly have bread to eat? Have I ever considered that doubting this is doubting His truth?

This is the way in which we have to examine ourselves upon the Eighth Commandment, and when we have done so with prayer and watchfulness, I doubt much whether most of us will not have to pray GoD to have mercy on them for having broken it, rather than to thank GOD for grace enabling them to keep it. I doubt much whether those who have kept it will be able quite to satisfy their consciences that it was GOD they were obeying, and not the world?

But I am quite sure that all should distrust themselves, and their own strength to keep it, and whether their station in life be high or low, should join with one accord in the prayer, "Incline our hearts to keep this law."

LECTURE X.

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT.

If we were to examine ourselves strictly and honestly, tracing our sins to their first causes, as indeed we must learn to do if we want to get rid of them at all—I think we should find selfishness to be at the bottom of every one of them. Selfishness is not exactly the word either, it does not quite express my meaning, but it is as near as I can come to it. What I mean is, putting SELF forward, so as to make it the first thing in our thoughts-what we like, or what we hate, or what we choose, or what we do not choose, till at last, instead of being the first thing in our thoughts, it comes to be the only thing in our thoughts, and we end in regarding nothing but self.

With regard to the Commandments of the first table, this is clear enough, if we break the three first, it is by taking something that we choose, whether it be our pleasure, or our gain, or our own fancy of what GOD and His Church ought to be, instead of what God has revealed, and thus making a god of our own imagination. As for breaking the Fourth Commandment, there can be no mistake about that being a preference of ourselves to GOD, for GOD Himself calls it taking our pleasure on His holiday. This is no less true when we come to the Commandments of the second table; but in none of them all is it so remarkable as in the Ninth, which, at first sight, seems to have little or nothing to do with it.

Let us see how this is.

There is nothing, you all know, that flies so fast as any little story to the disadvantage of our neighbour. Every

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body is eager to tell it; everybody is ready to listen to it; and I am sorry to say, everybody that hands it on is ready to add a little, so that when it comes round to its first authors, they would hardly know their own story. But may not this be the simple pleasure of talking? That will not account for it-for a story to the advantage of our neighbour, some good deed that he has done, some act of piety, or self-denial, ought to fly just as fast, and just as far, as if a love of talking were the true cause; but it does not, you know it does not.

Now, this repeating stories to the disadvantage of our neighbour is the most usual way of breaking the Ninth Commandment that there is. No doubt bearing false witness against him in a court of justice is the direct way of breaking it, just as killing a man is the direct way of breaking the Sixth. But as we, who live under a spiritual rule, know that there are many ways of breaking the Sixth Commandment without at all breaking the laws of the land, so we may form a very good idea that there may be ways of breaking the Ninth without ever going near a court of justice.

But where is the temptation? Why are we not as fond of speaking good of our neighbour, which we may do without offending GOD, as we are of speaking ill of him, which we can hardly do without breaking the Commandments? I am not now speaking of quarrels and of the idle and wicked things people say of one another while they are angry; beyond a doubt it does happen sometimes that people spread malicious stories about their neighbours because they have a grudge against them and wish to hurt them; but this, though certainly coming within the condemnation of the Ninth Commandment, inasmuch as it is bearing false witness, I should rather speak of under the head of the Sixth, because it is hurting and injuring our neighbour maliciously, and I think the Ninth is intended for cases in which there is hurt, no doubt, but no malice whatever. Strange as it may seem, these are by far the most numerous cases of evil speaking that

come before us.

Now, how can repeating stories that injure a neighbour