God's commandments alone, which lead men to eternal ruin. It is far more frequently an excessive attention to things in themselves lawful, and the being " cumbered about much serving." It seems so right to provide for our own ! It seems so proper to attend to the duties of our station ! It is just here that our danger lies. Our families, our business, our daily callings, our house- hold affairs, our intercourse with society, all, all may become snares to our hearts, and may draw us away from God. We may go down to the pit of hell from the very midst of lawful things.
Let us take heed to ourselves in this matter. Let us watch our habits of mind jealously, lest we fall into sin unawares. If we love life, we must hold the things of this world with a very loose hand, and beware of allowing anything to have the first place in our hearts, excepting God. Let us mentally write " poison " on all temporal good things. Used in moderation they are blessings, for which we ought to be thankftd. Permitted to fijl our minds, and trample upon holy things, they become a positive curse. Profits and pleasures are dearly purchased, if in order to obtain them we thrust aside eternity from our thoughts, abridge our Bible-reading, become careless hearers of the Gospel, and shorten our prayers. A little earth upon the fire within us will soon make that fire bum low.
Let us observe, for another thing, what a solemn rebuke our Lord Jesus Christ gave to Sis servant Martha. Like a wise physician He saw the disease which was preying upon her, and at once appUed the remedy. Like a tender parent. He exposed the fault into which TTig