endless ages of eternity. These reflections are calculated to make humble, meek, and lowly every rational soul who has witnessed the advance of those who are actuated by an evil and wicked spirit in their progress to degradation. It was this malignant spirit which influenced Cain to murder his brother Abel ; and to this we may trace all the wicked actions which we find on the records of history. No matter what the situation of life may be of him who indulges it, so far as such a spirit prevails, it shows that murder, assassination, and the long catalogue of crimes is in their hearts. murder is in the soul of that man or woman who has the bitterness of feeling towards others of which I have spoken. Although they may possess the highest place in the Synagogue-although they be surrounded with the world's comforts and enjoy its honours, yet if they cherish this wicked spirit they are no better than the children of the Devil. Those who fill the highest stations in the Church are, often, of all others the most wicked, and the most difficult to reach. Such was the case of the Scribes and Pharisees spoken of. They no doubt thought that Jesus Christ was a dangerous Man. He introduced new doctrines calculated to overturn the settled order of things. His precepts were new and singular. Mo

ses they knew, and Jacob they knew, but who was he? They regarded him as one who was dangerous to them, and more especially as his doctrines struck at the root of their traditions. But they were hypocrites, of a sad countenance ; for they disfigured their faces that they might appear unto men to fast.

And this brings into view another testimony, which is the great and false profession of those who have the form without the power of godliness. O that cursed propensity of man to pride and bitterness of spirit towards his fellow beings, which is nevertheless indulged under the profession of godliness! Bear with me, my friends, I feel different from what I did when I came into this house. I have entertained no feeling of bitterness towards any person, nor have I had any sentiments like the present on my mind for several weeks past. Yet I do not wish to distinguish myself from others. I wish to enter into the same search relative to my own heart, which I recommend to you-lest I also become a castaway. And I call upon you, my friends, to assist me in this search, with supplication and prayer. It is deeply interesting to us all. But O the dreadful consequences which must ensue from pride and ambition! We are all prone to be led astray by them, even those who have been met

by the spirit of God.

it is for those to fall

And what an awful thing away and crucify Christ afresh, who have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall. The Scribes and Pharisees thought in their persecution of Christ that they were only engaged in preserving their doctrine pure, and clean. They wished to keep what they considered a pure ministry, free from the innovations which our Saviour was about to introduce. They claimed an exclusive right thereto, and regarded the doctrines of Jesus as subversive of their established rights and principles. But they knew not themselves, and hence they were called serpents; a generation of vipers.

But let us leave the days of the Scribes and Pharisees, and pass down the stream of time, and see how it was with the professors of Christianity about the second and third century. How was it in the times of the successors of the Apostles? Did they not do the same acts for which they condemned others. They said "had we been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." We would not have crucified the Son of God. But they became "witnesses unto themselves that they were children of them that killed the prophets," for they fell into the

same course of conduct with the Scribes and Pharisees, and became as serpents and vipers, who could with difficulty escape the damnation of hell. They excited wars, and tumults, and persecutions against all those who rose up to defend the truth as it is in Christ Jesus; some they threw into prison, and others were tortured and slain. They showed that they were of the same generation of vipers for when they got the secular power they denounced, as guilty of heresy, all who differed from them in opinion. Like causes under similar circumstances will always produce the like effects. The bitter persecuting spirit flew like wildfire, and the true church was compelled to flee into the wilderness. A remnant like the seven thousand in the days of Elijah yet bore testimony to the truth. And such has been the course of events in later ages. Every generation says, if we had lived in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

But leaving the night of the Apostacy, let us come down to the morning of the reformation. What was then the doctrine? Those who doubted the infallibility of the possessors of ecclesiastical power were called heretics, and persecuted even unto strange cities. Some of them sealed their testimony to the truth with their blood. But when

they in their turn attained the ascendency, they came round and became persecutors. When they came into a state of ease and got into the possession of secular power they were ready to commence the same kind of persecution by which they had been oppressed. They reasoned in the same way as the Scribes and Pharisees. They said had we lived in the days of our fathers we would not have slain the prophets. Yet how was it with John Calvin, and how little did that talented man know himself! Influenced by a bitter and malignant enthusiasm, he laid hold on Michael Servetus, a Swedish physician and brought him to an untimely end, only because he differed from himself in opinion. Be not deceived, little children; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, and he that committeth sin is of the devil, and all the wickedness of the world has its source in that vortex of evil.

But let us pursue the subject farther. How was it with the early settlers of this continent? They were oppressed by the rigour of church goverment in their own country, and fled for an asylum to the wilderness. Here they found it. They doubtless reasoned like Calvin in the days of Servetus, and said if they had been in the days of their fathers they would not have been partakers of the blood of the prophets. Yet they had hardly become quieted in the possession of this