Thus Saul, with rebellion and envy in his heart, still addressed Samuel and David, and his own courtiers, in the forms of piety. Thus the Jews, in their most corrupt state, were accustomed to say, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we." They drew near to God with their mouths and honored him with their lips, but removed their heart far from him." They "called themselves by the name of Jacob, and stayed themselves upon the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness." They "came to the Prophet as God's people, and sat before him, and heard his words, but they would not do them." Thus Absalom disguised his rebellion and treason under the pretence of performing a vow in Hebron. The Pharisees also in our Lord's time "made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments, and prayed standing in the synnagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they might be seen of men." Herod "observed" John, and did many things and heard him gladly. Simon, the sorcerer, believed. Ananias and Sapphira, in compliance with the regulations of the church, sold the inheritance; and Judas betrayed his Master with the outward expression of affection and reverence.

And in our own times, and in a reformed Apostolical church, our simple, solemn, and edifying religious services, are frequently, it is to be feared, abused to the ends of self-righteousness and pride. This is not the fault of those formularics; it is the fault of human nature. Men by degrees thus pervert the offices of religion. They forget that mere bodily services are of no value in the sight of God, without the heart. They proceed in a routine of decent observances, whilst their affections are, in fact, riveted on the world, ambition, pleasure, gain. They are present when prayer is offered up, but they do not pray. They adopt the words of supplication, but neglect the spirit and feeling. They listen to the reading of God's word, but without any spiritual understanding. They admit the truths of Christianity, but without application or effect.

They attend on those duties on a part of a Sunday, but return to the pursuit of the world before the day is closed. Thus they have the form, but not the power of godliness.

And not having felt this power, they commonly next proceed to the depreciation of it. The natural enmity of the human mind to spiritual religion, is fostered by a mere observance of the

outward fashion of piety. An over-cager attention to the name, diverts the eye from the substance. They quite forget what religion is, and what it should do for them. Repentance for sin, contrition and humiliation, are disregarded. Faith in Christ as our alone righteousness, and love to him as our Divine Lord, are unknown. Spiritual affections, delight in prayer, watchfulness over the heart, the dread of sin, forgiveness of injuries, lowliness, mcckness, resignation, fear, are things strange and unwelcome; whilst vanity, dress, display, amusements, business, company, indolence, selfishness, pride, forgetfulness of God, and neglect of the Gospel, govern the heart, and govern it with more influence, because the form of godliness lulls to rest the ill-informed conscience.

From this state of mind the descent is easy, to the misrepresentation and abuse of the power of religion. I place these together, because it is commonly Satan's art first to maim, as it were, and disfigure the fair countenance of religion, and then to expose it to contempt and ridicule. Men, who extravagantly magnify the mere externals of religion, continually misrepresent really spiritual piety as fanaticism, scriptural holiness as unnecessary strictness, genuine love to God as enthusiasm, real obedience as severity. To increase the deformity of the picture, the failings of the good are zealously proclaimed, their mistakes exaggerated, their defects in human learning or ability detailed, the scandals occasioned by false professors of religion charged upon the whole body, and differences of sentiment on smaller points magnified into fundamental disagreements. Thus the power of religion being perpetually viewed through the medium of prejudice, is brought into contempt, and the form of it is almost exclusively regarded and followed.

An erroneous system of religious doctrine is frequently called in, to support this inefficacious semblance of picty. The fashionable errors of the day are usually sufficient for this purpose. Infidelity and Socinianism mislead some; but a low and false estimate of the great and genuine features of the Gospel betrays and ruins by far the greater number. Men learn to conceive lightly or falsely, of man's total fall and apostacy from God, of the Almighty operations of Divine grace, of the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, of justification by faith alone, of union with Christ, of deadness to the world, of devotedness to God, of

unreserved and consistent obedience to his commands. In the place of this, the notion of a remedial law, of meritorious conditions in the covenant of grace, of a double justification, of spiritual grace necessarily, uniformly, and almost exclusively conveyed in baptism, and in the Supper of the Lord, tends directly to depreciate the importance of real godliness, and to substitute merely human endeavors, a dead faith, a general and indefinite notion of a Saviour, the decent exterior of religion, a civil conduct in society, for the virtue, and life, and grace, and unction, and spirituality, of true unadulterated Christianity.

