We must guard ourselves, therefore, from any mis take upon this point: and must avoid the two extremes of shrinking from worldly notice and of forcing ourselves upon it. To withdraw altogether from human view is a mark of weakness or of a morbid mind; it indicates either a false delicacy or a consciousness of guilt; and seclusion may be so pernicious as to be the grave of virtue, inasmuch as it places us in the situation of the servant who buried his talent in a napkin. Obtrusiveness, on the other hand, is liable to all those objections which we have previously mentioned. The middle course, then, in this as in all other concerns, is the wisest and the safest.

If we study the truths of our holy religion, and apply them to the government of our hearts, our actions will speak for themselves. It will be obvious to all observers, that our principles are good, and that we need no false colouring or artificial effect to give us the semblance of what we profess to be. Our own thoughts will be turned towards our imperfections, which we shall be anxious to correct; for vain and foolish is the attempt to appear right in the eyes of the world, while the secret misgivings of our breasts witness against us. A wise man will devote a considerable portion of his time and care to the important duty of searching out his faults, and examining the state of his habits; and so long as he is conscious (as he always will be) of defects and frailty, he will regularly exercise himself in the work of amendment.

He will avoid above all things, the danger of flattering himself,-of presuming, like the Pharisee, that he is not as other men are,—and of making an exhibition either of his religious knowledge or of his religious improvement.

Yet, while he is honestly assured, that the motives by which he is actuated are pure, he will not be so far "ashamed of the Gospel of Christ," as to hide the grounds of his faith and hope, or to shroud the natural lustre of their beauty. Every Christian is bound to be an example to others; and no one can be so, who does not allow others to see his good works. For this purpose, therefore, he will cheerfully, though unassumingly, "come to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God ;"-and disclaiming all merit and all disguise, he will endure the strictest scrutiny. This alone is the course that the true Christian will pursue:-the course that is best adapted to the promotion of God's glory on earth, the course that will unfailingly ensure to us His love in heaven.

SERMON XXX.

ON CHRIST'S SANCTIFYING HIMSelf.

JOHN Xvii. 19.

For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."

In the ardent and affectionate prayer, which, on the night previous to his crucifixion, our Saviour addressed to his heavenly Father, the welfare and protection of his faithful apostles form a principal subject. The love, which, from intimate acquaintance, he had felt for them, did not forsake him, or abate, when the trying hour approached that would have absorbed every mind but his in the anxieties of selfconcern. He knew, that, severe as his own sufferings would be, he should afterwards repossess those joys in heaven, which belonged to him through all eternity, in the bosom of the Father. But his apostles had an arduous and perilous course of duty before them, of which he was keenly sensible. He

sympathized, therefore, in the hardships of their condition; and his heart overflowed with love for them, at a crisis, when he might, without disparagement of his high character and office, have been occupied with care for himself. They had always been peculiar objects of his regard; and now that he was on the point of being taken away, he gave them the strongest and most consoling proof that his regard was undiminished. "When he knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."

His affection for them was not a blind partiality, which had no reference to the good or bad characters of those who were the objects of it. They had attended him throughout his ministry, and had shewn a faithful attachment, so as to have gained, amidst a series of trials, his confidence and friendship. We may presume that he selected them, in the first instance, on accuont of their simplicity and ingenuousness; and that, in the measure in which their fidelity was proved, his esteem and love increased.

Their belief that he was sent from the Father to

give eternal life to the faithful, is the point upon which he dwells with particular emphasis, in this solemn and affecting prayer. He introduces it as the ground of his recommending them to the Divine favour and protection. "They have known," says he, "that all things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of Thee. For I have given unto them the

words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee: and they have believed that Thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world; but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine."-"Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

The meaning here of the word "sanctify" is, to separate or set apart for a religious purpose. It is applied in this sense both to persons and things. We, accordingly, read in Scripture of sanctifying to the Lord the firstborn of man and of beast ;-of sanctifying a fast-of sanctifying the altar, the tabernacle, the congregation, the sabbath day,-and many other instances of a similar kind. In the 10th chapter of St. John, our blessed Saviour describes himself as "him whom the Father hath sanctified," or set apart to be the Christ, the Redeemer of mankind; and he is there speaking with reference to the divinity of his nature, and to the heavenly character of his mission; for God sent not the angels or any inferior being to effect a reconciliation between Him and our offending race: but he sent his own Son, to be the Propitiatory Sacrifice for our sins, and also to be the King of righteousness, whom we are to worship and serve. In the text, our Lord is contemplating his departure from the world by completing his own