the parliament, and on the statute book. It may be written upon the press; or rather, which is still better, it may be engraved by the Spirit of God upon each individual heart, "Thou God seest me."

In the next place, be a Christian, then you never can be a hypocrite. Seek the Holy Spirit to make you Christians; and you never can consent to be Pharisees. What is wanted is not a pure creed, nor mere orthodox preaching, precious as these are in their place, but it is life. The great want of the age is not liberty, nor change of sect, nor change of form, nor change of party; but the great want is life. The gospel is divine life, not simply an orthodox creed. There is plenty of theology among us; there is but too little of religion. There is abundance of light, but deficiency of life in the midst of us.

Lastly, bear this in your recollection: no outward act can ever compensate for deficiency of inward purity. Begin always at the centre, and work toward the circumference. Get the process of reform in the individual heart, and it will soon embrace church and state together. Let us lay one brick upon earth, rather than build a thousand castles in the air. Let us present to our country, and to our God, one sanctified heart, and we shall have done more than if we had written a thousand pamphlets, and made a thousand speeches, for reform in church and state. Never forget that each Christian is a contribution to the strength, the stability, the grandeur, the beauty of the empire in which he lives. This great change that we need, no sacrament can make, no rite or ceremony can produce. We can only be justified by the righteousness of Jesus- -a righteousness without us, and sanctified by the Spirit of Jesus—a righteousness within us; and if so justified and so sanctified, the pride of the Pharisee will give place to the humility of the publican, and we shall enjoy the repose

and peace of the true Christian. Let the open brow of the preacher be his noblest mitre; let his faithful preaching be his illuminated text. Let a holy life in every one be his broad and best phylactery. Let us feel that our temple is all space, that our ritual is holy action, that our worship is not form nor ceremony, but spirit and truth; and that the holiest chancel that God dwells in, is the chancel of a sanctified and holy heart.

So shall we realize within us that pure worship, and those holy worshippers, who shall crowd the millennial temples, and adore and worship purely and perpetually in the presence of God and the Lamb.

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LECTURE XIII.

THE TWO WORSHIPPERS.

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.-LUKE Xviii. 10-14.

IN In my last I endeavoured to depict the character of the Pharisee. I stated that two men go into the same sanctuary, with different characters, different motives, different designs. The one that is the least dutiful before man, may seem the most so before God; and the one who has least to catch the admiration of the crowd, may have in his heart that which conciliates the approval of God.

Two classes come to every congregation; one, like the Pharisee, to parade its excellencies, and to glory in them; the other, like the publican, to enumerate its sins, and to seek forgiveness for them.

We read that the Pharisee, when he prayed, stood and prayed thus with himself. I mentioned to you that “with himself" belongs to standing, and not to praying. It does not mean that he prayed secretly to himself, but that he stood separate, alone, and distinct by himself, in order that nobody might fail to see him, and prayed aloud in the words which are here recorded. I mentioned this as one of the

characteristics of the Pharisees: they did all their good deeds-if such they were-to be seen of men; they prided themselves upon their holiness; they said, to every one else, "Stand aside. Don't touch me; I am holier than thou." This man, when he prayed, prayed—and here is the point of contrast with the character in which the publican prayed -simply as a Pharisee. He insisted upon being saved as a Pharisee, or not being saved at all. He required to be borne to heaven with his phylactery wrapped around him, or he would rather remain upon the earth. Like many other persons still: one will be saved only as a man of genius; another will be saved as a man of rank; another as a rich man. God will not save you as rich, renowned, or wise; he will save you simply as sinners. We must approach God not with the learning of the scholar, or with the robe of the Pharisee, or with pretensions of any class or condition whatever. We must approach him as sinners, or he will not treat or deal with us at all.

The Pharisee thanked God; he began his prayer with thanksgiving. There was nothing wrong in that, though it seems more appropriate in the sinner to begin with confession. He thanked God he was not as other men. Here his character broke out. He drew a comparison, not between himself and God's holy will, which would have humbled him, but he measured himself by other men, which, with the selfish admiration peculiar to the sect, made his own excellencies resplendent by contrast with their defects; and in order that the picture of himself might be perfectly luminous, he brings in the publican as the background on which to make himself stand forth rich in glory, and arrayed with every excellence: "or even as this publican."

Having thus stated, negatively, his character, he states what it is positively: "I fast twice in the week." God required him to fast only once a year, but the Pharisee

argued, "If fasting be so good that God requires it once a year, I will fast twice a week. I will thus have a claim upon God; I will put God in my books; he shall be debtor, and I am determined to be creditor." Here is the secret peril of too much ceremony. It is very easy to pay God double the ceremony that he requires, but you never can pay God up to the morality that he requires. Hence it happens that when a man has exceeded God's requirement in his ceremonial doings, he becomes self-righteous, and fancies that he is spotless. Whereas God requires mercy rather than sacrifice, and a holy life in preference to a splendid ceremonial.

"I fast twice in the week." I explained what was the worth of fasting, and I told you that it generally happens that the advocates of fasting in the seasons which are, as they say, canonical, are the greatest patrons of feasting in the seasons which they chalk off and pronounce to be their own. Fasting and feasting, Carnival and Lent, interchange, and act, and react against each other; whereas it seems to me, if fasting be conducive to our spiritual good, by all means fast, but if it be not so, then you are not called upon to fast. The fasting is for man, not man for the fasting. The proper course would be always to be temperate in all things, to let your moderation be known unto all men, and then there will be neither feasting nor fasting, but a sober, just, and righteous life.

Then he says also, "I give tithes of all that I possess." Here again he states his merit, as if God were his debtor. God required tithes only of great things; of the firstfruits of cattle, and the first-fruits of the. field; but he says, "I give tithes of all that I possess"-not so much for the maintenance of the temple, as for the explanation, and the expression of his own self-righteousness: "I give tithes of all that I possess.'

II. SER.

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