phecy, a great forsaking in the earth; and it is well if God does not follow it with a removing men far away: but our Great High Priest will have his tithes, he will leave a tenth, and the tenth shall return to God, Isaiah vi. 12, 13. It is high time for those who love and fear God to awake out of their sleep, the sun is going down over the heads of many prophets. Wo unto us, for the day goeth away; for the shadows of an awful evening are stretching out, Jer. vi. 4.

We have many professors who have itching ears; these are heaping to themselves teachers; and we have many preachers who never received their testimony from God, but have stolen it from others, and the applause of a giddy multitude has been the main pillar of all their popularity.

This text forcibly struck me last Sabbath-day morning, about four o'clock, as I was meditating on the awful departure of many from the truths of God, and from the profession they have made of the God of Truth. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron," 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2. If apostasy from the faith be a sign of the last times, and a prelude to the last judgment, then surely the Judge is even at the door.

Many depart from the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the first and grandest mystery of faith; others from the essential, self-existent, and inde

pendent Deity of Jehovah the Saviour, the proper object of faith; others lampoon all experience, and they depart from even an acknowledgment of the mystery of faith in a pure conscience; others pay no regard to their life, walk, and conversation, these depart from the fruits of faith; and others depart from all the doctrines of faith, and begin to appear in word, what they always were in heart; I mean children of the bond-woman. Men who can forswear themselves, and preach contrary to the articles they have subscribed, must have their consciences seared with a witness, and be led to give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, before they can speak lies in hypocrisy.

As for their preaching up good works in so violent a manner, and enforcing the law, it does not surprise me at all; for trunk-makers make more noise than goldsmiths, though no manufacture is more hollow and empty than trunks. If such men performed those good works which they talk of, their good works would preach themselves. “Let another man praise thee, and not thy own mouth,” Prov. xxvii. 2. "Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works," Jam. ii. 18. By their fruits ye shall know them, says Christ, not by their words. Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good; "a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." This is the doctrine

of our Saviour, who lived as

none ever did, and

spake as none ever shall, and yet he never preaches

up his own good works, but only tells them that he had shewed them many a good work from his Father, and asked "for which of those works do ye stone me?" He acknowledged them to be the works of his Father, to shew that he sought not honour from men, and says, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. I am still of opinion, that good works will preach themselves; and I think the word of God bears me out, for whenever the Saviour wrought a good work, he charged the object to see that he told no man of it: but to shew that good works could not be hid, it is said, that the more he charged them, the more they spread it abroad.

For my part, I know, by woful experience, that when I have done my best, I am an unprofitable servant; I have done no more than was my duty to do. Therefore, I must say, as the Psalmist did,

My goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth;" or as good Elihu says to pious Job, "If thou be righteous, what givest. thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?" Job xxxv. 7. "Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect?" Job xxii. 3.

It is plain to me, that those who make such an outcry in the pulpit about their own personal holi ness, have but very little of it to proclaim itself. "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?" Prov. xx. 6. I will never believe that any man, who is

not truly enlightened into the word of God, and his own interest in it, and who does not deliver the whole truth of God, the real truth, and nothing but the truth, that such a man can have any good works about him: his works must be wind and confusion, Isaiah xli. 29. The Saviour couples divine light and good works together, and tells us to let men see them, not we to praise them; "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." If the tree be good, the fruit will be good; for, as Paul says, the grace of God which hath appeared unto all men, will teach them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Therefore I shall conclude this head with the words of Wisdom to the spouse of Christ, that the objects of her liberality, whether it be in spirituals or temporals, ought to praise her, without compelling her to do it herself. "Her children [or converts] rise up, and called her blessed; her husband [the Saviour] also, and he praiseth her: Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.-Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates," Prov. xxxi. 28—31.

I have ever found more happiness in declaring what God hath done for my soul, than ever I did in declaring what I have done for God. And when I hear a man proclaiming his own goodness, I always think that God has done nothing for that.

man; if he had, he would have owned it, for it is. out of the abundance of a gracious heart that the mouth speaketh: "a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things." The Lord says, "from me is thy fruit found," Hosea xiv. 8. If then I am made fruitful, it is owing to my union with the Saviour, and the care of my covenant Father. "The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." And again, "every branch in me that beareth fruit, he [the Father] purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." Seeing this is the case, I cannot, with conscience, boast of my fruitfulness, but of the grace of God which makes me so, that God may have the glory. The church of God, by Isaiah, saith, "Thou [Lord] hast wrought all our works in us;" and Paul agrees with this, and says, "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do, of his good pleasure."

If this be the real truth of the matter, then I have no more to boast of than Paul had, when he acknowledged, that by the grace of God he was what he was. Then let not the rich man glory in his riches, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wise in his wisdom; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me: that I exercise lovingkindness, tender mercy,