to kill, tliough unsuccessful, has the penalty of murder at- tached to it. Thus at the bar of judgment, the sacrifices of a wicked man, how numerous or costly soever they were, will be regarded as of no value : whilst the mere sighing of an upright soul shall not lose its rew^ard. Let that then which is chiefly marked by God, be chiefly attended to by us. Let us endeavour to get our " hearts right before God." Let us remember, that, whether evidenced by overt acts or not, he can discern its real state : for " he searcheth the heart and trieth the reins'^." " To him all things are naked and opened'^;" as the sacrifices of old, when flayed and cut open, were to the eye of the priest who inspected them. " Hell and destruction are before him : how much more then the hearts of the children of men^!" " He weigheth the spirits^," and discerns exactly how much there is of every different motive that may operate to the production of every act. Watch, therefore, and examine carefully the state of your own hearts : and as " he requireth truth in the inward parts '\" cease not to pray clay and night, that, being " perfect and upright before him," you may have light in darkness', peace in death '^, and glory in eternity^.]
d Jer, xvii. 10. ^ Heb. iv. 13. f ver. 11.
s Prov. xvi. 2. ^ Ps, li. 6. ^ Ps. cxii. 4.
1^ Ps. xxxvii. 37. 1 Ps. cxl. 13.
Prov. XV. 32. He that refuseth instruction, despiseth his own soul.
THE Scriptures speak plainly, and represent things as they really are. Perhaps there is no man that would acknowledge he despised God : yet does God lay that sin to the charge of all who question his retributive justice : " Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, while he doth say in his heart. Thou wilt not require it''?" So none would confess that they " despise their own souls :" yet is that the real character of all who refuse the instruction which God sends to them by his written word, and by the minis- tration of his faithful servants. And this will appear, if we consider, L The need that every man has of divine instruction —
Much may be known to man from sensation and reflection : he may gather much from observation
a Ps. X. 13.