And now the formal worshiper is prepared to deny, as the text expresses it, the power of godliness. Many do this directly and absolutely. They contend against all real spiritual piety. They actually reject the whole system of instruction which is founded on the doctrine of the entire fall and corruption of our nature, and the necessity of a radical and universal change of heart and life. They sometimes proceed to an open opposition against these plain and essential truths, and those who sincerely and cordially receive them. In their families and neighborhoods, they mark with contempt, the individuals who maintain and exhibit the influence and force of Divine grace. So far as the laws of our land will allow it, they will even pursue the true Christian by direct ill offices and hostility. The semblance of religion which they preserve, and the exterior decency of their conduct, sustain them, in the mean time, in their error. They may conceive that they are doing God service. Their minds are made up. They have a scheme of doctrine of their own. Their standard is fixed. Their general society and habits, the natural hardness of the human heart, its alienation from the life of God, and the subtle malice of Satan, all conspire to lull them asleep in their dangerous security. The Holy Scriptures are read partially, and without fervent prayer for Divine illumination. The offices, and services, and articles, of our pure and Apostolical church are wrested from their obvious meaning, and made to do Thus an almost impreg

homage to the prejudices of the day. nable barrier is thrown around, and "the strong man armed," to adopt our Saviour's language, "keepeth his palace, and his goods are in peace."

When the evil does not proceed to this length, the formalist still denies practically, and virtually, the power of religion, which

he may have too much knowledge, or sense of truth, directly to oppose. His life refutes what his tongue may possibly express. He admits, perhaps, in words, the truth and excellency of sincere piety; but the language of his habitual conduct and temper is. 'I will not renounce the pleasures, and reputation of the world; I will not receive the humiliating doctrines of the utter inability of man, and of salvation by grace through faith in the death of Christ; I will not be taught and guided by the Holy Spirit; I will not submit myself to the laws of God.' These persons exemplify the practical denial of the real grace of God, and are contented to remain on the low level of merely human virtue. They may be amiable, but they are not religious; they may be sincere, but they are not enlightened; they may be engaging, but they are not spiritual; they may consent to serious statements of religion, but they do not feel them; they may talk, but they do not act; they may be moral and decent, free from licentious irregularities, and distinguished by a worldly moderation and temperance; but they are not holy, spiritual, zealous, and entirely devoted to God. They are deceiving themselves. They have no sufficient conviction of their sins. They are governed by a prevailing regard to the present life; are proud of their imagined attainments; and God and his supreme claim on their love are forgotten. The salt is without its savor; the lamp without its oil; the scaffolding without a building; the guest without the wedding garment; the body without a soul. It is not the living Christian, but a picture. It is not David, but an image and pillow of goat's hair. It is not wheat, but chaff; not inward purity, but "the washing of the outside of the cup and platter;" "the whited sepulchre;" a name to live whilst we are dead."

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The final tendency of this adherence to the mere semblance of piety, may be learned from the statements which introduce the text. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good; traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." How terrible a picture; and how calculated to inspire us with a dread of mere formality in religion! It is observable, that the enumeration begins with the vice of selfishness and ends with that of sensuality. This may possibly be designed to teach us that VOL. II.-69

men depart from God by "being lovers cf their own selves;" and terminates their apostacy by being "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;" whilst the vain appearances and decencies of religion are partly the cause and partly the effect of both. that this perilous state of lifeless conformity, trifling as the evil may at first appear, may reduce men at last to nearly the same condition as the unenlightened heathens. The list of their vices, as given us in the first chapter of the Romans, resembles in almost every particular, the one we have just recited, and seems to teach us that, if the power of religion be lost, all is lost; and that, whatever be the outward form of piety, the corrupt heart of man will gradually sink to the same abyss of disorder and immorality, from which the genuine doctrines of salvation, and the mighty grace of God attending them, alone can deliver it.

I proceed, then, in applying the subject, to address myself,

1st. To those who have too much reason to fear that they have the form of godliness without the power.

And here I would wish to speak with unfeigned respect and tenderness. I would address you with the most friendly intentions, and in accents of kindness and affection. I am far from imputing to you all the vices, which in some instances spring from a state of mind somewhat similar to your own. I am ready to acknowledge all the amiable and prepossessing qualities which may probably adorn your character. I admit the good effects of your moral and religious example on your neighborhood and dependents. I acknowledge your benevolence to the poor. I grant even that you are sincere in serving God according to your conscience. I will suppose further, that, from your education and circumstances, you may have seldom met with truly religious persons, or, as perhaps you might be inclined to call them, over-religious persons. All this I concede; and every measure of deference and regard which is due to your rank or reputation in society, I must cordially render to you. Nay, I allow you further, that the statements which I have been making in this discourse, are the statements of a minority of the community, and of a minority which you may have been taught to overlook. But allow me seriously to propose to you this plan question, Have you ever considered, as accountable creatures, The essential difference between the form and the power of Christianity? Have you ever thoroughly examined your heart and life as to this obvious and