to the business of this place. For although much might be said respecting strange conceits in matters of faith; although there are, it is well known, in this country, as well as in others, a few individuals who think themselves at liberty to select out of the Gospel, for their creed, just what happens to suit their particular humour or caprice, and to reject all the rest, and may therefore very justly be said to "halt between two opi"nions;" yet the number of these persons is so inconsiderable, and the reception their tenets meet with is so very unpromising, that to bestow much of our attention upon them, would be a very needless waste of time. Much less can it be necessary to enter here into any confutation of their fanciful opinions. They have been confuted, most effectually confuted, above seventeen hundred years ago, and that, too, by a book which is, or ought to be, in the hands of every Christian; I mean the Bible. Every page of that sacred volume bears testimony against them; and it is utterly impossible for any man of a plain understanding, and of an unprejudiced mind, to look into the Gospel without perceiving, that all those

great and important doctrines, which our philosophic Christians are pleased to reject (and which, in fact, amount to almost every peculiar doctrine of the Gospel, except that of the resurrection) are taught and repeatedly inculcated in the sacred writings, in terms as clear, explicit, and unequivocal, as it is in the power of language to express. They are, in fact, so interwoven with the very frame and constitution, with the entire substance and essence of Christianity, that they must stand or fall together. They are found in the same Gospel, and are intimately blended and incorporated with those moral precepts, and those evidences of a resurrection and a future state, which are on all sides allowed to be divine; and there is no such thing as separating them from each other, no such thing as dissolving the connection between them, without undermining the whole fabric of Christianity, and defeating the chief purposes for which Christ came into the world.

Let no one, then, that professes himself a disciple of Christ, ever be induced to fluctuate thus between two systems. Let him never listen to any such deceitful terms of

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accommodation with "the vain philosophy "of this world," nor suffer himself to be led away by the delusions of science, falsely "so called." Let him never consent to maim and mutilate that complete and perfect body of Christian doctrine, which “is "so fitly framed together, and compacted

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by that which every joint supplieth,” that to take away any one member, is to destroy the beauty, strength, and stability of the whole.

Thus much may suffice at present for those who, in the language of the text, may be said to halt between two opinions, between the Religion of nature and the Religion of Christ. I now hasten to that which is the principal object of this discourse, the practical inconsistencies with which some men are chargeable. For, among the professors of our faith, there are too many, who, though their speculative opinions may be right and uniform, yet in their practice halt between two opposite modes of conduct, and endeavour to serve at the same time two masters, God and Mammon.

I say nothing here of those who are professedly men of the world, who disclaim all

belief in the doctrines of the Gospel, and all obedience to its laws. These men have taken their part, have adopted a system. A miserable one, indeed, it is; but it is, however, a decided one; and whatever other guilt they may be chargeable with, inconsistence certainly is not one of their faults.

In this respect the children of this world are in their generation commonly wiser than the children of light, among whom, unfortunately, the same undeviating uniformity of conduct is not often to be found. Of those who acknowledge Christ to be their lord and master, how few are there that adhere to him invariably throughout, without ever revolting from their allegiance, and devoting themselves to another sovereign, "the "prince of this world!"

One man finding it said in Scripture, that charity shall cover a multitude of sins, without ever once giving himself the trouble to examine into the true meaning of that doubtful expression, takes refuge under the letter of it, and on the strength of a little ostentatious generosity, indulges every irregular passion without controul, and fan

cies himself all the while a serious, sober. Christian.

A second, rather shocked at this, keeps clear of all gross and flagrant enormities; but hopes that a few secret and less presumptuous sins will be easily forgiven him.

A third, still more modest and more scrupulous, contents himself with one favourite vice, and makes not the least doubt but that his exact observance of the divine law, in other respects, will amply atone for his failure in this single instance.

A fourth advances one step further than this; he indulges himself in no gratification that seems to deserve the name of sin; but, at the same time, allows the gaieties, the amusement, the business or the cares of life, to take entire possession of his soul, to shut out, in a great measure, all thoughts of God and Religion, and steal away his affections from Heaven and heavenly things.

Lastly; there is another class of men who are irreproachable in their morals, and sufficiently temperate, perhaps, in their pursuits of business or of amusement, but yet fall short of that steady and affectionate attachment to their divine Master, which his Re