unalloyed approval, is his moral worth, his unaffected humility before God, his upright and conscientious fulfilment of all his relations, as a man, a husband, a father, a monarch, and Christian. Even the memory of the just is blessed, and shall not the just be blessed too-blessed beyond the power of man to describe or conceive?O then be persuaded to anticipate the time, when another generation shall think of you, as you think of those that are departed; when that which now engrosses so many minds shall be a dream of the past; when sovereign and magistrate and people shall be fixed in their eternal, their unchangeable state; when it shall be all in all to them whether they "knew God;" whether they were "upright in heart;" whether He was "the strength of their heart and their portion for ever." And O! that God in his boundless mercy may grant, that not one of us here assembled, may die without a lively spiritual interest in that most expressive prayer of the Psalmist-"O continue thy loving-kindness to them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart."

SERMON VII.

LYING FORBIDDEN, AS A PART OF THE OLD

MAN.

COL. III, 9, 10.

"Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

THE scriptures are a perfect system of religion, not only as to the doctrines which they teach, but as to the duties which they enjoin: not only do they enlighten and elevate our faith, but they direct and control our practice. As there is no doctrine essential to belief which they do not comprehend, so there is no duty conducive to holiness which they do not inculcate; the most seemingly trivial (if indeed duty ever can seem trivial) is included in their instructions, as well as the most important. Nor do they appear less care

fully to regulate our ordinary intercourse with the world, than our private and devotional communion with God. Indeed, there is no imaginable condition or circumstance, for which a conscientious reader of the scriptures would not be prepared; since however perplexed, however obscure the direction in which the path of duty may appear to lead, he has only to refer to the map which is traced in scripture for his guidance, and he will find it clearly developed there. Never can that man act erroneously, who refers for direction to the volume of eternal truth, and is content to walk in the way of God, without a prepossession in favour of his own.

I may perhaps be asked for the proof of this assertion: I would reply, that the text, among many other passages, is one to which I may confidently refer; for the duty of which it forbids the violation, is one of universal interest and expedience, and at the same time one of daily practice. Society is held together by truth. Without this, how could the master depend upon his servant, or the servant rely upon his master; how could children confide in their parents, or parents trust their children? Nay, how could the common intercourse of friend with friend, neighbour with neighbour, be conducted? Even a society of villains and of reprobates would be necessitated

to speak truth to each other, though they should lie to the rest of mankind: and it is no wonder therefore, that a moral obligation so vital to the interests of man, should be noted with peculiar emphasis, and enforced with reiterated sanctions, in the code of a Divine Lawgiver. For "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable, not only for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, but for instruction in practical righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." I propose then to consider

I. THE DUTY ITSELF. "Lie not one to another."

II. THE MOTIVE WHICH SHOULD IMPEL US TO THE PERFORMANCE OF IT-"Seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

I. The DUTY in this case, as in many others, is implied in a prohibition. If when the Apostle says, "lie not one to another," he does not mean that men are to refrain from all intercourse whatever, which no one I think will pretend to assert; he says virtually, Let all your intercourse with society or with individuals be controlled and characterized by truth; as it is well expressed in Ephe

sians iv, 25,-"Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour." Now if a lie is to be defined, that which is spoken with an intention to mislead, truth will be best characterized as that which is spoken with an honest and upright intention, according to the knowledge and belief of the speaker; and, by consequence, that which is literally true may be substantially false, and that which is false in terms may be true in design. But I will proceed to specify the various kinds of lying in too frequent practice among men; and I shall, I think, be able to prove, that truth and falsehood consist in the motive rather than in the words; in the design and intention of the speaker, rather than in the language by which they are conveyed.

I will observe in commencing, that the injunction is explicit and positive. "lie not one to

another." No circumstances, no difficulties whatever can excuse a deviation from truth. Perfection, it is well known, so far as the term can be applied to man, denotes an approximation to the Divine nature: they are nearest to it who strive to be "perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect;" and if it be impossible for God to lie, it should, to say the least, be both rare and difficult for his servants. Thus, persons who would be arrayed in that Christian panoply so beautifully